Author's Note: Wondering why I took long? I do too. But my mind was blocked from any ideas for this story - writer's block overtook me. But anyways, this is the 4th chapter of Pranks. Things start revealing themselves on their own...

Disclaimer: Is not owning Pokemon. Just in her dreams.

Misty read with much grief and pity over the girl, who was very much hurt and lost. It turns out that Arina wasn't normal – nor extraordinarily pretty unlike her sister, Marina. She was born with an incurable disease that caused her to lose her right arm – which made her to wear a wooden arm in replace. Her face – like her twin's – could be described as pretty for a 9-year-old, but somehow, Misty knew there was something wrong about her smile… something missing. Arina's handwriting was legibly written in script, but it was still hard to read considering the paper was torn and brown.

Date: June 20th.

Event: Birthday Party!

Dear Diary,

Today's my birthday! I can hardly believe it! And it gets better, too. Mama and Papa are preparing a big, birthday bash wherein they'll invite all of Marina's friends. Yes, you heard correctly – Marina's. They still hadn't let me invite my friends – Papa hit me with a wooden stick yesterday – for not cleaning my room. But it's not my fault, honestly! Marina just went to my room and then we had a huge argument over the porcelain doll I got from Gran-Gran. She says she deserves it since she has an arm and then I blew insults at her. I feel so bad for doing so but she deserved it! If she insults me, she insults other people with the same disease! So you know what she did? She threw the doll under my bed. (I didn't even know things could fit under there!) I cried so badly since I thought it was broken. So I tossed all my second-hand toys at her. Papa came blowing in and called me a devil child. He whipped my back with a stick 5 times. It hurts a lot.

But luckily, when I went to clean my room (after Papa hit me,) I saw that the doll was still in tip-top shape! I was so happy. Although I found out Marina took out the arm before she threw it (She even said I look just like the doll now) I still find it as beautiful as before.
Sometimes, I wonder if the world was just cruel - or if it was just me. From what I can remember, I'd never done anything wrong before. So why must my life be so miserable?

Misty couldn't read the rest, the pages were just blotchy and illegible. From the information she read, this was the very last entry in Arina's diary - and it was even bookmarked.

"Hey, Myst," Ash called over her shoulder, pointing to a red-like splatter that formed on the bottom of the page, "what's that?"

"I have no idea. But I know that it's gotta do something with what really happened. From what I read, this isn't Arina's fault. I feel terribly bad for her as of now, though."

"Don't worry," Ash gave a smile, "we'll figure this out. I promise."

He held out a hand to emphasize his point, and Misty locked hers with his. For a moment, they kept it locked, their faces inching closer without them knowing. They were barely inches away when Ash brushed an orange lock of hair out of Misty's face. Just as their lips were about to brush together for the first time, a scream could be heard throughout the whole mansion.

"What was that?!" Misty jumped, surprised.

"I don't know. But I think it's coming from the other side!"

Quickly, both of them dashed out the door and found an endless hall filled with doors. The long trail was pitch black, and neither of them could see anything but a circular light at the end. It was buzzing, too. Ash stepped out first and took Misty's hand, her fear washing away. Together, they passed the first door and out of curiosity, Misty opened it with her free hand.

What she saw was truly terrifying. It was a boy without a head, drinking tea. Misty screamed and threw herself upon Ash's chest, ignoring his bewildered look. As fast as he could, Ash shut the door without making any noise - just to make sure the headless boy wouldn't hear him.

"I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna go home." Misty mumbled over and over again, despite her shaking. Ash clutched tighter to her vest and buried her closer to his chest,

"Don't worry Misty, I'm here." the seriousness in his tone meant he wasn't joking, too.

"Thanks, Ash," she said, wiping her stray tears, "that means a lot."

She got out of her position and carefully examined the doors, still a bit shaken from the recent encounter. "So I get it...the different doors contain different people. Maybe if we find the right one to where the person screamed, it could lead us closer! Remember what Arina said? All the clues that bind? All we need to do now is find those clues and we can solve this!"

Without any warning, Misty grabbed Ash's hand forcefully and carefully walked the pitch-black hall.

|*|*|*|

"Ow! Ash, you stepped on my foot!"

"Sorry. Don't blame me! You were the one who got us lost."

"Hey, I can't see a thing here, how was I supposed to know where to go?"

"Well if you listened to me - "

"Blah. Blah. Blah."

Ash rolled his eyes in aggravation. Misty still acted like a 5-year-old; she loved to annoy Ash to his internal wits. Both of them had been trudging their feet to what may seem like an endless hall of doors, each door containing a different kind of ghoul or ghost. Misty didn't dare to open any of the doors, and when Ash reached for the knob, she would punch him on the shoulder and scream in his face. So here they are, walking silently through the hallway which seemed to have no ending.

"Gross!" Ash heard Misty making sounds, pretending to vomit, "what the hell is that?"

Ash bent down despite the darkness and overlooked the matter of danger. Misty lifted her foot, as instructed by Ash, and tried to stretch the gooey substance, to free herself from it. Given that his curiosity was piqued, Ash gave in and picked the thing from under Misty's foot and gave it a smell. He almost choked it out.

"What in the world is this?!" he wrinkled his forehead irritably. He really wished Pikachu or Charizard were here, just so that they could light up the way. Misty shoved something onto his side and stepped back.

"Hmm...?"

"It's a ziploc bag," Misty said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "you can put it inside. Maybe when we finally find a lighted area, we could see what it is."
Taking her advice, Ash grabbed a handful of the gooey stuff and inserted it in the bag Misty had handed him. Without any doubt, he placed it carefully in his pocket and scrunched his nose up.

"Well, let's keep going. We're not done here." Misty marched, but instantly, her face met with a mahogany door.

"OUCH!" she said, wiping her nose. Ash knew this meant one thing...they were in the end! He ran towards the sound of her voice and found her about to punch the door with all she had. Ash restrained her, pulling her away and reassuring Misty. He knew that it wasn't a good idea if Misty broke down the century-old door. Who knows what secret door they'd open again?

Ash gave a wide grin. He opened the knob and came face to face with something quite interesting...
Misty arrived by his side and gave a loud gasp. It was a garden, everything drenched of life. What was quite unusual is the boned Rapidash, which carried a carriage that contained two human skeletons. One with a gown, one with a dress shirt and jeans.

Stepping out of the hallway, Misty placed her hands on her hips and sighed. This really wasn't doing good for her personality. All she saw in this house were dead things. If she wanted a personality improvement, how in the world will she find it here?

Despite the fact that they were surrounded by skeletal beings, some randomly floating in air, Ash's face lit up brightly. Misty knew that Ash was a strange kid since they were ten, but she never expected him to be so jovial in a place like this.

"The light here is perfect!" he said, poignantly. As fast as he could, Ash snatched the ziploc bag from his pocket and searched for the substance they had attained just a few minutes ago. For some unexplainable reason, Ash couldn't identify the material. When placed directly to the light, it would evidently change to red. But when a shadow overcast it, you wouldn't be able to decipher anything.

"So, have you found any leads yet...?" Misty glimpsed his way, hopeful enough to wish that he had found anything. Resolving to tell her the truth rather than lie, Ash nodded his head solemnly and sat on the dehydrated land. Misty followed suit and heaved a big sigh.

"So far...we have absolutely nothing. No leads, no clues...no Pikachu or Azurill..."

"I know. It's almost sundown, too."

It was then Misty noticed the rays of the sun, brightly shining in different hues of yellow and orange. They peeped from behind the tree, as if it were a child about to take a nap. Misty gave a quick glance at her watch for the first time that day and noticed the rather cold atmosphere draining on them.

"Maybe...maybe we should look for a way out."

This stopped Misty from suggesting what was on her mind. "...What?"

"Think about it Misty," Ash explained with annoyance, "we've been at it for hours! Searching and searching for clues not even finding anything useful! All we have is a stupid diary that has almost all the pages ripped out and - "

"Wait, the pages are ripped...?"

"Yeah. Here, I'll show you..."

In a swift motion, Ash took out the diary that was previously sitting on Misty's bag he was carrying. The little blue book's lock shimmered under the sunset, their eyes bore into the glittery lock. Misty accepted the diary and flipped through the last bookmarked page. There seemed to be a continuation; she wouldn't know, Misty halted herself from reading the rest of the gruesome details.

"It says here on the last words of the page...'Marina invited me by the poolside where the party's being held. I knew exactly what her intentions were, to...' then it stops there. Ash! You're a genius! This was the main clue all along!" Misty said excitedly. She grabbed her knapsack and shuffled through its remains. A canteen full of water, the cloth Ash used to clean her wound and luckily, one Pokeball Misty hadn't noticed before.

"I don't recall bringing a Pokemon...Go, Pokeball!"

The red light flashed, causing them to cower with their arm. It seemed brighter than usual - which was definitely not a good sign. But when Ash and Misty looked around for a useful Pokemon, there was nothing. Empty.

But the sound of a Rapidash's hooves colliding with the ground filled their ears. Immediately, both stood up and surveyed the boned-Rapidash, its flames firing up. The skeletons were stretching their bones and looked at Ash and Misty with their heads turned.

"Misty..." Ash whispered, taking a step back. Misty followed his suit and yelped.

"Y-Yeah?"

"I think now's a good time...to run!"

Misty picked up her bag, containing the diary and dashed off alongside Ash. Their decision had been smart, as the Rapidash galloped after them. Ash could perceive a door, about 10 feet away, and sprinted off with Misty's arm in his hand - hopeful to get away from the deranged Rapidash that was chasing them.

Author's Note: I apologize for not updating quickly. It's freezing and my fingers feel so numb. But...well, anyways, I just did my last minute Christmas shopping. Boy, was it hard! Anyways, thanks for those who reviewed. I appreciate it.

Oh and Note: This is far from done. Although Ash and Misty might have found the 'main clue' there are still many questions in our heads.

Where are Azurill and Pikachu? Who really murdered Marina? Was Arina the cause of all this trouble?

Find out. :D

Please review!