A/N: Caution: Don't read this at night.


She sniffed the air. A series of smell entered her nostrils, but she picked out the scent she wanted in a second.

Absol muttered to herself, "That's it. Crap this is strong."

She switched onto a face of determination and started down the slope of the Cerulean Cape.


Flint looked at the inside of the cave, jaw dropping. Forrest popped over from the other entering and asked. "Dad, what's all of this technology? I've never seen anything like it."

Flint took a deep breath. "Call your brother. Brock told me about this last time. If memory serves me right, this is bad."


"Last time, we went through Sunnyday Town, but that was weeks ahead of us." Ash stood in front of an unfinished bridge, if you would call it that. Only the skeleton was present, along with chains dangling down from pillars attaching the two sides of the bridge which extended down into the river. "And then some psychotic bike gang jumped out and challenged us."

Domino shrugged. "That's why you teleport. Wonder why I still haven't heard of a teleport gang?"

"Because there are only a few humans known to be psychic." Noah spoke up. "You, Sabrina, Liza and Tate, Olympia, etc."

"Nonetheless, it would have been cool." The girl sighed. "Why are we here then?"

"Resupplying." Ash said for the thousandth time. "I know you want to keep going on adventures…"

"Like you don't!" Domino snapped. "I want to see what it feels like to go on one of your really crazy adventures."

The Pallet boy thought about it for a while. "The first one is with Mewtwo, which is a month before the League. We still have a while."

"They're back." Domino pointed. "Let's keep moving."

"Bad news bears." Ash was about to start talking when Brock cut him off with a rare, serious look. "Ash, we have a problem."


Gary held Violet's hand as he drove down Interstate 1 towards Pallet Town, humming Master Quest, followed ignominiously by a few more cars full of cheerleaders. "Grandad's going to be so surprised. Good thing we remembered this time."

Violet smirked. "So you forgot last time?"

"Hey! You can't blame me I'm a immature ten year old last time!" Gary said pointedly, then laughed.

Violet smiled. "So you remembered to send Ash a text that Professor Oak's birthday is in two days right?"

"...Right." Gary coughed unconvincingly.

Violet rolled her eyes. "Give me the Pokédex. Don't text while you're driving."

"Nah, no need." Gary started to brake the car. "Let's camp out here for the next day. I was a bit faster than I expected."

Violet reached over and gave him a kiss. "Aren't you always."

Giselle picked her head up from her book in the back seat. "Please stop smooching guys. I know you're a couple, but isn't fifty-two times in the last hour a bit excessive?"


"What's the problem?" Ash asked. "It can't be worse than Mewtwo, can it?"

"Could be." Brock gave him a look. "Dad just called me ten minutes ago. Apparently the owner of a mine found this cave system in his quarry that, well, contains technology that is not part of our current… era."

"What do you mean?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

Brock took a deep breath and showed him the photos on his phone. "Do you remember this?"

Ash took a look, and he jumped back as if burnt. "BUT… but that doesn't come until the Battle Frontier!"

Domino poked her head over and looked at the photo of the cave. "Hmm, that seems like a…"

Her eyes widened in excitement. "An ACTUAL adventure!"

"No!" Ash shook his head. "No no no no no!"

"That's the one where I got possessed!" Ash continued, panting slightly. "What… how… why is it discovered so early!?"

"Hey!" The three looked up to see Misty racing over, carrying Pikachu and Zorua. "I got your text. What's so urgent?"

Ash licked his lips and strained to open them. "We're dealing with a disaster."

He paused. "Already."

"Oh boy." Pikachu and Zorua echoed.


"Ash, my boy! Nice of you to call. What can I do for you?"

"Professor Oak." Ash greeted him hurriedly. "Can Domino and I have all of our Pokémon please?"

Oak gave him a look. "Sure. I'll have someone round them up in a few minutes. Care to explain why?"

"Remember Pokélantis?" Ash said. "The remains had apparently been dug up near Pewter already. I'm planning to go in and destroy the King's spirit once and for all."

The regional Professor nodded. "Sure, that sounds totally normal. Need any help?"

Ash contemplated that. "Nah… Besides the getting possessed part, this isn't one of the toughest ones."

Domino piped up. "You should have seen the look on his face when we first told him, Prof. He…"

Ash pushed her face out of his screen and coughed. "...Anyways, I'll try to keep the tunnels as undamaged as possible this time."

On the other side of the screen, Oak took a basket full of Pokéballs from an intern and placed them on a transporter. "Thank you, but don't let that be your main goal. Do you want Butterfree as well?"

Ash contemplated that. "No need. I don't want to disturb him from hundreds of miles away."

"Okay. Wait, let me get your mother's permission first on this." Oak winked.

"Professor!" Ash shouted.

The regional professor laughed. "I am sending to you all of you two's Pokémon besides Ho-Oh, Dragonite and Tentacruel."

"Ho-Oh's not with me, and Dragonite and Tentacruel had a bet on who can collect the most Clamperl, so they're down in thousands of feet of water currently."

"Be safe, got it?" Oak's voice commanded through Dexter.

Ash nodded. "Got it."

Domino elbowed him. "Don't worry Prof. I'll keep him out of trouble."

"I bet you will." Oak sighed. "Good luck, both of you."

As he cut off the line, he sat back tiredly. "Forty years ago, I would have been right there with them in a heartbeat."

Celebi landed on his head. "Growing old. I never understood that concept."

"It's strange. Time does that to you." Oak took a sip of his coffee and shot a look at her. "Well, maybe not you, per se."


"Ready?" Domino grabbed Ash's hand. Mew held onto Brock and Kirlia took Misty. She was answered by a collective affirmative. "Then let's go!"

The four disappeared in a pink flash.

A gang of bikers turned the corner and rode onto the street. Tyra, one of the leaders, blinked. "I swore they were here a minute ago."


"This is the place." Flint pointed at the cave opening. "Take a look for yourself."

The four traded looks, and Domino dashed in first, quickly followed by the rest. She, having not seen this the first time, gasped. "This is so… Nurse Who!"

"What?" Ash looked at her, confused.

"Nurse Who." Domino repeated. "You know, the show where the Time Queen travels around time and space in her FARDIS with her sidekick, Orchid."

"Guys!" Misty decided to bring them back to reality. "We found the underground lair of an evil, ancient king who wanted to imprison Ho-Oh and you're talking about a TV show?"

Ash coughed. "Right. So… I guess we just go?"

Domino stared at him weirdly. "You said you've been through dozens of crises, and you don't even know where to start?"

"Normally disaster just drop on me." Ash raised his hands in protest. "It's not my style to go actively seeking for trouble."

"Don't go in there!" The group turned around in surprise. "It's filled with disaster. I can sense it."

Domino went slack-jawed, then quickly regained her composure. She said, dripping with sarcasm, "I can see what you mean, Ash. Disaster LITERALLY just drop on you."

In front of them was an Absol, famously known Disaster Pokémon.


"Absol, I know this is dangerous." Ash began his explanation. "I've been here before. I also know that this is the tomb of an ancient king, in fact, the King of the Pokétlantis. I need to go in and destroy his spirit so he doesn't come out and harm people."

Absol stared at him, and began slowly. "Reason tells me not to listen to you. But my disaster senses are telling me to follow you in."

Pikachu snickered. "Yeah, that sort of happens. I'm Pikachu, by the way."

"Absol." She politely returned the greeting.

"Hmm, that sounded weird, hearing a Pokémon saying its name in Pokémon tongue."

Absol shook her head and just realized what had happened. "You can understand me!?"

Lucario sighed. "Yeah, that also happens."

Domino clapped her hands together. "Alright, people! Are we going to murder a king's spirit or are we going to just stand around chitchatting?"

"Stop making us look like the bad guys." Ash corrected. "It's cleansing, not murdering."

"Thank you, Mr. Politically-Correct."


Absol led the way as they trotted down the hall. She looked around curiously. "It does make sense that this is the lair of Pokétlantis. I've never seen this design before. What is this metal-plating made of?"

"Melted polymer combined by stainless steel with a few drops of liquid carbonate." Dexter said. "Basically a massive bomb shelter."

Ash shook his head. "We've never seen it from this side last time. Wow, this is huge!"

It was. The tunnel has a diameter of nearly twenty feet, able to fit all of them walking in a line.

Absol suddenly cried out and leapt to the side. "Careful!"

Lucario was the second one to detect it. Launching himself forward, he raised a Protect, and the incoming darts bounced off his aura shield harmlessly. He flung an Aura Sphere in the direction of the darts, and it exploded in an array of blue and sparks.

The sound of metal clattering to the ground echoed in the tunnel. Lucario sprinted forward, followed by the rest. He picked up a smashed dispenser from the floor and frowned. "Traps. Should have saw these coming."

"Stop!" Absol yelled. "Something seems wrong. If the King is this bad with technology, how did he managed to build these walls? There is a clear difference in skill between the walls and a dart trap."

Ash decided to wave it off. "Don't worry about it. I've been here last time. All we need to do is go down into his throne room, find his orb and destroy it."

Absol turned to him. "No, this is a lot more major. I can feel something very chilling in these depths. My senses are telling me if this is not handled well, then… OWW!"

Absol flung herself to the floor and banged her head on the ground. "This… hurts!"

Mew levitated down to her and sent a reverted pulse of psychic energy. "Did you see something that overwhelmed your senses?"

"Yes. Destruction… explosion." Absol calmed a bit, then went into overload again. "Are you a Mew?"

"Mew I am." She said cheerfully. "Now let's go destroy this, shall we?"

"You are not treating this with the caution it deserves!" Absol nearly shouted. "This could potentially destroy the planet!"

Ash looked around and shrugged. "We're used to it. We joke to deal with the stress. Or else, after the amount of encounters with global threats, we would have gotten Post Trauma Disorder a long time ago."

"Guys." Zorua jumped back to the group. "I found something."

She led them to a wall and pointed. Domino bent down and wiped the dust from the wall, and frowned. "This looks like a symbol."

"Do you recognize it?" Brock asked.

She shook her head. "Nope."


The eyes, shut solid by its stone eyelid, flashed. Cracks formed, and an eerie glow poured out. A second later, its eyes opened completely.


Mega Lucario forced his spikes into the side of the ground to stop himself from dropping into the covered trap hole. He launched himself up, before quickly lowering himself to dodge an incoming tranquilizer shot. A swinging pillar shot forward, and Mega Lucario used Force Palm to shatter the arm. A spiked ball connected to a chain dropped down from the ceiling and smashed toward the Steel Type in a pendulum motion.

He hopped onto the ball with Bounce and attached himself to it with Metal Claw, doing a handstand. When the ball reached its full swing and was coming back, his tail finished cloaking in a metal sheen and Iron Tailed the chain in half. Mega Lucario jumped down before the ball fell onto the ground and rolled into the hole.

The Steel Type smirked and looked back. "Easy-peasy."

Misty frowned. "Something seems wrong. Anything involving Ash shouldn't be this convenient."

"Ash. Professor Oak said he had pinpointed Ho-Oh. He is sending him over now." Dexter piped up.

"Okay. How far are we to the throne room?"

"Two more corners to the left." Dexter said. "I could be wrong, since this is all based on predictions of symmetry and structural management we saw from last time."

"Absol?" Ash turned to the Dark Type, "Can you sense something?"

"The Porygon isn't wrong." Absol seemed to have gotten over the uniqueness of Dexter. "I feel a strong potential for disaster two corners from here."

She then blinked, and trotted over to the side of a wall. Reaching up with a hoof, she wiped off the side of the wall. "Here's another symbol."

The group bent down to check it out. "It's the same symbol as last time."

"Who's leaving all of these symbols?" Ash wondered out loud.

"One way to find out." Mega Lucario started down the halls with a Protect shield raised.

Ash and the group followed him down the hall and turned the corner. The group stopped in their tracks. Ash said flatly. "Dead end."

"No." Absol countered. "Impossible. There's something behind this wall. I can feel it."

Mew agreed. "She's right. There's a room behind this wall. I think I can teleport us in."

Ash closed his eyes. When he started Aura Sight, a blinding light cut into his vision and he pummeled to the floor, clutching his head. Pikachu jumped off in an yelp.

"Ash!" Domino was first by his side, and sent a Calm Mind his way. "What happened?"

The Pallet boy opened his eyes in horror. "There's definitely something in there. It can even resist my Aura Sight."

Ash closed his eyes again and reached out. This time, he got nothing. "It disappeared."

An eerie feeling rose up their backs. Pikachu jumped next to the end of the tunnel and smashed his tail against the wall. An echo responded them. He nodded. "Definitely something in there."

His eyes fell onto something next to the wall. "Ash… I think I found another symbol."

Just as he finished saying that, the wall started to shake slightly, and it began to be lifted up. An ominous yellow glow passed through. Gradually, the wall disappeared, revealing the throne room inside fully.

The crew traded looks, and Mega Lucario started into the room first. Absol screeched and stopped him. "NO! This room is a disaster waiting to happen."

The Steel Type shrugged. "It's not like we will go back."

He went into the room, followed by the rest quickly. Absol looked at the group ahead of her, and back at the dark tunnel. She sighed and turned her head around to follow them in. In the corner of her eyes as she was whipping her head back, a shape flickered.


They dropped their jaws when they entered. The room was massive, lit faintly by yellow candles, and the sound of a ticking clock echoed in the room. Around them were winged, stone gargoyles at the side of the room.

On the floor were piles upon piles of gold, silver, sapphires, diamonds…

"My Arceus!" Ash sucked in a deep breath.

"Holy…" Domino continued down his train of thought.

Misty and Brock each had stars in their eyes as they stared at the glistening jewels on the floor. "Woah…"

"Why didn't we see this last time?"

Pikachu rolled his eyes and jumped off onto the ground next to Zorua. He whispered. "Can't believe our trainers are all misers."

Zorua pointed. "And there's also Lucario."

Mega Lucario was, in fact, drooling as he stood staring at the piles of gold thrown carelessly on the floor like it was garbage.

Pikachu shook his head. "I am so embarrassed."

Absol's sudden screech drew everyone's attention back from dreamland. Ash dashed besides her, and stuttered backwards. "Jesus!"

Misty was the second to walk next to Absol, and she released a scream and jumped back, her eyes bugging larger than a Venonat.

In the middle of the mountains of riches laid three, dried, shrunken corpses.


Mega Lucario was the first to recover, having been involved in dozens of wars in ancient times. "Be very careful! Something in this room kill them."

Mew pulsed out a psychic shield immediately, covering the group. They waited for a couple of seconds. Nothing.

This is when Domino noticed something that sent chills down her back. "Guys! Lights!"

They turned their heads at her in confusion, before each of them realized what she meant.

"Lights." She repeated, staring at the candles. "How can there be lights? This place is buried for thousands of years. And they're candles! They would've run out milleniums ago."

Ash felt goosebumps down his arm, and he placed a second Protect shield around him for security. "Which means someone lit them before we came in!"

Their eyes shot collectively to the three bodies on the floor. Absol took a deep breath. "What the hell have we gotten into?"

Domino looked at Ash, Misty and Brock. "Did this happen last time?"

"No." Ash forced himself to think. "This is a lot scarier than anything in the past."

Mega Lucario turned to Absol. "Do you sense anything in these three?"

Absol shook her head to indicate a negative. Ash closed his eyes and tried Aura Sight. "I don't see any life either."

"So they're actually dead." The Steel Type placed a shield around himself and walk out of Mew's force field. "Dexter, Noah, follow me. We're giving these three an autopsy. Then we know what killed them and prepare for it."

Dexter and Noah materialized and placed a series of Light Screens around themselves and walked out with Mega Lucario.


"Nothing." Dexter said flatly. "They weren't killed by any outer causes."

"We believe they died twenty years ago." Noah continued. "Someone came in here before us somehow and died here twenty years ago. All of the water in their body evaporated, turning them into these shrunken… things."

"But we found no cause of death. It's like they all died of a natural cause."

"Look at their faces though." Domino pointed, "Look at their expression."

"Dread, and hopelessness."

"This is going to sound preposterous," Mew started, "What if something destroyed their consciousness from the inside? A Hypnosis and a really powerful Dream Eater?"

Dexter pondered that for a while. "Then the brain would be completely melted. But their brain is under a relatively stable condition, besides being dried for twenty years."

"Any Pokémon moves enough to kill them would leave a trace of some sort that we could have detected. We found nothing."

"Anything to identify them?" Domino asked. "Any ID's?"

Mega Lucario finished dumping their backpacks on the floor. Besides the gold they took from the mountains of jewels, there was two flashlights, a compass, rope, a lighter, first aid kit, tent, pens, knives, etc.

He picked up three pieces of plastic from the ground and read off. "John, Kaitlin, Tim. All from Twinleaf Town."

"Wow, they've got everything." Domino remarked. "Almost a full pack ready for anything."

"Yep. Prepared, and they still died here." Brock nodded. He then scratched the back of his head uneasily. "I feel like they are missing something here."

Suddenly Ash was filled with an unknown feeling, as if something was watching them. He could not help but shuddered. "That's not important now. We need to find the orb containing the King's soul. If I'm not wrong, it should be under the throne's wool cover. There is a small hole containing the orb."

They started toward the throne in a back-to-back formation. Domino reached out with psychic held onto the wool coating the throne. They all sucked in a deep breath as the wool is uncovered.

The hole is empty.


They retreated to the pile of jewels and contemplated. Ash started, "Okay, we have two possibilities: Either one, that is not the right place, or two, the King is already out."

"What if," His eyes opened in horror, "These three already released the King's spirit…"

"That's not important now. We need to get out of here. This place is beyond us." Domino decided. "Plus, the orb containing the King's soul isn't here. Let's get outside and reformulate."

She shot a look at Ash. "What if last time, you never actually got down to the bottom of everything?"

"What if who you destroyed weren't actually the real King, but one of his substitutes?" She looked at him square in the eye. "He was the leader of the biggest empire that ruled over the entire planet. There is no way, now that I think about it, he is that easy to destroy."

"We need to leave, either way." She stated.

"Good, I'm hungry." Pikachu tried to lightened up the mood.

Absol, upon hearing this, shook violently and dashed in front of Pikachu. "What did you just say!?"

"I am hungry?" Pikachu repeated questioningly.

Absol's eyes widened in horror. "Food! They didn't have food!"

She ran to the pile of stuff from the three corpses' backpack that Mega Lucario had dumped on the floor. She repeated. "They didn't have food!"

The crew's expression changed as realization hit them. They looked to the pile, and sure enough, all equipment. No food.

"Impossible. If they are this prepared, they must've also brought food."

They stared at each other, as a horrible thought crept up to them one by one, but none of them wanted to say it. Dexter finally broke the silence. "What if they did bring food, but…"

"They ate it all, and then starve here." Pikachu finished with a gulp.

"That would explain the results of the autopsy." Noah nodded. "And their expressions. Starved to death and still couldn't solve the problem that was keeping them here."

"Imagine the dread and hopelessness of the situation." Dexter finished and turned to the bodies. "May Arceus have mercy on your souls."

"How can they starve if they can leave?" Ash blinked, another terrible thought coming to mind.

Misty said with a shaky breath. "Unless they… can't!"

Their heads turned abruptly towards the door. To their relief, the entrance was still there. Domino grabbed onto Ash, "Let's leave. This is enough for one adventure."

"Agreed." Her decision was met by universal support.

Domino's eyes then caught the piles of jewels on the floor and smirked. "But first, let's take a souvenir."

She reached over to the pile of riches and grabbed a sapphire the size of her palm.

Ash, Misty and Brock traded looks and each grabbed a piece of jewelry. Zorua shook her head. "What's with humans and shiny rocks?"

Pikachu shrugged. "It's incorporated into their DNA. Humans love shiny rocks."

He turned to Lucario. "Didn't you want one?"

Mega Lucario shook his head. "I can't. The Lucario honor code forbids me from taking another man's burial jewels, even if said man is an evil King who deserves to die."

Their human trainers finished packaging the jewels, shot one final look toward the room, and started toward the entrance.

Their eyes bulged out as they took their first look at the entrance. The distance between the walls had shrunk at least a third, and the metal shielding of the wall turned into…

The silhouettes of a humanoid with a huge, bulky head.


Mew fell to the ground, struggling to maintain her force field from the shock. Zorua leapt onto Pikachu, who was shaking on the ground. Domino grabbed onto Ash's arm reflexively and the Pallet boy gripped a random Pokéball tightly. Misty held onto Mega Lucario, who was pulsing out shields after shields while Absol and Brock clutched each other.

After the shock registered, Absol was the first to blurt out, "When the hell did this happen!?"
"How is this possible!?"

Ash whipped his head back around to the throne room. "The room is still the same. Wrong entrance?"
"No way." Mega Lucario refuted.

They shot a look at each other, none of them wanted to take the first step. Ash breathed heavily and started down the hall, while trying not to pay attention to the ominous shape on the wall. Domino followed him immediately, as did the rest of the group.

As he trotted down the hall, another eerie thought filled his mind. He peered at the black silhouettes of the humanoid creatures, which seemed almost like they are squirming as his flashlight moves, and shuddered.

He said in an raspy voice. "What if this is the thing at the end of this tunnel."

He could feel Domino shake behind him as she clutched onto him. "Stop talking!"

As they continued walking, Ash felt something wrong. "This isn't the path we took. I may be bad at maps, but wasn't there supposed to be a corner?"

"I was wondering that too…"

They continued walking down the hall in a completely straight path, each held his/her breath tightly. The throne room quickly disappeared behind them as their last landmark faded into the darkness.

Ash and co. found themselves trapped in complete darkness, broken only by Ash's flashlight when shone on the eerie pictures of the wall.

After about ten minutes of walking in silence, Ash's flashlight reflected, signaling the end of the tunnel. They each blew out a breath, relieved that they could finally escape the darkness of the tomb and the ominous humanoid silhouettes.

They approached a half-lifted wall, just like the one they had seen before. Then suddenly, Ash's flashlight caught onto something next to the entrance.

A symbol. Like the one they had discovered before. An uneasy feeling rose from the pit of his stomach, traveled up his neck and into his brain, and back down into his chest.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the room, followed by the rest. Their jaws collapsed to the ground as they took in the sight. "WHAT!?"

In front of them was another throne room, with the same design of winged gargoyle on the side and a throne in the smack center. To the right of the room was yet another pile of gold and jewels.

Misty gulped. "How rich exactly WAS the King when he was alive?"

Absol suddenly jumped forward onto the pile of riches as an unexplainable feeling overtook her. Then she let out a piercing scream as she looked down in horror.

Ash quickly jumped next to Absol. He followed her gaze down to the bottom of the hill of riches…

And saw a pile of equipment…

Laying next to three dead corpses.


A/N: This marks the start of something new. The first diversion of the plot away from normal Pokémon fanfic.

For those of you that didn't get the plot development, basically Ash and co. entered the King's tomb, discovered his throne room, and three dead people who apparently starved to death. When they tried to leave, the entrance they came through somehow changed. When they went into the tunnel, somehow they came back the way they came from, back into the throne room…

Trapped.

To be continued…