Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon, it belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by me, so there. Don’t take it!

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

I noticed Chapter 3 was shorter than usual, so 4 is longer!

 

Chapter 4

 

            It really should not have been a big deal.

            Still…

            Ash was completely taken unawares when Bob denounced him as the murderer of Olivia Persimmon.

            “Why would I kill her?” Ash asked incredulously. “I was in the Aqua islands at that time! Besides, she adopted me!”

            “So?”

            The proof was thus.

            Olivia had been killed by a person in a set of gray robes and a matching cloak, with a butcher knife.

            The knife had Ash’s fingerprints on it somehow.

            There was no pardon or appeal of course; who would dare contradict the Leader of the Pokemon League? So Ash was packed off to juvenile hall without a second glance.

            Or, he would have been…

            But one isn’t a card master for nothing.

            All his poke balls were empty, the card spirits didn’t need them. He hid in Blackthorn, with Lance-chan’s cousin Claire, and they began investigating the mystery.

 

            “Well, Lance and I both know you didn’t do it.” Claire said. “He’d know better than I since he’s with you all the time, but that’s not the point.”

            “I wish those idiots would see it.” Lance said.

            “Well, my Cosmos championship didn’t get revoked because Charlotte flatly refused to believe the evidence, but…”

            “But you’ve lost Houen.”

            Ash scowled. “Yes.”

            “I bet Bob killed him.” Claire said. “It’s so obvious. I mean, why else would he frame you?”

            “You think so?”

            “Well, it’s kind of blatantly obvious, only most people are too stupid to see the truth.” Claire admonished.

            “True enough…”

 

            “There’s still the question of what I can do about it.”

            “Quite a bit,” Lance commented. “But first, we need to prepare.”

            “… Prepare?”

            “You know Bob won’t let you go free. If you tell the truth it could topple him off his glittering fake glass pedestal in a moment. So of course he’ll want to kill you, but just in case any complications arise, or unwanted memories…”

            “He won’t do it alone.”

            “Of course.”

            “Well, Misty and Brock would be on his side… Surge, maybe.’ Claire said, making a list.

            “We have Sabrina, Morty, Will, and Karen.” Lance said. “Agatha’s too old, her heart cannot take the strain.”

            “You have me as well.”

            “We didn’t forget you, Ms. Claire.” Ash said respectfully.

            Claire laughed. “You don’t need to call me that.”

            “I think he probably used Ditto to transform into Ash, that would work.” Lance said. “Of course, he’d deny having a ditto, always wanting to be a ‘pure dragon master’.”

            “But he’ll never get there.”

            “Obviously.”

 

            “Now what?” Ash queried.

            “Now, we wait.” Lance said. “The battle will be joined shortly, it whispers on the wind of bloodshed.”

            “And the others?”

            “Most of the gym leaders will choose not to fight, but I forgot one… Pryce will also join Bob. Perhaps Chuck and Bruno as well, those two always did have some grudge…”

            Claire nodded. “Then we are even.”

            “Yes, and we will place them well.”

            “Then let us begin.”

 

            The three began training, even if Claire wasn’t Chosen really, she had the Key of Stormy Weather, and she was a dragon master as well.

            The four others came, and trained as well.

            A bare six weeks later the attack came.

            “Well done, Hakuryuu.” Lance said, stroking the Dragonair’s horn. < Perfect. >

            < I know. >

            < He will walk straight into the trap and he will fall. >

            It would be perfect.

 

            The battle began.

            Morty fought Misty, it took bare seconds to whip the water girl’s pokemon into submission.

            Pathetic soul.

            Afterwards, Haunter’s dream eater effectively dispatched Misty, but to Morty’s horror, that was when Missingno attacked.

            < No one told me about this! >

            < Sorry! > Ash called. < Run!>

            Morty needed no further encouragement. He attacked Surge and left Missingno to another.

            Surge didn’t have much of a chance, either…

            Sabrina and Will were soundly beating Chuck and Bruno. Pathetic, really, but psychic was faster and if hit, the fighting types would fall.

            “HELP!” Bruno yelled, as he hid behind Onix, Machamp collapsing from Sabrina’s Alakazam’s psychic.

            < You don’t deserve this mercy. > She said coldly.

            “Argh! I’m not strong enough! DAMN YOU!”

            < You jump into battle and complain about the unfairness? > Will scoffed. < No true master would. >

            He idly watched as Xatu sent Chuck’s poliwrath flying far, far away.

            His second Xatu was working with Sabrina’s Mr. Mime to KO the rest of the fighting pokemon. There had been lots of machops, but they were easily picked off.

            No contest.

 

            Brock hadn’t lasted a minute against Claire’s Kingdra, and had currently been roped to a convenient boulder with the rest of the losers.

            Well, they had chosen the locale, so it was good to take advantage of the natural surroundings without ruining them.

            Habitat destruction played no role here.

            Karen and Pryce’s battle was actually kind of amusing, Pryce had used Hail and Blizzard but Umbreon and Houndoom were taking care of it, Umbreon’s faint attack never missed a target, those poor Seel, while Houndoom had easily, quite easily, finished off Piloswine and Delibird.

            Poor Pryce could only roll around in his wheelchair quite slowly. There wasn’t really a way to escape, until he pulled out a jynx and it teleported him away.

            But Pryce was weak either way, so Karen didn’t care about his escape.

            Meanwhile, Ash faced off against Bob.

 

            “Why did you kill her?”

            “She served her purpose by giving birth to me.” Bob snarled. “I am the dragon tamer in the prophecy, after all, I’m the leader of the elite four and that’s the clue!”

            “Are you really?” Ash taunted.

            Bob roared, as his hands turned huge and he used Dragon Claw on Ash, only to find the kid had vanished.

            “That’s no good…” Ash mused. “Well, I’m not a dragon master either, but I won’t let you claim the title falsely.”

            “SHUT UP!”

            Next, a Hyper Beam shot at Ash.

            Ash smirked, Counter.

            Bob was hit by his own attack and then had to recharge!

            “It’s not over yet!” The man growled.

            “Oh, quit the drama.” Ash said. “Ice Beam…”

            The beam hit, freezing Bob in a block of ice.

 

            “I’m afraid that’s not the end of him though.” Claire said. “Won’t he get reborn?”

            “Maybe, I hope as late as possible. We can just beat him again. His pride and stupidity will be his downfall.”

            “Whatever you say.”

 

            Meanwhile, Lance had the pleasure of dealing with missingno. Well, actually, the curse, but that wasn’t the point.

            Dodging all those messy black tentacles was really a pain, but cutting them off was too slow.

            “Illusion!” Lance said, putting the card into play. “Show her the future that she desperately wants to see!”

            Missingno stumbled, caught up in the fantasy world.

            Lance used Restoration Rain, going back to full health, and then Locked On.

            < Guillotine… >

            It failed.

 

            That had been expected, Missingno had some odd quirks. It was kind of like Cancer, different than all other species.

            Still… he wouldn’t lose yet. * Yes, why not? *

            Sheer Cold…

            Ice guardian using ice attack powered up extra by the Ice Wand… well that could not bode well.

            It’s a one-hit KO!

            Misty vanished before Lance could seal her off though.

 

            “Is it over now?” Karen asked in a semi-bored tone.

            “Hai.”

            “Well, Lance, do you want to take Bob’s place then?” Lorelei teased, when the group returned to the plateau.

            Lance chuckled. “Well, since there’s a vacancy I guess I’ll have to, little cousin.”

            “I’m not that little!”

            And a new chapter in life began.

 

End Chapter

5/30/04 created 2/25/04