Last time, our group of heroes narrowly escaped Team Rocket’s headquarters alive.  After rescuing Professor Oak, they return to his laboratory in Pallet Town.  Oak explains to the group that he is unable to leave the lab to go journey with them, so instead, he gives Icy Loki, his Ditto assistant, to come along.  And now, we rejoin the group inside Oak’s lab...

    “Professor, how exactly are we supposed to find Frosterpie?”
    “What’s so special about a frozen, old Caterpie anyways?” Nicky interrupted.
    [> Wait your turn <] Ivysore said, smacking Nicky on the head.
    “Oww, I was just curious...  Humph.”
    “Well Nicky, that’s actually a very good question.  Team Rocket may want Frosterpie for its rarity, but there is a great significance to this particular Caterpie if what I’ve translated so far is true.”
    “What professor?”
    “Well, it seems that in order to find Frosterpie, you’ll need to locate eight elemental discs.  Each disc will lead to the next with a clue to help.”
    “Uhhh, what’s so cool about that?”
    “There’s more.  These elemental discs contain great power.  Team Rocket mustn’t know about that yet.  When you find those discs, you mustn’t let them fall into Team Rocket’s hands, understand.”
    “Yes professor.  So where’s the first disc?”
    “Well, that’s the problem.  I don’t know.”
    “WHAAA!!!”  The group facefaults.
    “I’m sorry, but the manuscript doesn’t tell WHERE it is, it just gives this crazy riddle.”
    “Well, what’s it say?”
    “The riddle is, ‘An element of nature, when not controlled, it is your enemy, controlled, it is a friend.  But it never comes to the same spot twice.’”  The group pondered the question.
    “Hmmm, what never comes back to the same place twice.”
    “If it’s not controlled, it can be your enemy...”
    “Hey, I know!” said Icy.
    “What?”
    “Uhh, wait, no, never mind.  I was going to say Jigglypuff.  She never goes to the same place twice, when she’s under your control, she’s your best friend, and she’s not controlled, she’s DEFINITLY an enemy.  But Jigglypuff isn’t an element of nature.”
    “It’s lightning.  The element electricity,” Kelly said proudly.
    Everyone turned to stare at the smart, young girl.  “Hey, I think she’s got it.”
    “Hehehe, I learned that in school.”
    “So, where’s a place with a lot of lightning?”
    “Maybe they meant a place where electricity is.  That would be the power plant outside Cerulean City right?”
    “Yeah!  Let’s go!”
    “Wait, you should have a quick meal before you go.  You may be gone for a long time.”
    “Uhhhhh, I think Meeko wanted to visit someone or something in a few minutes.  Sorry professor, but, time waits for no one.”
    “Oh, ok.  Good luck Icy and the rest of you.  Goddish-speed on your journey.”

    Meeko walked up to a graveyard, she walked over to two graves, side by side and knelled down, “Caterpie, Ivysore, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Slowpoke, this is why I was afraid to come here, you see, the day I found you Caterpie, my parents died,” tears are coming from Meeko’s eyes, after this talk it’s been past 5 seconds, so Slowpoke even understands, and carries a bunch of flowers and puts them on the graves.
    Meanwhile, back at the restaurant there is a T.V. with the news on, “Aw, who wants the news!” Nicky complains.
    “Pallet is still searching for the girl that went missing after Mewtwo tried, but failed, to destroy Pallet. If you’ve seen this girl, please, call the police,” a picture of Meeko appears, “Here’s an eyewitness to her running away.”
    “She came up and asked what happened, I told her that Mewtwo tried to destroy Pallet and only got those two houses, when she asked what happened to the people inside, I told her they’d died, and she ran off like the wind!”
    “And here we are at the grave yard where her parents are, what?!?! That’s Meeko! Meeko! Meeko!”
    Meeko turns around to see a group of people running at her, she grabs Slowpoke and runs to the restaurant, when she finally gets there, “I’m..... outta.......breath.....could......someone......else.....tell......them......I’m.....fine......just......a.......trainer.......now....” Meeko says in between gulps of air.
    “Meeko slow down, we saw it on the news, they’re just worried about you.” Icy said.
    “Ok ummmmm, I’m not very good at talking to a crowd of strangers, can we just, oh, wait, that girl’s one of my old school friends!”
    Meeko timidly steps out, “Uhhhh, I’m sorry for concerning you, I’m just a Pokémon Trainer now, please, don’t worry, uh, bye!”
    “Wait! Meeko!” one of her old friends comes over to her and hands a Pokéball to her, “It was found at your house.”
    “They actually where going to let me have a Pokémon?” Meeko releases it and out comes a Meowth kitten, Meow! Meow! Meow! Meowth!  Meeko picks up her new Pokémon, she thanks her friend and gives the Pokéball to Icy, “I can’t use that thing, you can.”  The little Meowth happily purrs in Meeko’s arms.

    And the group continued on to the Power Plant.  Lewis was of course, holding Jigglypuff and admiring its cuteness.  Ivysore once again made a smart remark, and found itself in the middle of a tree.
    “You know, Meeko.  Ivysore isn’t much better then Bulbasaur was.” Lewis says.
    “Still, I like him.” Meeko says, pulling Ivysore out of the tree.  Icy and Sara suddenly collapsed!  They looked at each other again, whispering to each other.
    “Here, you guys go over to that pond and get some water for these two.” Lewis said.  The others left, and brought Sara along with them.
    “Lewis, there is something I should tell you.”
    “I thought so.  What’s wrong with you and Sara?”
    “That’s just it.  Lewis, remember when I told you we had been transformed into Pikachu before.  Well, we’ve both seen visions of it happening again.  The cure that Bill and Mewtwo created for us is wearing off.  Soon, we’ll be Pikachus again...  Huh, Lewis?”
    For some reason, Lewis wasn’t responding to him.  He tapped his shoulder.  “So, we meet again Icy.”
    “Whaa!!!!”  Icy crawled back fearfully.  He knew where he was.  Mewtwo had phased them into the Void again.  There was no way out.  Icy still couldn’t control his phasing ability yet.
    “What’s wrong Icy?  You seem distressed.”  Mewtwo grips Icy by the throat choking him.  “You no good, slimy, double-crossing human.”  Mewtwo throws Icy across the plain.  “You lied to me Icy.”  Mewtwo began charging up a psybeam.
    “No, please.”
    “SHUTUP!”  Mewtwo hurtles the beam at Icy.  Icy reacts quickly with a psyshield to block the attack.
    “Stop this.  Why are you attacking me?”
    “Because you are just like every other human down there.  You using your pokémon for your own betterment.  You’ve become just like them all.”
    “Buttercup.  Is that what you think?”
    “Not just her, but she is the main reason I am upset.  Yes, you let her die.”
    “I didn’t know.”
    “Liar!”  Mewtwo fires a quick psybeam into Icy’s chest sending him flying back through space.
    “Ughh...  Please, enough...  Stop this Mewtwo.  Violence isn’t the solution.  You know that.  Please, I never meant to harm any of my pokémon, especially Buttercup.  I thought she could pull that off.  I had no idea that she was going to do that.”
    “That’s not the point.  You allowed her to sacrifice herself so that you could become a pokémon master.  True or false.”
    “No, that’s not correct.”
    “FALSE!”  Mewtwo sent another psybeam into Icy.  This time Icy could not find the strength to get back up.  His energy levels had almost completely depleted.  “I could, and should kill you right here and now Icy.  Giovanni would love that.  And then again, that’s the only thing keeping you alive now.  Besides, you know as well as I what’s about to happen.”  Mewtwo sent one last psybeam into Icy before phasing him back into reality.
    “AGHHHH!!!” Icy cried before hitting the ground.  Lewis was really confused.  Sara went over to Icy and tried to revive him.
    “What happened to him?”
    “I don’t know.  He was fine the first second, then, he just screamed in pain.”
    Suddenly, one of the bushes nearby shook.  “We’ll take it from here. Out of the way twerp.”  Livy takes out a wind device and blows Lewis away from Icy and Sara.
    “Giovanni’s going to be very proud of us.”  Techor reaches into his holster and pulls out the strange blaster.  He takes aim at Icy and Sara.
    “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Lewis shouts.  He’s too late.
    “AGHHHH!!!” Icy and Sara scream together.  They both fall to the ground unconscious.
    “What did you do to them?”  Lewis’ eyes turn blue and Techor and Livy are blown away from Icy and Sara.  “Icy, Sara, speak to me.  Oh no.”  He was too late to save them.  The transformation had already begun.  In a matter of seconds, the two humans had been transformed back into Pikachus.  “Oh my Goddish...”
    Lewis immediately got back up.  The others had just seen the terrible thing that had happened.  Lewis was boiling with psy energy.  “I am so sick of you two!  Turn them back at once!” Lewis shouts.
    “Nope.  Besides, you’ll enjoy it when you’re one too!” Techor shouts.  Techor points the Transpokéfier gun at Lewis.  Lewis holds up his hands, knocking the gun away from their hands.  Lewis focuses his psy energy at the gun, destroying it.  Techor and Livy sank their hearts about getting a promotion: Giovanni would not be pleased when he hears the gun was destroyed.  Lewis was glowing with psychic energy, but it dispersed when he heard from Techor and Livy, “Venomoth!  Muk!  We choose you!”
    “I am having a REALLY bad day thanks to you two!  Pidgeot, Lickitung go!” Lewis shouts.  Lickitung and Pidgeot jump out, ready for a fight.
    “Ivysore, go get them!” Meeko shouts.
    “Blastoise, I choose you!” Nicky shouts.
    All four Pokémon jump into battle, ready and able.  With Icy still unconscious, Lewis knew that he had to do something.  Pidgeot and Lickitung were all over Venomoth, but it wasn’t helping.  Blastoise and Ivysore were pounding and shooting leafs and water at Muk.  It barely scratched them.  Lewis looked over and saw Icy’s pokéballs.  “I really hope Icy forgives me for this.” Lewis mutters.  Lewis runs over and grabs two of Icy’s pokéballs and shouts, “Pokémon!  Help us out!”  Cyber and Hocus come out, confused that their master didn’t send them out.  Before Hocus can speak, Lewis runs over and shouts, “No time to explain!  Quickly, Cyber, get Icy and Sara away fast!  Hocus, get Icy’s pokéballs and send out his Pokémon!  We’re in way over our heads with that Venomoth and Muk!”
    Hocus and Cyber hesitated for a moment, but complied.  Pidgeot was using wing attack on Venomoth, but Venomoth would quickly evade and counter with leech life.  Lickitung was having a little more success though, licking Venomoth.  Unfortunately, the paralysis didn’t last long enough.  Venomoth would come out of it and attack more.  Buttercup, Hocus, Static, and a few Caterpies joined that battle.  Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough.  Lewis thought some more.
    “I think it’s time for tactical retreat!” Lewis shouts.  Icy’s Pokémon hesitated again, but came back.  Lewis quickly recalled Lickitung and Pidgeot.  Nicky and Meeko recalled their Pokémon and also started to run.
    “Cyber!  We need a distraction.  Use your tri-attack and have the Cyber clones distract Venomoth and Muk long enough to get us away!” Nicky says.  Cyber nods and suddenly two more Cybers appear and fly down to attack Muk and Venomoth.
    “Cyber!  Get bigger and convert to flying type!” Lewis shouts.  Cyber suddenly gets larger and the group is flying back to the forest, amazed and overwhelmed.
    Icy came to just as the group was landing next to the Bug Gym.  “Wha...  What happened?” Icy asks, but all everyone heard was, “Pi, pika...”
    “Icy.  You and Sara are Pikachus again.  I decided to fly us back to the Viridian Forest Gym using Cyber.  We had another battle with Techor and Livy-...  We lost again.” Lewis says.  Icy closes his eyes and a tear runs down his cheek.
    Icy hopped out of Lewis’ arms and began looking for something.  Finally he found a small black cube.  It was the PikaTranslator that Quethril had constructed for him many months ago.  He put it around his neck and took some string.
    “I need my pokéballs please.”  Lewis could now understand Icy.  He gave him his pokéballs and Icy selected Hocus and Buttercup.  He tied the string around the balls and tied the other end to his tail.
    “Icy, are you going to be all right.”
    A tear formed in his eye.  “No...”  He looked at his reflection in the mirror.  “Look at me!  I’m a Pikachu again.  I’ll never be human again.” Icy began to cry out loud.  Sara wobbled over to his side.
    “Icy, we’ll pull though this.  We always have each other, nothing can take that away.”  She kissed him softly on his cheek.  Icy half smiled.
    Loki slithered up to Icy.  “Loki understand how Icy feel.  Loki imitate human all day for Oak.  Loki no like much.  Loki like being Ditto.  Icy like being human, not Pikachu.  Loki sorry about Icy be Pikachu again.  Maybe Oak find new cure for Icy?”
    “I don’t think so.  Aura was the pokémon that cured us.  But that only lasted for a month.  Let’s face it, I’m going to spend the rest of my life a Pikachu...”
    “Don’t say that.  Maybe Oak can find a cure.  But anyway, how ‘bout we start heading to Cerulean City.  We gotta find that first element disc.”
    As they walked to Cerulean, Meeko’s Pikachu was always with Icy and Sara, Meeko’s Jigglypuff was sitting on Lewis’s shoulder, Kelly and Nicky were chatting, with Ivysore ready to make a smart remark, Kelly’s Eevees were busy chasing Meeko’s Meowth, Yarns, and Caterpie sat on Meeko’s shoulder.
    “Hm, not much happening, lets go see what Lewis is doing.” Meeko walked over and spooked him when she asked what he was up to.
    “Ack! Don’t scare me like that!

    Pi!!!! Pikachu!!!!, Pikachu points at a Snorlax blocking the way.
    “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Not a stupid Snorlax!” Lewis yells.
    “Why not wake it up with your psypowers?” Kelly asks.
    “Why not? Because these guys are very unhappy when you mess up nap time!” the Snorlax, suddenly woke up!
    SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEELAAAAAAAAAAX! It takes a swipe at our heroes, they duck, they stand back up, the Snorlax tries to sit on them!
    “I don’t like doing random teleports, but....” Lewis randomly teleported them to Cerulean ( hey, they were nearby it from the start! So it still was a short teleport! )
    “Why into a swimming pool? I forgot to bring my swim wear!” Meeko looked at her soggy dress. The three Pikachus, Icy, Sara, and Meeko’s, zapped everyone in the water by accident.
    “Sorry, Pikachus can’t hold it too well in water.” Icy apologizes.
    “Look! It’s Cerulean City!” Kelly yells over Yarns’ loud meows.
    Lewis quickly had Charmander, the only one besides his Jigglypuff, to dry his clothes.  When Lewis was now crispy, he told Charmander that would be enough.  “So now that we’re in Cerulean city, which way to the Pokémon Center?” Nicky asks.  Lewis took out his map, all soggy, and saw the center was only a mile to two away.  After half a mile, Kelly asked the group to stop for a break.
    Jigglypuff was crying because it wasn’t getting that much attention. Lewis calmed down Jigglypuff, and picked it up and said, “We better get going.”  The group sat up and continued down to the center.
    The entire group handed their pokéballs over to Nurse Joy.  Lewis went into a back room and continued working on the gun.  Icy went over again and asked, “I know you are wanting me back as a human, but don’t you think you should take a rest?  Maybe get some food?”
    Lewis said, “I’m not going to stop.”
    “Why?  I think eating would be a little more helpful at this moment.” Icy says.
    Lewis muttered, “It’s my fault.”
    “What?  What did you say?” Icy asks.
    “It’s my fault you were turned into a Pikachu early.  I was preoccupied.  If I hadn’t been, I could’ve sensed Techor and Livy coming.  Icy gave him a pat on the back.  Nurse Joy walked up and said their Pokémon were healed.  “Let’s go Icy, we have a Frosterpie to find.” Lewis said.
    “Ok, let’s get going.”  The group takes their pokéballs from Nurse Joy. “We need to reach the power plant.  That’s were the first disc should be.” The group departs the pokémon center and heads east towards the outer city limits.

    “So, that disc is at the power plant.”
    “We’ll stay close and snatch it when they find it.”
    “An excellent plan Techor.”
    “Of course it is Livy.”
    “And we’ll take Icy and his little girlfriend too.  Giovanni will be very pleased to see them too.”
    “Hmm, right.  Too bad about the Transpokéfier gun.  Boss won’t like that we lost it.”
    “So what.  The lab can just create another.  Icy’s weakened now.  We won ‘t have trouble capturing him.”
    “Of course we won’t.  All we need is a pokéball.  Hahahaha!!!”

    The group took a rest.  Icy snuck away from the group.  “C’mon, float.” Icy concentrated hard on the pokéball in from of him.  “C’mon.”  The ball started to levitated a bit.  Sweat poured down him face.  The ball started to wobble.  “No.”  It fell to the ground.  Icy stared at the ball and begin to sob.  “I. I can’t control it.  I can’t use my psychic powers.”  Icy started crying.  He picked up the ball.  “Stupid ball.”  He got ready to throw it, but stopped.  He dropped to the ground.  “I’ve lost it.”
    Sara heard him and snuck away too.  “Icy?”
    “Don’t.  Nothing will help me now.  I can’t even keep a pokéball in the air.  I’ve lost my psychic power.”
    “What?”
    “It’s gone, or too low to be of use.”
    “Well, you pull through.  C’mon.  The group is going to miss us.”  Icy got up and rejoined the group.  They continue their journey to the power plant where they believe the first of the elemental discs is located.  But with Techor and Livy close behind, could our team be headed for another disaster.  Find out next time on, The PokéWars!