Episode 29:
The Celadon City Pokémon Auction

Trucks were coming in by the hundreds it looked as prospective auctioneers and merchants drove truckloads of pokémon into Celadon City. Most of them had sold pokémon stuff on the SS Anne cruise and each one was happier that no obvious dangers lurked at this event. After all, you can’t sink a city.

The auction would take place mainly in Celadon Square and inside the pokécenter and Celadon City Mall. The first wave of merchants set up their booths along the main road knowing people would have to pass by. Among them was the Magikarp dealer from the SS Anne with a fresh supply of Magikarp.

Merchants and auctioneers weren’t the only people entering the city. Many Rocket agents were too. But instead of looting and causing trouble, they were sweeping the roads and helping people set up. Many Celadon residents were amazed when they saw how nice and humane the Rockets were acting.

“This sucks! I can’t believe the boss is making us go through with this. We should be terrorizing the city. This is gonna give us Rockets a bad name.”

“Quiet. We have to do this. Besides, we’ll get our chance. There’s gonna be tons of trainers here. That’s a lot of pokémon just waiting to be stolen. Now let’s get back to work.”

Meanwhile, back at Giovanni’s secret underground base outside Celadon City, one of his top specialists entered the room. “You have your orders. Make sure they are carried out flawlessly.”

“You can count on me sir.” The specialist left the room.

Giovanni turned his attention to a smaller agent by the door. “Make sure my suit is perfectly clean. I want to look my best for tomorrow.” The agent nodded and left. “Ahh... This is going to be the greatest scheme I’ve ever concocted. There’s nothing that can stop me now, fwahahaha...” He sat back in his chair.

The next day,

Celadon City was packed. Merchants and trainers were flooding the city. As they gathered in the main square, a dark figure approached the podium. He was followed by two other dark figure dressed in black with big red ‘R’s on their shirts. The crowd gasped as they saw who it was.

Giovanni stepped up to the microphone. He looked at the large crowd from behind a bulletproof glass window. His agents took their places at his sides. He cleared his throat.

“Welcome, everyone! It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 1999 Celadon City Pokémon Auction.” The crowd cheered. “My name is Giovanni, President of Team Rocket. I have spent many millions to make this event a reality for all of you. The main auctions will be held right here, in Celadon Square. There will also be merchants selling various pokémon products. I hope you all have an excellent time and feel free of ask any of my associates for help or info about Team Rocket. And now, I turn the program over to the mayor of Celadon City.” More cheering.

The mayor walked to the podium while Giovanni whispered something to his agents. “As mayor of Celadon City, it gives me great honor to declare the Pokémon Auction, officially open!” The crowd cheered again. Giovanni and his agents had slipped away during the mayor’s short speech. The mayor was signing autographs and handing out ‘Vote for me’ buttons. It was a perfect sunny day and the first pokémon to hit the auction table was an Ivysaur, donated by the Celadon City Gym. Trainers had already begun placing their bids.

Meanwhile,

After sending the night with the Butterfree in Celadon Forest, Icy made his way back into the big city. It was packed with trainers. He recalled all his pokémon except Porygon, which he rode, and Abra, who rode with them. Some people noticed him as he sped by, but Icy only replied, “Hi...” Most people now knew about Icy the Pikachu trainer. But Icy was still in danger of being spotted by Team Rocket.

The auction was going well and except for a few fights between Giovanni and other trainers, everyone was getting along fine. Over a hundred trainers had already entered the city, and more were on the way. Icy looked around. He saw the Ivysaur being auctioned off at the main area. “Hmm... I already have a Bulbasaur...” Icy was hoping to get his hands on a rare pokémon with the money Random had given him just before he left. He continued walking.

The crowd was getting very packed now. Fortunately for Icy, he could slip through because of his size. A bulletin board had an announcement for a Porygon technology demonstration at the Celadon Mansion on Wednesday. “I gotta go to that! Maybe I can show off my Porygon.” Icy continued wandering. He was getting lonely. “I wonder if Mimic will be here? I really want to see him again...”

He hadn’t eaten since last night so he headed towards a packed pokécenter. Icy managed to make it to the front desk where Nurse Joy recognized him immediately. “Here’s an apple Icy. That’s all I can do for you now. There sure are a lot of trainers here. Be careful walking around along out there Icy.” Icy thanked Joy and scampered off with the apple. Apple in hand, he continued to peruse the main square.

Icy wandered around, taking in the sights and sounds. Food was the last thing on his mind, but his body raised the apple to his mouth almost by itself, responding to some natural, Darwinian urge to eat now lest famine strike or better herbivores clear the food away.

*Chom-*

“Owwwwww!”

Icy blinked. The apple...was moving.

“Sorry. Mimic no think anyone eat *apple* at this festival. Everyone sell and eat junk food, so far as Mimic see.”

Icy examined the apple from all sides, trying to find a face, but the only distinguishing features were his own tooth marks. “Mimic! I was hoping you’d come.”

A very tiny, worm-like Dratini poked its head out of a hole, hidden by the shadows at the apple’s top. “Mimic see many people head to Celadon, so Mimic come see what happen. Hear something about auction.” Mimic’s left eye narrowed, and he looked straight at the Pikachu. “Icy no for sale, Mimic hope.”

Later that day,

Even at night, the streets in Celadon City were completely lit up. Trainers were still up and about. Icy and Abra rode through the crowd on Porygon. As they were going along, Porygon accidentally bumped into a trainer.

“Hey, watch where you’re... Huh?” The trainer looked down to notice the Pikachu riding Porygon. “Uh, don’t you belong to someone? You shouldn’t wander away from your trainer. Of course, maybe you don’t have a trainer.”

“No. These pokémon belong to me. The name’s Icy.” The man didn’t know weather to be shocked or afraid. “Hey, you wanna battle me?”

“Uh, ok little Pikachu. How’s about a one-on-one match. I choose you, Dratini!” A cute dragon pokémon now stood in front of Icy.

“And for my pokémon, I choose, myself! Go IcyPikachu!”

“Huh. I guess that’s fair. But don’t blame me for any injuries my Dratini gives you. Dratini, wrap him up!”

“Go thunderball!” Icy created an enormous ball of electricity in front of him and fired it at Dratini. Dratini was shaken up, but not beaten. Icy, on the other hand, was slightly weakened from creating the attack.

“Hang in there Dratini. He’s weak, hit him with Hyper Beam!” Dratini began glowing. Icy was frozen with fear.

“H-h-hyper beam...” Icy said nervously. Dratini fired the beam with amazing accuracy. “Psyshield now!” Icy was too late. Although his psyonic shield protected him from most of the blast, enough of Dratini’s hyper beam got him before the shield kicked in. Almost unable to move, Icy declared defeat.

“Aw kid, it’s not that bad. Nobody has ever beaten this Dratini. Here, let me help you.” The man took out a potion spray from his backpack and used it to heal Icy.

“Thank you. Well, I guess I should be on my way. Sorry for bumping into you.”

Icy was about to leave with Abra and Porygon when the man stopped him. “Hey. Wait a sec. What other neat pokémon do you have?”

“Well, I do have a Bulbasaur and Dugtrio. Why?”

“Ahh. I really love Dratini here, but there’s just no fun in winning all the time, know what I mean. Maybe it’s time Dratini helped someone else. How’s about a trade, Icy? I’ll give you my Dratini for your Bulbasaur and Dugtrio. Since Dratini is so powerful and rare, I think two is a fair deal.”

“Well, I never really do get a chance to train them anyway. Ok, let’s trade!”

“You made a good decision.” They traded pokémon and went their separate ways. Icy released Dratini from its pokéball. It was so cute. He had Dratini wrap around his head like a hat and rode off with Abra on Porygon.

Icy, his Dratini and Abra all rode on Porygon to the Pokémon mansion where the Porygon technology demonstration was about to begin. Outside the mansion, many posters of the computer diagrams were shown. Icy returned his pokémon to their pokéballs and walked inside. Will and his colleagues were putting the finishing touches on the displays. Icy walked over to Will. “Hi. Looking good!”

“Yes. We hope to get quite a crowd. I hear Random went off to Pokémon Tech.”

“Yeah. I hope he comes back during the breaks.”

“Well, I’d love to chat with ya Icy, but I need to finish this before any trainers get here. Cya!”

Icy wanted around and took notice to some the new enhancements they how made for Porygons. He collected some of the data on his pokédex and then went back outside. He could already see the first wave of trainers approaching the building. For some odd reason, Icy had the distinct feeling he was being watched...

A multitude of trainers were outside of the mansion. Icy got up in front of the crowd and brought out his Porygon. Will joined him.

“Hello everybody!” Icy said into is translator and the mic. “I am Icy, and this is my Porygon.” Will and Icy both showed to crowd some more neat things Porygons could be programmed to do. One of the neatest tricks was when Porygon could change itself into vehicles big enough for at least two people. “Thank you everyone for coming to see the Porygons. There are many exhibits inside.” Will thanked Icy for helping out.

For some reason or another, Icy somehow didn’t feel safe outside the mansion. His psychic senses were picking up something very faint. “Must just be nothing. Pro’ly just a psychic pokémon nearby.” He walked to the main square where to they were auctioning off some rarer pokémon.

“Hey look! A stray Pikachu! Hehe. This is my lucky day! You’re mine Pikachu!” Icy looked up just in time to see a pokéball flying at him.

“Silly fool.” Icy muttered to himself as he teleported onto the trainer’ s head. “Opps, I think you missed him.”

“Huh!?! Who said that?” He noticed Icy on his head. “What the?!? What type of Pikachu are you?”

After hopping off the trainer’s head and back onto the ground, Icy replied, “My name is Icy. I am a psychic Pikachu trainer. Happy. Never, ever, throw a pokéball at me again!” Icy went off on his way to the square. The trainer was still standing there, more confused than he ever was in his life.

Finally, Icy reached the square. “The next pokémon up for bidding is this wonderful Seel! It’s perfect for all you ice-type pokémon trainers.” Icy wondered if this was the pokémon he should get. But then he decided not to get it because he already had so many pokémon to take care of. A little kid ran up to him, followed by some other kids.

“See, see. I told you. This is that talking Pikachu. Mr. Pikachu, can you show me and my friends that Porygon please.”

“Umm, ok.” Icy sent out Porygon. He had it morph into different objects and stuff. Icy sensed something with high psychic power nearby. “Um. I have to go now kids. Maybe another time. Porygon, return.” Icy ran off until he could no longer sense the psychic being.

“Crap. I bet Mewtwo pro’ly changed his mind about killing me again,” Icy said to himself. Then, out of the bushes jumped two TR agents. One grabbed Icy while to other attempted to tie him up. “Ahh. No one tries to capture me and gets away with it. Take is! Psy-thundershock GO!” An electric field formed around Icy’s body and fried the TR agent holding him. The other agent ran away in fear of being next. “I don’t think so. I’ve had enough of Team Rocker bothering me. You aren’t going to have it that easy.”

The TR agent tried to run faster, but Icy just teleported in front of him a set up a psyonic shield. The agent bounced off the shield and fell to the street. Some onlookers were completely amazed. Icy took out Porygon and had it aim its sharp beak at the Rocket’s neck. “Go back to your boss, and tell him to quit pestering me. Otherwise, he’s next!” With that, the agent sprang to his feet, and ran as fast as he could to the secret Rocket base. Icy gave him a thundershock to quicken his pace. Then, he collapsed, tired out from the struggle and energy used for attacks.

Porygon scooped him up, and took him to the pokécenter. Nurse Joy healed him and restored his energy. “Thanks Nurse Joy!” Icy decided he should go back to the mansion now that the two agents who were following him were out of the way.