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v6.0 Wintery

UPNetwork -> Manga -> Magical Pokemon Journey -> Volume 1 Journey 1: A Party With Pikachu

Summary
As the story starts off, the star of the journey, Hazel, has made a cake for the guy she loves, Almond. The cake was supposed to contain a love potion that would make Almond hers, but it ends up exploding. Hazel runs to Grandpa's house and yells at him that his love potion was defective. Grandpa tells Hazel that he has a new and improved love potion that will definitely work, but that he'll only give it to her if she agrees to go out into the world and collect Pokemon for him. Hazel agrees and Grandpa gives her a special protective outfit. She first meets a Pikachu, but it's scared of her. Then she sees Almond and accidentally scares away the Spearrow he was trying to catch with a net. (No Pokeballs in this world!) As Hazel tries to tell Almond about the cute yellow Pokemon she saw, Pikachu suddenly returns. Almond tries to capture it, but it shocks him. Hazel doesn't get shocked because of her protective suit. Hazel then makes freinds with Pikachu and it decides to stay with her.

Hazel and Pikachu go to Mount Moon, where they find a Clefairy being bullied by some Ekans. Hazel yells at the Ekans and they run away. She then makes freinds with Clefairy. As it turns out, this Clefairy can speak human language. However, he has a real self-esteem problem, and every time he gets under-confident, he Minimizes. Hazel and Pikachu decide to help Clefairy train and get stronger so he'll be more confident. It doesn't go very well, though; Clefairy is afraid of a Metapod. But then the Ekans come back with thier freind Arbok and attack Pikachu and Hazel. Clefairy uses a Mega Punch to protect Hazel and drives the snake Pokemon off. They all realize that Clefairy is actually very powerful, he just didn't know it himself. Unfortunately, he's still afraid of the Metapod.

In her short time journeying, Hazel has already learned to understand Pokemon language and can always tell what Pikachu is saying. Making friends with and relating to Pokemon seems to be her special talent. Hazel convinces Almond to have a picnic with her and her Pokemon. Soon a Jigglypuff shows up and invites them all to a party. Pikachu and Clefairy seem scared, but Hazel is all for it. They all go to Jigglypuff's house, where Hazel discovers why Pikachu and Clefairy were so afraid: Jigglypuff is a terrible cook, but if you don't eat her food, she'll get really mad and expand to ten times her normal size. She's a spoiled princess used to always getting her own way. They try to run away, but Jigglypuff catches them in a net. They get out of the net, and Jigglypuff uses Disable on Almond. Hazel gets really mad and starts yelling at Jigglypuff. Suddenly, Jigglypuff gets really sad and says all she wanted was to have a party for her freinds. Hazel feels sorry for her, so they all agree to go back in and eat the awful food.

Next, Hazel and her Pokemon decide to spend the day drawing pictures of Pokemon. Hazel is terrible at drawing, but it turns out that Clefairy is a great artist. Hazel searches for an interesting Pokemon to draw and finds a Tangela. She starts to draw it, but then she wants to see what is under Tangela's vines. Tangela doesn't like the idea. Hazel tries to look anyways, and Tangela gets mad and grabs her with its vines and lifts her high above its head. Pikachu and Almond show up, and Pikachu tries to use thundershock to save her, but it doesn't work. Almond says thier only choice is to cut the tangles. Hazel tells him not to do it because it's her own fault that Tangela attacked her. She apologizes to Tangela, and Tangela lets her down. Then it touches her head with its vine and communicates psychicly to her that it is sorry too and hopes Hazel will finish drawing it. Later, Hazel comes back from drawing Tangela and tells Almond that Tangela ended up letting her see what was under its vines after all. Almond is impressed because even the greatest Pokemon researchers have never seen the body of a Tangela. Almond wants to know what it was like, so Hazel shows him her drawing of it, but she's such a bad artist that the drawing is no help.

Later, Pikachu runs into Grandpa, who tells him that he was bringing a present to Hazel, but that Hazel would probably rather get it from Pikachu. Grandpa tells Pikachu that this is his life's work, a one of a kind present for Hazel, and Pikachu agrees to bring it to her. On his way to Hazel, Pikachu opens the box Grandpa gave him and finds a heart shaped mirror. When he looks into it, he sees an image of grandpa looking really weird. He gets scared and throws the mirror and it breaks. Pikachu feels awful and is afraid that Hazel will hate him. He eventually decides to just face up to it and go aplogize to Hazel. Grandpa then shows up and explains that the mirror he made lets you see the future, but that each one is good only for one use, then it breaks. Since he gave the mirror to Pikachu, he has made tons more of them and plans to sell them for two bucks apeice. Pikachu gets mad and shocks Grandpa, and Grandpa looks just like the image Pikachu had seen in the mirror earlier.

Next, it's Christmas time, and Jigglypuff has invited everyone to a big party at her sister's mansion. Jigglypuff picks up Almond, Hazel, Grandpa, Pikachu and Clefairy in a horse drawn carriage. Each person and Pokemon brings a present for the gift exchange. The mansion is high in the hills, where it is snowing. At the mansion, they meet Jigglypuff's sister, Wigglytuff. They also meet Squirtle, who is a freind of Wiggly's, and can speak human language. Arbok and the two Ekans are also at the party, seeming to have inexplicably turned good and become freinds with everyone. Everyone decorates the tree together. Squirtle is impressed with Almond's strength and begins to get a crush on him. Squirtle fixes a plate of food and tries to bring it to Almond, but Grandpa trips him and he spills the food all over Almond. Squirtle feels awful. Almond yells at Grandpa and comforts Squirtle. Hazel then also yells at Grandpa and he says he just wanted to be noticed. Now it's time for the gift exchange, and everyone draws numbers. Arbok gives Wigglytuff roses, and she gives him a ring. Squirtle gives Almond a keychain, and Almond gives him a wooden plane that he made. Squirtle is overjoyed and says he'll treasure it forever. Hazel gives Pikachu a santa hankie, and Pikachu gives her a paper Christmas tree. It doesn't look much like a Christmas tree, though, and Hazel can't figure out what it is. Jigglypuff gives the Ekans brothers a pressed flower, and the Ekans give her a personally shed snake skin. The Ekans don't understand why Jigglypuff gave them a decomposing plant, but Jiggly is overjoyed with her snakeskin, and Wiggly wishes she had one. Clefairy gives Grandpa a Pokedoll, and Grandpa gives him a bronze statue of himself. Clefairy is very disappointed. Everyone is spending the night, so they hang thier stockings and the Pokemon go to bed. Hazel then goes out on the balcony where she finds Almond. She gives Almond a Hazel doll as a present. Almond then pulls out a mirror with a wooden frame that says Hazel's name and gives it to her. Hazel is extremely touched and launches herself at Almond, hugging him.

Next, there's a tanning contest at the beach, and the prize is a vacation package for two. Grandpa enters and spends the day ogling pretty women. Hazel also wants to enter, because she wants to win the vacation package and take Almond. She's stenciled Almond's name on her arm. Almond wants to spend the day fishing. Pikachu accused Almond of staring at Hazel in her swim suit and he gets embarassed and denies it. Hazel ends up deciding to go sit by Almond while he fishes instead of entering the contest, but she accidentally falls in the water. Hazel can't swim, but under the water she meets a Horsea who gives her a pill that allows her to breathe. Horsea then tells Hazel that he has accidentally dropped a necklace between some rocks and can't get it out. Hazel realizes that the necklace was meant to be a present for someone Horsea loves and agrees to help him get it back. Meanwhile, Almond and Pikachu are very worried about Hazel, but Grandpa seems confident that she'll be fine. Back under the water, Hazel discovers that the "rocks" that Horsea dropped the necklace between is actually a Cloyster. It's mad at Hazel for waking it up over a stupid necklace. Hazel then gets mad herself and screams at Cloyster that a token of love isn't stupid. Cloyster is intimidated and moves so that Horsea can get the necklace back. Horsea is happy and is about to go give the necklace to his love, but then a mermaid shows up and thinks Horsea got the necklace as a present for her for her birthday. Horsea has no choice but to give it to her. Hazel thinks everything is solved, and the mermaid thanks her by getting a Lapras to bring Hazel back to shore. Almond pretends that he wasn't worried at all and didn't even notice she was gone, but Hazel sees through him and launches herself at him and hugs him. It turns out that Grandpa won the tanning contest.

Next, Grandpa is holding a "test of courage" contest, where teams of two must pass through a haunted forest. Hazel and Almond are a team, and Pikachu and Clefairy are a team. Almond thinks Grandpa's gimmicks to scare them in the forest are lame, but Hazel pretends to be scared and clings on to him, and Pikachu and Clefairy really are scared. Just as they're about to reach the finish line, a bunch of Haunter and Gastly show up, terrifying Pikachu and Clefairy. A Haunter comes up behind Almond and Hazel. Almond tries to protect her, and grabs on to her arm, saying they have to run. Hazel thinks the Gengar is adorable, though, and goes up and gives it a hug. As Hazel waves goodbye to Gengar, Almond wonders whether Hazel is brave, or stupid. At the end, they get thier prize for making it though the forest: candid snapshots of them being scared. Everyone is mad at Grandpa for giving such a bad prize.

Next, Hazel was planning on having a birthday party for Almond, but the two of them got into a fight and aren't speaking, so now she can't have the party. Hazel is very upset, and Pikachu and Clefairy want to help, so they team up with Jigglypuff to set up the party themselves without Hazel knowing. Pikachu makes decorations, Clefairy bakes a cake, and Jigglypuff collects flowers. Hazel comes home and discovers the party they set up and is touched. She goes to get Almond and the two apologize and make up. Hazel gives Almond a towel with a picture of he and she on it, and Almond is unimpressed. Jigglypuff gives Almond a bunch of flowers, and Almond discovers an Oddish in the bunch. The Oddish suddenly evolves into a Gloom and everyone falls over from the smell.

To be continued...

There are a few bonuses at the end of this graphic novel. One is a run down of all the main characters. The next is the author/artist, Yumi Tsukirino, answering some questions about the Pokemon video games. The last is a cute little story where Ash and Misty have somehow gotten lost and ended up in the universe of this manga, and they're totally confused by all the differences.

Scans