A Glance Is More Than Enough

“This is so cool!”
“Right?!”
“How many people are going to be there?”
“The Prof. said it was going to be showcased to trainers from all around the world.”
“Imagine, getting to see 10 years into the future.”
“I don’t know guys, what happens if we are not exactly happy with what we find out?”
“Come on, Brock. How bad can things get in ten years?”
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“Welcome trainers of all ages to your future.”
Johto Stadium, home to some of the greatest Pokemon battles in the world. This was the
setting for the unveiling of the invention that will revolutionize the way people live, or at
least that’s what Prof. Elm called it.
“I don’t know about this, Prof. Elm. Seeing the future, knowing what will happen before
it does. It doesn’t seem right.”
“How can you say that, Prof. Oak?! This invention might help us prevent horrible
catastrophes, save people’s lives, better the future for generations to come. This is the
greatest breakthrough in the world of science since the invention of the pokeball.
“I understand all that, but there are just some things that the world isn’t ready for yet, and
I think this is one of them.”
“Hmmm, I’ll tell you what. If just one person can’t handle what they see then we’ll call
the whole experiment off. However, if they can handle it then we continue as planned.
Deal?”
Prof. Oak thought about it for a minute before he took Prof. Elm’s hand.
“Deal.”
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“Wow, look at all these people here!” Misty said as she scanned the stadium filled with
Pokemon trainers.
“Yeah, Prof. Oak sure knows a lot of people.”
“Ash! Prof. Oak doesn’t know all of these people, it was an open invitation to everyone,
remember?” Misty growled at her somewhat dense best friend.
“That’s right, it was advertised in the “Science of Pokemon Journal”. Anyone who was
interested was welcome to come to the unveiling.”
“Prof. Oak!” the 3 trainers said in unison as the Prof. just smiled back.
“This is soooo cool Prof.!”
“Yeah, it was really great of you to invite us.”
“Think nothing of it, Brock, it’s great to have up-and-coming people in the Pokemon
world here. Besides, I’m sure if I didn’t tell you about it you would have read it in the
journal yourselves.”
“Uh...of-of course I would have! You know how-how I like to-to keep up with stuff like
that, heh heh,” Ash stuttered as he scratched the back of his head nervously.
“Please! You don’t read period, let alone read science journals!” Misty stated matter-of-
factly.
“Oh yeah! Well for your information I’ve read several journals!”
Misty gave Ash the “Oh really like what?” stare.
“Well, maybe not several, some....or... one...journal.” Ash confessed sheepishly.
“Ha, and that was?”
“Yours,” Ash said a little above a whisper.
“Mine?” Misty wondered out loud.
“What do you mean mi-MINE!!!!!!” Misty’s face turned 10 shades of red, starting from
an embarrassing blush to -“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”
“Wait, before you use my head as a baseball I just like to say that I only read three pages
and put it down after I realized it was wrong. Plus we had just had a big fight and I was
mad at you.”
“That’s no excuse! We always fight, what you did was cruel, I mean, YOU READ MY
DIARY!”
“I know, and I’m sorry but I was just trying to get back at you.”
“For what?!”
“For putting those chili peppers in my food.”
Misty’s eyes went wide in remembrance as she immediately felt guilty.
“Oh.”
“Uh guys, I think the ceremony is starting.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because Prof. Oak just left saying the ceremony was starting.”
Some people were sitting in the stands while the rest of the people were standing on the
battle field. Those people included Ash, Misty, and Brock.
The trio placed themselves near the front of the stage where the unveiling of the machine
was going to occur.
Misty was feeling really bad at the moment. She remembered the fight Ash was talking
about. She had started it. ‘It was my fault in the first place. Why did I put the peppers in
his food? Oh that’s right, I was mad at him.’ Misty had been pissed off at Ash for saying
that the only things he loved were Pokemon and Pokemon battles. Suffice it to say that
wasn’t the answer she was looking for when she asked the question of “what is his
greatest love?” Misty didn’t know what else she expected him to say, but she hoped it
would have been a little more romantic than that. But then again, it was Ash.
‘I should never had done it. I remember I felt awful for two weeks.’ She felt awful for
two weeks because that’s how long it took for Ash to start talking normally again. He had
burnt his mouth, or more precisely, his tongue, very badly causing him to speak with a
very noticeable lisp. She knows he could have done a lot worse to her than reading her
diary, but in Misty’s case Ash reading Misty’s diary was quite a damaging thing indeed.
In almost every entry she talked about her infatuation with Ash.
‘He must know how I feel about him, but if he knew he would have said something, or he
would be acting weird. Come to think of it, he has been acting kind of standoffish, that’s
it! I can’t take this, I have to know what he read.’
“Ash?”
“What is it, Misty? The ceremony is about to start. Wait, are you going to hit me now? I
said I was sorry.” Ash was ready to plead his case again when Misty stopped him.
“No, I’m not going to hit you I just.....I wanted...I wanted to know which three pages of
my diary you read?”
“Oh, well it was the first three pages,” Ash said somewhat dejectedly while Misty
breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Thank God!’ Those pages only contained her thoughts of the first days when she ran
away from home and when she had first met Ash.
‘Oh no!’
“I mean, it wasn’t like I found out anything I didn’t already know.” Ash laughed
pathetically as Misty looked painfully at the hurt Ash.
“I already knew that you hated me so that was old news.”
“No, Ash I don’t hate you. I never hated you. I was just mad at you because you stole my
bike, and I was already angry at my sisters so-so you pushed me over the top. I was just
venting my frustrations when I wrote that you were a-”
“Ugly, stupid, bike-thieving, punk-kid, who probably killed his Pikachu.”
“Yeah....that,” Misty sheepishly replied.
“Guys, can you please quiet down, the ceremony started.”
“Sorry, Brock...So...you really don’t hate me?” Ash whispered to Misty who smiled
gently and shook her head in response.
Ash then smiled contentedly back at her.
Prof. Elm was already in the process of explaining how the “Future Sight” machine
works. Ash thought the machine seemed more like a large, flat-screen TV with a huge
eyeball attached to the top of it, but he figured if he mentioned it Misty would call him
stupid again. Little did Ash know that Misty was thinking the exact same thing.
“........this machine will revolutionize the way people live. Now all we need are a few
volunteers to demonstrate how it works.”
“Me! Me! Me! Oooh pick me!” Ash and Misty watched in amusement as their slit-eyed
companion jumped up and down like a energetic schoolgirl who knew they answer to the
teacher’s question.
“All right, Brock Slate will be our first volunteer.”
“Yes!” Brock jumped high in the air with glee and then began to approach the stage.
“No. Stay where you are. There is no need to move. Our machine works by examining
your pupil and matching it to it’s counterpart ten years from now. Now, open your eyes
wide.......I said open your eyes wide.”
“They are open wide, can’t you tell?”
“Uh, of course I can. OK now I just flip the switch and...”
A red laser light radiated out of the eyeball at the top of the machine and hit Brock's
“eye”.
“At least we know it won’t take long to find Brock.”
“True, who else has eyes like that.”
“I can hear you!” Brock called out angrily as Misty and Ash giggled from the sidelines.
“Ah, we have a match!”
The large TV screen flickered on as the laser light faded away.
“Thanks! Come again.”
“Hey, Brock that’s you!”
“Yeah, you look....exactly the same.”
Well not exactly the same, the Brock who appeared on screen was definitely taller and at
least eight to ten years older. He seemed to be working in some sort of store.
“It’s a Pokemon Breeding Center!!!” Brock declared excitedly as the rest of the store
came into view.
“I knew it! I’m living my dream of opening my own breeding center....There’s just one
thing missing-”
“Brocky!” A beautiful girl with long blond hair, green eyes, and a kind smile stepped out
of the back room holding an Eevee. The Brock onscreen was noticeably happy at the
appearance of the girl, but he kept his smooth manner while talking to her. Unlike the
Brock who was watching the whole scene.
“Wow, she’s beautiful,” present-Brock stated in a dopey tone.
“Things are going great, the profits have doubled since last month and I’ve been doing
some calculations, we have a 75% evolution rate.”
“That’s great, honey! With things going so well we’ll be able to afford that vacation in no
time.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Just the two of us.”
“I have the best boyfriend ever.”
“YES!!!!” Brock screamed in delight as everyone was sure that his shriek of glee was
heard as far as the Orange Islands.
“Okay I think you’ve probably seen enough.” Prof. Elm stated as everyone else readily
agreed with him.
Brock seemed to be in another, wonderful, world as he imagined what the children would
look like. During this time several other futures were revealed. At least 12 people had
scene a glimpse of their future. Everything was going well. Everyone seemed to be
pleased with what they saw, some more than others. They had just gotten through with
showing Duplica’s very successful career as a impressionist with her troop of Ditto.
“All right, as I had expected, this experiment has turned out to be quite successful, don’t
you think?” Prof. Elm asked the audience as he gave a smug look to Prof. Oak, who
looked back in annoyance.
The crowd gave a very opposite response to Prof. Elm’s question as they cheered and
applauded in amazement.
“Well, seeing as how you all agree I think we can end this demonstration here with a few
closing words that-“
“Wait! Can we just try it on one more person?”
Prof. Elm looked suspiciously at Prof. Oak.
“Who do you have in mind?”
“Ash, Ash Ketchum.”
The spotlight was turned on Ash.
“Oh, I don’t-“
“Come on Ash, I thought you wanted to see if you will become a Pokemon Master?” the
Prof. reminded.
“Yeah Ash, go on, do it. It’ll be fun.” Misty agreed.
“But I-”
“Ha! I can tell you right now if he’ll be a Pokemon master or not. The answer is yes...in
his dreams!”
“Gary! What are you doing here?!”
“My grandfather is running this thing, idiot. And in case your tiny little brain didn’t get
what I said before, you will never be anything more than a wannabe Pokemon Master.”
The fire began to rise in Ash’s body.
“Let’s do it!”
The red laser light appeared once again as the machine began the matching process.
“Now, Ash, get ready to glance into your future.”
Ash was still quite angry when the machine’s screen flickered on for the 13th time that
day.
Prof. Elm walked to the left of the stage where Prof. Oak was standing.
“I know what your trying to do Prof. Why don’t you just face it, this is a success and you
know it.”
“We’ll see.”
The area onscreen seemed very familiar to Brock, Misty and especially Ash.
“Hey! That’s my house!”
“Ash, hurry up we’re going to be late.” A tall, pretty, redhead emerged from the kitchen
and entered Ash’s living room. She was dressed in a fancy, black evening gown and she
was holding a small black purse.
“What? Who is that?” Ash wondered out loud as Misty stared in confusion.
“In a second Mist I-oh damn it!”
“It’s me?!” Misty stared in shock for a second until she realized that-
“I look great!”
Ash chuckled a little at Misty’s pleased expression while he secretly agreed with her.
“But what are you doing there, and where am I?”
“Mist can you help me, I can’t tie the stupid tie.” A tall, darkly handsome young man,
about the age of twenty came downstairs and joined Misty. He was wearing a black suit
that matched his hair and he was holding a tie in his hands.
“Your hopeless you know that? What would you do without me?” Misty said in a fake
sarcastic tone.
“Hmmm....”
“Don’t answer that!” Ash and Misty began to laugh.
“Ash that’s you!” Misty stated as a small blush formed on her cheeks.
“Yeah, now I look great!”
“Done.”
“Thanks.”
“It was really nice of your mom to let me stay here.”
“Come on, you know your always welcome at our house. Besides, it’s not like she had a
choice.”
“I guess. Anyway, so? How do I look?” 20 year old Misty asked the future Ash as she
spun around to show him her dress.
“You look good, I mean a little scrawny...but good.” The two Mistys both looked
dangerously at their respective Ashs as both Ashs burst out in laughter.
“Yeah real scrawny, Owww!” Misty smacked Ash as the future Misty followed suite.
“Some things never change.” Brock chuckled to himself.
“Owww, I’m just kidding, you know I love you.”
“Huh?” present Ash’s eyes went wide as he tried to understand what he had just heard.
Misty’s eyes were equally wide while she continued to observe the scene onscreen.
“I know. I love you too.” That’s when the clincher happened. Future Ash and Misty
began to kiss passionately.
“YES!!!!!!!!” Misty yelled out in happiness, and in her mind, victory.
Of course she seemed to be the only one who didn’t take notice of her future boyfriend
passing out next to her.
“Oh my God! Ash are you okay? Can you hear me? Ash?!” Brock tried desperately to
bring his friend back to consciousness by slapping him around a bit. Misty appeared to
have shut out the world around her as she entered a Brock-like daze, gazing stupidly into
nothingness.
Onstage the older Prof. gave the younger Prof. an “I told you so” look as he stated “looks
like Ash can’t handle it.”
“You did this on purpose,.....fine I’ll fix it.”
The frustrated Prof. Elm exited backstage and returned a few minutes later, wheeling out
a large silver device.
“Ummm, excuse me everybody, can I please direct your attention to the stage.”
The large group of trainers, including the now undazed Misty, all looked at the stage.
“Now I want you to stare into the red center, this will just take a moment.”
He was right, it only took a moment for the red light to flash, cover the entire stadium,
cause everyone to forget the last 3 hours of their lives, and render them totally
unconscious.
When they awoke they were told by Prof. Oak that when they went to test the machine on
the first volunteer the machine went haywire and exploded. They were lucky that nobody
was seriously injured, however, the “Future Sight” machine was a failure so they should
all go back to there respective journeys. He thanked them all for coming and sent them on
their way.
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Later that day...
“All that work for nothing!”
“It’s all for the better.”
“Perhaps, it just seems like such a waste, and all because one kid freaked out over having
a girlfriend.”
Prof. Oak chuckled to himself. “Ash, you always come through for me.....wait.”
“What?”
“Wasn’t Ash already unconscious before the “Forget Ray” was activated?”
“Yeah so?” Both Prof. eyes went wide in realization.
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“Can you believe it?”
“I know, they made such a big deal out of it and it doesn’t even work.”
“And you know what else is weird? I don’t even remember the explosion.”
“Me neither, do you Ash?....Ash?”
“Uuuuuuuh?”


To Be Continued.....