Chapter 4:
Intro to: Sweety and Hampton

It had been about a week since Elmyra’s rehabilitation to treat creatures with respect and honor which made her a very likeable person for all the scaly, furry, or feathery students. ‘I wonder if there’s anyone else I can help out with.’ Ketchum thought as he was whistling a tune her heard on TV.

“Sounds like someone is liking that new channel they’ve got out - C.I.D = Cartoons in Demand.” Buster said after getting a few books from his locker and knew that tune anywhere.

“Yeah. I just can’t help it those shows are really relaxing.” The trainer replied back, but for the moment he felt more like a student than a trainer of anything…except for his body.

“Ash, hate to interrupt, but you left your free weights sitting in the middle of the Living Room again.” Hampton stated as he walked between the two of them, and the out of towner could hear the miffed tone he was using.

“Yeah, sorry about that Hampton. Guess I was still thinking about how many heroes I have in the watch that I completely forgot to clean up after myself. Sorry again.” Ketchum said as he rubbed the back of his neck in an embarrassed fashion. With nothing else needed to be said the pig walked off to his first class.

“I just can’t believe that you dig that elemental enforcer. A lot of kids here just mock and ridicule him because of his weakness, or because of the lameness of the fifth one.” The blue bunny informed since he knew of the show that his friend was whistling about.

“I know. Even though it is the fifth one alone that makes sure the champion doesn’t use his powers for devastation.” Ash said back before waving off to go further down a hallway.

“I don’t get it. Why won’t this thing work?!” A voice shouted out in complete rage which got the new kid’s attention. The shout came from Tina Russo, the copy specialist of Acme Looniversity, and she seemed to be having trouble with one of her machines.

“Is there anything I can help you with, Ms. Russo.” Ash asked as he approached her half door since he always wanted to help whenever he could.

“Oh, It’s you, Ash. I thought I told you to just call me Tina, and this new copier Bugs got me isn’t working for some reason.” She explained to him before giving the device in question a powerful kick.

“Maybe I can help. I mean, I don’t know that much about computers, but maybe there’s something I can do.” Ash offered to her, and since she had nothing to loose the duck girl let him in, so that he can take a look.

“You can try it, Ash, but I don’t know what you can do that I’ve already tried.” The brown haired one stated before wincing in pain. Unlike her fellow toons she didn’t do an outtake when she kicked something, but that did not mean it hurt any less.

“Are you okay?” The human questioned as he swiftly turned to see if she was okay.

“Just fine. Just a bruise on my foot. Nothing to worry about.” She said causing him to look down and he saw what she was referring to.

“The copier can wait. The school nurse needs to see that just in case it is something worse. Come on, I’ll help you over there.” Ash said since he believed that tending to a living creature took place before tending to a machine.

‘He wants to help me with something so minor.’ The duck thought and pictured him walking with her with one of her arms around the back of his neck followed by the other thought giving her a piggyback ride to the nurse with her head resting on his shoulder.

‘Snap out of it, and focus! He’s just a student.’ The logical side of her mind thought to the softer side.

“Don’t worry. I can handle something like this. Foghorn needs a few copies for his class.” She explained to the kind hearted one who nodded in acceptance, and used the same checklist she used on the machine.

“Hmm, that’s weird. I’ve checked everything on this list, and there is nothing wrong.” Ash muttered as he did everything the list told him to do, but it did not work for him either. While the good Samaritan was doing that the female was watching him work.

‘Now, I am starting to understand why the girls at the studio have it bad for this guy: a big heart with that bod.’ Tina thought while trying not to stare at the butt before her. Thankfully, Ash unknowingly took care of that distraction for her.

“I can’t find anything wrong, but that doesn’t mean Upgrade can’t.” Ketchum proclaimed as he slammed down the watch to transform but he did not get who he wanted.

“Grey Matter? Well, he does have a big brain. Okay, be back in a jiff.” The small gray skinned man said up to her before getting to work. He began to see why the machine didn’t want to work. “These wires have been cut, and this chip has been removed from it’s port.” The smart one stated before correcting the problems.

“How’s it coming in there?” The female duck questioned since she was worried for the tiny creature in the large, to him, machine.

“Almost…got…it.” The Galvan shouted back as he was putting the last circuit back into place, but somehow once he did that the toner next to the chip splattered all over him. “The only thing it needs now is fresh toner.” The smart creature shouted as he was exiting the device.

“What do you mean…by…that.” She stated before seeing a small black blob walk out of the machine. “Let me help you with that.” Tina offered before picking him up and walking toward her own personal sink to help wash him off.

“Thanks I really appreciate it.” The Galvan said to her and saw through the black ink that she filled the sink halfway, poured in some soap, and stirred for a bit before gently placing him inside. After a few short moments of awkwardness for Ash it was over and he was squeaky clean.

“There you are. Good as new.” The copy expert stated with a smile as she looked down at him. Feeling that the genius has used his usefulness for the day the hero tapped his symbol, but nothing happened. “I thought you told us that after you press that symbol you either change to another hero or back to your old self.” Tina stated causing herself to feel bad about doing this to him.

“Don’t worry, Tina. It’s probably just the DNA splicing replicator coping a fragmented amino acid sequence. ” Grey Matter explained to her which he saw confused the bright girl before him. “Sorry, Grey Matter’s big brain usually gets in the way. It means I can handle it; don’t worry.” He added to his first comment.

“If you say so, but just be careful out there. Guys out there will probably think you as a bug and treat as such.” Tina warned even though she wished for him to remain behind for safety, but had a feeling that he wouldn’t.

“Thanks for your concern. See you later.” The Galvan stated before rushing off to his first class. Thankfully the halls were clear so he had no obstacles this time. Once inside he was greeted with Sylvester.

“Suffering succotash! Ash, you’re late.” The feline informed with his usual spit flying with his comment. For the tiny one though it felt more like a heavy rainstorm, but the transformed trainer shook off the spit and answered him truthfully.

“Sorry about that. I was helping out Tina and got stuck in this form.” Grey Matter reasoned with him which the teacher accepted that, and gestured for him to bum a desk from another student.

“Come here, Ash. I’ll help you out.” The pink bunny offered as she lowered her hand to the ground. The Galvan accepted the hand, and with that she lifted him up to the top of her own head.

‘Not a bad view.’ Ash thought as he saw everything, and was grateful that Babs was nice enough to sit in the second row. The tiny teen was grateful that Grey Matter had beyond great eyesight, but the great eyesight did not spot the hungry bird close behind him.

‘Now that is one big tasty bug.’ A familiar pink bird thought as she saw the gray skinned creature sitting on the pink bunny’s head. After several moments the class ended which led up to free period.

“So…you still need a lift to the library, Ash?” The girl half of the rabbit duo questioned the creature on her head as they were making their way to the door. After a few moments of thinking the Galvan spoke back to her.

“Considering the Omnitrix has still not reset…I am inclined to go with you. Besides I could use some light reading.” The big eyed one responded back while trying not to let Grey Matter’s natural smarts out of that answer.

“Great, let’s get going.” Barbra Ann Bunny instructed before the two of them raced off in that direction. As they were going the tiny alien could not help, but glance over his shoulder since something did not feel quite right. The problem was that every time he looked around him there did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

‘Weird. I could have sworn I felt someone stare at me hungrily.’ The transformed trainer thought as he continued to ride on the bunny’s head. ‘Must be a bit of paranoia from being in this form.’ Ash surmised before enjoying the ride some more.

‘It is almost time to eat…eat…eat!’ Sweety thought hungrily as she continued to stalk her prey as she hid behind every nook and cranny to make sure that he did not see her. Eventually the three and several others made it to the library to either read or work on their homework for a while.

“I never knew the exact amplitude of a biblioteca.” The alien commented at the grand size of the room he was in after Babs put him on the table. “I said I can’t believe the size of this place…in Grey Matter speech.” The creature clarified once he saw that he confused quite a number of creatures.

“Okay. Well, let’s get to studying.” The comedian star stated before opening up one of her books, and got to work. For the first few moments Ash didn’t know what to do until he decided to check out the books that they had since he never really did check out a library back in his world.

“This place really has a lot of books to read.” The small creature stated after a short whistle of astonishment. He looked at all of them and was grateful of the great eye sight the creature had on him, but still he could not shake the feeling that there really was something not quite right around him.

‘Soon I will find out what one of his aliens taste like.’ The stalker thought as she closed in which her prey could feel, but could not see. On top of that he heard a classic predator like theme playing around him. At one moment a shadow appeared behind the transformed one causing him to scream out of sheer fear.

“Hmm?” The shadow stated before looking down and saw Grey Matter at his feet. “Whoops. Sorry about that, Ash. I just can’t get enough of that Jaws theme ring tone of mine.” Plucky stated before turning off his phone and went to finding the book he was supposed to be looking for.

“Well, that could have ended horribly. Good thing that it was only Plucky.” Grey Matter muttered out of relief before turning the other way, and ran right into Sweety. “Oh, Sweety, sorry about there. Do you need my assistance or something?” The genius stated and questioned to the female canary before him.

“I’m famished, and was wondering if you could help me.” She said to him since she knew his desire to help others is always so strong.

“Well, maybe after school I can treat you, and the others to…what’s this?” Ash proposal of hanging out and grabbing a bite was cut short when snow fell just around him. He looked at it closely and saw that it was not snow, but salt. “But you just want to eat me, don’t you?” The hero stated after seeing the normal sized salt shaker overhead and the hand/wing that was holding it.

“That’s right, and I decided not to use pepper since with one sneeze you could make a break for it…like right now.” Sweety reasoned her choice for seasoning only to watch as was simply running away from her.

‘Guess it’s time for the ‘cat and mouse’ scenario I learned in an earlier class.” The Galvan thought as he hid on a high shelf. No sooner than he said that - that the scenario began which was a lot like her battle with the book worm.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.” Grey Matter stated as he spent a good hour or two trying to avoid being eaten, and it was then he saw the source of his troubles…a copier. “That gives me an idea.” The genius stated before sneaking his way down to the machine from one of the hanging lights.

“Come out. Come out. Where ever you are.” The predator said to him in a sing-song tone as she searched from the air. Thankfully Grey Matter decided to use a move he saw in a movie by using a pretty light book as cover crawled to the machine. Eventually he made it and got to work.

“This thing just might work.” The smart creature muttered to himself before pulling several parts out and put them together. Sadly with all of the noise he was making with his tinkering the bird got an inkling where he was.

“There you are.” The taloned terror shouted out before swooping down to where he was. He was able to get his device to work, and rolled away at a fast pace. The device was a Galvan sized self propelled street looge.

“See ya, Sweety!” Grey Matter shouted out as he sped away: down the halls, and right through the front doors. He stayed on the machine for a while since a lot of people still saw that he was a bug and tried to step on him with all of their might. Sadly the power source that he put into it stopped right at the park.

“Like what’s that?” Shriley, who was having a tea party with her insect friends spotted the strange gray and white creature tinkering with the small device. Plagued by curiosity the loon walked over to get a better look.

“Perhaps I should have wired the printer cartridge to the copy circuits instead of the laminate circuits.” The egg head muttered to himself as he tried to figure out how to get his machine to work again. The only time that he took his eyes off of the device was when a rather large shadow was cast over him. ‘Now what?’ The transformed trainer thought and turned to face the owner of the shadow, but was relieved to see a sensible bird.

“Ash, like, is that you?” The spiritually attuned woman questioned even though she and several others already knew quite a few of his creatures and their abilities.

“Yeah. It’s me. The Omnitrix is malfunctioning, so I’m stuck in this form for a while.” The genius stated to her and felt ashamed that he was unable to properly use a device that was entrusted to him. He looked past her and saw all of the bugs that were treated with such kindness, and that gave him an idea. “Hey, Shirley, could you give me a lift to Hampton’s place I fear for my life.” The smart hero stated to her while trying to refrain from using any big words.

“Sure. No problem, Ash.” She responded while picking him up and placing the small creature on her right shoulder. “Come along, little friends, time to go home.” She said to the insects before picking them up and placing them on her left shoulder. On the way to the piglet’s home Grey Matter spotted a house that was for sale.

“Hmm, a home for sale?” The Galvan muttered to himself before using the expert eyes of Grey Matter to see that the entrance room seemed amazing and just perfect for him. ‘No, I can not. I have promised to be with Hampton.’ He thought and was determined to remain there even though living on his own was extremely tempting.

“Here we are, Ash, Hampton’s place.” The blonde haired duck stated before adding, “Here, I’ll get the door.” She did so, put him on the front stoop, and walked away with her insect friends. With nothing else to do he walked in and closed the door behind him.

“It’s good to be back at my temp domus.” Grey Matter stated with a sigh of relief. “Hey, Hampton! Sorry, I’m late getting back. Almost became a meal.” He reasoned while shouting as loud as he could. The creature in question heard the noise and went to check it out, but instantly became afraid.

“Aaah! A Bug!” The pig shouted with great anger before proceeding to step on him. Even after his understanding that bugs are an essential part of this planet thanks to the Roches, but on occasion his former attitude toward bugs resurfaced, and this was one of those times.

“Whoa! Hampton it’s me!” Ash shouted out as loud as he could up at the pig before dodging a foot stool being dropped on him. The pink one continued to attack with a pocket sized fly-swatter in one hand and a small can of bug spray in the other.

“Oh, I hate bugs!” The clean creature stated before continuing his assault. Having no other option Ash fled on foot all while pressing the dial on his back for some sort of support, but all it said was:

“Foreign contaminate still in Ultimatrix. Purge in progress - please stand by.” The watch informed it’s handler which did not inspire confidence. With no other choice he continued to run throughout the home, and getting annoyed at the same time.

“This is so going to take a while.” The creature muttered as he started dodging the spray and the swatter throughout several rooms. The two went from front room to kitchen/dining room, bathroom, hallway, bedroom, and back to front room.

“You won’t get away!” Hampton shouted out as he peeled and tossed out a fly trap to ensnare his transformed roommate. With his feet stuck he looked up at the creature ready to end him.

“Purge complete - ready to function.” The Ultimatrix informed and the moment that was said he slammed the symbol to transform.

“Humungousaur!” Ash shouted out as loud as he could while changing from a tiny brainiac into a gargantuan gecko. He tapped into the creature’s size power for added effect.

“Ash? You…mean I was going to bug spray…you?” Hampton questioned before feeling guilty for what he was about to do to one of his friends. The leather skinned one rose his foot so that his friend could remove the fly trap from him.

“You know, Hampton, just so this…incident doesn’t happen again I think it best that I move into my own place. After all I can’t have you try to kill me if I’m Nanomech, Big Chill, Stinkfly, or even Cannonbolt.” Ketchum reasoned with him as he shrank back down to twelve foot tall.

“You don’t need to Ash. I mean, I’m sure that…” The neat freak started to beg him to remain, but was stopped with a raised hand to him.

“I’ll talk it over with Bugs so that you don’t loose this special credit, but for safety sake I’m going to live on my own.” The dino informed before reaching for the symbol on his chest.

“Fasttrack!” The blue/black creature shouted before picking up his small amount of things, and stopped at the door. “Don’t worry about me. I saw this small home, sort of like yours, just down the road, so I’ll be fine.” The speed demon stated before changing back to his human form.

“If you think that is best, Ash.” The young pig said in an obvious heart broken tone.

“I am. Don’t worry - I still have to go to school so I can be a bigger help at the studio, so we’ll still see each other.” Ash stated with a kind smile on his face which raised his friend’s spirit’s just a bit.

“Yeah! You’re right! I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Hampton said as he offered the human a hoof which was accepted into a handshake. With that done Ash left leaving everything quiet for a moment or two before the door creaked back open.

“One more thing - clean this place up. It really turned into a mess when you were trying to kill me.” Ash said in joking tone before closing the door, and heard his pig friend hard at work at trying to clean his mess up as he was walking to his new home.

Copy Rights:
Ash Ketchum, and the others, are owned by Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network.
Tiny Toon Adventures, and the others, are owned by WB.
Ultimatrix, and all forms, are owned by Man of Action and Cartoon Network