Chapter Summary: I've heard of "Pick your Poison" but this is the real pick for the final one-shot.
Shipping: MaroonShipper

A Ninja's Weakness

Ash and Pikachu were training for their next gym battle which was coming up soon. Accompanied by Brock and Misty, as well as their Pokémon friends, they never would suspect that somewhere, a ninja stalked the group. Nothing was going on that prompted immediate danger. "It's quite a nice day to be out and about," Misty cheered. "Don't you think so, Togepi?" The Togepi happily shrilled in enjoyment. Brock sighed at how much Misty was babying her little egg.

"You keep cooing it and it may never grow up properly," he warned. Misty was worried.

"Hey, when you have a Togepi of your own, you can raise it however you want. I like my Togepi a little spoiled." Togepi shrilled once more and Brock couldn't really contemplate how that helped raise a Pokémon. Then out of the corner of his eye, Ash spotted something and turned his head to it. That turn got the attention of the others. "Ash, what's wrong?" Ash kept looking at that fixed direction. Was it something he saw?

"Thought I saw a new Pokémon in the distance," he believed. A new Pokémon? Wouldn't be the first time. They were woefully unaware of a fall upcoming. Out of nowhere, a kunai shot out of nowhere and hit a spot merely steps away. "What's that?" It's a good question.

"It's a kunai, a ninja's throwing knife!" Brock stammered. Before they began to wonder who threw the kunai, the earth it hit crumbled. A giant hole became exposed, man made and willing to dunk the kids inside. They started to realize that whoever threw that kunai, did so to stop the kids from a trap.

"I didn't know kunai were meant for that." Well, Ash, they're not.

"No, someone with incredible skill must have used strength in that throw." Misty peered into the hole. It was a few feet away.

"Boy, that was a close call," Misty huffed a sigh. "Team Rocket wasn't ready with a countermeasure." That's what she thought until more kunai began to rain down, exposing more holes. Instead of being thankful for who saved them from all those pitfalls, they were annoyed at whoever made them in the first place. This was overcompensating. Sure enough, Team Rocket revealed themselves upset over the exposure of the holes.

"Alright, who's responsible for opening the twerps' holes?" Jessie scowled. The kids turned to the scorned Rockets.

"Team Rocket!" they shouted. Because their plans were ruined, there seemed to be no mood for the motto. They tossed their Pokéballs for battle.

"Arbok, Poison Sting!"

"Weezing, Sludge!" James commanded. Arbok and Weezing came out, ready to battle. That wasn't gonna happen.

"Psybeam!" a female shouted. Out of nowhere, a sparkling colored beam zipped through the trees and blasted the cobra and cluster. That shot propelled the two Pokémon into the humans and knocked them into one of their holes. Suddenly, a swarm of Ariados dropped by the hole. Misty gawked, balked and freaked out seeing those Ariados.

"Bugs!" she screeched in fear.

"Relax, Misty," Ash tried a little reassurance. "They seem trained." No dice, Ash.

"Bugs bug me, no matter what!" Misty was hard to convince. The Ariados fired String Shot and cocooned the bad adults. Then, one of the Ariados pulled the cocooned group like a pulley to a tree branch and planted them to...hang around. The three were protesting their hung arrest but no one could understand them since their mouths were also wrapped up. Good because who could handle their nonsense? One more Ariados scuttled to the kids, heightening the fear in Misty. "Don't get near me!" Ignoring the warning as she tightly hugged Togepi, Ariados reached Ash who knelt and petted the giant spider on the head.

"Thanks, Ariados." Ariados bobbed nods of thanks to the raven-haired trainer. It left Brock scratching his head.

"That's strange," he pondered. "How can a swarm of Ariados just wander in like that and aid us?" As if to answer Brock's question, a Venonat leaped from the trees and landed on Ariados' abdomen. It started to ring a clue for Ash as Venonat greeted itself. Venonat, Ariados, the kunai...

"You don't suppose that's Aya's Venonat, is it?" Aya's Venonat?

"Correct, Ash!" the female voice echoed. All looked for where the voice sounded from. That's when Ash heard rustling leaves and turned to that direction. That's when a ponlytail green-haired female appeared on a tree branch. She was in a full-body green suit. To Ash, this was help. To Misty...well, nothing because of her fear of bugs and how close that Ariados was. To Brock...love.

"If it isn't my favorite ninja princess!" he screeched in excitement. The female leaped down and confronted the group, only for Brock to cut in line. "I knew my love would kill the enemies plans with cunning and accuracy. Your kunai have pierced the chains of restrictions." Snapping out of her fear because of Brock's pathetic swooning, Misty snagged his earlobe and dragged him away.

"She's got cunning and accuracy," she mulled. "You've got heartbreak and stupidity." Poor Brock. Pulled away from Aya like that had to hurt. That distraction out of the way, Ash and Aya turned to Team Rocket. Jessie wriggled her head free from the cocoon but that was it.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to chase this guy around?" Aya scorned. Jessie darted her head from Aya, not wanting to face the lady ninja.

"I can care less about what anyone says," she defied Aya's berating. "We want the twerp's Pikachu and will stop at nothing to get it." Someone should knock some sense into her. They've been stopped and are hanging in a full-body wrap.

"You know, any Pikachu would be good enough. What makes this Pikachu so different from the rest?"

"It just is! We don't need any explanation!" That's some denial. Even Ash had to frown at that.

"That's completely brainless. You do realize that." Jessie fumed at that retort. Her anger gave her the strength to bust out of the cocoon and land on the ground...while James and the Pokémon crashed into the hole head first. Medic! Jessie reached back but instead of another Pokéball, she revealed a bomb.

"You should shut it!" Seeing how slow Jessie was at trying to throw the bomb, Aya readied one more kunai. They threw the weapons. The bomb never reached a quarter of the way when the kunai pierced into the bomb and pushed it back to Jessie with more force than before. BAM! The bomb smacked Jessie in the face and knocked her back into the hole, joining the rest. KABOOM! That bomb now exploded and the Rockets went flying. Plan failed, battle failed, backtalk failed...nothing seemed to be going Team Rocket's way at all.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blown out again!" they screamed in unison. Bye! No more Rockets, the group began to relax.

"Thanks, Aya," Ash praised. Aya replied by flicking a thumbs up.

"Hey, somebody's gotta be watching out for you," she smirked. Maybe but hey, anything to help. After calming, the group sat for dinner and much to Misty's chagrin, the Ariados had some of Brock's food too.

"So, Aya," Brock addressed. "What brings you out here? I thought you were in that ninja dojo to master Pokémon Jujitsu." Aya seemed confident that this question was about to be asked.

"Well, the dojo has given us a week off to relax and learn some solo techniques. The reason is to defer mental strain and breakdown. While I stepped out, a few of the Ariados followed me in request to join so I let them. It was a good thing I did since some of them were learning Dig attacks." Dig?

"These Ariados know Dig?" Ash repeated.

"Indeed. Very useful with Team Rocket up to no good. I used the kunai as markers for where the holes were covered." Unique but it did the job...a little too good. Ash removed his cap and noticed a chip on the bill.

"I think you marked me as well." He tossed his cap to Aya. Seeing a missing piece which looked like a knife had split it, she got apologetic in a hurry.

"My apologies. My intent wasn't to harm anyone...except Team Rocket." While Aya said her sorry, Misty was sympathetic...to her.

"Don't worry about that," she smiled. "Ash has hardly learned his lesson from when we visited Koga's gym." She and Togepi giggled, much to Ash's chagrin. Hearing the name made Brock wonder what's been happening with the Fuchsia City gym leader.

"By the way, how's your brother been doing?" he questioned. Aya had been away from the gym for quite a while...yet she had received word about her older sibling.

"Koga has been promoted to the Elite Four ever since Lance came to Johto," she informed. The group was rather delighted to hear about Koga's promotion. However, this was one where Brock had to point a unique stat.

"Well, Ash, I say that unofficially, you've managed to defeat one of the Elite Four." Ash didn't really feel the glory of beating a member of the Elite Four, especially if he won against a gym leader.

"I don't really see the point," he murmured. "I beat Koga the gym leader, not Koga of the Elite Four. There's a big difference." A stat which Aya agreed to.

"There's a greater passion of defeating a member of the Elite Four than it is a simple gym leader," she backed Ash. "A gym leader presents a badge telling them you passed his/her test. An Elite Four member is a show of skill to prove mightier than the skill of the best trainers." As gym leaders, Brock and Misty felt like they're at the bottom of a totem pole. Ash had to cheer the two up.

"Hey, you guys have been a big help, not just for me but for all the trainers you met in the Pewter and Cerulean City gyms and out here in our journeys." That was rather heartwarming. Both smiled back at Ash and Aya, a little better about the positions they stemmed from.

"Thanks, Ash," Misty huffed.

"You may not be the brightest light bulb in the office building, but at least the words do come out right at the end," Brock added. Ash nodded. For some odd reason, Aya glared at Ash and began to turn red in the cheeks. Was it something he said?

"Aya?" Aya shook her head on call. Daydreaming?

"Sorry. I guess Ash is...more than a cute face disguising the grit of a true trainer," she confessed. "It's as if...I had a younger brother that I hadn't really noticed until now." None of the three...or the Pokémon had a clue on what that meant. Brock's foot clipped a couple of canteens, realizing that they were empty.

"Say, Ash," he called to his friend. "Water for all, please?"

"Sure," he accepted as Brock tossed the canteens over. Ash walked off to fill the canteens and water bottles at a clean lake. Little to his knowledge, Aya followed with a canteen of her own.

"I am sorry, Ash," she mumbled. What for now? "A...ninja shouldn't fall in love with anyone." It wasn't a big deal.

"You did say that I'm a younger brother to you." Unfortunately, it wasn't all.

"And ninjas should be truthful, honest about all." Uh oh! "I just...I just didn't want Misty or Brock to think that I had fallen for...someone much younger than I have. I guess I was afraid." A fear of her own? Ash wasn't keen on ninjas but somehow, something clicked.

"Ninjas shouldn't be afraid of anything because the showing of fear will lead to the demise of one. And a side note that love is a compromise to the mission." Aya bobbed in shame, then hugged Ash in acceptance.

"Maybe I should surrender my pride and become a freelance poison trainer. No fancy tools, no ninjitsu, just be like you and be a trainer." Ash wasn't sure if he was wanting someone who'd quit.

"I don't think that's quite the wise idea." Aya broke and wondered what Ash had to say next. "You've saved us from Team Rocket with your ninja skills. I think you can be a great Pokémon Ninja." Allowing the words to seep, Aya blushed...SMOOCH! That sealed it. On the cheek, Aya planted her lips onto Ash. That's when Misty came looking for him. Aya had to act fast.

"Ash!" Misty shouted. Guess Brock must have both Pikachu and Togepi. After a minute, she made it to where Ash got Aya's lips. That's the good news. The bad news would come when Misty found Ash...hung up not in a cocoon...but by several kunai in his clothes. Misty had to assume Ash did something to upset Aya. "Okay, what did you do?" Ash had to say something...even a lie.

"I tried to lighten the mood for Aya, see if a little soak would ease her." This was a serious ninja...at least to Misty's surmise. Before Misty could further scold Ash, some Ariados came by...and they didn't look too happy. Instantly, Misty bugged out, running and screaming from the area. Watching the redhead leave, Ash and the Ariados sighed. This was staged?

"Perfect timing, Ariados," Aya complimented. All smiles shone as the setup to leave Ash and Aya alone worked. Sometimes fear is a great weapon.

END of POISON, End of the series.

(I thank you for making this possible. Sure there were some interesting picks with women to choose from and will do more in the future. Imagination is a great tool for doing stories. Thank you all for letting me read your stories as well as you reading mine, even during the darkest of times of my family and yours. Thank you all and have a happy new year!)