Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters....unfortunate but true!
Note: I won't describe everyone because you all should know what they look like!
Chapter 1
"Thanks, Nurse Joy! I really appreciate your getting these potions for us!"
"It was my pleasure, Ash. Besides, the road to Naridian City is a long and difficult one – you wouldn't want one of your Pokemon to become hurt with no Pokemon center nearby!" Nurse Joy answered with a smile.
Ash grinned back at her, and turned to his friends. "Let's go!"
As Misty, Brock and Ash left the Pokemon center, they noticed a strange group of people standing awkwardly on the pavement. One, a boy of about 10 with messy black hair, was complaining loudly. "This is incredible!" he said. "We don't where we are and there's no hope of lunch either!"
"What's wrong?" asked Ash. "Are you lost?"
"Very!" began the boy, but another, older, boy with long black hair stopped him.
"We, ah, aren't from here. Could you show us around?" he asked.
"Sure!" said Misty. "I'm Misty. What's your name?"
"Ray, and this is Tyson, – " he pointed to the boy who had spoken before "– Kai , - " he gestured to a tall, unfriendly-looking boy with blue hair "– Max and Kenny," he pointed to the other two boys, one with a friendly expression and blond hair, the other with brown hair that covered his eyes, who was holding a laptop.
"And I'm Ash, and this is Brock!" said Ash. Pikachu tugged on his hat. "Oh, right! This is Pikachu!" he said, patting the small yellow Pokemon.
"What is that?" asked the boy who had been identified as Kenny, opening his laptop.
"A Pikachu!" said Ash proudly.
"What's that, Dizzi?" Kenny asked his computer.
"Well, I must admit I don't know!" said Dizzi.
"What is that?" asked Brock, leaning towards Kenny to better examine the laptop.
"This is very confusing!" said Ray. "What's a Pikachu? I've never seen one before!"
"Let's go somewhere and discuss this properly – its getting too confusing this way." Misty said loudly, breaking into the conversation. The boys agreed, and they walked down the street together.
"Can we go somewhere where there's food?" asked Tyson. Ray, Kenny and Max laughed.
"Where do you come from?" asked Brock interestedly.
"Ah," began Ray stalling for time.
"Just tell them," urged Tyson.
"Uh," stalled Ray.
"If you don't, I will!" threatened Tyson.
"Alright!" said Ray, after some thought. "I know this might sound crazy, but I don't think we're from here at all."
"What do you mean?" asked Misty.
"Well, we don't know what Pikachu are, so that must tell you something!" said Max, sensibly.
"You mean," began Ash. "You're not from anywhere around here?"
"Nope," confirmed Tyson. "Now can we please get something to eat!?!"
Everyone laughed, and then they trooped into the Pokemon center. Suddenly, a door swung open and a frazzled looking young girl staggered out, followed by a stampede of Pokemon. "They've all gone mad!" she yelled, and Ash and his friends jumped onto the chairs in the waiting area to escape the stampede. As a small Onyx rumbled by, Ash turned to Nurse Joy for guidance. Nurse Joy was desperately trying to free a Pidgey from its cage. The Pidgey was thrashing around, trying to escape the cage. Eventually, Nurse Joy got the cage open and the Pokemon fluttered free. "What's going on?" Ash called to Nurse Joy, who had climbed on top of her desk to avoid treading on the numerous bug Pokemon wriggling their way to freedom. At the sight of the bug Pokemon, Misty froze.
"Ew, ew, ew! Bugs!" she wailed, climbing shakily onto the tops of the chairs. The newcomers were completely dumbfounded.
"Er, what's going on Dizzi?" asked Kenny, opening his laptop again.
"These Pokemon are stampeding because they can sense tension in the atmosphere," Dizzi said.
"What? How did you – ? Since when do you know about stuff like this?" asked Kenny in amazement.
"I scanned the computer over there and found the data. It wasn't hard," said Dizzi innocently.
The stampede of Pokemon subsided, and Nurse Joy gingerly got off her desk.
"What happened here?" asked an authoritative voice.
"Officer Jenny!" exclaimed Joy. "Just in time!"
"Oh, it does not matter in love – I would wait forever for you!" exclaimed Brock, grasping Officer Jenny's hand.
"Alright, lover-boy, enough already!" complained Misty, dragging Brock away from Officer Jenny by the ear.
"The Pokemon are sensing a change, or rather a disturbance in the frequencies of the earth," explained Joy.
"Told you so!" interjected Dizzi smugly.
"I don't know what the disturbance is from," continued Joy.
"Maybe I can help with that," said Kai quietly. All heads turned to him.
"My theory is that that disturbance was caused, indirectly, by our entry into your reality. Or, alternatively, the disturbance caused our entry."
"What do you mean, your entry into our reality?" asked Jenny.
"I think what Kai means is that we are from a different reality. Our reality has no Pokemon, only Beyblades and Bitbeasts. So, we either caused the disturbance or were brought here by it," explained Kenny.
Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny looked at each other in confusion.
"From an alternate reality, eh? Very interesting!" commented Brock.
"Can we please get something to eat!?!" pleaded Tyson weakly, slumping on a chair.
"I have some food here, I'll go get you something to eat," said Nurse Joy, taking pity on him.
"Get for me too please!" Ash called after her. Misty rolled her eyes.
"Is that all you can think of?" she asked Ash. Tyson looked at her in surprise.
"That's what they always say to me!" he said pointing vaguely in the direction of Ray, Kenny and Max.
A few minutes later, everyone, except Officer Jenny, who had gone back to her base to make a report, was sitting around a large table, eating. Ash and Tyson were both tucking into the food with relish.
"So what do we know for sure?" asked Kenny.
"Well, we're no longer in our world, that's for sure. And there's a disturbance in the in the atmosphere. So I figure that they're connected, like Kai said earlier," said Max.
"Well, the Pokemon sure are sensing something, or they wouldn't have tried to escape!" said Misty.
"Pika!" agreed Pikachu, looking up from its' food.
"Yeah, but why didn't our Pokemon go crazy?" asked Brock.
"In my opinion, your Pokemon are with you, and they have been trained by you, so they can resist the urge to try and help. Also, it might be because of the fact that Ray, Max, Kai, Kenny and Tyson are here, so they are near to the cause or the product of the disturbance," said Nurse Joy.
"This is really weird!" said Tyson, his hunger pangs subsiding.
"And inconvenient!" groaned Ash. "I need to get to Naridian City!"
"Hmm, maybe my sister at Naridian City Pokemon center will shed some light on this. She's very interested in science," said Nurse Joy. "Maybe you should all go see her."
"Maybe we should!" agreed Ash. "Then while you guys go to the Pokemon center, I can battle with the Naridian City Gym Leader!"
"I'll have to see that!" said Tyson, eagerly.
"Alright, so it's settled," said Misty. "We're all going to Naridian City!"
Soon they were all hiking up the steep hill that led to the road to Naridian City. When they reached the top, they sat down for a rest.
"That was hard work!" gasped Ash. "I hope the rest of the way isn't as steep as that!"
"Yeah, especially since it's such a long way to go!" said Misty.
"Toki?" came a voice from her bag.
"Oh, Togapi, you're awake! Did you have a nice nap?" asked Misty, pulling her small white Pokemon out of her bag.
"Toki toki pri!" confirmed her Pokemon happily.
"Now what's that?" asked Kenny, flipping Dizzi open once again.
"Dunno, Chief," answered his laptop.
"It's a Togapi!" said Misty, hugging her Pokemon.
"Another Pokemon?" asked Ray.
"Yup!" confirmed Brock. "There are hundreds of kinds!"
"Oh boy!" said Ray.
Max looked at the sun. "We'd better get going – we don't want to travel by night!"
They walked into the shade of the forest, and Brock found the trail.
"We should be there in no time!" said Ash confidently.
Two hours later they were still walking. Brock looked expertly up at the sky. "Looks like rain," he said.
"Oh no!" groaned Ash. "We'll get soaked!"
"No we wont!" said Misty. "We can shelter there, in that house. We can start again when the sun comes back out." The boys unanimously agreed and they trooped away from the trail towards an old-looking vine-covered mansion. "That place looks haunted!" shivered Max.
When they reached the door way, Tyson boldly lifted the lion-shaped knocker and rapped hard on the door. No one answered.
"Looks like no one lives here," observed Kenny, and Tyson pushed on the doorknob. The door resisted, but with the combined efforts of Ray, Max, Tyson, Brock and Ash, it swung squeakily open.
"Wow!" exclaimed Misty. "This place is huge!"
"And creepy!" added Max. Misty rolled her eyes.
"Let's sit in this room 'till the storm subsides," said Brock, indicating a room off the front hall, filled with dusty furniture. As they trooped in, Kai walked moodily over to the window. Misty joined him, staring out of the window to the worsening storm.
"It looks terrible, doesn't it?" commented Misty. Kai grunted.
Across the room, Ash, Max and Tyson were standing up. "We're going to explore!" announced Tyson excitedly.
"Alright, but don't stay too long – the rain could stop at any minute," warned Brock.
"Ok!" called Ash over his shoulder as he and the others left the room.
"This is even more creepy on the inside!" said Max with a shudder.
"Yeah, isn't it cool?" asked Tyson excitedly.
They walked down corridor after corridor, until they came to a dead end.
"Well, let's just check out some of the rooms along these corridors," said Ash. Tyson nodded and then leaned against the tapastried wall. "Can we rest first?" he asked.
"Sure!" agreed Ash, and leaned towards the wall. As his shoulder touched the wall, something clicked loudly. There was a whirring sound and the tapestry swung back, toppling Ash and Tyson over.
"What happened?" asked Max, peering into the dark opening where there had been a wall.
"It must be a secret passageway!" said Tyson, standing up excitedly. "Let's explore it!"
"Yeah!" agreed Ash, and the three boys ducked into the darkness. After they had walked some way into the darkness, the hallway was lit up by a tube on the ceiling. On the walls around them, Ash could see doors of all colours. Max led the way down the corridor, glancing at all the doors as he went. Suddenly he stopped, and Tyson, who was just behind him, crashed into him and both of them landed on the carpeted floor.
"What?" asked Tyson, rubbing his head.
"I heard something!" said Max, getting to his feet.
"What did you hear?" asked Ash.
"People – talking!" said Max. "Maybe there are people here! The noise was really muffled, so maybe they're trapped here!" he continued, his imagination getting the better of him.
"People?" said Tyson in confusion. "I don't hear any – " He started. "Woah, now my mind is playing tricks on me!" he said.
"Did you hear them? The people?" asked Max eagerly.
"I hate to say this, but, yeah, I did!" said Tyson slowly. Ash moved forward. "I can hear them too!" he said, turning around in surprise. "We'd better get the others!" The others nodded, and they all trooped back along the tunnel, through the open passage way, down the other corridors they had traveled, (with a few wrong turns) until they burst into the room where everyone else was.