Chapters are seperated by the long line of asterisks. Here's my

disclaimer: "Do I even need to say anything here? You all know these guys

aren't mine."

The second she spotted the old woman, Misty dug out her wallet.

"Hold on a second, Ash." she whispered to her youngest friend as

they walked. "Let’s see if this lady up here wants to sell us anything."

Ash squinted at the figure, waiting patiently at the side of the

road, as they approached her. "What for?" he hissed back. "Do you know

her or something?"

"Of course not! I’d just like to help her out, that’s all."

Brock smiled. "That’s actually pretty nice of you, Misty."

"Ka." Pikachu agreed, perched atop its master’s head.

Ash scoffed. "Yeah, why can’t you be more like this all the

time?"

Misty growled. "You watch it, Ash-"

"Excuse me."

The soft, kind voice gently smothered Misty’s threat. "Pardon

me." the woman smiled. She didn’t look very old, Misty realized, now that

they were closer to her. She looked a little tired, and she was a small

woman, but she still possessed an attractive face and a healthy-looking

body. "I was just wondering-"

"Of course! We’d love to buy something!" Ash blurted, grinning

falsely.

"Very smooth." Misty muttered.

The woman looked a little confused. "Oh, I don’t have anything to

sell." she corrected the boy politely.

The ten-year-old turned to his female companion and scowled.

"Nice call, Misty." he mouthed angrily.

Misty blinked, bewildered. "But I could have sworn. . ."

"Huh?" Ash looked curiously at his friend, waiting for her to

finish.

Misty blushed faintly, feeling a little stupid. "I just had a

feeling. . . that you had something for us."

The woman smiled warmly. "But I do." she spoke softly.

Brock blinked. "But you just said-"

"Oh, not to sell." The woman chuckled pleasantly. "As a gift."

She reached into a deep pocket on the front of her long, brown

dress and brought out four glittering amulets, hanging on leather thongs.

Misty caught her breath at the sight of the four pendants. They weren’t

extraordinary, but there was something about them that took her breath

away.

"These are for you." the woman explained, her words barely heard

by the four spell-bound travelers. "Please, take them."

Ash reached out for one immediately, awed. The woman, however,

withdrew the amulets quickly, breaking the spell.

"Hey. . ." Ash began angrily.

The woman stopped him with a sharp shake of her head. "You have

to pick wisely." she scolded gently. "Choose from your heart." She held

the pendants out again.

Misty looked closer at the four stones. They were circular, but

flat, as if they had been worn down by centuries of erosion. All four

were different colors: blue, green, red, and a soft purple. They shone

dully, but they were beautiful nonetheless.

The girl peered closer at the blue amulet. What had at first

appeared to be a smooth surface suddenly revealed itself to have

intricate, delicate, almost invisible carvings all over its face. Misty

squinted her eyes and looked harder.

The indistinct designs slowly worked themselves out, forming into

a complicated, but nevertheless obvious, shape.

"It’s a Squirtle!" she breathed, reaching out to touch the

surface of the amulet.

"A Squirtle? Wow, let me have it!" Ash cried, interrupting her

sense of awe. "I’ve got a Squirtle!"

"Tough luck, Ash Ketchum!" Misty cried, grabbing the pendant

before her friend could. "It’s a water Pokémon, and water is my

specialty!" She glanced at the other pendants. "Besides, there’s a

Bulbasaur right there." She pointed to the green one, dangling from the

woman’s fist.

Ash whirled around to examine the green amulet. "You’re right!"

he crowed after a minute of sorting out the design. "How could you tell?"

The girl shrugged. "Dunno." she replied casually, though she

herself marveled at how she had deciphered the picture so quickly.

Ash whipped the amulet out of the woman’s hand. "Well, it’s mine

now!" he cried. "Cool!"

Brock was leaning forward, inspecting the red amulet carefully.

Finally he sat back, satisfied. "That’s what I thought." he said quietly,

more to himself than anybody else. "It’s a Vulpix." He looked up at the

woman. "It’s perfect." he murmured.

"It’s yours." she murmured back.

He took ahold of the pendant and pulled it away from the woman’s

grasp. "Thank you."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks!" Ash cried hurriedly, remembering his manners.

Misty smiled shyly. "Thank you." she told the woman.

The woman smiled back. "But wait." She held out the purple

amulet. "You’ve forgotten one."

Misty strained to decode the carvings but to no avail. "Oh, it

doesn’t matter." She waved it aside. "There’s nobody to take it anyway."

The woman chuckled again. "It seems to me that you’re forgetting

an important member of your group."

"Chu!" Pikachu added reproachfully.

Ash grinned. "Okay, Pikachu, you can have the fourth amulet." He

took the pendant from the woman, who gave it willingly, and fastened it

around his Pokemon’s neck. "Looks great, Pikachu!" he laughed.

"Pika!" the mouse smiled, fingering the stone happily.

The woman patted the Pokémon on its head. "You four get going

now." she said kindly.

"Okay! Thanks again!" Ash cried over his shoulder as he continued

down the road, examining his new pendant proudly.

Brock waved good-bye. "Thank you." He ran to catch up with Ash.

Misty hesitated. "Listen, I don’t want to just take these. . ."

she said slowly. Digging in her wallet, she fished out a twenty dollar

bill. Her last twenty. "Please take it." she said, pressing it firmly in

the woman’s hand.

The woman smiled. "Oh, I can’t." she said, offering it back.

Misty ignored the woman’s efforts to give back the money and

walked away slowly. "I wouldn’t have it any other way." she called back.

"Thank you!"

The woman waved fondly.

Turning back to the road, Misty reached into her pocket for her

amulet to find a piece of balled up paper that hadn’t been there before.

Pulling it out, she uncrumpled it --

to find a twenty dollar bill.

"Hey. . ." she muttered. She turned back to the woman.

The woman was gone.

Misty stood silently for a moment. Then she smiled and pocketed

the money. Rubbing the blue stone between her fingers, she followed after

her two friends.

******************************************************************************

Jessie glared at her partner. "What are you doing?" she said irritably.

James fumbled through his pocket. "Trying to find my wallet." he

explained briefly. He waved a hand at the road ahead of them. "I wanna

buy something from that old lady."

Jessie peered at the figure, standing at the side of the road.

"From her?" she asked incredulously. "Do you know her or something?"

"Aha!" James pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. "No. I

just want to do her a favor, I guess."

Jessie sighed. "James, think for a minute! We don’t have a dime

for ourselves, let alone for a beggar woman."

"Yeah, put ya wallet away!" Meowth cried, walking at the two’s

heels.

Peering into the wallet, James sighed to find that there wasn’t

even a moth inside. "Oh yeah." Sadly, he stuffed the empty billfold back

into his pocket.

"Pardon me." The voice was warm and friendly. They had reached

the woman.

Jessie scoffed. "Sorry, but we’re just as broke as you." She

continued down the road.

The old woman was unfazed. "But I don’t have anything to sell."

she explained patiently.

"Then why are you wasting our time?"

The old woman dipped a hand into a large pocket. "I have a gift

for you." She smiled again.

Jessie crossed her arms. "Oh, please! Like I’d believe a complete

stranger would give something away to another compete stranger, just like

that. Let’s go, James. We’ve got better things to do." She started off

again.

After a few steps, she realized that her partner wasn’t following

her. Whirling around, she found James staring at her beseechingly, still

standing next to the woman.

"Come on, James!"

The young man looked down unhappily. "Please, Jessie." he

murmured. Looking at the beggar woman almost yearningly, he lightly

touched the pendant that she was holding out. "Can’t we take it?"

The young woman sighed. Storming up to the other woman, she

snatched the necklace from her hand. "What is this thing?" she cried,

peering at the amulet. It was ivory, hanging on a blood red, silken cord.

The girl squinted at the carvings on the stone. "I can’t even tell what

it is!" Scoffing, she handed it back to the woman.

The woman shook her head gravely. "Don’t be so quick to speak.

You may regret it in the future." She nodded at the pendant. "Look

closer."

Jessie was not one to take orders willingly, but something about

the mysterious stranger compelled her to obey. She looked at the stone

again, sighing under her breath.

"It’s not going to make it any--" She trailed off as the design

began to work itself out. "Oh my. . ."

"Huh? Lemme see!" Meowth leapt onto her shoulder. Putting his

face down next to Jessie’s, he stared intently at the amulet. Jessie was

too intent on the carvings to be annoyed.

The cat’s eyes widened as he studied the stone. Suddenly he gave

a strangled yelp and tumbled from the girl’s shoulder. "Meee-ugh!" he

cried. "It’s a Persian!" Hissing to himself, he started off down the road

angrily, without waiting for the two humans.

The spell was broken. Jessie straightened up. Making a small

noise of indignation, she thrust the pendant into her pocket. Without a

word to the woman, she hurried after the Pokémon. "Meowth, get back

here!" she cried, leaving her partner and the beggar behind.

James stared after the two disappearing members of his team.

"Wait. . ." he whispered pitifully. He turned back to the woman. "I don’t

suppose. . ."

The woman shook her head sadly. "No, that’s all the gifts I have

for you. But fear not, young one." She grasped his hands kindly. "You

shall receive your own, from another, before the night is done." She

smiled mysteriously, and then, to James’ surpise, winked

conspiratorially.

James blinked, confused. "I don’t understand."

"Oh, you will, I believe." The woman smiled once more, in a way

that appeared to James to be almost fond. "Now, go after your friends."

She pointed in the direction Meowth and Jessie had gone.

"My friends?" The concept was startlingly foreign to James. He

looked down the road. "Yeah." he finally said. "Yeah, they are my

friends." He turned back to the woman. "Thank--"

She was gone.

For a very odd reason, it didn’t alarm him at all. "Thank you."

he murmured, positive the woman could hear.

The young man started off down the road.