Subject: [FFML] [Fanfic][Pokemon] Girlemon! I Choose Her! Part 1
From: "Ace Sanchez" <jsa@fl.net.au>
Date: 6/28/1999, 3:49 AM
To: "Fanfiction list" <ffml@fanfic.com>, "Pokefic list" <pokefanfic@onelist.com>

There doesn't seem to be many alternate universe pokemon stories floating
around (one of my fave kinds of fics) so here's one from me ... and yeah
I'm using the cliched gender bending thing. But heck I can never get
tired of these types of stories ^_^;;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    
             Girlemon!
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fanfiction written by Ace Sanchez.
Webpage @ http://jsa.users.fl.net.au
Pokemon and its associated characters
owned by Nintendo / Gamefreak. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 1 : I Choose Her! 


"Pokemon fans, this is one of the most exciting battles I've ever seen!"
the voice on the television screamed.

"Yeah!" the young girl exclaimed excitedly, as she stood in front of it 
and watched the screen in fascination. She was wearing a slightly tilted 
red and white cap, while escaping out the hole in the back of it was her 
long black hair tied in a high ponytail. The end of her ponytail swished 
across the shoulders of her filthy looking, black tanktop as she jumped 
up and down in a burst of hyper-activity. The mangled old dark-blue jeans
she wore, with holes in the knee caps revealing slender knees, looked
equally abused. 

On the screen showed the ghost pokemon, Gengar, displaying its skills
against the poison pokemon, Nidorino and the rock pokemon, Onix. The girl
sighed in fancy as she dreamed about becoming a great trainer herself one
day. She went to twist her Pokemon League cap backward on her head,
then squealed in pain as she almost ripped her hair out of from the back
of her scalp.

"I hate it when I do that," she said crossly in a soft but pretty voice,
as she freed her ponytail from its confinement and finished reversing her
cap. Then she posed dramatically, her bare arm outstretched in front of
her and holding her Voltorb alarm clock. "I am Ashly! I will gain the
wisdom of pokemon training! And I hearby declare I will be a Pokemon
Master! I will-"

"Ashly Ketchum, get to bed young lady!" her dad's voice said from outside
the room, startling her, as he began to walk in. "It's eleven o'clock and
you should be - Ashly! You're filthy!" he exclaimed. "Before you get
changed and go to bed, make sure you take a bath."

"Oh, Dad!" she complained. She wiped a smudge of dirt on her cheek but
only succeeded in smudging it further. "It's only a little dirt!"

"A little dirt?" her father said in an extremely put-upon voice, as he
pushed his brown hair from his eyes with a flat palm across his forehead.
"What have you been doing? Playing in the forest all day again? Why can't
you be a little more ladylike like other girls your age?"

Ashly frowned. "Humph! I don't want to be a lady! I want to be a Pokemon
Master!" she hotly declared, taking her cap off her head and flipping
her long, black bangs out of her light brown eyes. "And now that I'm ten,
tomorrow I can finally get my Pokemon License and start my journey." She
clasped her hands together under her chin with her eyes going all shiny.
"And tomorrow ..." she squealed in a happy tone. "I can finally get my
very first ... Pokemon!" She squealed again and began jumping around the
room like a maniac, her hair flapping up and down wildly.

"Yes, I know that, Dear," her father said in a weary voice as if he had
heard that speech over a hundred times (And in fact, he had). "Okay," he
said, picking up the remote where Ashly had dropped it. He pointed it at
the television and switched the channel. The screen flashed then changed
to a picture of an absent-minded-looking woman professor with black,
grey-streaked hair in front of three pokemon likenesses. "Well, watch
this. It will help you get ready." He turned to leave her room. "But
don't forget to take a bath before you go to sleep!"

"I will, I will," Ashly promised as she stopped flitting around the room
and glued her eyes to the television set. On the screen was Professoress
Oak, Pallet Town's foremost authority on pokemon. She was lecturing out
information on the soon-to-be trainer's journey tomorrow. But strangely,
behind the woman, there wasn't the three standard starting pokemon,
Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Instead there were three loopy
looking pokemon that Ashly had never seen before.

"Good evening, Pokemon students!" Professoress Oak said. "Tomorrow's the
big day! However I have bad news." Ashly frowned at that. "I was unable
to secure the three standard beginning trainer types. Instead there was
only several types of these three pokemon." She pointed to a micro-sized
creature that looked like a radish with a face and feet. "Oddish." Next,
she pointed to a doofy looking orange fish flapping around in a too-small
aquarium. "And Magikarp." Then she pointed to a midget opera singer
look-alike, with long white hair, and big red ugly lips in a shadowed
face. "However I was unable to secure a fire type as there was only Jynx
available." Professoress Oak smiled. "But I'm sure one of these three
pokemon will suffice! Good night! I hope to see you all at the centre
tomorrow!" 

Ashly moaned and fell down face-first her on her bed, spreading brown
dirt on all the white sheets. She began to smack her face over and over
into her pillow. "I just can't believe this! Those pokemon looked crap!"
But a sound from the television interrupted her moaning and she looked
up.

The screen changed to a commercial with a shady-looking man with an
aquarium full of that fish that the Professoress had earlier. "Magikarp!"
the man said. "Did you know that they are the most powerful pokemon in
the world?" he continued with a big cheesy grin on his face. "Using their
almighty Splash attack! Just watch!" The screen shifted to a close-up of
the Magikarp in the tank. "Watch them defeat this Metapod!" A green
cocoon creature was placed in the tank.

"Karp, karp, magikarp, karp!" The fish splashed around.

The Metapod suddenly closed its eyes and looked like it fainted. 

"Woah, that was awesome!" Ashly exclaimed as she pushed herself up on her
elbows on her bed, ponytail resting on her shoulder (She hadn't noticed
that there was strings attached to the Metapod's eyes that had pulled
them closed).

"Only two hundred and ninety-nine, ninety-nine!" the man said as the
screen shifted back to him. "Magikarp ... the most powerful pokemon in
the world! Now available at all leading pokemon retailers and outlets."
Then the commercial ended.

Ashly continued to look dreamily at the screen. "I know what I'm going to
choose tomorrow!" she said out loud in a determined voice.


<><><>


"Eeek!" Ashly screamed as she woke up in her bed the next morning, still
in her dirty clothes. She flipped over to find that her alarm clock had
fallen off the dresser and lay smashed on the ground. "Oh no! What time
is it?"

Soon, Ashly was sprinting down the dirt road, towards Proffessoress Oak's
pokemon centre in a wild frenzy. She had forgotten her hat and her black
bangs kept flopping around in her eyes as her ponytail trailed behind her
in the wind. "Magikarp, Jynx, Oddish, any one's fine! Just save one for
me!" she called out desperately.

As she finally neared the hill where the centre was situated on top of,
she noticed the crowd gathering at the foot of it. All of Pallet Town's
residents had come to see off their latest would-be, young pokemon
trainers.

In fact, she even noticed some sort of squad of boys waving pink pom-poms
around. 

"Garina, Garina! She's our girl!" they called out with looks of adulation
on their faces. "If she can't do it, no one ... *quick, what rhymes with
girl? Sirl, lirl, dirl, curl? That'll have to do* If she can't do it, no
one curl!" they continued. "Go, go, Garina!"

Weirdos, Ashly thought as she ran through them. "Sorry, excuse me!" she
said as she shoved through. The boys turned to look at the half-dressed
girl and widened their eyes at how cute she looked.

Then Ashly ran into someone knocking them over. "Oops!" she said looking
down. It was a pretty, snotty-looking girl with long, light brown hair
worn around her shoulders in an elegant, dark-blue dress.

"Watch where you're going, you tomboy!" the girl said as she stood up
with a huff, dusting her skirt off. Her head came up over Ashly as the
girl was a bit taller than her.

Then the girl turned up her nose at her. "You must be Ashly ... better
late than never I suppose!" she said in a superior tone.

"Garina?" Ashly said, recognising the posh girl. "Garina Oak?"

The girl folded her arms daintily underneath her slightly curved chest
and smirked at her. "That's Miss Garina to you!" she said in her high
girlish voice. "You sleep, you weep! I've got a pokemon and you don't!"

"You ... got your first pokemon?"

"That's right, tomboy," Garina said insultingly. "It's right inside of
this poke ball!" she said, taking a red and white ball from one of the
folds within her dress.

Ashly looked jealously at it. "I was wondering, could you tell me what
kind of pokemon you got?"

Garina snatched it away. "None of your business girl! If you were here on
time, you would have seen that I got the best pokemon from nanna!" She
smiled on her perfectly maintained face. "It's good to have your
grandmother in the pokemon business isn't it?" Then she looked Ashly
over. "You're a disgrace to girls everywhere, Ashly. I bet you slept in 
those clothes! You're such a tomboy!"

Ashly narrowed her light brown eyes. Then she noticed Garina's
cheer-leading boys staring at her chest area. Ashly looked down and saw
that her black tank-top was slightly strained, showing off her curved
chest, bare slim waist and flaring hips to full effect. She smirked as
she looked back at Garina. "I may be a tomboy," she said acidly. "But I
certainly have more 'talent' then you do!" she finished, waving down her
figure with a hand.

Garina's face flushed crimson. "Why, you ... you! You're just a fast
developer! I hate you!" The brunette ran off in a huff to her red
convertible. Her cheer-leading squad of boys followed, but were still 
taking quick peeks at her as they retreated.

As they drove off, with Garina's chauffeur driving, Garina looked back at
her and stuck her tongue out and lowered her eye-lid. "Well I'm off to
learn the ways of the Pokemon Trainer! Smell ya later!"

Ashly watched them off as she straightened her clothes out and dusted the
more dirtier parts off her jeans. "I'll show you!" she declared hotly.

"You must be Ashly," an older woman's voice said from behind her.

Ashly turned around to find Professoress Oak looking at her.
"Professoress Oak!" she said happily. "Where's my pokemon?" 

At her stare, the Professoress looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Please tell me there are pokemon left!" Ashly panicked, her ponytail
standing on end. "I need my pokemon!" she screamed, causing the crowds of
observers to cover their ears from her shrill voice.

A while later they were up at Proffesoress Oak's lab. Ashly was standing
in front a round table with three red and white poke balls arrayed in a
circle on top of it.

"I've been thinking a little bit," Ashly said, blowing her hair out of
her eyes with a slight breath. "But I decided I really wanted ..." She
picked up the ball on left. "Magikarp!" She pressed the ball's button and
it clicked open, splitting in two as if it were hinged. But nothing came 
out.

"Already taken by someone who was on time," the woman professor said.

Ashly sweated. She had *really* wanted a Magikarp! They looked so
powerful on the advertisement on the television last night. "In that
case," she sighed as she picked up the ball at the back. "Now, I'll
choose ... Oddish!" However, that too was empty.

"The early bird gets the worm," Professoress Oak said. "Or in this case,
the pokemon."

Ashly clicked open the last ball which was also empty. "That Jynx too? I
can't believe anyone took it!"

Professoress Oak, rubbed her chin. "Well, there is one still left, but I
..."

"Professoress Oak, I'll take it!" Ashly immediately blurted.

"I should warn you, there is a problem with this last one," the older
woman said as she scrummaged around for the last poke ball on the desk.

"I have to have a pokemon!"

"In that case, don't say I didn't warn you!" she said, handing Ashly the
ball. Ashly immediately opened it.

There was a sudden bright flash of light as it opened and when the light
finally dissipated, a small yellow mouse-like pokemon with pointed ears,
red spotted cheeks and stripes on its back, appeared. "Pikachu!" it said
in a highly cute voice, jagged yellow tail twitching behind it as it
stood on its small hind legs. It looked at her with adorable looking, 
shiny black eyes.

Professoress Oak stepped backward in caution. "Its name is Pikachu,
you'll see ..."

But the Pikachu suddenly squealed and jumped off the table to hug Ashly
by the neck. "Pika, pika!"

"That's weird," the woman professor said with a confused look on her
face. "It was supposed to shock you."

However Ashly had her face screwed up in fear as the Pikachu hugged her
neck. Her light brown eyes were wide open and her pert mouth was squashed
to the side in a grimace. "Its shocking me now!" she screamed. "It's a
mouse! A big overgrown yellow mouse!" She began to shiver. "I'm scared of
mice!

"Pika?"

"You're afraid of mice?" Professoress Oak said with a slight smile.
"Okay, I'll take it off." She grabbed the Pikachu and went to set it down
by the table again, but before she could do that, the Pikachu glowed
yellow as its red cheeks sparked.

"Pika!"

Electricity exploded out from its body and electrocuted the woman
professor silly.

"It-It was supposed to do that to you ..." she said, her grey-streaked
black hair, standing on end and smoking, as she finished putting the
Pikachu back down on the table.

"J-Just set it away!" Ashly said in a frightened voice as she scooted
backwards to the far corner of the lab, as far away from the Pikachu as
she could get. The Pikachu looked sadly at her, eyes moistening.

"So you don't want it?"

"Of course I want it! It's still a pokemon!" Ashly bit her nails in fear.
"E-Even if it is a mouse ... I have to have a pokemon!"


<><><>


"Ashly, Ashly, Ash-a-ly!" the crowd was cheering as Ashly walked slowly
outside down the steps of the hill with the crispy fried Professoress Oak
following her. Her teeth were chattering in fear as she held Pikachu out
in front of her as far as she could hold it. A thin line of sweat ran
down her cheek. She could do this, she could do this, she thought to
herself. Oh, why did it have to be a mouse?

When they reached the bottom, Ashly's dad came running up to them. "Oh,
Ashly!" he said. "I'm so proud of you! And is that your pokemon? A mouse?
I thought you were afraid of them?"

"I-I *am* afraid of them, Dad," Ashly stuttered.

Her dad looked her over. "You forgot to bathe and change clothes last
night didn't you?" he said in a cross tone. "Before you leave, young
lady, get home, take a shower and get dressed in fresh clothes at once!"

"Pika!" Pikachu said angrily at her father's tone. Electricity burst from
its body and shot her father with a big zap.

When the lightning cleared, her father stood before them, all black and
well-done with a shocked look on his face. "I-I see why you were so
afraid. Now don't forget to do what I told you." Then he fell over,
unconscious.


<><><>


So later that day, Ashly set out with her new pokemon, Pikachu, on her
journey to become a Pokemon Master. Before she left, the Professoress had
given her a red palm sized computer with encyclopediac knowledge of
pokemon called a Pokedex. Then after that she took a bath at home and had
a change of clothes; which looked exactly the same as her old ones, save
they were clean; a pair of badly ripped blue jeans and a short black
tank-top along with her trusty Pokemon League red and white cap. It was
worn on a jaunty angle on her head, letting her ponytail flap out
therear. Strapped to her back was her small green backpack which held her
belongings and other clothes.

"P-Pikachu," she called as she walked up the rise of the grassy hill
along the dirt path. She was getting a little used to the little yellow
mouse by now. Well, not really, she thought, shivering. "Why don't you
get inside the poke ball like it says you should in the pokedex?" She
groaned to herself. "Oh, why couldn't I get a Magikarp?"

Way behind her, by over a dozen feet, Pikachu scampered after her on all
fours being led by the ridiculously long leash tied around its body.
Whenever Pikachu got too close, Ashly would walk faster so that she kept
the same far distance away from it.

The red pokedex notebook thing suddenly piped up in its little electronic
voice. "While being trained, a pokemon usually stays inside its poke
ball."

Ashly turned around and stuck her tongue out at Pikachu.

"But," the pokedex continued. "There are many exceptions. Some pokemon
hate being confined."

After hearing that, Ashly stopped walking so that Pikachu could catch up.
She noticed the slightly sad expression on her pokemon's face as it
gratefully hurried forward and stood by her feet. Ashly, although
unnerved enough to still take a step backward, felt a little sorry for
it.

"I-I suppose I'm being a little unfair," Ashly said, biting her nails.
"After all I did choose you." She flinched once before steeling herself
and quickly untied the leash from Pikachu's body before standing back.
"Okay, I ditched the leash. Is that better?"

"Pika!" Pikachu said with an adoring look on its face at her.

Then a flapping noise interrupted them as a small brown and white bird
rustled in the grass a little distance away from them.

"Hunh? A Pidgey!" Ashly exclaimed.

"Pidgey," the pokedex stated. "Gentle and easy to capture. Perfect for
the beginning pokemon trainer to test his pokemon's skills."

A vein throbbed in Ashly's forehead. "His? Oh, these pokedex makers are
so chauvinist!" she said loudly. She turned back to the Pidgey. "It
doesn't matter. It's my lucky day! I'm going to capture it!" she said, as
she unhooked a poke ball from the belt she wore around her jeans. She
expanded it in her hand and studied the Pidgey.

"Pika, pika?" Pikachu said, as it tugged on the leg of her jeans. "Eh?
Argh!" Ashly exclaimed with shock, stepping backwards away from it.
Pikachu looked at her, then pointed to its chest, then pointed at the
Pidgey.

"Don't worry, Pikachu, I know what I'm doing!" Ashly said, completely
misunderstanding. She twisted her cap sideways. At least until it caught
on her ponytail. "Urg! I hate that." Then removing her hair from it, and
after twisting her cap fully backwards, she lifted the poke ball and
prepared to throw it like a baseball pitcher. She focused on the bird
with her eye.

"Poke ball, go!" she then shouted, throwing the ball at the Pidgey as
hard as she could. The poke ball smacked into the back of the Pidgey's
head with a loud crack and knocked the Pidgey unconscious.

"Oh, no!" Ashly said as she ran forward and crouched by its side. "Was it
supposed to do that? I hope I didn't kill it!" She picked up the ball
that she threw. "Woops," she said sheepishly turning her hat back the
right way and pulling her ponytail through the holeagain. "I forgot to
activate it!"

Pikachu fell backwards with a sweat drop on its head.

The Pidgey began to stir, but Ashly didn't notice as she was still
playing around with the ball. "Uh, I think this is the button." She
pressed it. "That was it I think! Uh, hey, the Pidgey is escaping!"

Sure enough, the brown bird was taking off. It blew a gust of dirt-filled
wind at her. "Ow!" Ashly fell backwards, rubbing the dirt off her face.

"Pika!" Pikachu then said, scampering forward. Its body began to
electrify. "Pikachu!"

The Pidgey tried to fly away but was shocked by the electricity that
Pikachu threw at it. It fell back to the ground in a cloud of feathers.

"Woah, thanks Pikachu!" Ashly said as she shook her face free from the
remainder of the sand. She threw the poke ball at the Pidgey again. "Poke
ball, go!"

This time, the ball opened up over the Pidgey and it was sucked up in a
flash of red light. Then the ball closed with a snap and fell to the
ground. Ashly and Pikachu watched the ball wiggle around for a few
seconds. Then it suddenly stopped and the red light on the ball lit up
indicating that it had successfully caught the bird.

Ashly stood in awed silence for a while, just staring at the ball. Then
she jumped into the air and clicked the heels of her black sneakers
together. "Yahoo! Yeah! Woohoo! Yea!" she shouted in glee as she took
several leaps forward, all the while clicking her heels together. She
picked up the ball, did a spin, then held it up in the air, while her
other hand flashed a 'V' sign with her fingers. "Yea! I caught Pidgey!!!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said in happiness as it also held a 'V' sign with its
little paw.

Ashly saw it and laughed. She looked at the poke ball and kissed it.
"Ooh, it must be great for Pidgey in there! All snuggly and wuggly." Then
in her happiness she completely forgot about her fear of mice. "Pikachu!
Thanks pal!" After attaching her new Pidgey to her belt, she ran up and
scooped it up in her arms and hugged it. 

"Chu!"

But then a few minutes later when her elation wore off, she realised just
what she was hugging.

"Argh!" she screamed. She dropped it and began to run. Unfortunately a
tree stood in her path and she smashed into it, shaking the tree
violently, as she fell on her back side.

A flock of angry birds then flapped out of its branches. They began
flying around looking for whoever disturbed them. Their eyes fixated on
Ashly lying at the foot of the trunk.

"Oh ..." she said weakly as she pulled herself up to her knees. "What
are those things?" She pulled out her pokedex.

"Spearow," it chimed. "Unlike Pidgey, it has a terrible attitude. They
are very wild and will sometimes attack other pokemon and humans."

"Oh no!" she called out, diving to the ground as one of the Pidgeys
attacked.

"Kachu!" Pikachu said, running forward. Sparks emitted from its cheeks
and then it shot a bolt of lightning scaring away most of the birds.

"Krawwww!" the Spearows shouted. Then numerous other Spearows began to
emerge from the trees all around them.

"Oh no!" Ashly said again. "Let's get out of here!" They began to run
down the hill, Pikachu scampering on all fours by her feet. Soon it
seemed like dozens and dozens of Spearows were behind them. 

"Ow!" she said as one of them smacked into the back of her head.

Then she saw that Pikachu was getting the worst of the treatment. It kept
getting hit by diving Spearows. It began to fall back, running slower.

Ashly stopped and ran back to pick it up. Sure, she was scared of mice,
but she had to save it after all it had done to help her! She felt
ashamed at the way she treated it. She picked it up in her arms, waving
off the Spearows trying to peck her face and then began to run again.
Soon she heard the sound of water falling and before them the path ended
in a rocky ledge. Down below was an expanse of water that fell from the
waterfall that was making the loud noise.

"Looks like it's the end of the line," she said. Then she steeled
herself. "Well, Pikachu ... here we go!" She jumped off, tightly holding
Pikachu in her arms.


<><><>


A tough looking, handsome boy with longish red hair was sitting on the
edge of the rocky riverbank fishing. He was wearing a pair of undone blue
denim overalls, the straps hanging down around his legs, and a loose
yellow t-shirt.

The boy blew some strands of hair that had fallen in his blue eyes with a
gust of breath and an up-turned lip, as he waited patiently for a bite on
his red fishing rod.

Suddenly he noticed that his pink floaty was jerking. Something had taken
the bait. "Hey, I got a bite!" he exclaimed. He pulled on his rod, and he
felt it jerk even harder. "Oh, wow! I think this could really be a big
one!" He stood up and strained as hard as he could, jerking the line out
of the water with a grunt, closing his eyes as he did so.

There was a splash sound as whatever he had caught broke the surface and
he swung his catch over his head, and flipping it off the hook. He opened
his eyes and turned around. 

"It's a girl!" the boy exclaimed.

Instead of a water pokemon which he expected to find, it was a young girl
Sitting there, with black hair in a ponytail and a red and white cap
stuck 
on her head. Or more like her face. The hat had gotten stuck over her
eyes 
and the girl was cursing as she tried to pull the hat off. 

Then he noticed the small yellow Pikachu the girl had against her chest.
"And a pokemon!" He ran closer and kneeled by her side.

Then the girl finally managed to take the wet hat off her face with a
popping sound. 

"Are you okay?" the boy asked.

The girl sighed, placed her wet floppy hat on the ground, then sat up
slightly. "I'm alright," she said testily. Her wet black hair, hung
around her face in moist strands as she looked down at her Pikachu. "It's
my Pikachu that I'm worried about." Then she looked up at him. The boy
sucked in his breath as he stared down at her face. She was the cutest
girl he had ever seen. Her light brown eyes seemed to bore into his own
blue ones. Then his gaze went lower to her chest where her black tank-top
clung wetly and was further outlined by the straps of her backpack. He
felt blood starting to leak out of his nose.

The girl looked down at where he was staring. She picked up her hat with
one hand and stood up, face flushing red. "You pervert! My Pikachu is
badly injured and all you can do is stare at me." She flopped her hat on
her head sideways with a squelch. "Don't just stand there, tell me where
the nearest medical centre is!"

The boy also flushed, and began to get annoyed. "There's one not too far
away from here!" he said, pointing. "You shouldn't have gotten your
Pikachu all messed up like that in the first place-" 

Then the sounds of hundreds of wings flapping interrupted him. He turned
around to see a huge flock of Spearows flying towards them.

"They're coming back!" the girl said, frightened.

"Hey, what are you doing!" he shouted.

The girl had run over to his motorcycle that he had left against a tree.
Heh, he thought. She wouldn't be able to start it without the key. He
felt around for it in his pocket. But it wasn't there. He must have left
it on his bike. He looked up to see that the girl had placed her pokemon
in the side bags where he kept his stuff and was now sitting on the seat
and fiddling around with something that sounded jingly. His keys.

"I'll give it back some day!" the girl said as she began to turn the key
and start his bike.

"Ha! You won't be able to take it anyway because what would a girl know
about riding a motorbike?"

The bike started with a roar, and the girl began to rev the engine. Smoke
drifted out of the exhaust pipes. "Plenty!" she said, sticking her tongue
out at him. Then she flipped her wet ponytail back over her shoulder with
a toss of her head. "Hang on, Pikachu!" The back wheel of the bike
skidded in the dirt before she took off with a blast of the engine.

Misto watched the girl ride off on his motorbike until she was no longer
visible.

"Oh, you!"


<><><>


"Just hang on, Pikachu!" Ashly said as she expertly drove the motorbike
down the path, taking a brief look at it lying injured in the side bag.
She hoped that the boy was right and there really was a medical centre
this way. That boy ... she felt a bit bad about taking his bike, but this
was an emergency. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry. Then again ... he
did have red hair, and red-heads were notorious for their tempers.

Then it began to rain and the flapping was louder now. Ashly turned her
head to see that the Spearows had amazingly caught up. She screamed as
they began pecking at her back and arms. "Leave us along Spearows!"

"P-Pika ..."

Ashly turned to see that Pikachu was standing up. It began to emit some
lightning weakly as if it was again trying to protect her. Ashly felt
deeply moved at how much the Pikachu was trying to do for her. And after
all the times she had pushed it away too. She didn't deserve it. She was
more of a rat that any mouse was.

"Pikachu!" she shouted as she spotted a drop coming ahead. "Get in my
arm! I'm going to do something!"

"Pika?" But it obediently leaped into her free arm, and Ashly held on to
it tightly.

"Now, hang on!" She swerved and drove the bike off the ledge and directly
at a tree below. They were air-borne and the Spearows crowed as they
followed like a cloud, biting at her back. Then at the last second before
the bike would hit the tree, Ashly jumped off to the side. As she lifted
her arms and legs around to protect Pikachu as she landed in a ball,
rolling away, the bike exploded burning more than a few of the Spearow.
They flapped away frightened and in agony.


<><><>


"Uhh," Ashly sighed as she opened her eyes the next morning. She and
Pikachu were lying on the dirt path. The sun was shining brightly
overhead and the skies were blue.

"Pi, pi, pi," Pikachu said as it crawled over to her side.

Ashly sat up and hugged it. "Well, we beat em," she said wearily, but
happily. Then she spotted something glowing in the sky. It was
bird-shaped and looked like it was on fire.

"What's that?" she said aloud.

Her pokedex which was on the ground next to her, where it had fallen out,
piped up. "There is no data. There are still pokemon yet to be
identified."

Then Ashly resumed her trek towards the medical centre, carrying Pikachu
and hugging it tightly to her chest. She could already see the city down
the hill before her. The roofs of the houses seemed to sparkle in the
sunlight.

"Pika?"

Ashly looked down at it and smiled lopsidely. "So I got used to you. I
guess you don't look that much like a mouse anyway. And you are quite a
useful little guy to have around." Then she looked up and straightened
her hat on her head and blew a strand of her bangs from her eye. "Besides
... if I want to be a Pokemon Master ... I can't be afraid of anything!"
She laughed triumphantly. "Hah hah hah ha!"

Pikachu licked her on the chin.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!"


--- End of Part 1

Notes:

So what do you think? Anyone want me to continue this on the side?

I *really* tried to find a crappy looking fire-type pokemon for the
'revised' starter 3, but all them looked too cool! Darn it. There isn't
that many fire pokemon (out of the original 151) other than Charmander,
Growlithe, and Vulpix as well as their evolutions and Magmar, Flareon and
Moltres. And damn if they aren't all kick arse. Too bad there isn't a
'Magikarp' of fire pokemon ^_^;;

Oh, and just suspend disbelief on "Ashly's" developed body ^_^;; After
all, supposedly, Misty is ten years old in the anime (someone told me
that she actually declared herself as ten in one of the Jap episodes).
And manga Misty is supposedly twelve, but have you *seen* the way they
draw her? Jeez, she could pass for sixteen and older!

And yes, I know the term "Professoress" doesn't exist. But it was the
only thing that I could think of to give it a more feminine sound.

One last thing, thanx to Funkiechick from the Ash & Misty couples board
for the suggestion of "Misto's" name ^_^;;

As always, feedback, C&C or whatever is appreciated!


Ace Sanchez
Email: jsa@fl.net.au
WWW: http://jsa.users.fl.net.au