"You're THE Ash? Ash from Pallet Town?"
Ash, Brock, May and Max stopped at the voice coming from behind them.
Leaning against a lamppost was a young man with unkempt, black hair and a white bandana. He was wearing a white leather jacket over a black shirt, and his eyes were twinkling in amusement as he looked at Pikachu sitting atop Ash's head.
"Yeah, I am," Ash replied. "Why do you ask?"
The youngster continued his arrogant grin and came sauntering towards them. "I've heard you are quite the skilled trainer... You caused quite a fuss in both the Indigo and Johto League. In fact, I'm a capable trainer myself... so I thought, maybe you would care for a Pokémon battle."
When hearing the word 'Pokémon Battle', Ash's eyes took on an excited gleam. "You bet I want!"
"But Ash!" May protested. "We just arrived in town... can't we go to the Pokémon Center first? I'm tired and hungry!"
"Bed can wait! A Pokémon Battle can't!" Pikachu hopped down to the ground and Ash turned around his cap. "Okay, where do you wanna fight and what rules?"
"Right over there," the trainer said and gestured to a secluded backyard. "Three on three, no time limit!"
"Fine with me!" Ash grinned.
Pikachu nodded. "Pika pi!"
"Oh, and before we start, I want you to remember my name, just in case you lose... so you know who it was that beat you!" The youngster smugly opened his vest and showed them a tattoo on his shoulder that looked like a Gyarados. "People call me Gyarados Greg... because I destroy my enemies just like a Gyarados destroys towns!"
"Big words," Ash smirked. "Let's see if you can take me on!"
Max sighed as he, his sister and Brock followed them. "And here I thought we could spend one day without having to watch one of Ash's battles..."
"At least it's going to be interesting," Brock said and pulled out a small paper bag. "Popcorn?"
"Hand it over!" May said, grabbed the bag and stuffed her mouth full.
"For the first battle, I choose Pikachu!" Ash yelled.
"Pika!" They could see Pikachu was excited to be in battle again, as his cheeks was giving off sparks.
"A Pikachu... a not-evolved Pokémon. Okay, I know that doesn't have to mean anything. I bet you just think because my name is Gyarados Greg, I would use mainly water Pokémon, eh?"
"Maybe, maybe not!" Ash said. "Let's just see what you have in store!"
"You really are pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?" Greg smirked. "Okay, for our first battle, I choose... Scizor!"
In a flash of light, the metal bug Pokémon appeared. "SCIZOR!"
"Time to begin! Scizor, Metal Claw!"
"Pikachu, Agility!"
And the fight was on.
"Muuuuk..." the mud Pokémon grumbled as it collapsed under Grovyle's attack.
Greg snarled. "You... you won? You chose a Grass type and won against my Muk? Damn!"
"Well, elements are not the only factor in a fight," Ash said boastfully. "Good job, Grovyle!"
"Grovyle!" his plant pal nodded before Ash returned him into his Pokéball.
Greg stared at him darkly. Ash smirked. "Looks like I won this one!"
"Good job, Ash!" May cheered.
"Just you wait," Greg grumbled. "I'll take a better team next time, and when we battle again..."
"I'm looking forward to it," Ash said. Suddenly, his tummy grumbled. "Oh man, I'm starved! What do you say, Pikachu? You wanna go somewhere for lunch?"
"Pikachu!" the yellow critter nodded.
After lunch, the foursome was strolling through Dustia City.
Brock looked at the guidebook he acquired at the Pokémon Center.
"No Pokémon Gym in Dustia," he said. "But they've got a huge museum that always has interesting exhibits."
"Sounds interesting," Max said. "You wanna go, May?"
His sister shrugged. "Sure, why not? Hey Ash, what about you?"
"I dunno..." He frowned. "Museums are boring. And I've seen enough of that stuff in the museums back in Kanto."
"Aw, c'mon!" Max said. "We are going, and what are you planning to do in the meantime, with no gym around?"
"Oh well," Ash sighed. "I suppose it can't hurt to take a look..."
"Whoah!" Max said in awe. "An exhibition about ancient Egypt!"
"Next to Pokémon, archaeology always has fascinated Max," May chuckled as she saw how excited her brother was.
"And look!" Brock pointed out. "This sign here reads that most of the exhibits are from an era when Pokémon and humans in Egypt tried again and again to live with each other, even though there were tensions."
"Pokémon?" Ash was immediately interested. "Let's take a look!"
Max sweatdropped. "You really have a one-way mind, you know that?"
They bought four tickets, but didn't take part in the tour through the museum, as they were especially interested in the Egyptian exhibits. But they were lucky enough to hear a few words the tour guide was telling those visitors that were attending the tour.
"3300 years ago, the tensions between humans and Pokémon in ancient Egypt were reaching their peak. While Pharaoh Akhenaten had tried to include Pokémon in his politics and religious ambitions, most Pokémon weren't too thrilled with what he had in mind and it ended in a revolt."
"Is it true that Pokémon in these times actually believed in the same gods as the humans did?" an elderly woman asked with fascination.
"That is quite true," the guide said with a nod. "Actually, there are researchers that came up with a venturesome theory: They think it might be possible that the humans in these times actually believed that certain, powerful Pokémon were the embodiments of their gods."
"You mean, Legendary Pokémon?" another tourist asked.
"Well, there always have been Pokémon whose existence could have never been completely proven... but since we today know that certain of these Pokémon we call 'Legendary', like Moltres or Suicune, actually exist, it might be very much possible that the old Egyptians believed them to be gods."
"Wow!" Max said. "I can't believe this! The gods the ancient Egyptians had worshipped could have been Legendary Pokémon?"
"Well, since we didn't live back in those times, we can't say for sure what really happened," Brock shrugged.
"Still, it sounds cool," Ash smirked. "Just imagine what life must have been back there..."
"Ash, believe me, you can be very lucky that you didn't have to live back then," Max said with a frown.
"Wow, what's this?" May asked all of a sudden.
The others walked over to her, where two display cases were standing. May was looking at the bigger one. Something resembling a human body was placed inside.
Brock looked at the sign. "Warrior Mummy," he read. "Found during excavations in Saqqara..."
Max shook his head. "What a nonsense!"
"Why is that nonsense?" Ash asked.
Max huffed. "Please! Only the Pharaohs were mummified back then... and maybe a few high priests. This guy was only being wrapped in a few bandages of cloth... and the only thing that 'mummified' him was the dry sand and the hot sun in the desert. His body couldn't rot because all of his bodily fluids had dried up."
Ash looked closer at the mummy. Underneath the ancient bandages, he could see dry skin that looked like leather. Next to the warrior, a long lance was leaning, and on his other side, an ancient shield. In front of his feet, a curved dagger was placed.
"I wouldn't want to meet this guy in the dark," a familiar-sounding voice spoke up.
Ash turned around "Greg?"
Greg smirked at them. "I didn't know you guys were intelligent enough to be interested in ancient cultures."
"Very funny!" May grumbled. "Do you even know where Saqqara is?"
Greg shrugged. "Somewhere in a dry desert, I would guess. Should I care?"
"Well, at least we try to understand where all of this stuff is coming from," Ash grumbled.
Greg ignored him and looked at the smaller show case. "What's this?"
Brock looked past him. "That's a Meowth!"
"A... Meowth?" May asked in a shrill voice. "THAT THING?"
"Sure!" Max nodded. "A Meowth mummy! Didn't you know cat Pokémon were sacred for the ancient Egyptians?"
"Just like those stupid cows in India?" Greg scoffed.
"Somewhat like that! They even had a cat goddess!"
Greg shook his head. "They gave this thing a proper burial, and the poor guy over there was just thrown into the sand..."
Chuckling to himself, Greg walked away from the four friends.
"The nerve..." May said darkly. "I can't stand guys who always think themselves better than others. Max possibly knows at least twice the amount of these things in here than Mr. Gyarados over there!"
"Still, he's somehow right," Brock said. "I feel pity with this man." He meant the mummy. "They just happened to find him in the desert... and then he's being put in a show case so people could stare at him."
And as if the mummy would agree with his words, it opened its eyes.
Brock gasped in shock. Ash and Max let out shouts of surprises and May shrieked when the mummified warrior took a step towards them. Only the wires that were used to attach him to his pedestal were keeping him back.
May stumbled back, hit somebody behind her... and stepped right on Greg's toes.
"OW!" Greg yelled. "Girl, are you crazy? Oh, you're going to get it now!"
Angrily, he grabbed the collar of May's jacket, but she didn't even seem to notice what the white-vested trainer was doing to her.
Her friends watched in horror and fascination as the mummy pulled against its wires... and then it came stumbling out of the show case, in a shower of glass.
Greg and May cried out when suddenly, they got covered with sharp glass shards, and Ash gasped when the mummy's shield shoved him down to the ground. The ancient warrior's lance just missed Brock's face and got stuck in the ground, effectively trapping Ash underneath. Brock stumbled backwards, hit the pedestal with the Meowth's show case... and the case broke apart as well, while the cat mummy rolled out of it and broke in two.
"What... what the heck is going on here?" a loud voice suddenly shouted. "OH MY GOD! What... what have you DONE?"
A portly, bald man with an enormous mustache had appeared, together with an excited crowd. And all of them were staring at the weird scene in front of them:
May and Greg were dizzily sitting in the middle of glass shards and looked at the tiny cuts they received. Ash was trapped underneath an ancient warrior mummy... who was now as still and lifeless as previously... and flailed around with his arms and legs. And Brock was rubbing his head, while next to him, the two halves of a mummified Meowth were lying.
The bald man's face paled visibly, and the tour guide asked him: "Uh, Mr. Dugit? Are you okay?"
Mr. Dugit, the museum's curator, just gasped when he looked at the devastation in front of him. "Everyone... into my office... until... the police arrives! NOW!!"
