Wow, I thought this one was a lot shorter than usual but it's actually one of the single longest chapters in all my stories combined. Oh well. It's an update. And that means you have to read it. Wahahaha.
Chapter 4: No Longer Lonely
Dan's words had made Bob feel a whole lot better. He decided to continue forward, and now that he had a lot of weight off his chest, he found himself able to focus on the more predominant factor in his personality: his insanity. After a few short minutes of walking, Bob's microscopic attention span kicked in and he began to hum a song. This song was actually very annoying, and Dan was attempting to rip his ears off of his head; or at least make him feel like it.
"What the bull are you singing?" questioned Dan angrily.
"I'm technically humming," remarked Bob calmly, without much pause to his song.
"Well, can you stop humming?! It's getting on my nerves!"
"Oh, I get it. You're dying to know the words to the song because you're delighted by the melody and you haven't heard it before." Bob cleared his throat.
"W-wait!" shouted Dan nervously. "Don't sing it!"
Too late. Bob began to sing as loud as he could, as if the whole forest was his audience. The sheer volume made the words practically incoherent. His voice was horrible. It was enough to wake up a Snorlax and make him swallow the owner of the voice whole. Dan was having an induced seizure trying to get the wailing Nosepass to shut up. He pounded his fists in every possible place.
When the singer reached the off-key and ear-splitting chorus, Dan was going out of his mind. He ran as fast as he could to the nearest Random Object Tree, plucked from it a giant mallet, and returned to smash him in the head with it. The plan backfired, however, as the hammer took a counter-vibration which traveled throughout the little Pichu's body like in an old cartoon. Bob stopped singing for a moment and turned around.
"Hey...did I just feel something?" He saw Dan, utterly stunned from a combination of the vibrations and the sudden peace and quiet. He fell over, stiff as a board. Bob took the mallet from his frozen fingers and examined it with much interest. He completely forgot about his unfinished song as he proceded to hammer the ground violently. It would've registered about 3 points on the Richter scale. The shaking was enough to cause another object to fall from the hammer's tree of origin, which was a golf ball. There was a small clunking noise and a slight cry of pain. Bob put down his mallet in curiosity and made his way over to where he heard the noise.
As he approached the shrubbery, there was a hasty rustling sound. Whatever was there certainly did not want to be discovered. Bob thought about following the rustling, but there was no way he could catch up to it in this bulky form. He went back to retrieve his friend.
"Hey, buddy, are you awake?" said Bob quietly. "I think someone is watching us."
Dan wearily arose. "Wow, I feel shaky all over. How thick can a skull like yours get?"
Bob failed to identify this as an insult and continued urging the fellow. "Maybe we should check it out."
Dan snapped out of his dizzy state and took Bob seriously. "Ok, where do you think they're hiding?" Bob raised his straight arm at the bushes near the base of the Random Object Tree. Dan began to think. "We better sneak up on them," he whispered. "I'm sure they're either timid or out to get us, so it should work either way." Dan scuttled out of sight of the bush area and discreetly climbed the opposite side of the tree. He slowly peeked over the side of one of the branches and noticed a green and white figure peeking cautiously from the other side of the tree trunk. Dan silently searched the tree for something to contain it. Being light and agile, he was able to get around the tree without much noise. After a few moments, he came across a laundry basket. He plucked it from the branches. Then, after a bit more searching he noticed a toolbox, which he grabbed as well. After moving the items he found to the proper positions and checking up on the spy, he waved to get Bob's attention.
Bob saw movement from the top of the tree and looked up to find Dan. Before he could say anything, Dan raised his finger to his mouth to silence him. He then dropped the laundry basket. It fell upside-down right on top of the figure, creating a cage. Before it could do anything, Dan dropped the toolbox, the weight creating a solid confinement that Bob himself couldn't escape. Dan hopped out of the tree, motioning for Bob to join him.
The captive was a Ralts, and a very timid one at that. Bob and Dan could tell that this was a female. They approached calmly towards their silent prisoner, who backed against the opposite side of the basket. Her head and face were dotted with miniscule beads of sweat as she wondered what was going to happen to her next.
Bob was the first to speak. "Hi there," he said, trying his very best to sound friendly and not intimidating. "I see you like to sneak around and watch people..."
The Ralts did not respond.
Dan stepped forward. "Look, I know you are feeling very uncomfortable and awkward right now, but so are we with this dimension in general. We took you as a sort of threat. You see, we've already been attacked by a Gengar, not to mention a group of angry Mankey and Primeape. We're unsure if anything can be friendly here. So we're just being defensive, that's all."
Ralts nodded her head with an almost undetectable gesture.
Bob had an idea. "By the way, we're not from around here. We're from the other dimension; the 'real' world; we're humans."
The Ralts looked only slightly taken aback by this, but it was enough to suggest that she was human as well.
Dan chuckled. "So you're in the same boat as us, eh? My name's Dan, and this nosehead over here is Bob. Together, we can look for a way out of here."
Ralts gave an expression of comprehension. "My name is...Jennifer," she said almost inaudibly.
Bob looked victorious. "Well, if you're not intending to harm us, then we'll just let you go." Dan complied by climbing on top of the laundry basket so he could remove the heavy toolbox. He stepped off of it again as he and Bob lifted the plastic cage off of Jennifer.
"Ok, Jennifer," said Dan, "Welcome to the crew."
"Hey, I wonder, are you any good at espionage? Spy missions?" wondered Bob. "That could be useful."
"Um...I couldn't really say..." squeaked Jennifer.
"Well, how long were you watching us? We didn't know you were there until I accidentally made that golf ball fall on your head."
Jennifer rubbed her head like she had just been hit with the ball again. "I don't know...thirty minutes?"
"Ha! It's like you weren't even there!" Bob laughed. "You sure know how to keep quiet."
"Hey, you could take my seat on the mount if you want," said Dan, motioning to Bob's head.
"No thanks," said Jennifer in her tiny voice.
"Very well then," Dan said with a hop landing neatly on his seat, "We're off. Try to keep up!" Bob took off as slow as a Shellos, waddling like some kind of drunken nose-rock. It was too ironic. Jennifer couldn't help but utter an indiscernible giggle as she trotted along silently, taking up the rear.
A short while later, the three amigos arrived at a three-way fork in the road. Bob stopped, and Jennifer shortly after, looking around. Dan glanced between the three paths. Up ahead was a couple of tall mountains capped in snow, although it was quite a distance. To the left was a small clearing, and a couple of blue silhouettes were prancing about it for some inexplicable reason. To the right was a rather large building with multiple implements attached. "Hmmmm," said the Pichu. "Well, let's take a vote. Where do you wish to go?"
Bob hesitated. "I think we should go to the clearing. That building looks scary."
Jennifer thought silently. "I agree," she said.
"Clearing it is, then!" exclaimed Dan. He shifted his pirate hat like he thought he was Napoleon. He pointed to the west. "Onward!"
"Right-o, sir!" replied Bob with a salute. He waddled in the direction of his partner's finger.
Jennifer noted the enthusiasm of the two friends. She could tell they haven't known each other long, yet they were close as brothers. If there was one good thing about this dimension, among all the mayhem and mischeif that happened on an hourly basis, it was that it brought people closer together.
More action next chapter, believe me. These three won't know what hit them. Oh, and by the way, I feel like I'm talking to myself here. Do I have an audience? I must know! Oh well, at least I'm finding a way to entertain myself through writing.