Gotta Catch Em All In Ni No Kuni!

Chapter 9

"Oliver? Please come out." Esther pleaded. "You can't stay in there all day!"

"Watch me!" Oliver called back furiously. Esther jumped back from the door, surprised by Oliver's harsh way of tone. He was usually very polite, but the news must have hit him harder than they all thought.

"Esther? You gotta minute?" Esther turned around to see Aaliyah standing there with Ash and Pikachu. Esther sighed, nodding.

"Yes, it appears I do. Oliver still won't come out of his room." Aaliyah gestured to Ash.

"Well, Ash here was hoping to learn how to tame familiars. And I thought, who better than the expert to teach him?" Esther smiled, and looked to Ash.

"I'm flattered, really, but its hard for someone to learn taming without a certain instrument." She held out her harp that she always carried. "Its called the Heart-Winning Harp. I got it years ago when I first became a familiar-tamer. There's a certain tune that I have to play on it so that I can serenade the familiars. Its very rare that you can tame familiars without it. In fact, the only person I've ever known who was able to do it was Harmony, and that's just a part of her being the Songstress."

"I'd still like to try." Ash told Esther. "Please Esther, I want to learn how to tame familiars!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu exclaimed in agreement. Esther sighed, but nodded.

"Alright. Let's go outside, and we can see about taming a familiar." Ash pumped his fists, then he and Pikachu followed the two girls outside, where they looked around until they found a Green Buncher and two Sunshades.

"You sure you're ready for this, Ash?" Aaliyah asked, sending out Aurora, while Esther sent out Gogo.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" Ash told her, before pulling out his Pokeball, Pikachu watching from not too far away.

"Here we go!" Esther called, before sending Gogo into immediately doing a Dropsicle on one of the Sunshades.

"Butterfree! I chose you!" Ash called, then sent the flying Pokémon out.

"Free!" It squealed, and Ash grinned with excitement.

"Alright! Use Poison Powder!"

"Freeeeee!" It squealed as it flew over the remaining two familiars, poisoning them. "Now use Gust!" The Butterfree flew back, and sent a huge gust of wind at them, sending the Sunshade flying and the Green Buncher to the ground.

"Listen to my song!" Esther suddenly called, and Ash turned to see her playing a sweet tune on her harp, the Sunshade she was playing it for bouncing up and down happily and running over to her, making her smile as it dove into her heart. Ash gasped at the sight, and Esther smiled at his shocked expression. "That's how its done!" Ash let out a sigh, while Pikachu went to play with the Sunshade.

"Nobody can get it on their first try, Ash." Aaliyah told him, patting his shoulder. "You just have to keep on trying and getting better at it, is all. Why don't we try on that Floret and his buddies over there?" Ash nodded, calling Butterfree back to his Pokeball.

"Yeah, let's go! Come on, Pikachu!"

"Cha!" Pikachu squealed, before running after Ash, Esther and Aaliyah close behind.