Kanto Sentai Pokéranger
(a.k.a. Power Rangers: Pocket Monsters)
Usual
disclaimers apply. These characters do
no belong to me.
Team
Rocket slowly, groggily, pulled themselves to their feet. They were confused and quite befuddled. Seviper and Meowth were semiconscious,
spirals in their eyes and mumbling gibberish.
Their vision was blurry, and the Pokérangers appeared as colored blurs
for a few moments until then.
“Wh…where
are we?” Jessie asked, groggily.
“You’re
alright, for now,” Pokéranger White explained.
“You were being used by Pandion to further his evil purposes.”
“They
turned you and your Pokémon into mutant hybrids,” Pokéranger Red. “But we were able to set you free.”
After
a few seconds of silence, Jessie, James, and their Pokémon snapped into battle
stances. “No thanks to you!” Jessie
shouted. “We didn’t ask for your help
and we damn sure don’t need it now!”
“That’s
right,” James added, “we were doing just fine until you five stuck your
multicolored noses in our business!”
The
Rangers were less than satisfied with their attitude. “Is that any way to say ‘thank you’ to the
people who just saved your lives?” Pokéranger Yellow asked. “That’s just not cool! You know, we were this close to destroying both of you!”
“I’d
rather be destroyed than owe anything to you clowns!” Jessie shouted.
“And
now we’re going to return the ‘favor’ and destroy you!” James shouted.
Meowth
jumped forward, claws bared. “Prepare to
die!” he shouted.
Suddenly,
one of Jessie’s Pokéballs popped open, the Wobbuffet inside springing
free. “Woooooo-buff!” {“Gotcha, bitch!”}
it shouted.
The
Rangers all groaned and shuffled around.
A few rolled their eyes, but Team Rocket couldn’t tell underneath their
helmets. “You know what, forget it,”
Pokéranger White said. “We’re outta
here.”
“No,
you’re not!” Jessie shouted, pointing.
“You’re not leaving until we settle this!”
“Yes,
we are,” the White Ranger retaliated, “there are more important problems in the
world that need our attention, and – believe it or not – your little squabble
with us isn’t very high on that list.”
“Besides,”
Pokéranger Green added, “we really can’t be bothered. You went down easily enough when you two were
mutant Pokémon hybrids; what makes you think you’re a threat as just a couple
of ordinary humans?”
“There’s
nothing ordinary about us!” James shouted.
“This
isn’t over!” Jessie growled.
The
White Ranger shrugged. “Whatever,” he
said before all five teleported away.
For
a few moments, Team Rocket stood there, silent, staring at the spot where the
Power Rangers were before the disappeared.
“So,
um…” James said, “since they ran from us, does that mean we won?”
* *
* * *
The
rest of the day was uneventful, eventually leading to nightfall and the Rangers
retiring for the evening. The day after
that, though…was just a little more upbeat.
It
was around 8:30 in the morning when everyone was up, with the two live-in Power
Rangers being the last two up. May was
still a bit groggy as she left her guest room and headed down a hallway into
the kitchen. On her way, she ran into
Tracey, who was also headed for breakfast, but was in pretty bad condition.
“Oh,
hey May,” he said. He sounded like he
was talking with a clothespin on his nose.
Given the way he was sniffing constantly, it seemed like he had a pretty
nasty cold. “Ugh…”
“Wow,
Tracey, are you alright?” May asked.
“You sound awful.”
“Eh…I’ll
be fine,” he argued. The loud snorting
and subsequent groan undermined his argument.
May backed up, grossed out by the noises emanating from Tracey.
Then,
for a moment…they stopped.
“AH-CHOO!”
Tracey
suddenly let out a positively torrid sneeze, loud enough to wake the entire
town. May would’ve been less disturbed
if he shot out a wad of phlegm and mucus instead of what came out. What he expelled instead, however, was a
massive gust of wind that blew down the hallway, blowing pictures off walls,
blowing over tables with vases and lamps on them, and sweeping all that debris
to the end of the hallway. It sounded –
and looked – like a tornado blew through the hallway.
May
was speechless, her mouth hanging open.
She slowly turned to an equally shocked Tracey. “What in the hell is that?!” she asked.
Tracey
was speechless. “I…uh…” he
stammered. With a nervous chuckle, he
simply shrugged. “Well, for what it’s
worth…it really cleared up my sinuses.”
May rolled her eyes.
Slowly
the two walked down the hallway to the kitchen, surveying the damage caused by
Tracey’s titanic sneeze. Tracey was
especially nervous, mostly because he would have to end up either cleaning up
or paying for everything that got wrecked.
It was also incredibly hard to believe that he was the one who caused all
this.
Professor
Oak and Max were waiting for them when they came into the kitchen, as he heard
the commotion caused by Tracey. The
Professor ignored the scrapple and sunny side up eggs he was frying and
regarded his intern/defender of the Earth with a glare that could scare an
Arbok. Max looked ready to burst out
laughing, but had to bite his lip because if he hadn’t, Professor Oak would’ve
really gone nuts.
“What
the hell was that?” he asked, incredulously.
Tracey
looked at Professor Oak with a dull, blank stare. He cautiously lifted a finger. “I think I just discovered how to use my…uh,
Pokéranger element,” he said.
“Well
that’s all well and good, but I just wish you wouldn’t discover it all over my
hallways,” the professor said.
Tracey
put up his hands in defense. “I couldn’t
help myself! It just sort of happened!”
“How?”
“I…”
Tracey shrugged. “I sneezed.”
“…you
sneezed.”
“Did
I stutter?” Professor Oak glared another
hole through him. “Look, we were warned
about this, Professor. I mean, Brock and
Ash had a chance to develop their own special powers since they discovered
them, but I just learned about this a few minutes ago. Give me a break!”
“I
don’t think it’s gonna be much use if the only way you can control the wind is
if you sneeze,” Max added. “I mean,
what’re you gonna do, carry around a pepper shaker with you at all times?”
“Okay,
now you’re just being stupid, Max,” Tracey retorted. “Besides, I’m sure if I work at it enough
I’ll be able to control it just fine—like through my hands or something.” He took a slow breath, and slowly pushed his
hands out in front of him, trying to demonstrate his new resolve. Unfortunately, he still didn’t have any
semblance of control over his new power, and thanks to another ill-timed sneeze,
instead of generating a small gust of wind he practically localized a class-5
killstorm in the kitchen. Everything not
nailed down was caught in Tracey’s gale, blowing about in all directions and
breaking against the wall, the tables, and even against the others.
Eventually
the wind died down, and everyone else pulled themselves to their feet, grabbing
on to whatever they could to maintain balance.
The way the Professor looked at Tracey, one would think the old man
would’ve killed his young intern.
But
before he could bite the Pokémon artist’s head off, something else grabbed
their attention. By some miracle, the
burners on the stove had not gone out despite the hurricane that had whipped up
in the kitchen. May was not aware of
this, and inadvertently stuck her hand right on the open flame on the
stove. Oddly enough, she didn’t feel the
burn from the fire. In fact, if no one
told her about it, she would’ve never known her hand had caught fire. She leaned against the counter, her still
enflamed hand by her side with her other arm behind her back and grabbing her
wrist.
“Holy
shit! May!” Tracey shouted. “Your hand!”
May’s
eyes widened, and she looked down at her hand.
The site of one’s own flesh on fire would’ve terrified anyone else on
the planet. But May, on the other hand,
didn’t register the fire on her flesh. And it’s not because she is air-headed,
heavens no; something in her mind just didn’t tell her, “Hey! You’re on fire!
You better do something about that!”
No,
she just casually shook her hand out, like it was wet. It didn’t go out. Still not registering how bad her situation
was – or the absolutely terrified looks of Max, Tracey and the Professor – she
put her open palm up to her mouth and blew.
She meant to blow out the flame, but only to extinguish it; what
happened instead was her blowing a ball of fire the size of a Pokéball across
the room and into the sink, where it extinguished itself in a frying pan full
of tepid water with a wet ssssssssss
sound.
For
a while, there was a long, uneasy silence.
“Well…” Professor Oak finally said, “it appears as though May has found
her element.”
May
chuckled nervously.
* *
* * *
“This
is a surprise, indeed.”
After
breakfast and the massive cleaning up Tracey had to do in the kitchen and the
hallway (with May and Max pitching in to help), the Rangers gathered in the lab
under Professor Oak’s lab. The Professor
explained to Degenhart that Tracey had discovered how to use wind, and May
picked up the ability to control fire.
Degenhart was pleased with these new breakthroughs.
“Though
I did say that you would develop ‘civilian’ powers based on your elements,” he
said, “I did not expect any of you to become so…accustomed to your elements so
readily.”
“Well,
to be fair, they haven’t gained complete mastery of them yet,” the Professor said with a glare at Tracey, who recoiled in
fright.
“Hey,
speak for yourself,” Brock said. In his
hand there was an unused apple seed taken from Mrs. Ketchum’s gardening
supplies. He opened his hand, channeled
some of his energy into his hand, and within a few moments, the seed turned
into a fully ripened apple that barely fit in Brock’s hand.
“Cool!”
May said.
“Big
deal,” Ash said. “So you’ve got a green
thumb. That’ll work great if Pandion
ends up attacking Pallet’s annual Harvest Festival.”
“Ah,
you’re just jealous.” To drive his point home, Brock took a bite of his
apple. “Hey, Misty, what kind of tricks
have you discovered?”
“Me?”
she asked. She stuck her arm out, and
everyone watched as it took on the shape and consistency of water. “I can turn into water. I call it ‘diffusion’.”
“I
wouldn’t have expected anything less,” Ash stated. They then heard the sound of something
clattering to the ground. They looked at
the ground by Misty’s feet. A shell
bracelet she was wearing had dropped to the floor, Misty’s body unable to
support it when her arm morphed.
“That’s
the only issue with it,” Misty explained.
“I can only turn my body into water.
Anything I might be wearing, well…I haven’t gotten that far.”
“In
any event,” Degenhart interrupted, “if you are going to use your extra
abilities to help you in your battles, I suggest you practice using them as
much as possible. Perhaps today, for example,
when there is a lull in Pandion’s attacks.”
“Why
do I got a feeling that’s not so much of a request as it is an order?” Tracey
said.
“It’s
not supposed to be, but it is important, and it’s not something that can be
ignored,” Pandion answered.
“We’d
better head to the far end of the plantation,” the professor suggested. “My assistants can take care of the everyday
duties in the lab. Unless something
especially drastic comes about, they’re not going to bother us.”
“Sounds
like a plan,” Ash said. “Come on, let’s
teleport there now.” They readied their
teleporters. “Professor, Degenhart, stay
close to one of us.” The professor put
his hand on Tracey’s shoulder, while Degenhart did the same with Max. With six flashes of different colored light
in their wakes, the Rangers and their support network teleported out of the
lab.
* *
* * *
“Just
try and relax, May,” Brock told her.
“Think about how you were doing it earlier.”
“I
don’t know…”May said shakily. “I really
don’t know how I did it earlier...”
Brock
and May were both sitting on their knees facing one another in the shade of a
few trees towards the back of the plantation.
Brock’s hands rest on his thighs, while May stared at hers. Brock was trying to teach May how to channel
her inner strength and have it manifest in the form of fire. But May wasn’t having much luck.
“I
mean…” she continued, “I was doing it earlier, but I already had the fire there
to play with. I can’t just make it
appear out of thin air.”
“And
here you were worried about Tracey carrying around a pepper shaker everywhere
to use his wind. At least a lighter is
somewhat normal.” They both had a light laugh at that. “But seriously…sure you can. You have to concentrate; clear your mind,
take a few deep breaths, and just let it come to you. Come on, let’s try it again.”
May
sighed, then resumed her previous position.
She sat with her back straight, her eyes closed, and her hands opened
with her fingers pointing at one another.
Her breaths were quiet, slow, barely audible to even Brock. She concentrated, feeling the fire start to
slowly rise up within her. It built up
more and more gradually until she felt a small stream of fire shoot out of one
palm and leap into the other.
May
opened her eyes, and gasped. Her face
lit up, surprised that the fire in her hands was fire that she generated, that she would
use to protect her loved ones, and her world.
Now it’s all a matter of learning how to control it.
“That’s
great!” Brock proclaimed. May flexed her
fingers, and the stream of fire condensed into a ball the size of a
Pokéball. He stood up, and prompted May
to do the same. He stood next to
her. “Now draw out that fire again, and
try projecting it out in front of you.”
“Alright…”
May stretched her hands out in front of her, her fingers together and each
thumb and forefinger touching.
“Just
don’t let your mind wander or you might lose control of your flame and burn
down half the woods.”
“Well…we
don’t want me losing focus, do we?” May
breathed deep again, and kept her eyes open as she channeled her fire
again. It took the form of a ball again,
this time taking much less time. She
grunted and pushed her hands forward a little, and the ball turned into a jet
of fire that extended out a foot and a half and as wide as her hands. Both May and Brock were elated with her
progress. She concentrated again, and
the flame extended further, and for an added twist, made the flame undulate up
and down. That is, until a hard, very
brief, gust of wind blew through and blew out May’s flame and swept her
bandanna clear off her head.
“What
the heck was that?” she shouted.
“I’ll
give you three guesses,” Brock grunted.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Tracey
bellowed in glee at the top of his lungs as he soared over the Oak
plantation. He didn’t have any wings,
but that did not stop him from using his wind power to fly. Obviously, he wasn’t limited to just blowing
blasts of air through his mouth. Tracey
is now able to not only use the air around him to lift and carry him wherever
he wants. He can still generate blasts
of air, but he prefers using his hands and not his mouth.
A
loud laugh accompanied Tracey’s second pass over the area. Everyone’s clothes were ruffled and smaller,
lighter pieces (such as Ash’s hat), were blown away. As Tracey passed, he flashed a cheesy, toothy
grin accompanied by a thumbs-up, all while vocalizing some quasi-superhero
tune. He kept his eyes on the others…
THWACK!!!
…until
he crashed head first into a tree and crumpled to the ground.
Everyone
ran over to where Tracey crashed, hoping the guy didn’t seriously injure
himself while showing off. He didn’t
move for a few moments, but before long, he pushed himself up on his arms and
dragged himself to his feet.
“Crap…that
sucked…” Tracey groaned. He had a
comically darkened stripe going down the middle of his face, wide enough to go
over both of his eyes and tapering at his chin.
“Geez!”
Ash shouted. “Tracey, are you alright?”
“I’m…I’m
alright,” Tracey said. He rolled his
neck, the joint in question issuing a loud pop.
The others groaned at the sound, but Tracey paid it no heed. For a few moments, there was an awkward
silence, but the sound of the emergency signal coming from the communicators.
Max
was the first respond, as his was wired to the mainframe to forward any such
alerts to his communicator. “We got an
emergency,” he said. “
“What
kind of monster is it?” Ash asked.
“It…it’s
some kind of art monster. It looks like
a walking easel! You guys gotta see it
for yourself!”
“I
think we can deal with what it looks like when we get there.” Ash drew his
communicator/teleporter, and the other Rangers followed suit. “Come on, guys, let’s go!”
“Right!”
Brock, Misty, Tracey and May shouted. In
a second, the five had teleported away.
* *
* * *
Citizens
of Pallet Town ran screaming in all directions from a dozen Fossiloids being
ordered around by The Easelator, a demon with a body like an easel with a blank
piece of canvas tacked on to it, and gray tubes of paint for arms and
legs. It had the face of a “comedy”
stage mask, only with additional teeth.
It also swung around a long staff that looked like a paint brush, right
down to the flared tip dripping with “paint”.
This “paint” was powered by color, itself. Whenever the Easelator drew energy into the
brush, it sucked all the color out of the surroundings, leaving everything in
black, white, and countless shades of gray.
As
others were running away, five teenagers were running towards the chaotic scene.
Ash skidded to a halt as he saw the Easelator and the squad of
Fossiloids running amok, his four friends stopping close to him. They gasped as they surveyed the scene before
them.
“Whoa!
What happened here?” May shouted.
Misty
pointed at the monster causing havoc. “That happened,” she said.
“Well,
if it isn’t the oh-so-colorful Power Rangers,” Easelator said, its voice mild
and melodic. “Your vibrant colors will
make an excellent arsenal on my march to take over the world!”
“Your
march is about to stop right here and now!” Ash shouted. He grabbed his Morpher. “Alright, guys, ready?”
“Aw,
do we have to?” Tracey wailed. The
others looked at him. “I mean, right now
we’re just gonna beat down the Fossiloids, do we really need to morph to take
them out?” Ash opened his mouth to
argue, but Tracey continued. “Besides,
some of us just got our civ powers and want to take them for a spin.”
“But
how do you know you can’t use them if you morphed?” Ash asked.
“I
tried,” Brock added. “It doesn’t work.”
Ash
looked at his friends, who seemed to be pleading him with their eyes. After a few moments, he smiled. “Alright,” he said, “I think we can do that
this time.” He stepped forward, and cracked
his knuckles. “Come on, guys, let’s have
some fun with these guys, shall we?”
“Yeah!”
they shouted.
“Fun?”
Easelator shouted. “Why don’t my
Fossiloids and I show you our definition of ‘fun’?” The tip of his paint brush staff glowed, and
it fired a stream of color-changing energy, carving a trench about a foot deep
and a food wide in the street, and also generating a lot of smoke and debris. The Rangers ran through the smoke, Tracey
blowing it away with his wind mid-stride.
For
the most part, the Easelator stood back and watched as the Fossiloids broke
down into three four-man teams—one going after Ash, one going after Brock and
Misty, and the last going after May and Tracey.
As
Ash pursued one of the groups of Fossiloids, the one closest to him made a dive
for his legs. The White Ranger easily
averted the attack, planting his hands on its back as he somersaulted over it
with a loud shout. The first Fossiloid
stumbled and faceplanted, ignored by Ash as he focused on the other three. As he came down, his foot landed in the chest
of another one, making it stagger back.
He turned to the third in the group, and landed a few good, clean
punches in its midsection. He failed to
notice the fourth and the first (who got back to its feet), however, and they
attacked from behind, punching and kicking at his back. Ash lurched forward and fell to a knee only
to be hauled back up and held by both arms.
The first Fossiloid ran at Ash, but Ash wasn’t about to be defeated so
easily. As it ran at him, Ash whipped
his legs up, lacing them around its neck.
He held that position for just a second, then turned his entire body
sharply to the right, disengaging the hold the two Fossiloids had on him as
well as flipping the one with his head around his feet, scattering the
Fossiloids.
They
were surrounding Ash, which is just what he wanted. “Time to put a stop to this,” he said. He put his hands up to his head, palms facing
in and fanned his fingers outward. “PROMINENCE!”
he shouted. Ash became a shining beacon
of bright light for a few moments, blinding the Fossiloids attacking him. They all wailed in agony as they were
blinded. Onlookers and even the other
Rangers couldn’t see the end of the battle right away, but they sure heard Ash
level first one, then a second, then a third Fossiloid. The scene cleared up just in time to see Ash
up in the air, his hands clasped together as he brought them down right on its
skull. After the assault, they
disintegrated into dust.
Ash
smirked. He raised his right fist and
pumped it, and then quickly dragged the thumb of the same hand across his
throat. “You’re history!” he shouted.
On
the other side of the square, May and Tracey were tangling with four Fossiloids
in their own right. They fought back to
back, each staring down two of the terra cotta soldiers. Normally it would be May’s style to wait for
the opponent to attack first then react and Tracey’s to charge head first into
the fray, but this time, for whatever reason, things were turned around.
Tracey
danced around each of the Fossiloids’ attacks—not in the style of his Capoeira,
but rather, easily stepping aside the attacks of the demonic grunts. He made things worse for them by adding an
occasional “Over here,” or a “Missed me,” or laugh when he would dodge. Eventually, with two of the Fossiloids in
front of him, he decided to take a more active approach to fighting them. He put his hands straight out in front of
him, causing the wind to pick up. The
Fossiloids struggled against the wind, until Tracey lifted his hands and
snapped them down, causing his enemies to fly upward on a gust of wind and
crash to the ground behind him.
May
somehow found herself with one Fossiloid in front of her and one behind
her. She switched her attention between
the two, beating them back with punches and kicks too fast for them to follow. At one point, in the middle of fighting the one
in front of her, she jumped and kicked as she spun around, connecting right in
the chops. It staggered backward, just
as the first one attacked again. She put
up her hand as if to tell it to wait, then smiled as a burst of flame shot from
her hand and burned into its face. While
it was stunned, she grabbed it and flung it toward the other. They crashed into one another, and they made
a nice pile when combined with the two Tracey was fighting.
May
and Tracey regrouped, watching the Fossiloids struggle to their feet. “Any ideas how to destroy these guys?” May
asked.
“I
was thinking you use your fire and I use my wind at the same time,” Tracey
suggested.
“Great
idea!” May whipped her hands up and then straight out in front of her, and
mustered as much strength as possible.
“WAVE BURNER!”
Tracey
threw his arm back, and put his hands out, the fingers stretched out to make a
big “O” with his hands. He concentrated
too, and a long column of wind shot out of his hands. “STORM TORNADO!”
The
two attacks were timed so that when they combined, the fire spun around in a
simoom that was upon the Fossiloids in seconds and gone just as quickly,
leaving only a scorched pile of dust.
They
mimicked the gesture Ash made earlier after dispatching the Fossiloids—pump of
the fist, followed by a mock throat slit.
“You’re history!” they shouted as well.
One
of the Fossiloids cheapshotted Brock right in the nuts, taking him out of the
fight for a few moments. This was enough
time for the Fossiloids to overwhelm Misty and lay her out. Brock recovered soon enough, and charged with
the ferocity of Ash’s personal herd of 60 Tauros. His angered stampede scattered the Fossiloids
like dead leaves, and once they were clear, he turned to Misty.
“You
alright?” he asked, pulling her up by her hand.
“I’ll
live,” she said flatly. As the Rangers
regrouped, they saw the Fossiloids charge them.
Brock looked around, finding a broken sapling lying nearby. He grabbed the tree, devising a plan as Misty
ran to a fire hydrant near the corner. He
threw the broken tree at the Fossiloids’ feet, tripping them up. He aimed an open hand at the tree, the muscles
in his arm tense as steel cables. “TANGLEWEED!”
he shouted. The tree glowed green, and its
branches grew around the Fossiloids’ limbs, and lifting them into the air. The Fossiloids wailed and thrashed around
trying to free themselves. Brock closed
his fist, and the twisted limbs grew tighter, holding them in place and
bringing them within about a foot of one another.
Brock
contemplated how to destroy them when he heard a rumbling that gradually grew
in volume, accompanied by some metal clanking.
Seconds later, the fire hydrant Misty – who was strangely AWOL all of a
sudden – was nearby exploded, water spraying out with great force. But something seemed odd about it. The stream of water wasn’t just a random
flow. It looked…alive.
When
he saw the water suddenly donned Misty’s face (and outstretched right fist),
Brock understood. The force of Misty’s
attack quickly eroded the Fossiloids into nothing. The water that blasted out of the hydrant hit
the ground and quickly reformed into Misty…
Ash,
May and Tracey ran to Brock as Brock mimicked the same victory gesture Ash
started earlier. “You’re
histoooooooooh-boy…” Brock’s words stuck in his throat as he took in the scene
before him.
Misty
saw the others looking at her. May’s
expression was blank, but Brock’s jaw was on the ground and she saw Tracey
mouth a silent day-am! When she looked at Ash’s face, he suddenly
spun around and pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes.
Then,
Misty looked at herself.
And
screamed loud enough to be heard by everyone in Kanto.
Apparently
in the middle of battle, the fact that only her body would turn into water, not
anything she had on her body at the time escaped her. As if Misty’s skull-splitting shriek was bad
enough, that sound was soon accompanied by the comically loud and fast sounds
of fists and feet slamming into human flesh.
Misty was so appalled by Brock and Tracey seeing her in this state that
she beat the ever-loving shit out of the both of them, knocking the two of them
out.
“Perverts!”
she snapped, covering herself. Her eyes
were still wide and her teeth were clenched hard. She heard someone clear their throat behind
her, and she spun around, still in über-angry mode. She calmed down a bit when she saw May
standing there with her clothes in her hands.
“What
were you saying earlier about your new ability?” May asked.
Misty
snatched the pile of clothes out of her hands.
She was very thankful that no one save for the Rangers themselves were
around. “I know, I know,” she groaned, I
can’t believe I would forget something like that.” She hurriedly put on her clothes. “I know I’m a lot smarter than that!”
“Just
be thankful all the other townsfolk cleared out of this place,” May said. “I wouldn’t wanna think about how they’d—”
“Please, just…don’t.” Misty looked at May for a second. “And why are you still looking?”
May
shrugged. “Well…it’s not like you have
anything I don’t have. And to be honest,
it’s not like you’ve got anything to hide, either.”
Misty
paused. It took her a bit to…process May’s
comment. “Um…thanks…” The rest of her attire
back in its place, Misty sat down on the curb and put her shoes and socks back
on.
May
sat down on the curb next to her. She
looked out at the street. Brock and
Tracey were still out cold. “You should
consider yourself luck you’re dating the one guy on the team with a sense of decency
about him.”
Ash
still wasn’t moving, and his eyes were still cast downward. He didn’t move, he didn’t dare look at Misty,
not only out of decency, but out of fear.
He of all people knew what Misty was like when she was angry, and the
look in her eyes just before she went berserk warned of what was going to
happen—possibly to him.
There
was no way Ash could withstand the full force of Misty’s wrath.
The
girls stood, and approached their leader.
“Ash,” Misty said, coming up behind him.
“You can turn around now.” Ash
still didn’t respond. “Ash? Ash!”
Slowly,
Ash turned around. He let go of his hat
as he picked up his head, and a bright, vibrant blush could be seen on his
face.
“Awww!” May chided.
“Well
isn’t that cute…” another voice called out.
Ash, May and Misty turned around and saw the Easelator standing before
them, still ready to fight.
Ash groaned at his taunt. If the next words out of his mouth are “but
it’s wrong”… he thought.
“…BUT
IT’S WRONG!” The three Rangers still
standing facevaulted. “Tutorial’s over,
kids! Now comes a crash course in
humiliation!” Its cackle reverberated
through the square, and marked Brock and Tracey’s sudden revival.
“Back
with us now?” Ash asked. “Good. Let’s do this!” Everyone fell into formation. Ash grabbed his Morpher. “Ready?”
The
others grabbed theirs as well. “Ready!”
“POKÉRANGER! GO!!!”
TO
BE CONTINUED……………