Chapter 5 – Homestead

(This lags on a tad in the end, but hang in there!)

The heard of them ran as fast as they possibly could, tearing up the path to Indigo Village. Kicking up dirt and grass as they were, the black and blue KanKeree Pokemon was still inches behind them.

"Kankree!!Creecreecree!!!" It chirped as it bounded along behind them.

" What are we going to do?" James whined.

" I guess we’ll have to fight it!" Ash cried.

" You’ll get your ass kicked! It’s a crystal KanKeree! It can bite through solid stone!’ Aya puffed.

" Oh great, then what?" Misty asked.

" Pikapika!!" (I can’t run anymore!)

Ash looked foreword, where a woman was motioning for them to run inside a door.

" Over there!" he pointed. As the lot of them rushed inside the house, the young woman leapt in front of the black lizard-like creature. They watched as they caught their breath how she challenged its power. Reaching in her jean pocket she pulled out a small glass marble, which doubled in size.

" A pokeball?" Jessie queried.

" Razar, I choose you!" She cried, throwing the ball. The clear ball opened and in a beam of blue light, another odd four-legged creature appeared. It was easily four feet tall, like a teal and blonde husky, with a full plume tail and a determined glint in its eye.

"Raza!!Razar!!!" It growled, lowering its ears.

" Razar, take him out with your Icefire attack!!" She commanded. The Razar’s eyes glowed blue with fury as it began howling, and a large gust of icy wind blew circles around its body and breath before sweeping up the KanKeree and cascading down its throat. The KanKeree began coughing and whining in confusion as the ice began freezing its body from the lungs outward. Its tongue crystallized and you could see the immense struggle in the Kankree’s eyes as the soft flesh of its mouth turned ice blue. Taking the opportunity, the Razar released a huge blast of ice-cold fire into the ground where it stood, causing a huge explosion of blue flame to blow the animal into the sky. With a merry yip, the dog celebrated its quick victory.

" Razar, return!" She said, and the ice dog went back into the glass ball.

Turning to the porch, she saw five humans and two Pokemon with their jaws on the ground, staring in astonishment.

" Now THAT’S an attack.!" Ash exclaimed. She giggled slightly.

" What? You act like you’ve never a Razar’s basic attack before!"

" BASIC ATTACK?!" Brock said. He then noticed the beautiful Pokemon trainer standing before him, and lost all emotional control. Bolting out the door he took her hand.

" Hi my name is Brock and I’m going to be a great Pokemon breeder A beautiful girl like you must have worked awful hard to get a Pokemon like that so strong will you go out with me I’m Brock!?!"

Misty slapped her forehead. " Here we go again…"

The girl giggled. " Well, you certainly have the energy to be a breeder Brock! I’m Felicia. Nice to meet you." She shook his hand.

" Felicia…" He said dopeley.

"Luciferferfer!!!" came a cheerful little voice as an orange monkey bounded down a tree limb and onto Felicia’s shoulder. Brock screamed and fell on the ground.

" AAA! Another one!" He cried. Felicia shook her head.

" Lucifer is a very dear friend of mine. He won’t hurt you. Now, I’ll show you and your friends inside."

With that, Felicia and Lucifer walked onto the porch, past the group of astonished friends, and lead them into the luxurious pokecenter.

***

The group of them had made themselves quite at home in the pokeinn, as it were, and had gathered in the main living room. The grand tour revealed to them the homely atmosphere they would be residing in. The downstairs had a living room, with plenty of chairs and a big-screen TV, a large kitchen with a bar instead of a table (with those swiveley barstools, much to Pikachu’s delight), and an area marked off with the normal Pokecenter equipment. The upstairs branched off into four rooms, each with its own balcony overlooking the large backyard, and a bathroom with a huge bathtub. The backyard veranda was incased in a greenhouse-like glass dome, with a door leading onto a Pokemon battlefield. Inside, however, the veranda housed a large Jacuzzi and several deck chairs.

They had loved every inch of their surroundings, and intended to use all the accommodations to their extent. But for now, having walked for almost two days, they had all fallen asleep in various places around the room. Ash slept on his back on one side of a small couch, with his hat pushed down his forehead and his hands folded on his chest. Pikachu napped beside him, and Misty slept opposite Ash, with her head on her hands, folded on the armrest. Brock lay on the floor, not too far away from a rather jumbled pile of Pokemon, where Aya and her gang had collapsed onto the carpet. Jessie and Meouth had taken up the entire second couch, forcing James to move to an insomnia inducing armchair. Although he lay aquardly with his eyes closed, he was far from dreaming. Felicia had assumed everyone was unconscious, and had taken the chance to examine her ‘assigned prey’. Standing over Ash, with Lucifer in her arms, she scrutinized his sleeping form, her piercing brown eyes soon catching on the red object in his pocket. With intuition she reached down and tried to remove the object without waking him. Succeeding, she turned the object over in her hands recalling how familiar it was to her Crystal Pokedex. Without warning the small door flew open and the light came on.

‘ Dexter is on-line.’ It announced.

" Dexter?" She laughed, " Can’t you just call it a Pokedex? Alright, Dexter, display information on…."

Thinking for a moment, she pointed the infra red panel at Lucifer, who was hiding from it behind her hair.

‘ No information available.’

" Okay. This thing needs an update." She said. She walked over to the bar counter, Lucifer leapt down, and she dug around in a drawer for a moment before pulling out a silver and clear Pokedex. Turning it over and digging out a small screwdriver, she proceeded to unscrew the back panel on both hers and Dexter. Prying a silver computer chip out of the back, she installed it in Dexter and was screwing the back shut just as Ash was waking up.

" Hey! What are you doing?" He announced, suprising Felicia and making her jump, and came running over to her side as she finished the last screw. She handed it to him.

" See for yourself. Point it at Lucifer."

"Ciferferfer." It chirped. Ash obeyed.

‘ Lucifer. A Lion Tamerin Pokemon. It’s beautiful golden fur and cute exterior hides enormous power, and it will serve it master with unquestioned loyalty.’

" Wow!" Exclaimed Ash.

" I just took the information chip out of mine and put it into yours. Hope you don’t mind."

" Not at all!" He said, still staring at the pic on the small screen.

" Now Dexter will display information on all 11 types of unevolved Crystal Pokemon."

" What about evolved ones?" he queried.

" Oh, you have them too, just they won’t be recognized with a number."

Ash, excited with his new toy, sat back down on the couch and pointed it to the pile of stirring Crystal Pokemon. Aya sat up and yawned.

‘ Ayachu. A Riachu/Kadabra Pokemon. One of these incredible electric/psychic hybrids is born only once every 500 years and almost always crossbreeds with others to create even more powerful Pokemon. No two are exactly alike.’

" You could have just asked me, putz." The grumpy animal scoffed before collapsing back onto the ground.

" Ash, I’m only gonna say this once, turn that loud thing off or I will shoot you." Came Misty’s tired voice from where she lay, her eyes still closed.

" You must have had less sleep than I did." He remarked, tucking Dexter into his pocket and laying back down.

" Lest you forget, you weren’t the one who died. You don’t know the meaning of the word tired." She retorted, shifting slightly.

" Yeah well…"

" SHUT UP!" Came the united irritable voices of all his awakened friends.

" Whatever." He pushed his cap down on his head again and shut his eyes.

Across the room, Felicia laughed softly and cruelly. Her eyes hidden by shadows and her breath seething through her teeth she stroked the small animal in her arms.

" Simpletons. They argue over such petty things, I think that Ayachu

is the only thing keeping them from accidentally killing themselves."

*Do not underestimate them, Felicia.* Came a voice in her head. She immediately recognized it as her master.

* they are much more powerful then they seem.*

‘ They are tired and vulnerable! Should I attack?’ She thought.

* Have you learned nothing?! You must establish trust with the enemy before you even think about attacking. Besides, if you want to have any fun with the kill you must pick each one out of the group. Just be patient, my dear, your time will come.*

‘ Yes Master. I hear and I will obey.’

***

Later that night, around 10, everyone had slept all day and was in no mood to sleep. Therefore, since there was nothing to do accept watch TV, they sat around the room, bored to death. Brock had enjoyed his power rush being king of the remote long enough, or so James decided, and they were now wrestling each other. Aya, Shadowcat, Ember, Inferno and Pikachu had been playing poker, and Shadowcat was at a loss for words when Pikachu picked up his third win in a row. Tidal dozed in Misty’s lap as she sat between Ash and Jessie on the second couch, all watching James and Brock go at it. Felicia was the only one not bored, for she was quite occupied dissecting Ash and Misty with her eyes from across the room. She studied the looks in their eyes and on their faces as they watched the fight, and she had come to realize that Misty was the only one who looked quite content. She scrutinized her posture, her pose, and the way she was thinking using her telepathic powers, and then something clicked in Felicia’s mind, causing her to break out into a huge smile.

After all, Felicia Masters was one of Himalya’s leading minions in dealing with telekinesis and human emotion.

For affection and betrayal are dangerous weapons.

And she knew exactly what to do.

***

It gets REALLY good now! Felicia’s gonna heat things up, with EVERYBODY!

To be continued….