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    We stopped by the Pokémon Center Gary mentioned to me on the way to the next town. Jake and Miley's little pony pokémon had a bit too much horseplay earlier, and both came out of their battle riddled in bruises, burns and sores. It was a slow day today when it came to finding any trainers to challenge (I guessed they were already a little ahead of us), so those two decided to go after each other instead, for fun. Ponyta pulled through against Narwhammie, but just barely as Jake shouted at Miley for, "Almost putting its flames away!", and she did the same, retaliating with, "Narwhammie's too small against that thing! You went too hard!". I had to step in and solve the issue by giving them time to chill out in the Pokémon Center!

    Nurse Joy noticed how tense they both were and gave us all free lollipops! They tasted like a variety of berries blended to soothing perfection. Even Shinji liked them (he stuck the entire thing into his mouth, stick and wrapper included as the Nurse looked back at us awkwardly…). Even though Miley was back in Ditzyland, Jake waited anxiously along the seating area with his headphones around his neck, as his songs weren't helping him much to pull through.

    "Hey, Jake, Ponyta's going to be alright," I tried reassuring him, putting a hand on his shoulder from behind the seat while he kept clicking through his Dex.

    He looked back at me and said, "Ash, I'd rather you worry about yourself. Didn't you say something earlier about having a phone call waiting for you?"

    "Huh? I mean, yeah, but–"

    "I'm good, but thanks anyways…" He put his headphones back again and set his music to the loudest settings.

    I rolled my eyes back at him as I got to the phone booth and dialed. I also managed to get Joy to give me another lollipop (not much persuasion was needed really) as I waited for Mom to answer…She didn't pick up the first time, so I dialed again as a Chancy rolled a cart, carrying Narwhammie back to Miley. My throat tightened as I dialed all over, and that ringing gripped it even more. I gulped as the screen finally said, "The other line has connected. Please await your call shortly", as the hourglass icon slowly spun. The screen loaded in, and there she was. Safe and sound. "Hey, Mom," I greeted with my left arm.

    "Ash!" she answered, as I could already feel the tears wallowing… "Honey, I was so worried about you–where have you been?" I gulped back at her. She wasn't angry, but I could tell that there was a reason why she hesitated to pick up…

    "Mom…I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have run off like that. That's super unlike me, but I guess I was too stubborn for my own good again, huh?" I admitted, trying to keep a stable voice.

    "No, Ash! Don't apologize, it should be me who's sorry!"

    "Mom?" I swore, she was about to cry herself, but I guess she kept those tears to herself.

    "I didn't realize how badly you'd react when I said that–I never knew that you wanted to leave that much," She tried acting a little less hysterical and took a deep breath before talking again. "You're a growing boy, you deserve to travel wherever your heart leads you. That's why you became a trainer in the first place, to meet as many people and pokémon as possible. You'll be a man soon." She slumped back as she had her hands clasped onto each other. "You're starting to remind me of your father when he was younger." She smiled nervously.

    That man… "Mom, I promise that I'll make it back home!"

    "Of course you will, but for now, have fun! It's a little boring around here anyways, maybe Mimey and I should pay you a visit to Blawsth soon…" she considered.

    "A visit?" Shinji asked as he leaned his head over the booth beside me, with Doradin hiding under his hood.

    Pikachu hopped back from his shoulder to mine as he greeted Mom. "Chu-ah!"

    "Oh, hi, Pikachu!" She waved back as Mimey hopped over the couch to wave too, and went back to whatever house task he was up to. "Seems that you're enjoying the region yourself. Who's that young man next to you?"

    Shinji tried going over my shoulder and towards the screen. "Shivat, shivat! You must be Ms. Ketchum, ey? Hi, I'm Shinji. I've been traveling with your son for a while–he's a real nice guy!"

    "Oh, why hello!" she greeted back. "Gary told me you made some new friends here, Ash. He said they helped you with the language barrier–thank you for helping my son!" she smiled at Shinji.

    "No problem, ammani! But say, since you're talking about traveling here, I would suggest that you visit during the summer, but visiting here during the holidays is actually a better option! Not only are Slidenjoksin and Ilksdach day the perfect holidays to spend with the family, but you'll also get two deals for the price of one! You're son won't be in just the league by November, but also in the sickest rock and roll band Blawsth has to offer!"

    "Rock and roll?" I asked him.

    "A-ha! I was bugging Jake about what he was texting Sam about a few minutes ago and he said that the Institute is having a Battle of the Bands event, just a day before the league!"

    "Uh…"

    "So, Ash is a real rockstar now?" my Mom teased. Shoot, I barely learned the guitar, chill! "My, you really were busy yesterday!" She giggled.

    "Yeah," I grinned slightly. "That guy named Jake taught me yesterday how to play the guitar, and it's real sick! I bet I can even get Pikachu to join me in it!"

    "Pi?" he uttered back, astonished.

    "Say, did someone mention my name?" Jake asked from over my shoulder. "Hi, Ms. Ketchum. Your son's quite the comedian."

    "Oh, why he can be a bit of a prankster at times. I'm sure he gave you no trouble though!"

    "No, not at all, not at all…" he answered sarcasticall–quit rubbing it in… "Actually, he's been quite useful!" Huh? "He trains new trainers as well as pokémon. Lately, he's been helping me and a friend of mine with it." He turned around, calling out, "Yo, Miles! Ash's Mom is on the call, come say hi to her!"

    She rushed through with Narwhammie in her arms. "Hi, Ms. Ketchum! Why is your son so short?" I smacked my face. "Anyways, you're very beautiful! Keep up the good work!"

    "Oh, why thank you! I'm flattered…" she answered back bashfully. I felt like rubbing Miley's face against the dirt for that. "That's a cute Pokémon you got there–I'll be sure to meet you all during fall then! As they say in Blawsth, buh-bye!"

    "Buh-bye!" they all farewelled as Doradin looked staunchly back at her.

    "And take care! Love you all! And Ash, remember to eat good and shower regularly, and one more thing: if you left anything back home, feel free to message me again! In fact, talk to me whenever you can. Bye!" She kissed back.

    "Bye." The screen went blank. "Man…" I said as I wiped a sweat drop from under my bangs, "I thought I'd never survive that…"

    "Wow, what a nice lady!" Miley remarked. "Ash, what you did was seriously low. Aranzootsu, aranzuwsthaz!"

    "Say, Miles," Shinji zipped behind her. "I think the kid already learned his lesson, and besides…" He pointed in towards the lobby as another Chancy pushed Ponyta's cart. "We should move on now."

    "Yeah, and Sam just texted me to be on the lookout for the Berahik…" Jake added.

    "Berahik," I asked. "What's that?"

    "Pssh, some cheesy children's tale." Shinji responded back in a condescending tone.

    "Huh? Oh, come on!" Jake shouted. "Tu et majino, breshon…I was going to ask you if you knew about it. Getzoot, getzooto…" he said as he put his hands into his pockets, pouting.

    "The Berahik is not real. The Berahik has been something the early villagers made up ages ago, just to get kids to sleep early at night and keep them away from outsiders. I should know, as a lone Pokémon of the darkness, I've had children cry to me, asking me to protect them from the Berahik. Getzoot, indeed…" he insisted.

    Jake rolled his eyes back at him and sighed as he pulled his Dex out again. "Dear Sam…The Berahik has officially been debunked by the Sinister Jester itself…Tragicoll…We'll try finding something for you anyways…Hit send."

    It beeped back with a message from Sam,

GETZOOTO!!! I was BETTING ON THAT GUY TO RELEASE INFO, but OH WELL, I GUESS IT WAS ALL A LOAD OF TAUROS AT THE END OF THE DAY–EY, JAKEY? I guess the COUNTLESS HOURS OF DATA SOME TRAINERS COLLECTED ON POKÉMON GOING MISSING WAS JUST A WILD DUCKLETT CHASE AFTER ALL AND BLAWSTH HAS A SERIOUS HUNTING PROBLEM, BLEHHHHHHJJJ XP In spite of all this, thank you for your help anyways, Shinji. If you find anything out of place though, contact me immediately.

– Sammy

    "Welp, someone's disappointed! Guess Sam's gotten some rotten luck from that game after all!" Shinji pointed out. "Let's get going, guys!"

    "But wait!" I asked as he lifted a brow back at me. "What is a Berahik?"

    "Yada, yada…" He rolled his own eyes. "Some oversized Kecleon that learned psychic moves and bends your mind at will. It drags young trainers into Toshmakya from what I keep on hearing. Just don't think about it, kid–you already have enough food on your plate."

    My stomach rumbled. "Actually, I don't." Then, the clouds, which were getting darker by the second, rolled and rumbled by…They sure looked heavy, like, Kanto's weather never left.

    Miley's braids shuddered after another rumble, followed by a small strike within the clouds that flowed by. She had her arms behind her back. "Actually, let's fix that! Come on, we'll just eat inside while the storm clears!" she considered.

    "Ah man…I thought we could hike it before dusk…" I complained.

    "And I thought we could have just hitched it before dusk. I mean, come on, dude–my legs are freaking sore!" Jake followed through.

    "Zucor, zucor, lazy Cubone!" Miley mocked. "I wanted to hike too. Something tells me you won't make it past Stahlotoh City, Jakey-Boy!"

    "Well, we'll see about that. The road to Stahlotoh is lighting central!" he warned, as Miley shuddered at the thought. "And something tells me that Ponyta won't be the only thing Narhwammie can't handle." Jake's Ponyta ran back inside before the first drop of rain hit…

    "Hey, there's a bunch of other pokémon out there! I'm sure I'll have something ready by then…" she said as she followed suit after a loud boom!

    A week passed since we left Mahtverin's outskirts and it got pretty rainy, over those days. Miley and Jake tried training their pokémon against Pikachu as much as possible before the clouds ever had a chance of rolling through. Thankfully, Narwhammie had an odd variant of the Lighting Rod ability, where once lightning struck, it'd charge towards its fragile horn instead, giving it a chance of evading an attack! Miley was pretty confident in it, but it was such a risky move…I was glad that she was thinking the gym battle through, even though we wouldn't hit the city for another few days! Besides, I'd totally try that ability too–Miley was just getting ready to perfect its strategy.

    The trainers also set up a plan to catch any rock or ground pokémon they could come across near the later routes. Stahlotoh had mines that lead down to a bunch of electromagnetism below, which helped charge the entirety of Blawsth daily! Jake was still complaining about Shafter being the first gym leader we have to go against.

    "I still think it's unfair that's our safest bet and the nearest location!" he said as he tried filing his nails in our tent. The past few storms brought a heavy fog along the route, so we had to stay put for a bit. "I mean, come on, electric types? We could have gotten something easier like grass or fire…But oh, no–it's all because she insists that the toughest should be our fastest!" He pointed his filer at Miley.

    She was doodling in her scrapbook, listening to music as she borrowed his headphones,  singing along in broken English, not caring at all about Jake's soap opera. "La-da-ah-Imma your one, your only, pregi Skelestein-da, da, da, true your heart, my goal, pregi Skelestein, nowah, nowah…" 

    "Eh, whatever. Either way, the fact that it's better to face him early and not later is true blue! It makes me sick to my stomach as to what the other gym leaders are planning…" Looney gave his trainer back his styling product after he laid some over his head. Jake took a good look at the canester. "Shoot, we're almost out. I'm so glad we're going to another town soon, I gotta refill this thing!" Gee, and not even my previous female companions, Dawn or May were this high maintenanced…

    "Jake…" I asked as he dabbed his finger into the product. "We're not even going anywhere today–I don't even think we'll bump into anyone once the fog gets light. Is this really necessary?"

    "Oh, come on, Ash–I thought we've been over this already: no pizzazz, you can rot in Blawsth, very simple. To pregi, Mr. Ketchum, you have the potential to be stylish and get everyone talking about you."

    "Nah, I think I'll pass." Both on the styling and all those people…I looked back at Pikachu, who seemed bored by the lack of Shinji's presence in the tent and annoyed by Doradin's, outside the ball. He didn't get the chance to mope and stare into space without that little bird chasing him around with its beak!

    Doradin reeked of jealousy, but why? I asked Shinji once about it, but he could only deduce it down to back when we first met, that maybe I was the only one who respected it. Then, it saw my partner, and it believed that the veteran Pokémon with years of experience would overshadow attention from it, and the ugly Dori would be taken out of pity. The weirdest part? The little bird also told Shinji of its plans to eliminate Pikachu as my ace, and once it fully evolved, it'd finally replace that "old greasy rat that should have stayed in Kanto's sewers a long time ago" and would be the one I'd call to every battle (and this might've actually been the funniest thing I'd ever heard of in a while!). And apparently it didn't have to worry about Shinji due to our contract and even if I failed to save the world from bad luck, it claimed it'd be the only one standing on this trife of a planet. And I blinked twice back at the Jester when he told me all that and said, "What?". He compared it to wild ratzavok behavior, but even those ratzavok weren't that clingy to their trainer!

    Since then, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know in depth as to what a Pokémon was actually thinking again. Pokégossip might've actually been the worst thing on the planet. "Hey, guys, let's check up on Shinji!" I suggested as they finally stopped in their tracks and paid good attention to me.

    They were going to follow me out the tent, but then Doradin stood and looked back at Pikachu menacingly for a few seconds. Pikachu only charged his cheeks, which caused the little bird to go quiet, not removing its dirty stare as it went to rest by our bags placed near a corner. Pikachu smiled awkwardly back at it, then hopped onto my shoulder. I looked back at the others. "Guys, I'll be back in a bit! I gotta look out for Shinji."

    "Watch for the fog, Ash!" Miley shouted back as her music kept playing. "We got dexes, so call us anytime!"

    "Toodles!" Jake said back. "And be careful of the Berahik! Heard it likes small children."

    "Oh, yeah? Well, we'll just jolt it and send it back to the bogs!" I laughed. Ever since Shinji mentioned that thing wasn't real, Jake, Miley and I joked about it nonstop! I wasn't sure why the Jester couldn't take a joke though, considering his reputation as Blawsth's biggest prankster. Every time we mentioned the Berahik, Shinji kept insisting it didn't exist, almost feeling embarrassed about it, like he was the one who made it all up, all those years ago. Pikachu paid no attention to my chanting.

Berahik, Berahik, snatch my neck!

Snatch my neck again, again!

Berahik, Berahik, torah mi ul!

Torah mi ul, ranul, ranul!

    Was the joke getting a bit overdone? Maybe, but it was a pretty addicting word to say. Berahik, Berahik…Those Blawsth phrases sure were fun! And oh, there was a huge lizard Pokémon with a big tongue lying about, ooh–I was scared! If it were real, then it'd really would be an oversized Klecleon crossbred with a Hypno anyways, which was nothing me and Pikachu couldn't handle. Besides, I was done with all the fear, doom, and gloom looming about; couldn't a guy have a little fun?

    I knew where Shinji was, just across from the tent, behind some trees towards the creek. He never mentioned why he wanted to check it out though. And there he was, sitting on a tree, staring into the sea of mist. He had a palm over his face, shaking his head and looked as bored as ever. I decided to mess with him, just this once! I pulled a wet vine from one of the small pools on the ground and tried grappling it onto him. "Shinji, watch out–the Berahik's coming for you!"

    He looked back, and his eyes widened as he instantly transformed into the goopy inkwell Pokémon, launching his scythe towards me, stabbing through the vine, reeling me up towards the tree as I still gripped onto it! I wasn't met with a messy grin, but a scowl coming from Toshinmac, which was confirmed once he dropped me to the ground and transformed back to his human form. He lifted a brow. "Ash, why are you not with the others? You could get lost out here!"

    "Well, sorry! I just wanted to check up on you. Don't you want to be back in the tent with us? You've been hanging by trees a lot lately…"

    "Well, that's too many people and pokémon in one tent. Besides, I like the fog. The silence is pleasant sometimes…"

    "Pi-pi…" Pikachu asked.

    "Pikachu, you have to learn to get along with Doradin. I'm sure it'll grow out of that wild goal, eventually. And besides, don't you miss being on the kid's shoulder every now and then?"

    "Pi…" he moped back. "Pika-pi?"

    "Wanna head back?" I asked.

    "Chu!" he agreed.

    We turned around, through the chilly breeze and clouds among the trees. I'd admit, it was pretty quiet outside that tent, it made me think about how'd it be like to truly travel alone. Just me and Pikachu, ourselves in an abandoned region. We probably wouldn't make it without trying to live on poison berries, scavenging because neither of us actually knew how to cook, haha! Oh, and we'd get lost so easily…traveling's pretty scary once you start thinking about it, so I could see why everybody in Blawsth were only allowed to do it at fifteen (without strict guardian supervision, that was). A part of me really wanted to try it out though, just for a week? 

    It was calming, seeing all the mist obscure the trees, with a small pond that had a few small water pokémon jumping about. I grabbed some berries they were expecting to fall off from a bush–they were funny little guys! Though, as nice as it was, with Pikachu playing in the water a little, I decided that I really needed to head back now. "Come on, can't let them think we ditched them, buddy!"

    Pikachu shook the water off and placed himself onto my shoulder, feeling absolutely delighted to be away from Doradin, even if it was for a small moment! As I kept walking back to the tent, I noticed something within the fog, a silhouette of sorts. It was some girl, she had the height and body of a model and she seemed to be looking overhead in the woods. That outfit of hers, it looked vintage yet so modern, and I called out for her. "Hey! You lost?"

    Well, she sure was because she was still trying to go further down the woods. "Pika?"

    "You think she's deaf?" I asked Pikachu.

    "Chu?" He looked back at me with even more confusion.

    I went after her anyway. "Hey! Can you hear me?" She had her hands in her face as I could hear her sobbing. She seemed to be fading, and fading as the fog grew thicker, and I could barely see anything. That sobbing, I had to follow it no matter what!

    "Pika-pi!" Pikachu whimpered as he shivered on my shoulder, hearing howling from the distance.

    "Don't worry, I'm sure that's just another Pokémon we've never seen–" I almost ran into a tree. "...Before?"

    Well…shoot. I just realized it was that stupid ghost girl again. This was the second time in a week I had to deal with the apparition, once I could hear those same giggles during a storm, but they grew into tears as it progressed. This time, I almost met her in the flesh! Just who was she? And why did she keep following me? There was no torch, no sight except for a Murkrow cawing that caught my eye, just resting upon a tree branch.

    I sat down and started thinking… "Okay, so, if the trees are over here, then the creek should be over there…And if I find Shinji again, I can just head straight into the tent. 'Only problem is…" Which way was north and west again?

    "Hey, hey, hey, ammani? What are ya' mopin' around here for?" a voice pondered.

    I looked and stood up. "Oh, Shinji? How did you get here so quick?"

    He tried keeping a straight face. "A pokemon never tells his secrets, ammani!" Hmm, I guessed he was zipping through…but I would've felt it… "Now, Pikachu! Ya' little rascal…how are we feelin' this evening?"

    "Pi!" He started producing static…We had to go!

    "He's feeling just fine. Besides, we can get to the tent by ourselves!" I answered strongly.

    "Is that so?" He grinned, but so creepily, like his human act was about to pull! "Because a little Pidgey told me that these mists are far and mighty…"

    Yeah, no thanks. I didn't answer–instead I started speed walking! Then, I ran for it! I heard some weird gushy sound from behind, and Pikachu took a look. "Pika-pi!" he demanded as I checked it out myself! That silhouette, it was so deformed, like the limbs were going to come apart at any moment! Struggling to sludge through until the form shifted, and whatever it was, was coming at us fast!

    I kicked a rock from behind at it and that managed to slow it down…Thankfully, though, I was back at the tent again, catching my breath. "Phew."

    I opened the zipper to get my water bottle inside…but the tent was all empty. Miley's sketchbook was out but she did leave a message behind for Shinji. I leaned down and carefully grabbed the book to read it, but it was written entirely in Blawsthian.

    I wasn't all that fluent in it, but I could make out the letters, just not the words exactly.

Shinji, eh tu aran rahlop can rilo, tueli eto baksdori. Ashy evom et Berahik wai, eh? Tu jestern, amanni!

    It roughly translated to:

Shinji, meet with us down the woods. Ashy found a tiny Berahik, can you believe it? You're lying, fool!

    Problem was Ashy was lost in the woods the entire time! And there was no Berahik, Shinji made that up! At least…I thought so. I tried texting them since there was no way they could have been hanging out with that imposter! I got no answer on my Dex though…so I ran outside after gulping some water and sealing the bottle shut, shouting, "Miley! Jacob! Anyone? Come back! Doradin!" Damn it…Pikachu kept his distance away from the fog and crept against my neck.

    "Pi!" He pointed it out, something small and tiny was approaching the tent…

    "Goth? Gothita?" it chanted…Who was that Pokémon? It seemed to be looking for something, and it looked back at me as I crept to its level. "Goth?"

    "Hey, you lost too?"

    It reacted nervously, waddling away on its stubby legs as it tried avoiding me! Well, maybe that thing knew where my friends went! I followed it, the weird pokémon covered in ribbons. I knew for certain that thing was real, it felt real, even Pikachu acknowledged it! "Pi! Pikachu!" he tried reassuring it as it failed to run any faster. "Pika-pi!" he pointed out again!

    Another tall silhouette, but one I actually recognized! He turned around. "Oh, hey, Ashy! We were so worried about you that we split up."

    "Jake! You don't know how glad I am to see you out here! That guy you went off with, he's a fake, he's a fraud–I'm real, I swear!" I explained.

    "Heh, what do you know about real? You can't even tell the difference between a stylish guy and a sly spy…"

    "Huh?" Gothita was hiding behind me and gripped against my leg the entire time. Jake disappeared, and that little pokémon shrieked as it observed, so did Pikachu! I turned around as a set of claws tried hitting me. "What the–?"

    I wasn't going to stick around to scan it. Oh, man…Berahik swipe my neck? The Berahik was going to swipe my freaking neck and send me to Toshmakya for days to come!  Did I need to call out my friends or were they all…g–g–gone! The Berahik was not real, the Berahik was not real, the Berahik was not real! I could only think for so long, shoot, shoot!

    In my hystericalness, in all this haze, I bumped into something–someone! I fell onto the grass and I looked up, thinking, who was this girl? She turned around, and had wavy strawberry blonde hair with a purple beret on it, and a long fluffy brown vest, carrying a scorn on her face as she looked down upon me. "Ugh…careful where you're walkin', sir." she said in a flat voice.

    "Ah! Stay away from me! B–Berahik!" Pikachu got off my shoulder, ready to spark! "I'm not afraid to attack you. Where are my friends, you monster!"

    She rolled her eyes. "Please don't. I got no time for you or Berhickies. I lost my freaking Eevee here, y'know? Now, can you get up already? The zoroark are gonna eat you."

"Z–zoroark?" Those wolf things? Hm, well now I wasn't surprised by what I was seeing (the fog could have been fake the entire time for all I knew). What did they want with us?

    "Yes, those things want to grab pokémon off you for some reason. One of them took Eevee, but I could not stop them" she said sternly. "Once I find that stupid trainer controlling them, I will send them to where no Blawsthman has heard of in their life and will make them beg to have never been born. I will make sure every time they blink, they think of me. Now, buzz off, you're in the way of Keibirv."

    "Kei-wha?" I stood up, then crouched as a purple bird pokémon flew over my head, barely tipping my cap as it rested on the trainer's shoulder.

    "Clunky, you have to get used to that." she suggested to it.

    It nuzzled her cheek as she smirked somewhat. "Kirrrr…" Huh, she had the ability to smile.

    "Found Eevee?" she asked it.

    "Bir!"

    "Good, Birv. Good, Birv." she nodded as she went ahead. I followed along, but once she heard my footsteps, she groaned. "Ugh…I told you to buzz like a Combee already. Why do you and your disgusting Pikachu have to follow me?"

    "Pi!" Excuse me!

    "Hey, just who are you calling disgusting?" I shouted!

    "Gosh, that hoodie and those shoes are not helping. You look exactly like him, but somehow worse." she insisted.

    "Who?" The heck. Was she talking about?

    "None of your beeswax. He's nowhere near your level, and you're not anywhere near mine."

    "How can you say that if we barely met? I demand a battle!" I raised a fist.

    "No way. I got things to do, stuff to see–the world doesn't revolve around you." Pfft, how ironic. Well, she seemed legit at least! No claws, no scales, nothing!

    "Well, can you at least tell me your name?"

    She kept silent for a bit. "It's Jo."

    "Kei!" the bird chirped!

    I spotted a silhouette with braids on it, approaching, and it had to be Miley! Gothita got off and started waddling towards her as she crouched. "Gothita! There you are…"

    "Goth, gothi!"

    "Hold it, lolita." Jo commanded.

    "Goth?" Keibirv flew off her shoulders and grabbed Gothita and threw it towards Jo as she caught it in her white gloves.

    "Now, Keibirv, peck like you've never pecked before!" T-that wasn't Miley! It transformed into a Zorark, and then to the pokémon it was attacking!

    Both Jo and Keibirv were determined to tire the daylights out of this imposter! Her Keibirv was just the real deal though, faster, more accurate, stylish even! This thing, it was sloppy, slow, and never had a chance to begin with! It almost had an upperhand though, when it caught its beak with its claws and dragged it down the dirt! Jo reacted negatively to this, but prevailed as her own Keibirv broke out with its jaw, widening the grip over the claws and made the Pokémon change back!

    It wasn't ready to give up though, so I stepped in to finish it. "Pikachu, go!" It went down after a single shot, and he was so ready to shoot! "Alright!"

    Jo looked back at me with that same scowl again. "That was supposed to be my shot but you took it. You're no better than him. I'm going to fight you if you keep this up." Alright! Was that a threat or did I have to keep bothering her to see if I was on her level? "Anyways," She looked down at the Zoroark, demanding from it, "Where's Eevee?"

    I believed the Zoroark couldn't answer at all. It was unconscious. "Well, I guess that's one down. Shouldn't we try finding the others?" I suggested as she went up to it and pulled out something from its ears, a listening device perhaps?

    "We? No thanks, I do this alone." Gothita got out of her lone arm. "Take care of this one, anyways. I think it's trying to find its trainer." It ran beside my leg so I tried placing it on the other side of my shoulder. Jo was going to put the device against her own ear as she walked, but then threw it across the field as it exploded! She paid no mind to it as she kept walking along her way, but then stopped and turned around for a second. "I'll be over at where the creekside is, that's the last place I haven't checked. If you find Eevee, let me know." She pulled out her PokéDex to exchange codes and continued on her way.

    "Good luck!" I cheered back.

    "I'd rather break a leg." she said, disappearing into the density of the fog.

    I turned the other way…which was supposed to be the area Miley alluded to in her sketchbook. We passed by it earlier in the morning–it was a meadow in the woods with an old well and abandoned Blawsth settlement around the area. It was infested with a Collerah nesting ground in one of the houses out back, so we decided against setting up camp there (even with the storm, I doubted Jake would have ever wanted to be near that thing). I knew the path towards it, you couldn't miss it; there was a tall tower there! I just had to keep on walking, but I could feel my heart start to beat harshly though. That meant Shinji was fighting!

    Thankfully, it stopped soon, but then it raced back up again…I didn't really train Toshinmac much since he followed me from the train. In fact, I actually avoided sending him out to battle and mostly tried testing his speed around tree tops and such. I wrote down most of the data for Sam, that I just did not feel good in the slightest whenever he started to frequently zip around like that. Or using that scythe too, it felt so unbearable, like it was too much power to handle…But hey, progress needed to be made somehow if I was going to defeat that dragon…

    Besides, apparently I was made for this job! His previous trainers passed out the moment he started doing any of that stuff and they all struggled to get a grip on things. He was even surprised to beat his opponents with those people! I just needed to get through this and it was a one and done job…

    I fell into the meadow as he beat three of those smaller wolf pokémon, trying but failing to reach him. "Zorua, to pregi!" he scolded. I felt so dizzy, I thought I might have tripped over a rock?

    I got up, and noticed it was actually some weird tech box setup. Was that a radio? "Agent Sulfuric! Agent Sulfuric, do you copy? That blank girl beat our top guy down by the creek, I think she's trying to look for something…Shoot! Meyer's gangin' up with her! Agent Sulfuric, where the heck are you! This is the third time I've been calling you, don't tell me you're still chatting it with those card people! Agent freaking Sulfuric, I swear if you don't pick up, we might have a liability in our hands. Sul–"

    "Now Doradin, use Leafage!" Jo called from the other end!

    "SULFURIC!!!" The radio transmission was permanently cut off, thanks to Jo! I didn't even know she had a Doradin too. That was neat.

    Shinji was standing right beside me. "Stupid poachers, let me smash it before the other guy gets back!" he suggested.

    I got out of his way as he stomped over the device, making it utterly unusable. "So, you're real?" I asked.

    "Real? That makes me ask the same thing…Reveal your arm." I unwrapped the bandage. "Yup, real. The other one completely forgot that detail. What's the intel on the others?"

    "Yeah…I keep running into dupes. So, you said something about poachers?"

    "Yes I did. There should be one hiding in these buildings…" He looked back at the Gothita on my shoulder. "So, kid, whose Pokémon is that?"

    "I don't know, it was standing in front of the tent once I found out that the others followed the fake me…eugh. They mentioned that they found a tiny Berahik and it was hiding in this part of the woods."

    Shinji lifted a brow. "They really thought there was a tiny Berahik in the woods? Humans can be so…gullible. What a shame that pokémon hunters have gotten more elaborate in their plans these days, come on." We tried finding whoever that poacher was but then someone stepped outside one of those mossy buildings!

    The silhouette…I couldn't recognize it until we stepped a little closer. "Oh–hey, guys!" she greeted. Miley? Where were her braids? Her wavy hair held loose at the moment. "Awe, there you are, Gothita! I can't believe I lost you in the ambush, sweet that you made it back…" She took a closer look at me. "Hold it, are you the real Ash Ketchum?"

    "That makes me ask the same thing," I answered. "Miley, what happened to your hair?"

    "Miles, I can assure you that this kid is real. He's got the marks to prove it." Shinji said as he lifted my arm up. "And now, I also wonder why your hair isn't tied like it usually is?"

    "Um yeah, funny story…" She crossed her arms behind her neck. "I was following that stupid Zorua around, and it tried looking exactly like Ash. But it was so rude! It took my hair ties and made me chase after it, can you believe it!" She sighed. "Well, now that the party is almost back together, where's Jake? I could have sworn he was running towards the creek."

    "But, Miley, did you find anything in that building?"

    "Aha! There was this guy in there who was trying to call someone through a janky radio, but thankfully me and some Eevee beat him as a surprise!"

    "You said Eevee?" I asked.

    "Yeah, it's in there and eating some spare pokéfood he had lying around…" She sighed. "Still can't find Narwhammie though, those hunters took it away." she moped as she sat by the doorframe.

    I walked into the building and there it was, an Eevee with pink scrunchies around the ears and tail! "Eevoi!" it said delightfully as it finished eating a can of food while the hunter was tied against a chair with duct tape over his mouth–way to go, Miley! I looked at the desk he was sitting at, and there was a weird bracelet device being tampered with and a few documents.

    One of those documents had a card on it. The document had some images of arms plastered with tattoos similar to mine against them, and possibly some illegal training receipts. There was also a phone number on the card, and thankfully the instructions weren't written in Blawsth text.

Don't call unless provoked. 

We are the Card Masters, unifier of the spades and jaded.

The scythe strikes at midnight.

    Freaking cryptid. There was a spade emblem imprinted on the back. I walked out of the building with Eevee as the fog started getting less dense. "Hey, do you guys think this means anything?" I asked as I held the card out.

    Shinji zipped upfront. "What do they want with spades and cards?"

    "Should we call it? Wait, let me take a photo of it!" Miley suggested as she pulled out her Dex. "Got it! We can hand this over to the police, but right now we should hold onto it for a bit. Now, shouldn't we get going?"

    We were going to get going, but then a Braiverly swooped down. "You punk!" said a man, with a beanie and trench coat. "You're not going anywhere. That radio cost six-thousand grand! Our operations will not be destroyed by some snotty nosed chumps like you, especially with a real legendary Pokémon in our hands!" He pointed to Shinji. "No different from our zoroark, huh? Another one hiding in Mareep's clothing!"

    That man, I recognized him! He was the one who tried taking Pikachu when I got off the plane! One of those zoroark ran back to him as he fetched it a treat out of his pockets. It took form as me!

    "That reminds me, I never got done catching Ash Ketchum's oh-so-sought after Pikachu! That rat has a price hike in the trading community, you know!" He knew me from the beginning!

    "Ash, how does he know your name?" Miley asked innocently.

    "Listen, hot shot," the poacher interrupted. "We came here for two things: catching Toshinmac and catching any valuable pokémon we can. Maybe we can let you off with one or the other?"

    "Hey!" Shinji ordered. "Don't try anything fishy…"

    "Look, Ketchum, you can either be tied to this schmuckle and he can do who knows what? I bet that arm's getting heavy! We can let you be with the Pikachu if you just give us the wizard."

    "Wizard?" Shinji was not amused. "I'm a Jester, dang it!" He stomped his foot onto the ground.

    "Well, what else could you be? None of our wolves got a hold of the real monster you are…"

    Shinji growled. I took my chance to talk. "You know what? You can keep your money to yourselves! I'm not giving any of them up for anything. I trust this guy a lot more than you, aranzuwsthaz!" I tried insulting with the brief Blawsth I'd learnt from my companions.

    "Uh, sorry, but I don't speak blah-blah. Zoroark, handle him." The wolf started stepping forward, and it was almost an exact carbon copy of me! Of course, Pikachu and Shinji stood in the way. Eevee too as they weren't going to let this guy have any chance of getting near me, or his goals! I sent that message to Jo right away… "Hey!" The poacher noticed my Dex. "That better not be the cops, we were just getting started!"

    "And the party's going down, now!" I announced, turning back to Miley. "It's not safe here, get the cops on the way."

    "'Was already planning too! It's too dangerous for Gothita to be alone with a dark type Pokémon like that one prowling about, take care!" As she hid inside one of the buildings and started a radio transmission, the Zoroark managed to escape Toshinmac's grip, grabbing the edge of the scythe and launching it towards a tree! This one was faster than all the others, stronger too! It flung Pikachu as it endured the lighting and kicked Eevee as well!

    It transformed back into me, as I could feel my mind start to haze a little as he ripped my bandage off! He spun me around, and around as the world melted around me. "Isn't this fun!" he growled. "You can mimic almost anybody if you try! Now I got your purr-fect DNA on that arm!"

    I was so dizzy, and he tried doing the same thing! Now, with a less growly voice, he imitated mine. "He's not real!"

    "Who–what?" Shinji asked as he morphed back.

    "It's me! It's me! You got to trust me!"

    He raised a brow. "Hm…Now this is tough. Whatever shall I do?" He looked back at Pikachu. "We can either brutally destroy the both of them and see which one starts shedding, or we can play the game only he would know to play."

    "Play? What game?" I asked.

    "Yeah, I want to play!" the imposter followed.

    "Ashy, Ashy, Ashy…Let me make this easy…What were you doing the day you broke your leg?"

    "Huh?" the imposter asked, probably not thinking it was competent enough for this fake stuff.

    "Oh, come on, Shinji! I thought you were going to make this easy, I'm not answering that with that punk over there–"

    "Yup!" Shinji replied. "That's the real deal. Pikachu, send that imposter down to the screaming sorrows covered in filth and losses of a million pokémon battles, ammani! "

    "What–" Too late for the Zoroark as it got jolted heinously, with Eevee recovering and smiting the living daylights out of the wolf!

    "Now, Eevee, strike that Braviary!" said a familiar voice!

    "Hey, Jo!" I waved.

    She rolled her eyes as Eevee took that thing down swiftly. Jake was there and he ran to catch up with us. "Ash, where's Miley? Did you find that Gothita?" he asked, exhausted.

    "Oh, she's in there!" I said, pointing at the building. "She and Gothita are fine, how about you? Did you find any of our pokémon?"

    "Yeah, they got an entire haul of them, there were about fifty! Here's Doradin–the cops should be on their way." he said as he handed the pokéball back to me.

    "But wait, we just called them…"

    "Either way, they should be coming here quick! " He turned back at the defeated trainer, who now laid at the ground. Jo's entire arsenal perched proudly on her head and shoulders as she kicked the other hunter's shin with a blank face.

    "Stupid idiot, you wasted my day with this." She started walking towards who knew where as the fog finally started to clear up, and we almost had a full view of the meadow and town now!

    "Jo, thanks for everything!" I said as Jake scrunched his eyebrows at me. No response from her as she kept walking.

    "She takes that lone, silent Zoroark thing a bit too seriously…" he mentioned as he crossed his arm.

    "Yeah, tell me about it…" I shoved my hands into my pockets, and that's when he noticed my arm.

    "Shoot! We gotta cover that up before the cops come!"

    "Can I come out now?" Miley asked as she slightly opened the window from the hide-out while Shinji tied that loser poacher with a vine. "I found a first aid kit, complete with a bandage line, Ash!"

    "Come on over here, Miles!" Jake greeted. "‘Cause Jensen is coming! "

    "Huh? Who's Jensen?" I asked.

    "The police chief! He only comes in big cases like this one–"

    "This is a big case?" I asked him.

    "Yes! We didn't have a poacher problem until now, why? Is Kanto full of them?"

    Heh, he wasn't that off the mark. Shinj ran into the building the other hunter was tied up in as we kept conversing. "Well, I wouldn't say it's that huge of a problem. But I did have this little group of them stalking me wherever I went, haha!" I tried laughing off. Where were they anyways? It just wasn't the same without them…I even felt like shedding a tear over th–who was I kidding? It felt great to walk around without Team Rocket dropping bombshells wherever I went! It felt great to have Pikachu on my shoulders for once, even though thirty percent was actually on Shinji's instead!

    "Dude, that's so Freaky McDeaky, how are you still alive? I'd die screaming if I had to have that happen to me every day." Jake commented morbidly. Shinji ran down with some documents in his hands. "Ey, breshon, 'kinda forgot to say hi–"

    Shinji transformed into his true form and sliced every single piece of paper that fell! He changed back. "Sorry about that. Meyer, I'm glad to see that you're safe!"

    He looked back at him, speechless. "Th–that was evidence. Shinji, did you just tamper with the freaking evidence!"

    "Sorry, but I had to. Can't let them know about the game, so anything relating to it must be destroyed."

    "What?"

    "Just don't worry about it. Like my old trainer used to say: 'Smile and wave, people!' The police are coming their way."

    I could already hear the sirens. A motorcycle rode through the grass and into the dead village with two other policemen (of lower rankings I believed) following it in their car. The leading officer wore sunglasses and a navy bomber jacket, taking a lollipop stick out of his mouth and throwing it into the criminal's trash bin behind him as he stepped forward with handcuffs. "Offiche polizo emorah, step aside from the crime!" he announced as he placed one cuff against the hand of the poacher Shinji tied up. "Alfred of Nimbasa City, you are under arrest for pokémon theft, tax evasion in a foreign region, and so much more…Don't say anything stupid or you might just regret it."

    "Yay! We got Jensen!" Miley celebrated as the other officers ran into town.

    That Jensen guy looked exactly like the police officers from back home, with his dark cyan haired and similar eye shape. "Huh? No Jen-ny? " I asked awkwardly.

    The officer noticed my comment and after shoving Alfred into the backseat of the car, he walked back towards me. "Police Chief Jensen's the name. I'm assuming you already know about the jennies over in Kanto, correct, Ketchum?"

    "Uh, yeah…How'd you know my name?"

    "Dear Jensen of the Blawsth police department, please be on the lookout for a raven haired boy with amber eyes, he always carries a Pikachu with him. His mother is very worried." he said as he looked at me straight into the eyes.

    "Well, um…those are some impressive deduction skills!"

    "Oh, please, I'm Viridian City's Jenny biological brother, the youngest yet rising star of the family."

    No way… "Really?"

    "Yeah…they tend to over exaggerate a lot over there. It's rare, but a male family member has to pop up every now and then," he recounted, a bit bothered by the fact. "So, with that being said, I know the gossip in that region and tsk, tsk–it was quite the stir you got people in. She wasn't kidding about you sending poachers to a pulp though, so you aren't that bad…" He tossed a lollipop back at me as he walked down the village roads. "Good luck on the next gym, future champ." He looked back at Jake. "And you better stay out of trouble, Meyer."

    "Whateves, Jenny." He rolled his eyes back at the officer as he walked away.

    "So! Does that mean we have to go back to the campsite now?" I asked.

    "I suppose so…Otherwise he's gonna scold us. We should be getting close to a real fishing town anyways; we can stop by there."

    "Ooh, fishing?" Ah, I missed fishing every now and then. I hoped Blawsth offered some variety over those slimy guppies back home…

    "That's right! Starmarniez Town's home to the best fishing spot in Blawsth. Dad used to sneak me on the boat with him so I could practice reeling, haha!"

    "Hey, Jake, how come you never took me and Cici when you and Sam snuck out that one time? I wanted to go fishing too!" Miley demanded.

    "Miles, I already told you this: I did not want to get old grumpy Harry angry! If anything happened to Sam, I'd rather see Ms. Eucalyptus' over your dad's face anyways! She makes good cookies…" he said as he scratched his head nervously. "Besides, we're still going fishing! So, y'know, unless you end up catching a bunch of stupid Magikarp instead–haha!"

    She pouted back at him as I got worried at that comment. "Magikarp? I'm pretty sick of catching those…" I admitted.

    He put his elbow over my shoulder. "Don't worry, Ash! You'll be fine if you know what you're doing, it's a big lake, anyway, so you're Golden–rod!"

    Shinji was off in the trees for some reason. I was wondering where was he when the police arrived! "Hey, Shinji! We're packing up soon!"

    He took a look around and zipped back to us as the sun slowly killed the fog. "So, you guys actually bought that Berahik thing?"

    "Of course we did! It might have been a rare Pokémon that fakey found," Jake admitted. "Because the way he was describing it seemed legit. All scaly, it had some feathers around the neck, purely ancient, I can barely speak, it has to be the Berahik, dude!" he said as he tried impersonating my own voice…

    "I rarely say dude, dude." I corrected him.

    "Well, we barely hung out with you within a week anyways! There's a bunch we don't know about you!"

    "Yeah, like how did that guy know your name so well, Ashy?" Miley asked again, innocently.

    "Mmm…I don't know, there's probably a poképoacher network I'm not aware of, haha!" I admitted.

    "Yeah…that Pikachu's pretty tough…Anyways, let's get going! I need my hair tied up again…" She didn't ask again, but I knew that she was on to something…

    "Gothita! Gothita!" the little pokémon chanted in her arms.

    "Oh, that's right! Ash, we never found out where this one came from!" she mentioned as she held Gothita.

    "Huh? What do you mean?"

    "It was just wandering in the woods…but kept wanting to stay close to me while that Zorua blew its cover trying to get its hands on it! It grabbed one of my pokéballs out of my jacket and almost caught itself in it until Zorua interrupted the process," she explained.

    "The process would have been blocked off entirely if it was already in ownership…" Jake continued. "That and it's not native to this area! Gothita is only found in Eastern Blawsth. The hunters clearly wanted something with Gothita especially, but we're not sure what…But yeah, let's get going! I already put all the coordinates into the message I sent to the police department earlier, so we shouldn't really stick around for questioning, come on!"

    In the tent, Miley finally caught Gothita. We decided to probably send any sort of data about it to Sam until we found its origins. Shinji tried getting something out of it, but it refused to speak of its past to him. He couldn't note anything about the town, any landmarks or potential locations, even about why it chose Miley in particular to be its trainer. This was an odd one…But Miley was determined to take care of it anyways! She gave it a nice wash near the creek before we left and used the rest of Jake's product to give it a sleek look. Gothita sure was glad to have found someone like Miley to be its trainer!

    Right when we barely arrived to Starmarniez Town, some guy wanted to challenge me, stating I was the guy with the Pikachu trainers kept on talkin' about! Pikachu destroyed that guy's hopes and dreams in one sitting as his Gabite was defeated though!

"Alright, it seems like I picked the wrong fight with the wrong guy! Gabby!" he squealed as Gabite laid on the dirt arena, passed out.

    It only managed to make a single slash against Pikachu; I almost feel sorry for the trainer… "Gabite is unable to battle, making Ash and Pikachu the winners! Whoo-hoo! " Shinji cheered as the referee.

    "Gah…You, you tried your best, that's all that matters…right?" the trainer's voice cracked. He ran towards me. "I've severely underestimated your skills, Mr. Ketchum, here!" He quickly pulled his wallet out. "Twenty bucks for making me waste your time, bye-bye!"

    "Huh?" I wondered. "But I don't want your money!"

    "Well…it's to make up for the fact that I didn't just recognize your name, I didn't recognize your face either! As a Sinnoh resident, I've truly failed our region…Anyways, I'm tired, my pokémon are too! A nice little nap will take care of everything, too-da-loo!" He pulled my hand out and slammed the cash onto it. He ran off, probably crying in embarrassment…

    "Huh? What happened in Sinnoh?" Miley kept asking innocently…

    "Nothing, he probably mistook me for some big-name trainer and that's why he's embarrassed…" I scratched my nose.

    "Yeah, no kidding, I'd be too if I had to go up against you…" Jake admitted. "That Pikachu of yours can really throw a number, you truly are a seasoned trainer Ash!"

    "Anyways, these pics are great! Sam is definitely going to love these!" Miley said as she showed me some of them.

    "Miley, you mostly took of Pikachu–" I pointed out.

    "Well, at least we got some of Gabite, and those are pretty rare too, right Ash?"

    "Right…What am I going to do with this money?" I asked, stretching the bills out.

    "Ashy, that guy just gave you free money! Waste it wisely, you don't get that everyday!"

    "But…"

    "It makes up for that Gary stuff, ey?"

    "I'd rather he pay me himself already…"

    "Ash, who cares! You stole plane tickets anyway…" she shrugged.

    "I didn't steal anything…" I grinded my teeth. I wasn't going to have that conversation again… "Anyways, look at that lake," I said, pointing at it. "We should totally go fishing!"

    "Not today, it's getting pretty late and I'm getting pretty tired…" Miley stretched.

    "Yeah, let's save it for tomorrow! Besides, I'm hungry." Jacob said as he walked along.

    "Yeah, I'm getting hungry too…" I admitted with my hands in my pockets.

    "There's a sushi place nearby! You think they use real water Pokémon in their–"

    Miley knocked his head. "I think you should hush it!" she suggested aggressively…The Gothita she kept pointed towards a pastry shop. "Oh, I bet you're hungry too, ey? Alright, pie for the whole gang it is!" she said as she ran along.

▶TO BE CONTINUED

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