Shadows and Ash Chapter 36: Tripping on Traps, a pokémon fanfic

Chapter 36, all! In which we reference eighties movies and slightly exaggerate what the ninja-gym looks like….Also give some theorization of languages in the Pokémon world—and yes, Esperanto is an artificial language created with the intent of providing a unifying language. In practice, that role seems more taken by the English language, while Esperanto is relegated to the "Interesting things to know but not exactly crucial to life" pile.

11JJ11, thanks for the review! Ah, glad you like them—I have fun writing them out. :D And Frenzy and Lenny have to be my favorite of Ash's Pokémon so far. :)

Luktopius, thanks for the review! Darkrai: "What? No. Whatever gave you that impression?"

Philly cheese dude, thanks for the reviews! Possibly. And possibly….I do too. And thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far! :D

Lala32903, thanks for the review! Ah, thank you, I'm glad you like it! I shall strive to continue to please! :D

Boggie445, thanks for the review! Understandable—I kind of wrote myself out of some encounters (like Krabby) and ended up having other Pokémon fill the typing slots, so….Not putting anything in stone about Johto yet (want to get through Kanto first), but Bayleef will definitely stay with Ash. :)

InfernalFox, thanks for the review! Yes….

InkyTheInk, thanks for the review! This is true. Hmm, you may be on to something there….

MagicWarriorDragon, thanks for the review! Thank you, glad you like it! Interactions like that are always fun for me to write. :D

Clow Angel, thanks for the review! Yes, well….Ah, glad you like Frenzy though (he seems to be developing into the breakaway character of this fic).

Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! That's where I first heard it—looked it up after going "there was a Pokémon musical?", read through it and went "Hey, that's a cool idea…." Yes, Ash's home life is nice and normal, probably—which is probably why we never see it. Most definitely. It does depend on the person and the phobia, I'm going to say—I'm afraid of snakes. It doesn't matter if it's a harmless garden snake or not, I just run so fast I leave my shoes behind (not exaggerating). Misty probably just registers "bug" and takes off (her running and Brock catching her actually references an instance with me and my Dad—although Dad was stopping me from running into traffic). Yes—"Hi, you don't know me, but there's this trainer who would be majorly freaked out if we just dropped in; you want in on this?" :D I'm pretty sure Pikachu was saying "Boy I'm glad I don't stay in one of those." True….

IceDragonGirl36, thanks for the review! No problem! ^^ Maybe…but he'll deny it.

Scarlet Firesong, thanks for the review! Thank you, glad you liked it! :D Wait until we hit fifty….

Thor94, thanks for the review! Yes….This is most likely true….

Garm88, thanks for the review! Yes, of all of them, the Gyarados is the even-keeled one. :D

Thanks for the review, Guest! I asked, and Darkrai informs me he doesn't take requests (I'm sure he sings when he's by himself, though).

AveragePichu, thanks for the review! Exactly! :D

LunalaMoon, thanks for the review! Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Haha, writing them arguing was fun. :D I agree, I agree, I agree. :D

, thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying it so far! :D

Thanks for the review, Sakura! These are good points. Well, Darkrai isn't a bug. Shh—can't let that get out. I…have never really gotten into uber-Ash stories, so I don't think there's any danger of Ash being a super-trainer. I shall try my best and hopefully continue to please! :D

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

In entertainment news, Indiana Jones and the Regis of Hoenn is soon to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. In celebration, select movie theaters in sponsoring cities and towns will be screening the film. Get your tickets today so as to not miss out on this remastered version! Sponsored by Fangdango—when the sight of a Raticate is a good thing!

The Fuchsia City Gym looked like a dojo, honestly.

"I was kind of hoping for a Karate Kid look, personally," Ash opined.

"Maybe it's bigger on the inside," Brock observed.

Indeed, it backed up into a forest and was bordered on one side by a river at the bottom of a ravine, so there was hope for something more appropriately ninja-y. At least the doors slid open instead of swinging, and led into a wooden floor with creamy white walls.

"Okay," Ash said. "So far, I am severely underwhelmed."

"I was expecting a bit more," Misty agreed.

Ash walked in, examined a scroll on the wall—written in Kantonese, instead of the inter-regional Esperanto:

Fuchsia City Gym

Leader: Koga

The Poisonous Ninja Master!

"Well, that's not really all that helpful," Ash noted. "It just tells us that this is the place we're supposed to be and not some random dojo."

"Ash, what are you doing to that scroll?" Misty asked.

"Checking behind it for ninja stuff," Ash explained, pulling the scroll away from the wall and peeking behind it. Nothing. Except…hmm. Lean closer to the wall to see, put his weight on it—

And then the wall flipped open and Ash was tumbling down to the raging river below—

And then strong claws arrested his downward momentum.

"Well will you look at that," Darkrai observed. "You broke the gym."

"Just the wall," Ash pointed out.

"Still counts," Darkrai stated, depositing Ash back on the floor of the hall. "And you," he said to Misty. "I seem to recall you calling me a useless lump. I want an apology."

"I don't know, I was kind of looking forward to being Ash-less," Misty said.

"I feel so loved," Ash said.

Darkrai, meanwhile, seemed to be appealing to Brock. "Seriously, what's a guy got to do?"

"No respect at all," Brock agreed.

"So the gym is more ninja-y than it appears," Ash said. "I'm feeling better about this place already."

"You nearly died," Misty pointed out.

"Yeah, but it was only nearly."

"It still counts."

"Help," Ash said, turning to the others.

"You're a magnet for disaster," Darkrai said flatly, arms crossed.

"I concur," Brock said.

"Pika pi," Pikachu said from the floor, having jumped clear when Ash fell.

"Gee, thanks. By the way, I noticed you jumped ship when you saw it going down," Ash said to Pikachu.

"Pika-bleh," Pikachu noised, shivering.

"Oh right—ix-nay on oat-bays."

"Well, seeing as you lot aren't doing anything interesting, I'm going to leave now," Darkrai said, drifting out the open wall.

"But what if there's more traps?" Ash called after him. "Think of all the Indiana Jones references!"

"Tempting….Call me when there's actual progress with this place."

Ash blew out his mouth irritably before turning to face the hall. "All right then! Cue the Indiana Jones theme!"

Five minutes later had seen a lot of walking, but no action.

"So it is bigger-looking on the inside," Misty observed. "We should have hit a turn by now."

"Maybe I should try the walls again," Ash suggested.

"Please don't. And you," she added, looking to Brock. "Stop humming."

"I'm just providing theme music," Brock said.

"Yeah, but I'm starting to get tired of the Raider's March."

"You actually know what the Indiana Jones theme is called?" Ash asked.

"I do live on earth, you realize."

"I can take requests," Brock said.

"The theme from The Magnificent Seven."

"That would work," Ash agreed. "It's based on a samurai movie, so it still fits."

"I'm not sure if I could hum that," Brock mused, finger to his mouth. "It's the sort of theme that needs lots of hyahs and hahs and nahs to it."

"Then don't," Misty said. "I get the feeling that'd be more annoying than it's worth."

"I thought so."

Ash rolled his eyes, turned—

Caught a glimpse of a thin line on the wall, matching up with one of the sparse windows letting in light.

"Ah," Ash noised, excited. "A trap!"

"Oh great," Misty moaned. "Where?"

"Right here—give me my hat, Pikachu," Ash ordered, shooing Pikachu off his head. That done, he took his hat off. "I saw Indy do this once."

And with that, he waved his hat in the sunlight.

Spikes shot out of the wall ahead, much to Misty's alarm—and Brock's too, from the sound of it.

"How much you wanna bet the walls on the other side are the same sort of trick walls?" Ash asked.

"What is it with this gym?" Misty asked. "Do they want to kill the challengers?"

"I'm sure there's something about trainers need to have lightning-fast reflexes in the reasoning here," Brock said, depositing Misty back onto the floor. "Saying that, nice spot, Ash."

"Thank you, thank you," Ash said, bowing. "I'll be here all week."

"We will be here all week at the rate we're going," Misty said. "I don't see this hall ending at all."

"Maybe we could cheat—Onix is immune to poison, right? We could have him knock down some walls."

"I'm putting that under fastest way to meet Officer Jenny under bad circumstances," Brock said. "So no."

Ash made a pensive noise, thinking.

"Ah," he noised suddenly, crossing over to the wall opposite the spikes and striking his fist against it. As expected, it fell away.

Darkrai was floating there moments later.

"You're defacing private property again," Darkrai pointed out, wagging a claw.

"Only a little," Ash said. "I don't suppose you could see if there's any halls or anything leading off from this one, could you?"

"I don't suppose I could."

"Is that a yes?"

Darkai sighed. "I'll be back."

And with that, he was gone.

"See?" Ash pointed out to Misty. "Darkrai's useful."

"Uh huh," Misty noised. "Just so you know, when we finally do meet Koga, you won't be able to battle him—I'll be sending him packing for this."

"It's two trick walls and a spike trap."

"The first of which could have killed you. And that thing is lethal," Misty added, pointing at the spike wall, which Brock was now examining.

"Hey, guys," Brock noised. "There's something behind here."

"What kind of something?" Ash asked.

"Like another room kind of something."

"Maybe it's a gas chamber waiting for us to enter, and then it fills with poison gas."

"Morbid much?" Misty asked.

"Are you saying we should try it?"

"Oh, Heliolisk no—I'm just pointing out that you're a little more morbid than the average ten-year-old."

"My bad," Darkrai said, dropping back down. "And I wouldn't recommend that room behind there, seeing as how I heard Koffing lurking in there. But—there is a side hall down a few sections from here. And hidden by paneling, from the looks of it," Darkrai added, glancing down the hall.

"That sounds promising," Ash said. "Let's check it out."

A few minutes later, and they were still standing in front of the panel.

"So let's see if I understand your definition of 'let's check it out' correctly," Darkrai said, floating next to them with his arms crossed. "We're translating a statement that implies action as 'let's stand here and stare at a panel for a few hours.'"

"It's only been a few minutes," Ash pointed out.

"You're killing me here."

"Let's wait a bit more," Misty muttered to Brock. "See if that's a real thing."

"Oi…you're not getting anywhere like this—it'd be better just to get the Band-Aids out and do it instead of waiting around and working yourself up. Besides, this is boring to watch."

"There could be a lot of nasty traps behind that panel," Brock pointed out.

"This is true—send the yutz in first."

"Let's not," Ash said, inhaling for better projection on his next comment. "Hey! If anyone's behind there, we're about to blast our way through!"

"We're back to destruction of property, I see."

"It would trigger any traps," Brock pointed out. "And hopefully break any invisible strings that would potentially slice us into bits."

"Do what?" Misty asked, appalled.

"It was in the new Sherlock Holmes movie."

"That was an awesome one," Ash said, before grabbing a Pokéball off his belt. "All right then—go, Vee!"

Vee appeared in a flash of light and had assumed a battle stance before realizing there was nothing to fight. The Eevee looked at Ash in consternation.

"Use Swift on that wall," Ash ordered, pointing.

Vee looked at the wall before looking back at Ash, ears flat, and chittered something. Ash looked at Darkrai for a translation.

"He wants to know why he's fighting a wall," Darkrai translated.

"Because we have to fight the wall to get to the gym leader," Ash translated.

Vee made a sort of aah noise before turning back to the wall, assuming a battle stance, and inhaling deeply before spitting out a barrage of shining stars, which ripped the panel to bits.

There was a hall hidden behind the panel. A very empty hall.

"Okay…trap senses tingling," Ash said, looking at the hall. "Vee, shoot Swift down that hall."

Vee did so. And as the stars whistled down the hall to impact on the far wall, axes swung down, darts flew out, and spikes descended from the ceiling. And then did it again, and again, and again, in a set pattern.

"I wonder how many people actually get the Soul Badge," Brock mused, watching the setup.

"Good question," Ash said, seriously rethinking his actions right about now. "There wasn't another way to go, was there?" he asked Darkrai.

"Out the door," Darkrai suggested. "Oh, and then there was that fun hall that sounded full of Voltorb chatting with each other. I'm sure that's loads of fun."

"Oi vey," Ash sighed.

"Agreed."

"Is it just me, or does it sound like there's a pattern to this?" Misty asked, holding up a finger. They waited, listening…whoom wiff wham whoom wiff wham…one two three one two three….

"It's a waltz," Darkrai said finally. "The pattern's the same."

They stared at him. "What?" Darkrai asked.

"How do you know about a waltz?" Misty asked.

"What? I'll have you know I'm very cultured."

Misty exchanged a slow glance with Brock.

"Um, moving on," Ash said. "So…what, we waltz across the hall?"

"If you feel like dancing with death, sure," Darkrai said.

"Are any of the other routes shorter or less fraught with danger?"

"Probably. Not."

"All righty then. Quick—how do we waltz?"

Darkrai sighed, then affected a dancing pose and extended his thin legs down to touch the floor. One two three one two three—Darkrai quickly skated across the hall, Ash right behind him, Pikachu with his tail tucked tight against him and Vee safely back in his Pokéball. Woosh wiff wham woosh wiff wham—so close it ruffled his hair, but within moments they were safe on the other side, quickly checking themselves over before turning to watch Misty and Brock dance through the hall.

"Any casualties?" Ash had to ask once they made it.

"I'm fine," Misty said, patting herself down. She was shaking, Ash noticed—something he could relate to. "What about you, Brock?"

"I made it through okay," Brock said, straightening and looking over his shoulder. "I don't think my backpack did though."

They looked—Brock's backpack was riddled with darts.

"And it served us so well, too," Misty said.

"All those good meals," Ash agreed, taking his hat off and putting it over his heart.

"So ends Brock's backpack," Darkrai said, claws clasped together. "May it rest in pieces."

"Pika," Pikachu said somberly.

"It's not that bad," Brock said, unshouldering his backpack.

"It seems to be bleeding," Misty pointed out.

"So it does. I think a few potions got punctured back there."

"Uh huh. Let's not do that again."

"Let's not."

"Well, then," Ash said, releasing Vee. "That means the only way left to go is forward."

"Then I think I'll take my leave now," Darkrai said, giving them a little finger wave.

"And where do you think you're going?" Misty asked.

In response, Darkrai held up a claw and moved his thin feet closer together.

And with that, he sank through his own shadow and was gone.

"Cheater," Misty opined.

"Ha ha," Darkrai's voice echoed back.

"Okay, moving on," Ash declared. "Vee! Blast that wall to bits!"

Vee, inhaled, fired—