moneylesswario
Gone But Not Forgotten
NOTE: Although this can be read as a standalone story, it will make more sense if you've read Back to Basics. This is NOT a continuation or an update of Back to Basics, think of it as just a non-canon holiday special.
Also, if you're a Paul fan, you will NOT want to read this.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
A brand new journey's round the door
And this'll be nothing like before
This time I'll give it all
I have trained to become the very best
just watch as I'm beating all the rest
I will never fall
Soon the entire world will see
I know I'll fulfill my destiny
We will save the world
and our journey never ends
cause I gotta catch'em all
Pokémon X and Y
I will never stop
until' I'm number one
cause we will save the world
Pokémon X and Y
Pokémon!
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Today's episode is... A Misty Obstacle For Yvonne! (Ash reads the title)
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Today was a special occasion in the Pokemon World. It was... Valentine's Day. People and Pokemon alike had paired up with their ideal lovers. Except for a few people...
"Come on out, everyone!" a voice yelled. The person who yelled it out was a boy with messy black hair, a league hat, Z marks on his cheeks, a dark green shirt, and a blue pair of pants - he wasn't exactly Valentine's Day material. But he was an aspiring Pokemon Master. His Pokemon all rushed out from their positions to greet him, except for Snivy, who stared down on the ground. Bayleef and Muk, in particular, had slammed down on him. When they were finished, he was struggling to get up for a few seconds. Palpitoad wrapped its long tongue around him and helped him up.
"Thanks, Palpitoad. Now, listen up, everyone... hey, Snivy, what's wrong?" He noticed Snivy's downtrodden expression and approached her.
"Sni..." the Unova Pokemon responded.
"You sure about that?" Ash insisted, as Oshawott placed a hand on her back. A vine retracted from her neck and slapped him silly.
Pikachu rushed towards Snivy and shouted at her. "Pika Pika!"
"Sni!"
Snivy ran away, prompting Oshawott and Pikachu to go after her, but Ash stopped them. "She might need some time to herself," he reasoned."
"Oshawott."
"Pikachu."
"Okay, everyone..." Ash began. "I..."
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
A girl with a ponytail was in the Pokemon Center, healing her Starmie and Goldeen. They had just fought off no more than ten guys at once who wouldn't leave their trainer alone simply because they "loved" her. Only yesterday, she had been looking forward to this day so much, but now she had been dreading it. She should have seen this coming!
"Misty, your Goldeen and Starmie have been healed," the smiley nurse by the counter in front of her eyes chirped.
Misty got up and took her Poke Balls. "Thanks!" Immediately, she spotted a letter in the nurse's left hand with her name written on it. "Hey, is that for me?"
"It sure is! P- Someone wanted me to give this to you!" she gave the letter to Misty, who opened it mindlessly. She gasped as she read the contents of the letter. It said:
"Dear Misty,
There are many things I can say about you to your face, but for some reason, I'm at a loss for words today. Well, if you wanna talk, just meet me at Professor Oak's ranch! I have a confession to make, and the way I can get it out is face-to-face, ya see? Sorry for the pun! Will ya please be my Valentine?
Signed, Your Secret Admirer."
Misty thought to herself as she read the letter over and over again. It couldn't possibly be him, could it? If it was, he did a very poor job of hiding it. At the same time, some of it didn't sound like him. She was going to get to the bottom of this and find out for herself...
Outside, a blonde haired girl was riding on her Gogoat, just enjoying the fresh air. She laughed as the wind blew towards her, but her joy was cut short when a familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Yvonne!"
Gogoat immediately braked as she fell off of the Grass-type Pokemon. The boy who had yelled her name just dropped a piece of paper on her face and flew away on his Talonflame. The blonde girl shook her head a few times, causing the material to drop on her lap. It was then that she took notice of the envelope and opened it. She unfolded the paper that was inside it and read it:
"Dear Yvonne,
I remember when I first met ya, all I could think was, 'Wow, I can't believe how much she reminds me of me!'. Every day, I've grown to admire you more and more, ya know? And now, I think I actually like ya a bit... okay, a lot! Just meet me at Professor Oak's lab!
Signed, Your Secret Admirer."
"Wow, I never realized he was so shy... it's kind of sweet, really. Something about this doesn't seem right, though," Yvonne thought, as she got back on her Gogoat and rode to the rendezvous location...
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Snivy was staring at her own reflection on a pond, deep in thought. She couldn't stop thinking about the trainer she had before Ash: N. Her first trainer was so abusive that he blamed his own losses on the Pokemon, and even used those who didn't disappoint him to "teach the weaklings of the team" a lesson. When Snivy lost to Cress's Panpour, her trainer left her in the wild with a bunch of savage Pokemon, not even bothering to take her to the Pokemon Center so she could be thawed from the Ice Beam attack that Panpour used. She could have been dead if she wasn't rescued at the last second.
N was much better than her previous trainer, but there was a problem: She had fallen in love with him. She learned the move "Attract" to try and seduce him, but it failed. She couldn't stay with him, knowing he would never return her feelings, so she left him...
He would have been the perfect Valentine... She thought, as a tear that she didn't even know escaped from her eye dripped on the pond. The rest of Ash's Pokemon couldn't stand to see her so sad.
"Hey, Ash!" Yvonne's voice interrupted her fond thoughts as she ran towards him.
"Hey, Yvonne! What brings you here?" Ash questioned curiously.
The Kalos girl frowned at him. "You had something to tell me, didn't you?"
She's the one who came to me, Ash told himself. Well, since she's here, I might as well say something. "Well, it's nice to see you - "
"Ash!" Misty shouted from the side. She approached him and pointed an accusing finger at him. "So you're the secret admirer! I knew it, Ash Ketchum!"
"Me?!" Ash cried, jumping back.
Yvonne turned to her curiously. "You have a secret admirer, too?"
"Yeah, and - wait, you also got a letter!?" Misty was shocked.
Ash just looked on in confusion as Yvonne showed Misty the letter she got. The Cerulean City Gym Leader's face turned pale as she hesitantly brought out the letter that the Nurse Joy gave her earlier. Yvonne tilted her head a bit so that she could see it.
"Pikachu..."
"I have to agree," Ash whispered quietly, as the two of them started to back away.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the girls both shouted at him, freezing him in place. Their fists tightened, they cornered him.
"Pikapi! Kapi! Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu pleaded from Ash's shoulder.
"What kind of idiots do you take us for!?" Yvonne screamed in his face. "We're not play toys that you can just use carelessly!"
"What are you talking about?" Ash defended himself.
"Pika!"
Misty ignored Pikachu and slapped Ash across the face. "I can't believe you would ask both of us out, and then deny it! Ugh! Consider this friendship over, you big liar!" The two of them then shoved the letters into the face, turned around, and stormed away.
Ash looked at their retreating figures in sadness. "Wait... what did I do?"
"Pika?" his first Pokemon answered in confusion, licking his cheek.
"I wish Brock were here, he'd know what to do," Ash told himself.
Ash's Leavanny weaved a strong from its mouth, stuck the substance to the letters, and showed them to Ash. First, he read the one addressed to Misty.
"'Ya see'? That's not me, that sounds like a wannabe!" he whined, as he got to Yvonne's letter. Just barely halfway through it, his eyes widened in shock. "'She reminds me of me'? WHAT?! I would never say that, even if it was true!" He continued his rant. "Whoever this secret admirer is, it's not me!" He ripped the letters into shreds and watched them get blown away by the wind. Charizard did the honors and burned them to crisps.
"Thanks, Charizard," Ash thanked him weakly, as he sat on the grass with Snivy. He tried to think of who the secret admirer would be. It definitely wasn't Brock, as he had Wilhelmina - plus they were too young for him. Besides that, Brock said he would be too busy today, so that ruled him out. It couldn't be Tracey, either, for obvious reasons. Xavier was definitely out of the question...
"Sni!" The Unova Pokemon's vine pointed to a bipedal feline-like Pokemon beside him.
Ash glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, ya look more down than da dirt beneath my feet!" it spoke. "Maybe I could help ya, but on one condition... ya gimme all yer Pokemon!"
"Forget it! I would never accept help from you!" Ash spat out. "So why don't you just blast off already?"
"You want Meowth - " The creature pointed to itself, "To blast off? Come on, I just wanna help ya!"
All of a sudden, something clicked in Ash's head. Meowth just happened to show up just when Misty and Yvonne lashed out at him, which could only mean one thing...
"You caused this!" Ash growled inwardly as he jumped at Meowth and grabbed him. "Everyone, get ready to send him blasting off for good!" He yelled angrily.
All of his Pokemon aside from Snivy surrounded Ash, facing the helpless Scratch Cat Pokemon.
"Charizard, Pignite, Quilava, Torkoal, Infernape, use Fire Blast! Torterra, Bayleef, Bulbasaur, Sceptile, and Leavanny, use Solar Beam!" A whirring noise from above threatened to drown out his commands, but he wouldn't let it. "Totodile, Palpitoad, Squirtle, Ches - " Ash and all of the Pokemon in the field (except for those who could fly or hover) suddenly tipped over. Ash looked up to see a large prism cube surrounding him and his Pokemon. "What the?!"
"Prepare for trouble during the season of love!" Jessie's voice called from the top. She was sitting on the prism.
"Make it double for heartbreak you'd gladly be rid of!" James was sitting next to Jessie.
"To protect the world from crushed hopes."
"To unite all peoples and help them cope."
"To denounce the evils of rejection!"
"To extend those motives to my bottle cap collection!"
Jessie glared at him and growled out her name between her teeth. James, realizing his blunder, nervously said his name.
"Team Rocket, matchmake at the speed of light!"
"Surrender to the cupids or prepare for a heartbreaking fight!"
Meowth suddenly appeared in the middle of Jessie and James. "Meowth, that's right!"
"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash pointed to the side as the electric Pokemon's tail took on the properties of steel and slammed against the prism. It didn't even seem to so much as dent it, however. "Tauros, use Giga Impact! Miltank, Hyper Beam!" Just as they were about to prepare their attacks, the trio jumped into the air. The prism tilted a bit to the side, veering all of them off course and causing them to hit their unintended targets.
Oshawott looked down below at the pond, where Snivy was still moping. "Osha! Oshawott! Wott! Woooooott!" the sea otter Pokemon cried. "Wott!"
Soon, all of the Pokemon joined him in calling to Snivy.
"You can yell all ya want, but it ain't gonna help any!" Meowth cackled, before James pointed down.
"We forgot Snivy," he pointed out.
"So, what?" Jessie cut in. "We have all of these other powerful Pokemon to send to the boss!" Just as she said that, Snivy spun around and summoned a tornado of leaves, then sent the attack towards the prison. As expected, it did nothing.
"Snivy, can you hear me?" Ash pleaded. "You're our only hope! I know I couldn't help you out with your unhappiness, but I believe in you... we all do!"
Snivy spun in place once more, summoning an even larger tornado of even more leaves, this time actually putting dents on the outside.
"I thought you said this thing couldn't be dented by any Pokemon attack!" Jessie shouted.
"Did you not hear me say 'the inside' couldn't be broken out of?" Meowth defended.
"Some genius," James muttered, as Snivy used her Leaf Storm attack for the fifth time. Team Rocket tried to hover above it, but it was hopeless as the technique struck the device. It got knocked around from every which side you could imagine. Meowth was having such a hard time keeping still that he dropped the remote in his paws. Before any of the trio could get it, the rest of the leaves that had yet to hit the capture cube cut through it and broke it. That meant that their prison slowly disappeared.
Noctowl used its confusion to keep everyone at risk of falling safe... well, except for Team Rocket, who were falling down on the ground. Just as they were about to hit the ground, they activated their jet packs.
"We're blasting off again!" Meowth mocked, as they flew away.
As Ash landed in front of Snivy, he crouched down a bit. "Snivy, you were awesome!" he praised.
"Snivy!"
Her vine met his hand in midair as Charizard flew into the air, before turning around. This caught Ash's attention. "Where are you going?" he wanted to know.
Charizard looked into his eyes and growled lowly, and that was when Ash understood. "...I understand. You'd better go see Charla before she finds out you're late!" Charizard's response was to blow flames at him, and then fly all the way to Charicific Valley. Most of the other Pokemon laughed at this as Ash shook off all of the soot.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Meanwhile, with Misty and Yvonne, they sat on a cough in the Pewter City Pokemon Center, moping. They both shared similar thoughts, which were that they couldn't believe that Ash could play them like that. They didn't do much else other than watch people come and go. At one point, Paul came to heal his Torterra, but they couldn't even bring themselves to care, even when he smirked at them. About ten minutes later, Brock came in to use the videophone, but was treated to the sight of Flint and Lola kissing, which just made them feel worse.
Brock signed as he reluctantly turned it off and walked up to Yvonne and Misty. "Hey, you two look down. How long are you going to just sit there, and where's Ash?"
"Don't even mention him!" Misty got up and yelled at him.
"What happened?" Brock wanted to know. They both sat there for a few seconds, not saying anything. "Oh. Sorry..."
"So how are you doing?" Yvonne questioned, changing the subject.
"Not so well. I just found out that Paul sent a false Valentine's Day letter to Wilhelmina from me," Brock began, and the two girls' jaws dropped open. "It was basically about other girls, and how much better they were than her."
"Paul? False letter?" Misty mused, and that was when it hit her. "Ash didn't do it!"
Yvonne and Brock turned to her in confusion, and she continued, "Yvonne, did he seem confused when you first spoke to him?" The blonde nodded. "This means that Paul was framing him the whole time! Ugh! The nerve of some people!"
Yvonne mentally slapped himself. "Why didn't we just get rid of him when we first saw him?!"
If possible, the two of them were even more angry than when they initially thought that Ash had led them on.
Brock's Crobat flew from his hair. "Crobat will find Paul, and meanwhile, you two make amends with Ash."
"Right!" Misty and Yvonne agreed, as they rushed out of the building. Just as they were outside, Yvonne tossed her Poke Ball. "Gogoat! To Professor Oak's ranch!" She dragged Misty by her arm and hoisted them both on the Mount Pokemon, who ran as fast as it could towards the destination. About three minutes later, they had arrived there, where Ash was staring at the pond, with Snivy attempting to cheer him up.
"Ash!" they called, but he didn't move. They could hear him mumbling to himself, "I can't believe they'd do this to me..."
"Ash!" Misty cried out to him again, but still, he refused to turn around. "We're sorry! We should have known that Paul was up to no good!"
Ash then slowly faced them. "Wait... Paul?"
"We found out from Brock that Paul sent a false love letter to Wilhelmina using his name, so we've come to the conclusion that he sent letters to us, too," Yvonne explained.
Ash felt a little bit better, seeing as they weren't mad at him anymore, but not by much. At least now he knew who was actually at fault. "He'll pay for this!" he shouted.
Just then, Paul arrived to the scene, with Crobat trailing him. All he saw were Misty, Yvonne, Ash, and all of the Pokemon glaring at him.
"What?" he scoffed.
"Drop the act, Paul, we know what you did!" Yvonne screamed. "Tell us the truth, and maybe we'll let you off easy."
Paul said nothing as Ash walked closer to him. "Ready, everyone?"
Misty and Yvonne nodded as they released their Pokemon. "Greninja, Dugtrio, Camerupt, Whimsicott, Sylveon, come on out! Gogoat, get ready!" the latter female yelled.
"Misty calls...Goldeen, Starmie, Staryu, Psyduck, Masquerain, aaaand Greninja!" Misty called out her entire team.
Before Paul could even do anything, Crobat hovered in front of him and sent red rings from its eyes to him, making him drowsy, but just aware enough of what would happen to him.
"Everyone, attack Paul!" Ash cried, as his Pokemon (except Charizard, who had left earlier) rushed towards Paul, who could only stand there in shock as Ash's thirty Tauros and Miltank charged at him and rammed him over. The rest of their Pokemon unleashed their best attacks on the poor fool.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Pathetic.
One simple word could describe so much.
And yet... nothing was more pathetic to many people than the sight of a teenage boy lying the ground, crying on Valentine's Day.
Most people who passed by him didn't even so much as glance at him, and those who did just laughed.
Something else that was much less pathetic, but still fit the bill, was Ash Ketchum shrinking under the gazes of two girls.
"So, Ash, who would you like to be your Valentine?" Yvonne asked sweetly, putting an arm around him.
"You do have someone special in mind, right?" Misty, on the other side of him, also put her arm around him.
"Uhhh..."
"Come on Ash, you have to choose one." Brock laughed at his predicament. He had just rejoined their group a few minutes ago, after making up with Wilhelmina.
"I haven't decided..." Ash admitted.
"Pika!" Pikachu chuckled along with Brock.
"No worries, we have all day!" Misty assured him, as she and Yvonne both dragged him and Pikachu to a nearby building.
"Wait, where are we going?" Ash wanted to know. "Slow down!" His face paled when he saw the name of the building. "WAAAAAAH!"
Pikachu wasn't laughing anymore, either.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Ash: Veronica Taylor
Jessie, Misty, Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
James, Brock: Eric Stuart
Meowth: Maddie Blaustein/Nathan Price
Paul: Julian Rebolledo
Nurse Joy: Megan Hollingshead
Also, if you're a Paul fan, you will NOT want to read this.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
A brand new journey's round the door
And this'll be nothing like before
This time I'll give it all
I have trained to become the very best
just watch as I'm beating all the rest
I will never fall
Soon the entire world will see
I know I'll fulfill my destiny
We will save the world
and our journey never ends
cause I gotta catch'em all
Pokémon X and Y
I will never stop
until' I'm number one
cause we will save the world
Pokémon X and Y
Pokémon!
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Today's episode is... A Misty Obstacle For Yvonne! (Ash reads the title)
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Today was a special occasion in the Pokemon World. It was... Valentine's Day. People and Pokemon alike had paired up with their ideal lovers. Except for a few people...
"Come on out, everyone!" a voice yelled. The person who yelled it out was a boy with messy black hair, a league hat, Z marks on his cheeks, a dark green shirt, and a blue pair of pants - he wasn't exactly Valentine's Day material. But he was an aspiring Pokemon Master. His Pokemon all rushed out from their positions to greet him, except for Snivy, who stared down on the ground. Bayleef and Muk, in particular, had slammed down on him. When they were finished, he was struggling to get up for a few seconds. Palpitoad wrapped its long tongue around him and helped him up.
"Thanks, Palpitoad. Now, listen up, everyone... hey, Snivy, what's wrong?" He noticed Snivy's downtrodden expression and approached her.
"Sni..." the Unova Pokemon responded.
"You sure about that?" Ash insisted, as Oshawott placed a hand on her back. A vine retracted from her neck and slapped him silly.
Pikachu rushed towards Snivy and shouted at her. "Pika Pika!"
"Sni!"
Snivy ran away, prompting Oshawott and Pikachu to go after her, but Ash stopped them. "She might need some time to herself," he reasoned."
"Oshawott."
"Pikachu."
"Okay, everyone..." Ash began. "I..."
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
A girl with a ponytail was in the Pokemon Center, healing her Starmie and Goldeen. They had just fought off no more than ten guys at once who wouldn't leave their trainer alone simply because they "loved" her. Only yesterday, she had been looking forward to this day so much, but now she had been dreading it. She should have seen this coming!
"Misty, your Goldeen and Starmie have been healed," the smiley nurse by the counter in front of her eyes chirped.
Misty got up and took her Poke Balls. "Thanks!" Immediately, she spotted a letter in the nurse's left hand with her name written on it. "Hey, is that for me?"
"It sure is! P- Someone wanted me to give this to you!" she gave the letter to Misty, who opened it mindlessly. She gasped as she read the contents of the letter. It said:
"Dear Misty,
There are many things I can say about you to your face, but for some reason, I'm at a loss for words today. Well, if you wanna talk, just meet me at Professor Oak's ranch! I have a confession to make, and the way I can get it out is face-to-face, ya see? Sorry for the pun! Will ya please be my Valentine?
Signed, Your Secret Admirer."
Misty thought to herself as she read the letter over and over again. It couldn't possibly be him, could it? If it was, he did a very poor job of hiding it. At the same time, some of it didn't sound like him. She was going to get to the bottom of this and find out for herself...
Outside, a blonde haired girl was riding on her Gogoat, just enjoying the fresh air. She laughed as the wind blew towards her, but her joy was cut short when a familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Yvonne!"
Gogoat immediately braked as she fell off of the Grass-type Pokemon. The boy who had yelled her name just dropped a piece of paper on her face and flew away on his Talonflame. The blonde girl shook her head a few times, causing the material to drop on her lap. It was then that she took notice of the envelope and opened it. She unfolded the paper that was inside it and read it:
"Dear Yvonne,
I remember when I first met ya, all I could think was, 'Wow, I can't believe how much she reminds me of me!'. Every day, I've grown to admire you more and more, ya know? And now, I think I actually like ya a bit... okay, a lot! Just meet me at Professor Oak's lab!
Signed, Your Secret Admirer."
"Wow, I never realized he was so shy... it's kind of sweet, really. Something about this doesn't seem right, though," Yvonne thought, as she got back on her Gogoat and rode to the rendezvous location...
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Snivy was staring at her own reflection on a pond, deep in thought. She couldn't stop thinking about the trainer she had before Ash: N. Her first trainer was so abusive that he blamed his own losses on the Pokemon, and even used those who didn't disappoint him to "teach the weaklings of the team" a lesson. When Snivy lost to Cress's Panpour, her trainer left her in the wild with a bunch of savage Pokemon, not even bothering to take her to the Pokemon Center so she could be thawed from the Ice Beam attack that Panpour used. She could have been dead if she wasn't rescued at the last second.
N was much better than her previous trainer, but there was a problem: She had fallen in love with him. She learned the move "Attract" to try and seduce him, but it failed. She couldn't stay with him, knowing he would never return her feelings, so she left him...
He would have been the perfect Valentine... She thought, as a tear that she didn't even know escaped from her eye dripped on the pond. The rest of Ash's Pokemon couldn't stand to see her so sad.
"Hey, Ash!" Yvonne's voice interrupted her fond thoughts as she ran towards him.
"Hey, Yvonne! What brings you here?" Ash questioned curiously.
The Kalos girl frowned at him. "You had something to tell me, didn't you?"
She's the one who came to me, Ash told himself. Well, since she's here, I might as well say something. "Well, it's nice to see you - "
"Ash!" Misty shouted from the side. She approached him and pointed an accusing finger at him. "So you're the secret admirer! I knew it, Ash Ketchum!"
"Me?!" Ash cried, jumping back.
Yvonne turned to her curiously. "You have a secret admirer, too?"
"Yeah, and - wait, you also got a letter!?" Misty was shocked.
Ash just looked on in confusion as Yvonne showed Misty the letter she got. The Cerulean City Gym Leader's face turned pale as she hesitantly brought out the letter that the Nurse Joy gave her earlier. Yvonne tilted her head a bit so that she could see it.
"Pikachu..."
"I have to agree," Ash whispered quietly, as the two of them started to back away.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the girls both shouted at him, freezing him in place. Their fists tightened, they cornered him.
"Pikapi! Kapi! Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu pleaded from Ash's shoulder.
"What kind of idiots do you take us for!?" Yvonne screamed in his face. "We're not play toys that you can just use carelessly!"
"What are you talking about?" Ash defended himself.
"Pika!"
Misty ignored Pikachu and slapped Ash across the face. "I can't believe you would ask both of us out, and then deny it! Ugh! Consider this friendship over, you big liar!" The two of them then shoved the letters into the face, turned around, and stormed away.
Ash looked at their retreating figures in sadness. "Wait... what did I do?"
"Pika?" his first Pokemon answered in confusion, licking his cheek.
"I wish Brock were here, he'd know what to do," Ash told himself.
Ash's Leavanny weaved a strong from its mouth, stuck the substance to the letters, and showed them to Ash. First, he read the one addressed to Misty.
"'Ya see'? That's not me, that sounds like a wannabe!" he whined, as he got to Yvonne's letter. Just barely halfway through it, his eyes widened in shock. "'She reminds me of me'? WHAT?! I would never say that, even if it was true!" He continued his rant. "Whoever this secret admirer is, it's not me!" He ripped the letters into shreds and watched them get blown away by the wind. Charizard did the honors and burned them to crisps.
"Thanks, Charizard," Ash thanked him weakly, as he sat on the grass with Snivy. He tried to think of who the secret admirer would be. It definitely wasn't Brock, as he had Wilhelmina - plus they were too young for him. Besides that, Brock said he would be too busy today, so that ruled him out. It couldn't be Tracey, either, for obvious reasons. Xavier was definitely out of the question...
"Sni!" The Unova Pokemon's vine pointed to a bipedal feline-like Pokemon beside him.
Ash glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, ya look more down than da dirt beneath my feet!" it spoke. "Maybe I could help ya, but on one condition... ya gimme all yer Pokemon!"
"Forget it! I would never accept help from you!" Ash spat out. "So why don't you just blast off already?"
"You want Meowth - " The creature pointed to itself, "To blast off? Come on, I just wanna help ya!"
All of a sudden, something clicked in Ash's head. Meowth just happened to show up just when Misty and Yvonne lashed out at him, which could only mean one thing...
"You caused this!" Ash growled inwardly as he jumped at Meowth and grabbed him. "Everyone, get ready to send him blasting off for good!" He yelled angrily.
All of his Pokemon aside from Snivy surrounded Ash, facing the helpless Scratch Cat Pokemon.
"Charizard, Pignite, Quilava, Torkoal, Infernape, use Fire Blast! Torterra, Bayleef, Bulbasaur, Sceptile, and Leavanny, use Solar Beam!" A whirring noise from above threatened to drown out his commands, but he wouldn't let it. "Totodile, Palpitoad, Squirtle, Ches - " Ash and all of the Pokemon in the field (except for those who could fly or hover) suddenly tipped over. Ash looked up to see a large prism cube surrounding him and his Pokemon. "What the?!"
"Prepare for trouble during the season of love!" Jessie's voice called from the top. She was sitting on the prism.
"Make it double for heartbreak you'd gladly be rid of!" James was sitting next to Jessie.
"To protect the world from crushed hopes."
"To unite all peoples and help them cope."
"To denounce the evils of rejection!"
"To extend those motives to my bottle cap collection!"
Jessie glared at him and growled out her name between her teeth. James, realizing his blunder, nervously said his name.
"Team Rocket, matchmake at the speed of light!"
"Surrender to the cupids or prepare for a heartbreaking fight!"
Meowth suddenly appeared in the middle of Jessie and James. "Meowth, that's right!"
"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash pointed to the side as the electric Pokemon's tail took on the properties of steel and slammed against the prism. It didn't even seem to so much as dent it, however. "Tauros, use Giga Impact! Miltank, Hyper Beam!" Just as they were about to prepare their attacks, the trio jumped into the air. The prism tilted a bit to the side, veering all of them off course and causing them to hit their unintended targets.
Oshawott looked down below at the pond, where Snivy was still moping. "Osha! Oshawott! Wott! Woooooott!" the sea otter Pokemon cried. "Wott!"
Soon, all of the Pokemon joined him in calling to Snivy.
"You can yell all ya want, but it ain't gonna help any!" Meowth cackled, before James pointed down.
"We forgot Snivy," he pointed out.
"So, what?" Jessie cut in. "We have all of these other powerful Pokemon to send to the boss!" Just as she said that, Snivy spun around and summoned a tornado of leaves, then sent the attack towards the prison. As expected, it did nothing.
"Snivy, can you hear me?" Ash pleaded. "You're our only hope! I know I couldn't help you out with your unhappiness, but I believe in you... we all do!"
Snivy spun in place once more, summoning an even larger tornado of even more leaves, this time actually putting dents on the outside.
"I thought you said this thing couldn't be dented by any Pokemon attack!" Jessie shouted.
"Did you not hear me say 'the inside' couldn't be broken out of?" Meowth defended.
"Some genius," James muttered, as Snivy used her Leaf Storm attack for the fifth time. Team Rocket tried to hover above it, but it was hopeless as the technique struck the device. It got knocked around from every which side you could imagine. Meowth was having such a hard time keeping still that he dropped the remote in his paws. Before any of the trio could get it, the rest of the leaves that had yet to hit the capture cube cut through it and broke it. That meant that their prison slowly disappeared.
Noctowl used its confusion to keep everyone at risk of falling safe... well, except for Team Rocket, who were falling down on the ground. Just as they were about to hit the ground, they activated their jet packs.
"We're blasting off again!" Meowth mocked, as they flew away.
As Ash landed in front of Snivy, he crouched down a bit. "Snivy, you were awesome!" he praised.
"Snivy!"
Her vine met his hand in midair as Charizard flew into the air, before turning around. This caught Ash's attention. "Where are you going?" he wanted to know.
Charizard looked into his eyes and growled lowly, and that was when Ash understood. "...I understand. You'd better go see Charla before she finds out you're late!" Charizard's response was to blow flames at him, and then fly all the way to Charicific Valley. Most of the other Pokemon laughed at this as Ash shook off all of the soot.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Meanwhile, with Misty and Yvonne, they sat on a cough in the Pewter City Pokemon Center, moping. They both shared similar thoughts, which were that they couldn't believe that Ash could play them like that. They didn't do much else other than watch people come and go. At one point, Paul came to heal his Torterra, but they couldn't even bring themselves to care, even when he smirked at them. About ten minutes later, Brock came in to use the videophone, but was treated to the sight of Flint and Lola kissing, which just made them feel worse.
Brock signed as he reluctantly turned it off and walked up to Yvonne and Misty. "Hey, you two look down. How long are you going to just sit there, and where's Ash?"
"Don't even mention him!" Misty got up and yelled at him.
"What happened?" Brock wanted to know. They both sat there for a few seconds, not saying anything. "Oh. Sorry..."
"So how are you doing?" Yvonne questioned, changing the subject.
"Not so well. I just found out that Paul sent a false Valentine's Day letter to Wilhelmina from me," Brock began, and the two girls' jaws dropped open. "It was basically about other girls, and how much better they were than her."
"Paul? False letter?" Misty mused, and that was when it hit her. "Ash didn't do it!"
Yvonne and Brock turned to her in confusion, and she continued, "Yvonne, did he seem confused when you first spoke to him?" The blonde nodded. "This means that Paul was framing him the whole time! Ugh! The nerve of some people!"
Yvonne mentally slapped himself. "Why didn't we just get rid of him when we first saw him?!"
If possible, the two of them were even more angry than when they initially thought that Ash had led them on.
Brock's Crobat flew from his hair. "Crobat will find Paul, and meanwhile, you two make amends with Ash."
"Right!" Misty and Yvonne agreed, as they rushed out of the building. Just as they were outside, Yvonne tossed her Poke Ball. "Gogoat! To Professor Oak's ranch!" She dragged Misty by her arm and hoisted them both on the Mount Pokemon, who ran as fast as it could towards the destination. About three minutes later, they had arrived there, where Ash was staring at the pond, with Snivy attempting to cheer him up.
"Ash!" they called, but he didn't move. They could hear him mumbling to himself, "I can't believe they'd do this to me..."
"Ash!" Misty cried out to him again, but still, he refused to turn around. "We're sorry! We should have known that Paul was up to no good!"
Ash then slowly faced them. "Wait... Paul?"
"We found out from Brock that Paul sent a false love letter to Wilhelmina using his name, so we've come to the conclusion that he sent letters to us, too," Yvonne explained.
Ash felt a little bit better, seeing as they weren't mad at him anymore, but not by much. At least now he knew who was actually at fault. "He'll pay for this!" he shouted.
Just then, Paul arrived to the scene, with Crobat trailing him. All he saw were Misty, Yvonne, Ash, and all of the Pokemon glaring at him.
"What?" he scoffed.
"Drop the act, Paul, we know what you did!" Yvonne screamed. "Tell us the truth, and maybe we'll let you off easy."
Paul said nothing as Ash walked closer to him. "Ready, everyone?"
Misty and Yvonne nodded as they released their Pokemon. "Greninja, Dugtrio, Camerupt, Whimsicott, Sylveon, come on out! Gogoat, get ready!" the latter female yelled.
"Misty calls...Goldeen, Starmie, Staryu, Psyduck, Masquerain, aaaand Greninja!" Misty called out her entire team.
Before Paul could even do anything, Crobat hovered in front of him and sent red rings from its eyes to him, making him drowsy, but just aware enough of what would happen to him.
"Everyone, attack Paul!" Ash cried, as his Pokemon (except Charizard, who had left earlier) rushed towards Paul, who could only stand there in shock as Ash's thirty Tauros and Miltank charged at him and rammed him over. The rest of their Pokemon unleashed their best attacks on the poor fool.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Pathetic.
One simple word could describe so much.
And yet... nothing was more pathetic to many people than the sight of a teenage boy lying the ground, crying on Valentine's Day.
Most people who passed by him didn't even so much as glance at him, and those who did just laughed.
Something else that was much less pathetic, but still fit the bill, was Ash Ketchum shrinking under the gazes of two girls.
"So, Ash, who would you like to be your Valentine?" Yvonne asked sweetly, putting an arm around him.
"You do have someone special in mind, right?" Misty, on the other side of him, also put her arm around him.
"Uhhh..."
"Come on Ash, you have to choose one." Brock laughed at his predicament. He had just rejoined their group a few minutes ago, after making up with Wilhelmina.
"I haven't decided..." Ash admitted.
"Pika!" Pikachu chuckled along with Brock.
"No worries, we have all day!" Misty assured him, as she and Yvonne both dragged him and Pikachu to a nearby building.
"Wait, where are we going?" Ash wanted to know. "Slow down!" His face paled when he saw the name of the building. "WAAAAAAH!"
Pikachu wasn't laughing anymore, either.
~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~
Ash: Veronica Taylor
Jessie, Misty, Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
James, Brock: Eric Stuart
Meowth: Maddie Blaustein/Nathan Price
Paul: Julian Rebolledo
Nurse Joy: Megan Hollingshead