Me : Hey guys, sorry for not updating for more than a week. Been really busy these few days. But here it is. Also, Happy New Year!
May : Finally you've return. I've been wondering would you ever continue this story.
Dawn : Yeah, I really want to know what happens next.
Brendan : So, got anything for us?
Me : Well... I've sorta... ran out of money...
Misty : Great, you're telling us you didn't bought anything.
AFL : I better check the reviews before anything goes badly.
Me : And for the previous pop quiz, yes, it's Giovanni. Congratz to those who answered correctly. I'm too lazy to list out the names though... heheh...
May : Oh brother...
Ash : So, on with the next chapter?
Me : Yup!
Chapter 12 : Journey Through Underwater
May was being led through a hallway with Phantom leading the way and two grunts behind her. She took off her bag back in the gym, protecting them from Phantom while her Blaziken was in the temple, guarding the place. If Phantom does stepped into the temple, Blaziken would kicked him out. She just hopped that Phantom doesn't find out or her Blaziken would get injured severely.
She was later being taken into another hall, which contained a transparent glass sphere that's big enough to hold a few poeple inside. Around the sphere were a few grunts typing on some computer while a couple of grunts were guarding the sphere. May was later shoved towards it by the two grunts that wa behind her. "Welcome to your new home," Phantom said with a smirk, which May glared at him. One of the grunt type something on the computer before a hatch was opened beside the sphere. The grunts later shoved May into the sphere before the hatch closed back.
"What do you want, Phantom," May demanded as she pressed against the surface of the inside of the sphere. She wanted to know what was Phantom up to, and why did he put her inside the sphere when she noticed a few cells in the hallway.
"If you should have ask me about why I put you in here instead of the normal cells, then I want you to lead me towards the temple since you knew the way," Phantom replied.
"As if I knew the way, ha!" May exclaimed as matter of factly.
"Do you want any of your pokemons to be injured?" Phantom asked menacingly.
"What do you mean by that?" May asked, not wanting to know what Phantom just told her.
"Well, I'm sure it would be a fortune to sell this guy," Phantom stated before a couple of grunts pushed out a trolley with a cage. Inside the cage was her Glaceon, who was still trying to free itself.
"How... let her go!" May exclaimed as she bang onto the surface of the sphere.
"I would, but not until you cooperate," Phantom said as he flicked his fingers. The grunts knew what he meant as they pushed back out the trolley containing May's Glaceon.
"If I show the way, will you let my pokemon go?" May asked, still not liking how Phantom captured her pokemon.
"I would, but after you tell me where is your two other pokemons," Phantom spoke, which caught May by surprised.
"How did you know?" May asked.
"One of my grunts went through your bag and told me about that two of your poke balls were empty, two of them is missing, which I guess you gave them to your brother and the last two is with me," Phantom explained, which shocked May.
"Well, at least Phantom doesn't know about my seventh pokemon," May thought, looking on the bright side. "Fine, my other two is protecting Manaphy from a scrummy old pirate like you," May taunted him, which he clenched his fist.
"You, little girl, will show me where is the temple, or your pokemon would be my fortune," Phantom warned her.
"I've got a question, what happened to my other pokemon?" May asked, crossing her arms.
"Your other pokemon got out when my grunt was about to grab it," Phantom said with sourness in his voice. May just smirked at the way her pokemon managed to free itself from the poke ball.
"Well then, I've got nothing to worry about them, except for my Glaceon..." May stated, still not looking forward to where this was going.
"So, are you going to show me the way, or are you going to say goodbye to your pokemon?" Phantom taunted back. May just gritted her teeth before she sighed, knowing that Phantom had the advantage here.
"Fine... I'll show you the way..." May finally accepting defeat as Phantom smirked.
"Good, the sphere you're in will be filled with water soon, so you would show us the way," with that, Phantom left the hall, leaving May in the sphere.
The grunts pressed a few buttons before a hatch opened at the top of the sphere. May looked up before a torrent of water came splashing into the sphere, quickly filling up the space. She didn't have to worry about drowning, since she could breathe underwater, but what comes next after she showed the way was making her feel unhappy about it. But she had no choice, since her Glaceon was now in Phantom's grasp. She hoped that her other pokemons would be fine, especially Manaphy and Blaziken.
Inside the temple, Blaziken was practising his new move while waiting for his trainer to return. But he had a feeling that his trainer would not be alone, so he kept on trying to master the new move while in the background, the water pokemon were getting ready the temple for the arrival of any foes that threaten to take the Sea Crown. They knew about what was going to happen since they had outside help. They knew that their queen was in trouble, but they needed to protect the temple from the threat. They just hoped that their prince would return soon, before the threat would reached the temple.
On shore, Ash, Misty and Dawn were in the Pokemon Centre, getting ready for going after Phantom while Brock and Max went to go for help from the Gym Leaders around the region through calling them. Officer Jenny went to look for a big submarine to take them to the underwater sea temple. Dawn was packing in her swimsuit before looking through a list of things that they needed to bring. "So, Ash, I heard that you were once the king of the sea," Dawn stated, which caught Ash and Misty by surprised.
"He is?!" Misty exclaimed.
"I was, but after I restored peace to the temple, the powers left with them. I don't have the power to even control the water anymore. If I do have that power, I might be able to stop Phantom and save May, but I can't," Ash explained as he felt like it was his fault that Phantom had gotten May.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, it's not like you can reach there in time, not even us," Dawn stated, looking down.
"But if I still have the power, I might at least go after them," Ash stated as he clenched his fist while his cap shadowed his eyes.
"Ash..." Misty whispered before the door burst opened.
"I heard what happened! Where is my daughter!" Norman entered, as well as a few Gym Leaders.
"Phantom got her. We're planning to go after them," Misty explained.
"Phantom would pay for kidnapping my daughter," Norman said in his stern voice as he gritted his teeth. He knew that Phantom would do anything to get his daughter, and it was the day which he wasn't home as he needed to go to a meeting for Gym Leaders.
"Norman, I know how you feel, but you need to calm down. We don't know where they are, nor what would happen to her," Roxanne stated calmly as she grab onto Norman's arm.
"Fine, I'll calm down, but this still doesn't change the fact that Phantom would get once he face me," Norman stated before he stomped out of the room, leaving the trio and the Gym Leaders in the room as they sighed.
"Is he always like this?" Misty asked.
"No, not always. Whenever his family is hurt or kidnapped, he would be furious," Wattson explained, not in his usual happy mode.
"And that's why May didn't tell him about the incident between two Legendary fighting each other," Ash explained.
"But what about the incident with the sea temple months ago?" Dawn asked.
"He took it like no problem, since Phantom was in jail after you guys stopped him, and for the fact that there was a Pokemon Ranger at that time," Flannery explained.
"So, what are you trio going to do?" Roxanne asked.
"They would be following me to arrest Phantom. We know how to trace them," Brock explained as he, along with Max, Brawly, Winona and Prof. Birch walked up towards them.
"And how do you do that?" Flannery asked.
"With him, of course," Dawn stated as Manaphy emerged from the bathroom, along with Skitty, Munchlas and Venusaur. Beautifly and Warturtle were both on the bed, resting, as they await for departure.
"Wait a minute. I just realised something," Ash exclaimed, caughting everyone's attention.
"What is it?" Misty asked.
"Where is her Glaceon and Blaziken?" Ash asked, which caused all of the people in the room to look at each other.
"Don't tell me that Phantom took both of them," Brock stated.
"I don't think so. Since five of her pokemon is here," Roxanne pointed out.
"And I noticed May had Glaceon with her," Max added.
"That means that her Blaziken could be in the temple, maybe protecting it from Phantom in case May got captured," Misty continued.
"Which she did," Dawn stated.
"I already called my son," Prof. Birch stated as he put away his phone.
"You have a son?" Ash asked.
"Well, of course. But the sad news is, he wouldn't be able to make it. He's far off in the Mossdeep City, fighting the Gym Leaders over there," Prof Birch explained, which caused everybody to fall over, anime style.
"No wonder those twins couldn't make it..." Brock stated, disappointed.
"We're done, let's go," Dawn stated, closing her bag as well as Ash and Misty.
"Not so fast, we need Jenny to call us whether she found any submarine or not," Brock stated, putting out his hand to stop them.
"And I did," Jenny spoke from behind them. "We will be using the Kaien 1, with that help of Capt. Stern of course," Jenny explained as a man with a pair of glasses, a white coat, a white sailor hat, and a pair of black shoes appeared from behind her. (Did I describe him nicely? Caused I'm bad at it...)
"Great! So, when can we go?" Ash asked.
"In an hour or so. It needs to be fueled up with both gas and oxygen," Stern explained as he check his watch.
"We can't wait that long..." Max exclaimed.
"It's our only option right now, so let's get something to eat before we depart," Brock suggested as everybody nodded.
Once they left the Pokemon Centre, Jenny and Capt Stern were left in the Centre. "Captain, why did you lied to them about earlier?" Jenny asked. She knew that Stern would always filled his submarine everytime.
"Because they needed something to eat before we head underwater. We can't just be unprepared for any underwater adventure. Besides, I've even heard someone's tummy rumbling," Stern stated as Jenny sighed.
"Well, I hope that the girl with Phantom would be alright," Jenny stated as she sighed.
Ash, Dawn, Misty, Brock and Max went to look for something to eat while the Gym Leaders were talking to each other about what would happened next. "So, should we let Norman follow us?" Roxanne asked.
"Why not? The more help we get, the better," Wattson stated.
"But didn't you hear what he said? He would make Phantom pay once he found them," Flannery stated, shivering at the fact that Norman would do those kind of things.
"I rarely see Norman this angry. I saw him this mad before when Prof Birch's son was held captive by a few bandits," Brawly stated about the past event.
"Yeah, now that you mention it. Those bamdits suffered a few broken bones by Norman's pokemon while saving Prof. Birch's son. They even had a fear of him," Wattson stated.
"I know what you mean. Luckily it was late at night or he would have to explain to his family about what happened," Roxanne said.
"So, what now? Should we let Norman follow us or not?" Winona asked as they pounded on that question.
"Well, it's his daughter..." Wattson stated.
"I vote for him joining us," Roxanne stated.
"Me too," Brawly agreed.
"Well, I'm not," Winona said while crossing her arms.
"Me neither," Flannery responded.
"What is your answer Wattson?" Roxanne asked, waiting for Wattson's responced.
"I vote..." before he could say anything, Ash and the others met up with them.
"There's a lot of stuff to eat," Ash exclaimed.
"Yeah, I've got me some rice balls," Max stated, holding out a dozen of rice balls.
"So, what are you guys talking about?" Misty asked, looking at the Gym Leaders.
"We're talking about some kind of plan," Roxanne explained, hoping that they wouldn't know whether they should let Norman on board on not.
"Oh, okay," Dawn stated before the kids went to have their meal while the Gym Leaders were eyeing Wattson. They were still waiting for an answer. Wattson sighed before he gave them an answer. Half of them nodded while the other half just sighed as they shrugged before they went to grab their meal. Prof Birch went back to his laboratory to observe the ocean for any sign of Phantom's submarine. He had some cameras installed on some of the water pokemon to observe their habitat. But right now, he would used those to look for a specific submarine. He just hope that his son would be able to join them or he would be able to spot the submarine.
Back in Phantom's submarine, May was leaning agains the surface of the sphere. The grunts were keeping an eye on her as they waited for her to direct them to the temple. She knew that she had no choice but to obey Phantom or her pokemon would be sold to someone. She cursed herself for just leaving her bag like that while she could had just handed it to her brother instead. "Well, how is it?" Phantom asked as he entered the hall.
"Nothing, sir. She's not doing anything," the grunt responded, which made Phantom quite upset about it.
"Listen here, girl. I really don't like to wait any longer, so show us the way or you wouldn't see your pokemon anymore," Phantom stated in his serious tone.
May wished she could answer, but she can't since she was surrounded by water. Even if she opened the her water, the words wouldn't even be clear for Phantom to hear as the water was dense for anyone to hear nicely. So, she did the next best thing, she pointed towards the direction that she knew would bring them towards the temple. Phantom at first raised an eyebrow before he smirk, realising what it meant.
"Turn left, I think she's showing us the way now," with that, Phantom left the hall as May just laid in there. She wondered why would they even filled the sphere up with water. She needed to remember to ask Phantom about it later once they reached somewhere.
It had been an hour since the kids and the Gym Leaders waited. Capt. Stern told them that it was time to go underwater, which they all nodded. "I'm hoping that Prof. Birch will be able to find the submarine," Roxanne stated as Ash went into the Kaien 1.
"Me too, the more area we can scan, the better," Wattson said.
"But we also need more help," Brawly responded.
"I'm still wondering whether Manaphy could help us," Flannery poundered as the said pokemon jumped into the sea.
"Will that answer your question?" Winona stated as the others laughed about it.
"C'mon, everybody in!" Jenny called out before she entered the submarine.
"Shall we?" Roxanne stated.
"Let's go! Adventure awaits!" Wattson called out before he went into the submarine, followed by the rest of the Gym Leaders.
Once they were all seated inside the submarine, Capt. Stern started up the turbine before they went underwater. May's pokemon were back inside their poke balls while Manaphy was outside, guiding them towards the temple. "I hope we're not too late," Ash stated.
"Wait a minute?! Where's Norman?!" Brock exclaimed, realising that he's missing.
"Well..." Roxanne started as she sighed.
In the temple, Blaziken was still at practicing his new move without giving up. He was determined to master the new move, even if it takes the whole night fir him to master it. The other pokemon were just winessing Blaziken's training as they tried to help the him to master it. Blaziken was grateful that the water pokemon were there to help him, even if they were different type of pokemons.
While training, Blaziken knew that he would need to use the new move soon, knowing something bad was going to happen to the temple. He hope to avoid it, but he knew that too that they couldn't avoid the upcoming threat.
Inside the submarine, May was still showing them the way as she pointed the way inside the sphere. While she was showing them the way, she noticed something else inside the hall. There was a chute on the wall. She wondered what was that as she thought of whether it could be her way out. But she noticed that it was too small for her size, so she just sighed mentally before she heard some doors opening. She turned around to see that it was Phantom who entered the hall.
"So, how is it?" Phantom asked.
"Very good, sir. The girl is showing us the way to the temple as we speak," the grunt spoke.
"Good, good," Phantom stated before looking at May with a grinned. "Soon, that Sea Crown would be mine and no one is going to stop me. Not even you, little girl," Phantom said with a menacingly smile before leaving the hall. "I'll be back to take you with me, in case your guard tried to prevent me from obtaining my crown," Phantom then left, leaving May to wonder how would she ever get out of this situation.
"This is not good. If Phantom finds out that the water pokemon are preventing him from obtaining the Sea Crown, then this is bad... I need to get out of here, fast!" May thought as she tried to find her way out. Then she remembered the hatch above her which the water came in. She looked around to see that the grunts were fixated on their screen, so she took this chance by swimming up towards the hatch.
The two grunts by the door noticed her as they warned the grunts by the computer. May was prying the hatch open, which she succeeded as a small gap was visible. But she was a little too late as the water level began to lower before she started to loose her grip. However, she kept on trying to pry the hatch open, which in turn gave her enough space to squeeze through. The grunts failed to get to her in time as May escaped through the hatch as she crawled upwards towards somewhere in the submarine.
"Sir! Our prisoner has escaped!" one of the grunts called out through a phone line that was installed inside the submarine.
"WHAT?! Find her, NOW!" Phantom yelled through the intercom before slamming back down as he was furious about the escapee. "I want guards guarding the caged pokemon, now!" Phantom ordered as a couple of grunts ran out the control room.
May was still crawling went she reached somewhere else. She got out of the tube before examining her surroundings. It was a pool for the water. She also realised that there wasn't any grunts around, so she took the opportunity to escape the room. When she reached the door, she heard footsteps outside the door. May looked for a place to hide when she spotted a few lockers nearby. She hurriedly ran towards it before opening one of them. It was big enough to fit her so she entered the locker before closing it. She hoped that it wasn't locked, or the grunts would get her.
May peeked through the holes of the locker before noticing that there were a couple of grunts accompanying Phantom as they searched throughout the whole room. May crossed her fingers, hoping that Phantom nor his grunts wouldn't find her inside the locker. But, unfortunately, one of the grunts opened the locker she was in. "Found her!" he called out before May kicked the spot which hurts the most. This caused the grunt to fall backwards as May took this opportunity to escape, but it was short live as a grunt blocked her exit.
"So, you've managed to escape. But to where?" Phantom taunted her, which May gritted her teeth as she failed to escape from Phantom. The grunts grab her arms before tying them behind her back as she was led out of the room and down a hallway.
"If you try to escape again, let's just say that not seeing your pokemon is the less of your worry," Phantom warned her in his menacingly voice. They were heading back to the room which held May captive earlier. She knew that she wouldn't be able to escape, which she hope that help was on the way. She was placed back into the sphere before she laid against the surface of the glass.
"I'm hoping that you won't be escaping from me again," Phantom stated before leaving the room. May just sighed, as she would be in the sphere for sometime.
"This is so not my day..." May sighed as the sound of computer was heard in the background.
Me : Man, I managed to finish this after New Year. By the way, Happy New Year to all!
Ash : Another year of stories!
Me : Man, it pays to have the Pokemon Adventures Manga on hand.
Brendan : What did you mean by that?
Me : Nothing, but May, please...
May : Sure. And now, please welcome... Skitty13! For the pop quiz!
Skitty13 : Thanks for inviting me! Now, here is the quiz :
- Who gave Yellow the hat?-
A - Green Oak
B - Prof. Oak
C - Blue
D - Red
The answer would be reveal in the next chapter... hopefully.
Me : Well then, I guessed that's it. See ya and happy 2014 people!
ALF : What a short dialogue here...
Me : Shut up...
