Nikita Dracovish
Bug Catcher
A snapshot of the height of Pokemania, on the opening night of the first movie. Ash, Brock, Dismay, Red, Blue, even Gary -- when they owned the damn world.
Some flashfiction I wrote while riding the high of San Diego Comic-Con and looping "Charmed" on repeat, tidied up and expanded a little in light of recent events.
Rachael Lillis said one of her core memories was her, Eric Stuart, and Veronica Taylor sitting down in a massive, empty theatre to watch a rough cut of the first movie.
Thanks for everything, Rachael. Have fun making fun of 4kids and TPCi in heaven with Shudo-san.
Song:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0yz2IqpUVQ
Note for those who haven't read my other fic, Dismay: to avoid my shellshock of the shipping wars, I rolled up Misty, Dawn, May, and Serena into one. Blame 4chan.
-----
It's almost the turn of the millennium.
No one had anything like Pokemania since Seinfeld ended. The crowd waiting here was bigger than the crowd that stopped to watch Jerry and friends argue with each other for the last time.
It's cold as shit in New Tork, Castellia City because it's November, but no one cares.
Not the screaming kids and fans, not the unfortunate security Machokes and Jennies trying to hold them all back from swarming Silph's biggest stars.
Not the Silph-mandated chaperones who're supposed to watch them. Sabrina just laughs as Professor Oak half-heartedly tells them to stop running and the kids treated his words like the starting gun to a race, and they sprinted all the way down Times Square as neon advertisements for the movie -- they're already calling it the first movie because Silph knows it'll make so much damn money and the fans will line up for a sequel and another one after that and the accountants are all crying tears of joy because the tie-ins already made back half the budget -- looped in and out of the faces of the buildings.
Not the kids, and especially the kids.
Even Red's smiling, trying in vain to hide it from Blue and Gary giving him grief as the two Oaks ham it up for the audience, making funny faces and stopping short of flipping off their fans.
Ash laughs that laugh of his, grabbing Dismay's hand as the city lights shine down. Everyone can see Dismay's blush from here and it's bright, brighter the Kanto League showdown ad for Red vs. Blue at Madison Square Garden-
-brighter than the scowling neon Mewtwo ad looming over all the other ads of Times Square that Silph spent millions of dollars on, seeming to tower even above Empire State-
-and Ash's bright laugh is joined in by the other kids. Red doesn't bother hiding the smile anymore.
The cops trying to hold the hordes back want to tell them to get off the street because traffic technically hadn't stopped, but they shrug and join in the smiles when they see Ash's grin as he picks up Dismay and spins her around until the lights get blurry.
It's the center of the world and every inch of the city, all its bars, its schools, its streets, its tourist traps, its bodegas, all of it seems to sing.
As Ash kept right on spinning Dismay dizzy, Sabrina can hear it in Dismay's thoughts as she blushes harder than any light in any city in the world could.
Why'd you have to go and make me like you?
The only thing brighter than it all was the camera flash ready to go off when the chaperones finally wrangled all the kids and pulled them into a group shot for Reuters or the New Yorker or New York Times or who read newspapers anymore besides the Pikachu comic in the funny pages?
Ash and Dismay wave a peace sign. Gary waves one behind Ash's head. Brock's trying not to stare at the photographer lady. Blue was in the middle of reaching to grab Red's lips and pull it into a smile, not that he'd need it because this was one of the only photos Red had a big smile that bested Ash's. Pikachu hops up in the center of them all, because what good was a cast photo without the mascot?
Even his flash of lightning couldn't beat the camera, or any camera in the crowd.
The world belonged to a bunch of young, dumb and broke kids that night.
They'd never feel the way they did that night ever again.
Some flashfiction I wrote while riding the high of San Diego Comic-Con and looping "Charmed" on repeat, tidied up and expanded a little in light of recent events.
Rachael Lillis said one of her core memories was her, Eric Stuart, and Veronica Taylor sitting down in a massive, empty theatre to watch a rough cut of the first movie.
Thanks for everything, Rachael. Have fun making fun of 4kids and TPCi in heaven with Shudo-san.
Song:
Note for those who haven't read my other fic, Dismay: to avoid my shellshock of the shipping wars, I rolled up Misty, Dawn, May, and Serena into one. Blame 4chan.
-----
It's almost the turn of the millennium.
No one had anything like Pokemania since Seinfeld ended. The crowd waiting here was bigger than the crowd that stopped to watch Jerry and friends argue with each other for the last time.
It's cold as shit in New Tork, Castellia City because it's November, but no one cares.
Not the screaming kids and fans, not the unfortunate security Machokes and Jennies trying to hold them all back from swarming Silph's biggest stars.
Not the Silph-mandated chaperones who're supposed to watch them. Sabrina just laughs as Professor Oak half-heartedly tells them to stop running and the kids treated his words like the starting gun to a race, and they sprinted all the way down Times Square as neon advertisements for the movie -- they're already calling it the first movie because Silph knows it'll make so much damn money and the fans will line up for a sequel and another one after that and the accountants are all crying tears of joy because the tie-ins already made back half the budget -- looped in and out of the faces of the buildings.
Not the kids, and especially the kids.
Even Red's smiling, trying in vain to hide it from Blue and Gary giving him grief as the two Oaks ham it up for the audience, making funny faces and stopping short of flipping off their fans.
Ash laughs that laugh of his, grabbing Dismay's hand as the city lights shine down. Everyone can see Dismay's blush from here and it's bright, brighter the Kanto League showdown ad for Red vs. Blue at Madison Square Garden-
-brighter than the scowling neon Mewtwo ad looming over all the other ads of Times Square that Silph spent millions of dollars on, seeming to tower even above Empire State-
-and Ash's bright laugh is joined in by the other kids. Red doesn't bother hiding the smile anymore.
The cops trying to hold the hordes back want to tell them to get off the street because traffic technically hadn't stopped, but they shrug and join in the smiles when they see Ash's grin as he picks up Dismay and spins her around until the lights get blurry.
It's the center of the world and every inch of the city, all its bars, its schools, its streets, its tourist traps, its bodegas, all of it seems to sing.
As Ash kept right on spinning Dismay dizzy, Sabrina can hear it in Dismay's thoughts as she blushes harder than any light in any city in the world could.
Why'd you have to go and make me like you?
The only thing brighter than it all was the camera flash ready to go off when the chaperones finally wrangled all the kids and pulled them into a group shot for Reuters or the New Yorker or New York Times or who read newspapers anymore besides the Pikachu comic in the funny pages?
Ash and Dismay wave a peace sign. Gary waves one behind Ash's head. Brock's trying not to stare at the photographer lady. Blue was in the middle of reaching to grab Red's lips and pull it into a smile, not that he'd need it because this was one of the only photos Red had a big smile that bested Ash's. Pikachu hops up in the center of them all, because what good was a cast photo without the mascot?
Even his flash of lightning couldn't beat the camera, or any camera in the crowd.
The world belonged to a bunch of young, dumb and broke kids that night.
They'd never feel the way they did that night ever again.
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