Journey Chapter 2:
Walking
Dawn and Emiko had been walking for about an hour, when Emiko suddenly stopped. Dawn looked at her quizzically. "Pikachu's not awake yet," Emiko explained. She put Pikachu down, and put a finger on his chest. Then she sighed. "He's just exhausted," she said to Dawn and Piplup.
"Maybe we should stop, it's getting dark," Dawn said.
"It is?" Emiko asked. "Wow, I didn't even notice. You might be right, we'll still have to find Ash tomorrow."
"Can you help me set up the small tent I brought?" Dawn asked.
"Sure," Emiko said. The girls got the tent set up, and went inside. Emiko put Pikachu down, and said, "What should we do now?"
"Sleep, I guess," Dawn said. She took out a sleeping bag and unzipped it. Then she climbed into it, and lay back. Piplup curled up next to her, and Emiko settled down too. Suddenly, Emiko remembered something and asked, "Do you have a small towel or something we could use to cover Pikachu?"
"Yeah, sure," Dawn said. She dug around in her backpack, and produced a small towel. Emiko took it and tucked it around Pikachu, then said, "Night, Dawn and Piplup."
"Night," Dawn said. The girls both settled down to sleep.
The next morning Emiko woke up and saw that Dawn was still asleep, but Piplup wasn't. "Hey Piplup, why didn't you wake Dawn up?" Emiko asked.
"I tried, but she went back to sleep," Piplup said grumpily.
Emiko smiled and said, "I'll try." She shook Dawn's shoulder, but that didn't produce a response. Then Emiko got a rather evil idea. She blew lightly on Dawn's neck, then poked her. Dawn woke up with a scream, and saw Emiko and Piplup laughing.
"That wasn't funny," Dawn said.
"It was to us," Emiko said, still giggling. Then she noticed that Pikachu was waking up too. "Pikachu, how are you feeling?" she asked
"Rested," Pikachu said.
"Good," Emiko said. "I woke Dawn up, so we can get going."
"Dawn looks grumpy," Pikachu said.
"I scared her awake, that's why she looks grumpy," Emiko said. "That, and Piplup and I were laughing at her reaction."
"Emiko, you can understand what Pikachu's saying?" Dawn asked.
"I can understand and speak any language, human or otherwise," Emiko said. "Should we get going?"
"What about breakfast?" Dawn asked.
"Do you have food?" Emiko asked. "I can go a while without eating, but I'm not sure about Pikachu."
"I have human food and Water Pokémon food, but not Electric Pokémon food," Dawn said.
"That's not good," Emiko said. "What should we do?"
"Find a fruit tree?" Dawn asked.
"Okay," Emiko said. The girls packed up the tent and Dawn's sleeping bag, then went back to walking through the woods.
Finally, they came across an apple tree, but there was a Pokémon in it, and it didn't look happy to see them looking at the fruit.
"This is MY tree," the Pokémon said.
"I understand, but is there any way we could have two apples?" Emiko asked in the same language.
"Why?" the Pokemon asked.
"We're hungry, and unlike Dawn and Piplup, Pikachu and I don't have any food. Besides, you can't eat all those apples by yourself, can you?" Emiko asked.
"The apples aren't just for me, they're for my flock of other Starly," the now-named Starly said.
"Oh," Emiko said. "Is there anywhere else we could get fruit in the forest?"
Starly sighed. "Not really. If you promise not to take more than you need, you may have some."
"We couldn't carry more than we need, so you have my word," Emiko said.
"Alright," the Starly said.
"Thank you, Starly," Emiko said. She flew up and got two apples, then handed one to Pikachu.
"And us?" Dawn asked.
Emiko looked at Starly, who sighed and said, "Fine, but then you have to leave."
"We will," Emiko said. She got down two more apples, then handed them to Dawn and Piplup. "Starly said we have to leave, because this is his tree," Emiko said. "Let's go."
Dawn, Piplup and Pikachu nodded, and they walked off, eating the apples. Soon they were done, and they put the apple cores under a bush. Pikachu jumped onto Emiko's shoulder, and they kept walking.
"Emiko, if you're from a different dimension, how did you meet Ash and Pikachu?" Dawn asked.
"I got sucked into this world by a portal, and almost as soon as I got here, Team Rocket's Meowth and Pikachu came falling out of the sky," Emiko said. "I helped Pikachu get back to Ash, and that's the first time we met. I've been back three times now. The last two times, Pikachu called me here."
"How did Pikachu call you?" Dawn asked.
"We have a connection," Emiko explained. "Pikachu can call my name and I'll hear it, no matter where I am. The last time was the first time Pikachu used that connection, and it was because Ash had fallen off a cliff trying to rescue a Nuzleaf. That's the longest period of time I spent here, because Ash got pretty badly injured."
"But you can heal, right?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, but he had lost a lot of blood from one of his injuries, and that's one thing I can't heal," Emiko said. "But it turned out to be a good thing, because while he was recovering, I managed to teach Pikachu Volt Tackle."
"That was fun," Pikachu said.
"I'm glad you thought so," Emiko said. "I had fun too."
"Why do you and Pikachu have a connection?" Dawn asked.
"It was my friend Ichigo's idea, because Pikachu didn't want me to leave this dimension," Emiko said. "Ichigo suggested that I form a connection with Pikachu, and only come back when he's in danger."
"That's so cool," Dawn said.
Emiko nodded. "Hey Pikachu, do you have any idea where Ash may have been headed?" she asked.
"No, but couldn't you try sensing him again?" Pikachu asked.
"Good idea," Emiko said.
"What?" Dawn asked.
"I might be able to sense where Ash is," Emiko said. She put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. Finally she said, "He's running out of Professor Rowan's lab. Brock's not with him, though."
"Who's Brock?" Dawn asked.
"Ash's friend," Emiko said.
"I guess we have to backtrack, then," Dawn said. "Professor Rowan's lab is back the way we came."
"Let's go," Emiko said. Before they could go anywhere, though, they heard footsteps.
Hmm, I wonder who's coming? You'll find out- next chapter!