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Disclaimer Dude: White Pony doesn't own Poke'mon or anything else I mention that isn't her property.

Chapter Fifteen: Shetan VS Fire

"Wow, it's dark in here!" Jessica exclaimed.

"Jessica, your eyes are closed and we haven't even entered Rock Tunnel yet," said Rita.

"Oh!" Jessica opened her eyes, "Silly me!"

"Pikachu!" (To the Zubat Cave!) Purge exclaimed as the Batman theme music played in the background and she, Jessica, and Rita entered Rock Tunnel.

"Rita! I can't see anything!" Jessica whined.

"Release Shetan for crying out loud!"

"Okay. Come out, Shetan!" When Shetan came out, the flame on his tail illuminated their surroundings.

"Charmander!" (I have returned!) Shetan declared. They ventured forth. Twigs were scattered around all over the ground.

"Rita? How did those twigs get here?"

"Hikers leave them behind as trail marks so they can find their way around."

"Pikachu?" (Why don't they just follow those signs?) Purge pointed at a trail of really large brightly colored signs that lead the way out.

"Yeah, why don't they follow those signs?"

"Because Hikers are stupid," Rita said simply.

"No, we're not!" a Hiker randomly popped out of nowhere, "Young lady, we don't need signs to tell us where to go. We Hikers are born with homing instincts and we use our survival skills in the wilderness, right boys?"

"Right!" chorused a group of Hikers.

"But why? What's the point?" Rita asked. Then corny polka music began playing in the background. The Hikers gathered around and danced.

"Ohhhhh! We are Hikers!" the lead Hiker sang,

"We are Hikers!

We put sticks on the ground

for trail markers

so we can get around!"

"We are Hikers!" chorused the other Hikers in tenor voices.

"We are Hikers!

We cook our meal

on an open fire!" Shetan winced,

"We do what we feel

our hearts desire!"

"We are Hikers!" the chorus joined the lead singer,

"We are Hikers!

We love being outside

under the sun!

Even if it burns our hide!

It is still lots of fun!

Caaause...!"

One of the Hikers sang a solo in falsetto, "Weee aaaare Hiiikeeeeers!"

The corny polka music stopped and the Hikers paused for an encore, but little did they know that their song had scared away their audience.

"Rita, are the scary singing fat men gone?" Jessica asked Rita in fright.

"I think so," Rita replied, equally frightened.

"Pikachu!" (Stupid sticks!) Purge yelled after tripping on a large group of sticks left by the Hikers.

"These sticks are everywhere!" Rita said in frustration.

Both humans and Poke'mon had to take strong steps through the lake of sticks left by the Hikers as if they were wading through deep water.

"Come on, Purge, Shetan," Jessica picked up Purge and Shetan, holding each in an arm.

Shetan just happened to look downward and he caught sight of the flame on his tail.

"CHAR!" (FIRE!) Shetan jumped out of Jessica's arm and fell into the deep ocean of sticks.

"Shetan!" Jessica cried as she dropped Purge and began digging for her Charmander. Then she spotted a fireball that grew and grew beneath the surface. Until finally...

FLOOF!

Fire ripped through the surface and spread rapidly.

"Jessica!" Rita yelled through the fiery walls that were separating her from her moronic friend.

"Shetan!" Jessica took a deep breath and dove into the deep clatter of sticks and swam around for her fire Poke'mon. Then she finally found him curled up in a little orange ball beneath a branch with "WILLIAM WAS HERE" carved into its bark. She scooped up her frightened Poke'mon and headed for the surface. She and Shetan sputtered and coughed up pieces of bark.

"There you are!" Rita yelled, trying to hide her worry.

"PIKACHU!" (JESSICA!) Purge cried out in fright. Jessica handed Rita Shetan and dove back into the sticks for her Pikachu.

Shetan was frightened. For his blinkers have been torn off in the sea of sticks while trying to evade the spreading fire that came from his tail.

"PURGE!" Jessica called after she reached the surface on the other side of the wall of fire, "Purge?"

"Pikachu!" (Jessica!) Purge called to her trainer who was two feet away. For some unknown reason, Purge was trapped inside a rolled up tortilla.

"Purge!" Jessica called again, unaware that her Poke'mon was right behind her.

"Pikachu, Pika!" (Jessica, I'm behind you!) Purge yelled angrily as her eye twitched.

Jessica whirled around, "There you are! Why are you wrapped up like a burrito thing?"

"Pi... Ka... Chu...," (I... don't... know...) Purge replied in a shocked and quite confused manner.

"Oh, well!" Jessica ate away the tortilla and picked up Purge. Just as Jessica was about to dive under the wall of fire, it flared wildly and tossed embers everywhere. Then for no reason, a Hiker fell from the cave's ceiling and landed on Jessica, making her and Purge unable to move.

"Oh, man! Shetan, you have to save Jessica and Purge!" Rita said to Shetan.

"Char? Char Char!" (Me? No way!) Shetan shook his head. He feared the fire.

"I know that you're afraid of fire, but you're a fire Poke'mon! You use fire!" Shetan was still unmotivated.

"Shetan!" Jessica called from under the weight of the Hiker, "Attack the fire! Attack the fire, Shetan!"

"Mander Char?" (Attack the fire?) Shetan looked into the wall of fire. To his surprise, the flames seemed to have formed a face and a voice spoke to him telepathically.

"Yeah... attack me!" the face formed in the fire mocked Shetan, "How are you going to grow up big and strong if you don't eat your vegetables and drink your milk?"

"Char?" (What?) Shetan cocked his head in confusion. He rubbed his eyes and still, he saw the fiery face. Shetan thought that he was either hallucinating or going completely insane.

"Er-I mean... how are you going to grow up to become a powerful fire Poke'mon if you can't overcome me? What kind of fire Poke'mon are you? If you really are a fire Poke'mon!"

"Charmander!" (Shut up!) Shetan yelled at the flames in fury.

"Why should I? What are you gonna do about it? Shrink in fear? Tremble and cry for your stupid trainer every time you see the tiny, harmless flame that has always burned at the end of your tail?"

Shetan glanced at the tiny flame on his tail and for the first time in his life, he didn't try to escape it.

"Come on, you wimpy little lizard, attack me!"

Fire burned in Shetan's eyes and the flame on his tail heated up, making Rita drop him suddenly.

"Shetan?" Rita mused.

Shetan pointed at the wall of flames and yelled, "CHAR CHARMANDER!" (YOU'RE GOING DOWN!)

"Wait!" the fiery face exclaimed in fear, "I was just kidding!"

"CHARMANDER!" (SHUT UP!) Shetan charged through the fire as the face disappeared. He landed on the other side of the wall. Shetan knew that he had conquered fire, the thing he had feared his entire life. His heart swelled with newfound confidence.

"Pika!" (Shetan!) Purge managed to choke out from under the Hiker. Shetan used Ember to singe the Hiker. He leaped into the air and Shetan used Seismic Toss on Jessica and Purge to throw them over the fiery wall.

"Yay! Great job, Shetan!" Jessica praised after crashing painfully onto the other side and breaking Purge's fall.

Just as Shetan was about to make another mad dash, the Hiker came back down and landed on him. The impact created a crater in the ocean of sticks. The flying debris rained down and covered the spreading fire, putting it out with the help from Smokey the Bear. Smokey approached Jessica, Purge, and Rita who had shielded themselves from the flying debris with a tiny cocktail umbrella.

"Only you can prevent forest fires!" Smokey declared. The trio before him blinked.

"This is a cave, not a forest," said Rita.

Smokey's eyes darted in every direction before bolting away. Then Shetan appeared when the Hiker was eaten by Smokey before leaving Rock Tunnel. Only he was no longer a Charmander. He had evolved into a Charmeleon. Shetan approached his brain-dead trainer.

"Shetan, you look different. Did you get a haircut?" Jessica asked. Purge, Shetan, and Rita face faulted.

"Chu!" (No!) Purge yelled angrily.

"Shetan evolved into a Charmeleon!" Rita finished for Purge.

"Yay! The horse I picked won the Kentucky Derby!" Jessica rejoiced after reading an article of the Daily Racing Forum.

"Really? How much did you win?" Rita asked in excitement.

"Nothing!" Jessica replied happily, "I love you, Barbaro!"

"I thought you bet on him!"

"No, I just picked him." Purge, Shetan, and Rita sweat dropped.

After our heroes exited Rock Tunnel, the sleepy Shetan was withdrawn into his Poke'ball and the trio stopped at the Poke'mon Center in Lavender Town.