Disclaimer: Pokemon and co. doesn't belong to me . . . . blah blah blah . .
.


Authors Notes: Here I am again and all ready for season 2 of this fic for
the few of you that'll probably come banging on my door to demand I
finish this already.
As usual, Feedback would be greatly appreciated!  And so would
suggestions for the final chapter of my fic Forever.  I kinda got writers
block on that one.



Ketchum: The Journey Continues
Season 2

Opening Ceremony Jitters!
Chapter 9


~~~~~~Musashi's POV~~~~~~

It was eight am when I woke up and heard Julie in the kitchen.  I knew it
was Julie because Satoshi was still snoring away.
Carefully I tip-toed out of the room and joined her in the kitchen.
"Does his Charizard have to sleep out of his pokeball?  And Raptor?  I
nearly tripped over them this morning."
"You'll get used to it.  If Inferno's not sleeping that close to him Satoshi
has horrible nightmares.  And Raptor prefers to sleep with him just for the
sake of being close to him."
She nodded.
"Nightmares?  Anyway, you'd better wake the three of them up.  Opening
ceremonies start in less than an hour."
"Yeah, you remember how Jacob got treated in school?"
"Of course I do, poor guy."
"It was worse for Satoshi, he still has nightmares about it."
I walked into the bedroom and shook Satoshi.  He blinked and looked at
me.
"Time to get up, the ceremonies start in less than an hour.  Breakfast is
on the table."
I waited while this sunk into his sleep boggled brain.
"Holy . . .!  We gotta get going!  Inferno, Raptor get up!"
Julie and I watched in great amusement as Satoshi scrambled around and
ran into the shower.
"What time do you think he'll be ready?"  Julie asked.  I looked at the
clock.
"Knowing him, he'll think he's ready to go at 8:30.  Then he'll realize
he's not wearing his shoes and it'll take him another fifteen minutes to
find them."  I told her wryly.
"Cutting it a little close isn't he?"
"Nah, he does this almost everyday.  He hasn't been late yet."
Julie raised an eyebrow.
"Okay!  I'm ready to go!"
Wow, he actually had his shoes on.
"Okay then, let's go!"  Julie said.


~~~~~~Inferno's POV~~~~~~

Well, at least we didn't have to run all the way to the stadium.  Instead
we were enjoying a nice, leisurely pace.
Our first battle was tomorrow on the Water field and Satoshi could only
use three pokemon.  I knew I probably wouldn't make the cut because of
my . . . dislike of water.  So he'd probably use B.B., Ramona and Zeus.
Musashi was on the Grass field tomorrow and would probably use
Venusaur, Golbat, and Arbok.
So that pretty much leaves me alone with Raptor tomorrow.
Leila wouldn't mind if I dropped in with Raptor, would she?
Nah, as long as we behaved ourselves.
Thinking of which . . . I wonder how Rare Beauty, Makaar and Chewy
are doing . . .

At the ceremony I watched the flame of the God of Fire dance on the
torch as the person carried it up the stairs.
Once the bowl was burning brightly I gave a respectful bow to the flame
before I turned my attention to the President of the Pokemon League.


~~~~~~Makaar's POV~~~~~~

This was quite dull.
Despite our fearful appearance we Banshee's are quite intelligent.
I think Satoshi sees that in me.
Granted Satoshi's Uncle knows what he's talking about, I think I could
have given this speech much better.
*I think we'd be better off in the house.* Chewy grumbled.  I must admit,
he is polite.  Unlike Musashi's Raticate.
*Now now my friend.  The interesting part will be upon us soon when he
asks up to demonstrate our attacks.* I said to him.
*Are we going to use the ones Charmeleon taught us or the ones like
Hyper Beam, Shriek and Hyper Fang?*
*That is why it shall be interesting, we shall use the ones we were
taught.*
Rare Beauty and Chewy grinned.
I merely sat down and contemplated my life before Satoshi caught me.
My life had not been one to be envied, I once was a spirit of the Springs
from the same era as Charmeleon.
However a lightning storm had come, and a single bolt of lightning freed
me.  I had been disoriented come the morning.  That was when Satoshi
and his friend had found me.
It could have been worse.  I could have been caught by a careless and
thoughtless trainer.
"Fellow colleagues, If you'll all follow me these pokemon will show their
strongest attacks."
Now comes the amusing part.


I'm sure that for their species their attacks were very powerful, but we
were undoubtedly stronger.
"As mentioned earlier, these three pokemon belong to a young trainer. 
Notice the gleam of health on Raticate's coat.  You may have also
noticed he is quit larger than a normal Raticate and far more fit, indicated
a well balanced meal and plenty of exercise as a Rattata."
Chewy beamed.
"Now, why don't you tell all of us your strongest attack?"
*Stonebreaker Fang.* He answered.
Everyone blinked.  Rare Beauty and I smirked.
"Are you sure it's not Hyper Fang?"  Brock asked.  Chewy nodded and
darted toward a rock.  All in all it looked like Hyper Fang except for two
things.  One, he was moving all around the rock at a very fast pace.  And
two, the rock crumbled.
Rare Beauty and I were actually chuckling now at the look on all their
faces.


~~~~~~Satoshi's POV~~~~~~

When we go back after the ceremonies, we were all surprised to see
Uncle Brock with a stunned look on his face as he studied Makaar's, Rare
Beauty's and Chewy's pokeballs.
"Hey Uncle Brock!  Did they behave today?"  I shouted as I ran up to
him.  He looked at me.
"Why didn't you tell me?  I could have been a little more prepared."
I blinked, what was he talking about?
"Satoshi!  You've got to show me how you taught them those attacks!" 
He suddenly shouted as he put his hands on my shoulders.
"Let me guess, Stonebreaker Fang, Water Mirror and Spirit Bomb?"
He nodded.
I shrugged. 
"All my pokemon know attacks like that.  Inferno knows Fire Claw,
Flutter knows Enclosure, Tochi knows Stone Golem, Candy knows
Ultimate Combo . . ."  I continued listing their attacks, Uncle Brock
stared at me slack-jawed.
(I don't think he was expecting that Satoshi, maybe you should lay off
and let it sink in.)  Inferno rumbled with a bit of amusement.
I blinked and looked at him.

We were sitting at the kitchen table talking about my pokemon and
pokemon care in general.
"You make their food from scratch?"
I shrugged.  "Pretty much, as long as they like it and eat it.  Of course
now they're all totally turned off store brand food."
"Amazing, and what about those attacks?  I did some research, some of
those attacks have forgotten for over a thousand years."
"Umm . . . would you believe I have the spirit of an 1800 year old
pokemon living in me?"
He raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"I didn't think so, but it's true.  I do."  I said as I upended a glass of
water over my head.  I'd just have to prove it to him.  I climbed on the
table and let Charmeleon take the helm.
Uncle Brock's eyes widened when he saw the shift.
*Satoshi speaks the truth.  I'm the one who taught his pokemon those
attacks.*
Charmeleon smirked, Uncle Brock was speechless.  I was just hanging
back in our mind and watching this.
Inferno came in and looked.
*Brother.* He said.  Charmeleon acknowledged him in the same manner.
*Do me a favour and tell Satoshi I'm heading for the bookstore with
Raptor.*
I stepped up for a minute.
*I can hear you even though Charmeleon's in control you know.*
*Got it.* He nodded as he head out the door with Raptor.  I stepped back
again.
"How . . .?"
*This is a pretty normal occurrence with Satoshi's pokemon.  They
usually know who's in control, Satoshi for the most part is, but he lets me
take control at times.  Usually it's when I'm training them.*


~~~~~~Inferno's POV~~~~~~

*Hi Leila.* 
<*Hi Leila!*> Raptor paused and tilted his head. <*You train Ghosts.*>
Leila stepped back, startled.
*Don't worry, he's harmless.  I'm just showing him around.* I chuckled.
<*Toys!*> Raptor exclaimed as he made for the children's area and
began playing.
"He must be very young."  She noted.
*Around six months now.* I grinned. *At least he won't grow any
bigger.*
"Oh my!"  She gasped.  I turned and looked at Raptor.  He was laughing
happily as he levitated two toy spaceships and had them in a mock battle. 
His eyes were glowing slightly.
I blinked, that was the first time he's ever done that.
I wondered what else he could do.
"He must be a Psychic type to do that.  But I've never seen a pokemon
like him before."
*As far as I know he's the only one of his kind with a trainer.* I rumbled
and turned to face her.  *I was wondering if you had any books on him.*
"I'm not sure, let's got check."  She paused.  "Will he be alright alone?"
*Don't worry, those toys will keep him amused for some time.* I
chuckled as I followed her.  It was true, the only thing Satoshi had in the
way of toys was a red rubber ball and that could keep Raptor happy for
hours on end.  

We scanned along the books for anything that would give me a clue.
"Here Inferno, I think I found one."  Leila said as she blew the dust off
the cover.  We coughed for a moment and looked.  The book was called
'Raptors, Myth or Reality?'.  I winced, it wasn't much but it would have
to do for now.
As I skimmed through it I shook my head in disbelief.  The book said that
mature Raptors could do something that defied physics.  That had to be a
myth, no one and nothing could do that.
And judging by the date of some of these claims I guessed that they were
just totally exaggerating the truth of what the people who wrote the
original document saw.
I blinked, some ancient civilizations worshipped the Raptor along with the
Mew as gods.
Weird.
"Oh my god!  How smart is Raptor?"  Leila suddenly asked, breaking
through my train of thought.
*He's smart for his age, I think it's just because he's a Psychic.* I told
her.
"Are you sure about that?"  
I huffed a sigh and looked.  When I saw what she was looking at made
me drop my book.
He had taken several balls and had them circling a large yellow one, he
was watching them in total fascination.
My jaw dropped as I belatedly remembered a picture of the solar system I
once saw in a book.  What he had going was an exact replica of that, all
the moons included.
I shook my head and blinked.  Our expressions matched each other's
perfectly.  Total shock.
I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he studied his little
solar system.
<*What's up?*> We fell over in shock as Raptors mind voice broke our
trance.
I couldn't wait to tell Satoshi.