Pikachu Problems!
Part 1
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Bass scowled darkly at the pint-sized yellow mouse creature that
was clinging tenaciously to his left leg. He shook his leg violently for
about the thirtieth time, but to no avail.
"Pika pi!" it said happily, which caused Bass to roll his eyes at
the creature's nauseatingly cute voice.
He made a vow that as soon as this situation was resolved he was
going to 'Bloody Death Eater' that stupid spell book, and, if the person
was still alive, the author of it as well.
Several hours ago...
Bass had been searching the library seeing if he could find
something new to use against the Sforzend army during the attack that was
scheduled to take place tomorrow. He was about to just forget the whole idea
and just go by his old tried and true methods when he found a spell book
wedged behind a desk.
The instructions within were almost incomprehensible, consisting
of many words with '-th' tacked on the end. Obviously, the author had
made a lame attempt at disguising the book as an antiquity.
Most of the spells in the book were utterly useless; a weak
lightening bolt spell titled 'Ye Olde Gode Of Lightenth Bolth', a
generic fireball spell that took twice as long to cast as the normal
version, and, strangest of all, a spell entitled 'Ye Olde Spellth
For Changingth Ye Olde Television Channelsth'. Bass had yet to puzzle
out exactly what the writer was trying to say with that one.
All in all, it was a dud spell book that had much more worth
as a doorstop than as a source of magical know-how. That is, except
for a summonation ritual buried in the back of book. It was written,
in plain sensible language, on the back inside cover of the book.
The writing contained a ritual that was supposed to summon a
creature known as a 'Pikachu'. Bass had never heard of such a thing,
but assumed it had to be important considering the materials that went
into the spell.
"Rubber gloves, pencil sharpener, eleventh grade Chemistry
book?" Bass muttered to himself then, balancing the book in one
hand and lifting his real head up in the other, checked the spell
again. Lute's body may be more functional, but sometimes it just
made more sense when he read with his own eyes. Unfortunately for
Bass, the spell still contained numerous objects that he had no
what they were, let alone where to find them.
He clapped the book shut and returned his head to its
usual resting place under Lute's arm. He was just going to have
to wing it.
He lit incense and drew a magic circle, framing the outer
edges of it with candles for added effect. He was pretty confident
that it was going to work, even if he didn't have any of the
material components. The verbal incantation was usually the most
important part of a spell.
With all his preparations in place, Bass reopened the book
and solemnly recited:
"Naka naka naka naka
Naka naka naka naka taihen dakedo
Kanarazu Get daze!
POKEMON Get daze!"*
(*It's part of the Japanese Opening to Pokemon. We now take you back
to the regularly scheduled fanfic ^_^)
Bass was just glad nobody was around to hear him saying
such a silly incantation.
As soon as he had finished the 'chant' a brightly glowing
ball started to grow in the center of his magic circle. Bass threw
back his head a let loose with one of his patented Evil Villain
Laughs (Banned in forty states and likely to frighten small
children). The ball grew slowly until it reached about the size
of a human fist, then it stopped and hovered in midair for a second.
A moment later the light vanished, and a red and white
ball fell into the magic circle with a metallic 'thunk'.
Bass stopped laughing pretty quickly, I can tell you.
He glared at the ball, as if it were doggy doo or some
other offensive object, waiting for something to happen.
Many minutes passed.
Finally, fed up with waiting, Bass strode out into the
magic circle and picked up the ball. It was faintly warm to the
touch, but that was it. Bass threw down the ball in disgust and
turned to leave. Fortunately for us, for if this hadn't happened
we'd have no story, when the ball hit the ground it depressed
a button that Bass hadn't noticed. The ball exploded
outwards in a puff of smoke.
Bass turned back and watched quizzically as the smoke
cleared, revealing a strange looking little creature. It most
resembled a yellow mouse with little red dots on its cheeks,
and was only about two feet tall.
The little creature, a Pikachu to be exact, adorably
groomed its mussed fur for a minute, then looked up at Bass.
"Pika pika!" it called, waving one of its forepaws
at Bass.
Bass stared in shock for a moment, both jaws dropping
open in shock, then his eyes rolled up into his head and he
listed backwards.
Instead of dropping to the floor, however, he managed
to right himself. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times.
This was obviously not Bass. The posture was much more relaxed
and Lute's eyes had softened to their unpossessed look. Bass's
head remained unconscious, leading to the conclusion that Prince
Lute had regained control.
Lute look around the room, quite disoriented and
bewildered. He really had no idea how to handle this. He should
probably have used this opportunity to escape... But he spotted
Pikachu sitting on the ground and kneeled down to pet it.
"Aww! You're such a cute little thing!" he squealed.
Oh well, the members of Sforzend royalty aren't exactly
known for their brains, now are they? ^_^;
Predictably Bass regained control a few moments later,
wondering what the hell he was doing on the floor.
He got up and dusted his knees off, and left the room.
As far as he was concerned, the little pathetic rat could
starve to death. But Pikachu had other ideas.
As Bass was making his way down a corridor to his room
Pikachu ran up and clung to his leg. Bass tried to shake it off
but...
Back to present time...
Bass gave up his efforts to remove Pikachu from his leg
and concentrated on trying to get to his quarters before
somebody saw him. He made it as far as the throne room before
someone spotted him.
Vocal was leaning against one of the walls, and Bass
failed to notice him until he called out "Why are you walkin'
funny Bass-kun? Didja finally remove that stick that was up your
ass?"
Bass turned around and glared at the grinning mazoku.
"Vocal," he hissed, " I am in no mood for your
disrespect..."
"You never are," Vocal retorted, "that's the whole
point!"
Bass growled deep in his throat and started to storm
off. Then Pikachu decided to make itself known.
"Pika!" it called happily as it waved at Vocal.
Vocal stared at Pikachu for a moment, then burst
out laughing.
"Knock it off Vocal..." Bass hissed, glaring
daggers at him.
This only made Vocal laugh harder. So hard, in
fact, that he was soon rolling around on the ground.
A few moments later the other generals, who had entered
the throne room because they heard all the noise, were treated
to the sight of Bass punting Vocal out of a nearby window.
Guitar was the first to speak up, "Umm... Bass-sama?"
he said awkwardly.
Bass slowly turned around and glared at him silently,
seething with barely controlled anger. If looks could kill,
Guitar would be a dead man... er- a dead doglike warrior thingy.
Guitar took the hint and shut up, as did Sizer, who had been about
to say something. Drum just didn't know what to make of the situation,
so he also stayed fortunately silent.
"We could reschedule the attack for some other time Bass-sama
if you're having trouble." Sizer said casually after giving Bass a
few moments to calm down.
"Nonsense!" Bass snapped, with his now-characteristic
irritability, "We attack Sforzend at dawn!"
So saying, he spun around and stalked out of the room. Well,
he meant to stalk out of the room, but his right leg got caught on
Pikachu and he fell flat on his face. And before you even ask, it was
on both of them.
He picked himself up with all the dignity he could muster, and
glared back to see his generals' reactions. Drum was engrossed in
thought, as evidenced by the thick cloud of smoke that hung ominously
over his head. Guitar had seemingly found something fascinating about
one of his swords, and Sizer was leaning back against a wall whistling
'Ride of the Valkyries '.
"Good..." Bass muttered as he made his way carefully down
the hall, "It seems I won't have to kill them."
Meanwhile, back in the throne room...
"You know, I get the feeling that Bass-sama is in a bad mood."
Drum commented after many moments of careful consideration.
"You don't say..." mumbled Guitar, a large tear-shaped blob of
sweat making it's merry way down the back of his head.
To Be Continued...
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