Once again, I made a few changes. Originally one of the cast members was a medium. Since no pokemon
character is a medium, I improvised. Still, who knows? Maybe Misty could be the next Jonathan
Edwards.
Night Two Chapter 4
A hand slowly moved through the dim light, bent on its mischievous purpose. It reached for a button on
the computer...
"If I had a perfect day, I'd have it start this way...!" blasted from the speakers. The sudden reentry of
sound was a rude awakening for the gang. Tracey and Ash fell off the bottom bunks, Sydney's head shot
up and hit on the bunk above her, the pokemon cried out and jumped up at the same time, Misty remained
sleeping. Brock was in the computer chair, camera in hand, laughing his head off. He turned more lights
on the better see the chaos he created. "You...you guys....are...too...funny!" he managed to stammer out in
between bouts of laughter. "Revenge Ash!" he shouted triumphantly. A very ticked off Pikachu sent a
thundershock right for him, combined with a water gun from an equally angry Marill and Poliwag. Brock's
yelling awakened Misty. "Keep it down Brock, I'm trying to sleep." Sydney rubbed her head, "have you
ever heard of an alarm clock?" Brock got over his shock, "no one else heard the alarm so I decided to have
a little fun." "Some fun" Tracey groaned as he rolled over to his stomach on the floor.
After breakfast, the team was more refreshed and in better spirits. Brock raised his glass of orange juice,
"this is it everyone, payday! No one's quitting today!" Misty cheered, "and I can finally see my little
Togepi again!" "Just a few hours, and all the work and stuff we had to put up with for the last 3 days will
be rewarded" Sydney sighed. Tracey clicked the mouse, "here we go again." "Welcome to night two. The
next dare is for Red, White will navigate. You are to go the brig and await further directions, no pokemon
can be used. Good luck." The video of the clairvoyant's hand being wrapped around the cell bars was
replayed. "The spirit in here was a bomber who missed the ship. He lost his mind in here and he died in
here." "Greeeeeeaaaaaaat" Brock moaned. Ash shrugged, "how bad could it be? Not as bad as the mess
hall." "Ah, don't mention that place again" Sydney shrieked. Brock dug through his bin for his equipment.
"Hey! Check this out, glowsticks!" He snapped them and began spinning them around, attempting a
pattern. "Oh yea. Go Brock go Brock..." Tracey grew impatient, "you can rave later! For now you've got
a dare to do, so let's go!" Brock dropped one of the sticks in his bin and headed out the door.
Brock shone his light around his dim surroundings as he radioed to the safe house. "I'm at the brig, now
what?" The sound of Tracey's voiced echoed through the corridors. "Go to the last cell. You'll find
instructions in an envelope. From this point on, you must maintain radio silence. Good luck Brock."
"Sure, now let's see..." Brock recognized the cell as being the one in the video. "Should have seen that
coming" he remarked. Entering the barred cell, he put his hand-held camera on the bed and opened the
envelope. The single light bulb in the hall shed too little light for reading, so he held his glowstick up to
the. "On the bed you will see a lock", he looked down, "video tape yourself...locking the padlock on
the...cell." He looked around some more, "where's the key? Oh crud, there's no key!" After a few
minutes of hesitation and deliberation, Brock aimed the camera for the door. "See? I'm locking the door.
I must be out of my mind." After clicking it shut, he took a seat on the cot. The camera caught a glimpse
of Brock's face with a look of pure terror.
"Anybody got any aspirin?" Sydney asked, rubbing her head. Everyone else shook their heads. "Oh man.
How long does he have to stay down there?" Tracey shrugged, "it didn't say. I'm not in a hurry for him to
return though. Being Navigater means I don't have to go out on a dare." "Oye vey" Misty groaned. The
computer popped up a message box. "The next dare is for Blue, Green will navigate. Blue, go down to the
Officer's Berth and await further directions. No Pokemon is to be used. Good luck." Misty began
collecting her stuff, "fun fun. I hate the "await further directions" part." "Hey, it's not that bad. Just think,
payday!" Sydney assured her, handing her the small camera. Poliwag seemed happy not to be going. It
hopped up and down gleefully as Misty walked out the door.
Brock sat nervously alone in the dim lighted cell. His eyes shot from left to right with every little sound. A
loud, hollow rumble grew from the deep bowels of the ship. "Maybe I should lay off the "out of my mind"
jokes for a while" he laughed in a fidgety tone, an attempt to keep himself calm. "I hope Ash or somebody
will come with the key soon."
Misty's bright blue eyes shown in the light from her camera as she moved cautiously through the halls.
"Um Sid, what door is it? The Officer's B....Ber.... Berth?" "Yea that's the name, the one on the left. You
in yet?" Misty walked slowly into the cabin. It contained two dust-covered dressers, a bunk, and a smaller
room adjacent to it. "Yes, what am I supposed to do here?" Sydney's voice echoed in the small room.
"Here's the story: this cabin belonged to an Admiral. His ghost has been seen here, clear as a real person.
What you are to do is..." pausing to click on the mouse for further reading. "Again? Can't they come up
with something that won't mess with our heads?" Tracey asked, reading the screen. Sydney sighed, "you
have to wait in radio silence for a half an hour." Misty moaned, "grrrrrr, a half-hour? I'd like to see those
producers stay in here for ten minutes. Talk to you then." "Ok, hang in there." Misty clicked off her radio.
She used the light on her hand-held camera to scope out her new location. "Like a real person huh? Well,
at least there wasn't some horrible death story with this one. The guy here doesn't sound like a bad guy."
She sat on the sheet-less bunk and put the camera in her lap.
There was a worn out and anxious silence in the safe house. The town navigators sat in computer chairs
next to the monitor, Ash was sprawled on the bench, munching on a garnola bar. "I got just about no sleep
last night. I hope my dare is easy today" Ash said between bites. Sydney rubbed her eye, "true, no sleep
here either. Just look at the pokemon." The little creatures were sleeping all cuddled up next to each other
on Ash's bunk. Moving her chair over, Sydney sleepily leaned on Tracey's shoulder and shut her eyes. He
looked at her in surprise, but smiled anyway. Ash noticed this and gave him a sly smirk and nod. Tracey
narrowed his eyes at him and mouthed the words "shut up."
Misty was growing agitated. "This thirty minutes feels like forever!" She got up and started pacing about
the room. She came to a abrupt stop mid pace. "It feels weird in here. Like someone, or something..."
She waved her hands, "no, no, no. I'm just scaring myself." She sat down again. A chilling wind passed
through the room. Misty cringed and curled her arms in. Suddenly she heard a low, haunting echo in the
room connected to the one she was in. Misty pulled her legs up onto the bunk, trying hard not to make a
sound. The echo grew louder. "Who...who's there?" Misty whispered weakly, her throat was very dry.
She began to breathe heavily, "it's.... it's just the TV people trying to scare me. That's all", she didn't even
believe her own words. Misty's ears began to ring from listening so hard. After sitting in a state of silent
anticipation for what seemed like an eternity, she carefully began inching her way towards the room. As
she entered, a friendly almost warm presence came over her. "This is definitely freaky." She shown her
camera light around. "Hmm, it's just a bathroom. There's nothing in..." Something shiny in an envelope
caught her eye in the sink. Misty reached in it and retrieved a white envelope with the bulky object in it.
"A key?" Pulling a gold key on a string out of the envelope, she aimed her light at it to examine it. "I
wonder what this is for" she whispered. Without warning, a low rumble startled her, causing her to drop
the key. It fell with a metal clang on the floor. Breathing a sign of relief, she bent down to pick it up. Just
as she was inches away, it seemed to move. "What?" Misty tried again, but this time the key shot across
the floor! She let out a high pitched scream and jumped back. The key came to a rest just inside of the
cabin. Misty braced herself against the wall, panting. "What is going on here!?" Collecting every bit of
courage she could muster, Misty crept towards the bewitched key. She kept the light on it at all times.
Gently picking it up, she held it by the string. It swung slightly from side to side. Then, ever so slowly, it
started to swing in the direction of the door. The swinging increased by the second. "Does...does...does
this thing want me to open something? I don't understand." The key began to tug somewhat on the sting.
"Whoever you are, are you trying to lead me somewhere?" Misty began to follow the tugging force out of
the cabin and down the corridor. Down one hall and through another it led, finally coming to some stairs.
"I guess I go down" she supposed, laying her hand on the rail. A loud menacing growl stopped her in her
tracks. Misty screamed, "what are you doing, what do you want?!" The key tugged again, directing her
down the staircase, as if it were trying to get her away from what was making that noise. She darted down
and stopped to catch her breath in one of the hallways. "That...was...so...scary!" she managed to sputter out
in between pants. "Misty? Is that you?" a familiar voice called from the end of the passage. "Brock is that
you?" A green glowstick appeared from out of the darkness. "Brock!" Misty ran towards the end, her
light reveling her friend in the cell. "Boy am I glad to see you!" he laughed weakly, "I'm locked in!"
"Locked in! That's horrible! Did they give you a key or something?" He shook his head, "no. Aren't you
here to open it?" A cold shiver passed down Misty's back. She held up her key, "would this fit the lock?"
Brock jumped up and down. "Good enough for me, come on let me out of here!" Shakily she freed Brock
from the damp cell. "Could have opened it sooner you had it instead of playing dumb" he remarked. "But
I didn't know what it was for, I didn't know I had to.... I didn't..." "Wait a second" Brock interrupted,
"they didn't tell you to come and unlock me? How'd you get the key?" Before Misty could answer, the
radio suddenly came to life. "Misty? You ok chica? Look you have to go in the washroom and...." "I'm
ok, I'm here with Brock" Misty radioed back. There was a pause, "with Brock? How did you get down
there? You have to take the key and...." "I already unlocked his cell." Another pause, "But how did....
return to the safehouse so we can figure out what happened here."
Sydney put down the transmitter and rubbed her eyes. "What just happened here?" Tracey asked. "The
computer just told me that Brock got instructions to put a lock on his cell. Misty was to go and let him out
after spending thirty minutes in the Berth. You didn't even tell her where the key was yet!" And the only
person who knew about the lock was Brock!" "But how did she..." Ash was cut off by the swinging open
of the safehouse door. "Polly!" the small pokemon cried as it leapt into Misty's arms. "You were worried
weren't ya?" she cooed to it. Brock entered and plopped down next to Ash on the bench. His pokemon
curled up affectionately next to him. Sydney wasted no time, "how did you know about Brock being
locked in?!" Misty looked at her for minute, "well...it's like this: I heard this noise in the smaller room and
went in to see what it was. In there I found a key. It kinda.... told me to go to Brock's cell." Tracey broke
the stunned silence that followed. "The key told you? The key?" "It didn't tell me exactly. It started
moving across the floor! And I picked it up, it pulled me around till I got to where Brock was." "Pi?" the
little rodent cried, looking at the object still in Misty's hand. Ash grabbed it out of her hands. "This thing
is haunted?" He ran over and threw it in the refrigerator and slammed it shut. "What was that about?"
Tracey asked, pointing at the refrigerator. "Just to be safe" he explained. "Yea, you wouldn't want it to
spoil" Brock commented sarcastically. "Well, that settles it. Between that and Misty's little adventure, I'm
officially freaked" Tracey concluded. "I want to get out of here!" Sydney cried, covering her face with her
hands. "The plantation was spooky, but this place is just plain terrifying! I want this thing to be over!"
Everyone agreed, four days is more then enough. Just then, the computer displayed another message.
"Please say "congratulations you have completed your mission"" Misty pleaded. "No such luck" was
Brock's response as he clicked on the mouse. "The next dare is for Yellow, Red will navigate. Red go
down to the Sick Bay and await further instructions. A pokemon can be used, good luck." The monitor
replayed the video of the interview with a veteran. "This one fight deck officer walked into a propeller. A
few other men and me brought him down to the Sick Bay, you could see his brain. He bled to death. He
must have stayed alive for about two hours after the accident." Ash looked a sickly pale, Pikachu too. The
clairvoyant appeared again, "I'm sensing a presence here." She touched the metal table, "the table is hot,
but I'm feeling a cold presence above me." The video ended and everyone turned to Ash, waiting to see if
he would accept the dare. He sighed, "I'm not quitting now! I've done too much to give up!" "That's the
spirit Ash! You know what else: we don't have that much time left, the dare is gonna be a short one"
Sydney pointed out. "I hope" he replied, looking down at his little friend. "I told you before Pikachu that
you didn't have to go if you don't want to. You can stay here." With this the creature hopped up onto his
master's shoulders. "Pika pi" it cried. Ash was surprised, "you want to come? I guess you don't want
anything to happen to me huh?" "Chu." "Well then, let's get going!"
Ash moved slowly through the dark corridors towards his menacing destination. "Ok Brock I'm here, now
what?" Brock's static voice disrupted the cold silence of the Sick Bay. "You are too act as a medium for
the spirit of the flight deck officer. See the clothing on the table?" Ash sorted through a pile of clothes, in
it were uniform shirt, pants, and a hat. "Yea, do I have to where them?" "Yep, they belonged to the
officer. Just the pants and hat." Touching the clothing made Ash's skin crawl. "You have to lay on the
table with the shirt over you and wearing the rest." "Bet you he doesn't take off his hat" Misty said to
Sydney and Tracey. Sure enough, he put the officer's hat over his own, along with the pants loosely over
his own, and laid down on the icy table. Pikachu sat next to him on the floor, looking nervously around the
room. "Ok now repeat after me: I'm sensing a presence here that needs to come forward." "Do I have to?
Oh man. I'm sensing a presence here that needs to come forward." Brock continued, "Come forward now
I command you, I invite you to enter me." "Come forward now I command you. I invite you to enter me,
of course that is only a suggestion." Brock shook his head, "Now you have to stay there in radio silence for
five minutes, you ready?" "The quicker I get out of here the better, go ahead." Brock clicked off the
walkie-talkie and leaned back. "I'm glad it's only five minutes. The whole inviting the spirit the enter
thing is dangerous" said Misty. "Oh yea" Tracey agreed.
"Cold table, cold table" Ash complained. "Chu" the animal cooed worryingly. "I'm glad you came
Pikachu, I would hate to do this by my...." All at once, the few hallway lights went out. "Ahhh!" Ash
screamed. "Piiiiiika!" A loud bang echoed through the room. "That's it, I want out!" Almost at the same
time, the radio came back to life. "Dare's over, come on back!" "I was gonna do that anyway!" Ash yelled
back, dropping the shirt and running out the door with Pikachu close at his heels.
The door swung open violently and in jolted a ghostly pale Ash, still wearing the sailor's pants and hat.
Pikachu rushed in and hid under a pillow. "You're really stylin' Ash" Sydney chuckled. Misty elbowed
her, "I told you about the hat." Ash quickly removed the pants and hat, flinging them in a corner when he
finished. "That was horrifying" he managed to gasp out. "What happened?" Tracey asked. "The lights
went out, then I heard this tumultuous clang and...." He plopped down in the vacant computer chair. "I
think something really was in there!" "There's no doubt this place has something freaky going on here"
Misty concluded. "The computer has another message!" Brock called to the rest of his team. They all
gathered around the screen, eager to be told that the whole ordeal was over. Sure enough, a text box
popped up. "Congratulations! You have completed your final dare on board the USS Hornet and MTV's
FEAR." A roar of joyous cries erupted from the tired gang and their pokemon. "Return to the helicopter
pad, from there you can return to the flight deck and claim your prize." "Pack up Chikarita, we've got
some dough to claim!" Sydney shouted to her little creature. Brock walked over to the cabinet in the
kitchen nook. "Might as well get some free eats" he said, as he put some energy bars in his bag. "Yea they
owe us big" Ash laughed.
"Not the helicopter lift again, this thing made be sick last time" Tracey groaned. "At least this time you
won't have that bag over your head" Brock reminded him. "Hey, what's this?" Misty asked, pointing to a
cardboard box next to the controls. "It has a note attached to it, it reads: Dear MTV contestants, you must
put all your pokemon in this box before progressing. Even that Pikachu. Signed, the MTV people" Tracey
read. "The spelling is atrocious" said Misty, "why would we have to do that?" "I don't know, but all I
know is I don't want to be disqualified now" Brock said as he pulled a pokeball from out of his pack.
"Come on back Vulpix." A red beam shot out and pulled the fox pokemon into its container. "Good point"
Misty and Tracey said at the same time, recalling their pokemon as well and putting their pokeballs in the
cardboard box. Ash gave Pikachu one last hug before putting him in, "aren't you going to recall Chikarita
Sid?" Sydney looked very suspicious, "this doesn't seem right to me. Still..." Taking out Chikarita's
pokeball from her backpack, she also withdrew two other items and shoved them in the pockets of her
sweatshirt. "Here we go" Brock announced as he pushed a button. The platform began to rise. "Bye
Pikachu, I'll see you real soon!" Ash called to his friend.
"Whoa, breezy" Sydney said as she closed the zipper on her sweatshirt. Thin rays of sunlight streaked
across the night sky as the group explored the deck. It was their first look at how big the ship really was.
"This thing is huge! The deck must be at least a quarter mile" Brock gasped. "Look there!" yelled Tracey,
pointing to a black box in the middle of a landing strip. "That's it!" Ash shouted happily, running towards
it. The rest of the gang followed, eager to receive the reward they worked so hard for. All of a sudden, a
mechanical hand on a cord reached down and grabbed the box, hauling it up into the dark sky. "Huh?
What gives?" Sydney screamed. Her pleas were met by the maniacal laughter of a man and women.
character is a medium, I improvised. Still, who knows? Maybe Misty could be the next Jonathan
Edwards.
Night Two Chapter 4
A hand slowly moved through the dim light, bent on its mischievous purpose. It reached for a button on
the computer...
"If I had a perfect day, I'd have it start this way...!" blasted from the speakers. The sudden reentry of
sound was a rude awakening for the gang. Tracey and Ash fell off the bottom bunks, Sydney's head shot
up and hit on the bunk above her, the pokemon cried out and jumped up at the same time, Misty remained
sleeping. Brock was in the computer chair, camera in hand, laughing his head off. He turned more lights
on the better see the chaos he created. "You...you guys....are...too...funny!" he managed to stammer out in
between bouts of laughter. "Revenge Ash!" he shouted triumphantly. A very ticked off Pikachu sent a
thundershock right for him, combined with a water gun from an equally angry Marill and Poliwag. Brock's
yelling awakened Misty. "Keep it down Brock, I'm trying to sleep." Sydney rubbed her head, "have you
ever heard of an alarm clock?" Brock got over his shock, "no one else heard the alarm so I decided to have
a little fun." "Some fun" Tracey groaned as he rolled over to his stomach on the floor.
After breakfast, the team was more refreshed and in better spirits. Brock raised his glass of orange juice,
"this is it everyone, payday! No one's quitting today!" Misty cheered, "and I can finally see my little
Togepi again!" "Just a few hours, and all the work and stuff we had to put up with for the last 3 days will
be rewarded" Sydney sighed. Tracey clicked the mouse, "here we go again." "Welcome to night two. The
next dare is for Red, White will navigate. You are to go the brig and await further directions, no pokemon
can be used. Good luck." The video of the clairvoyant's hand being wrapped around the cell bars was
replayed. "The spirit in here was a bomber who missed the ship. He lost his mind in here and he died in
here." "Greeeeeeaaaaaaat" Brock moaned. Ash shrugged, "how bad could it be? Not as bad as the mess
hall." "Ah, don't mention that place again" Sydney shrieked. Brock dug through his bin for his equipment.
"Hey! Check this out, glowsticks!" He snapped them and began spinning them around, attempting a
pattern. "Oh yea. Go Brock go Brock..." Tracey grew impatient, "you can rave later! For now you've got
a dare to do, so let's go!" Brock dropped one of the sticks in his bin and headed out the door.
Brock shone his light around his dim surroundings as he radioed to the safe house. "I'm at the brig, now
what?" The sound of Tracey's voiced echoed through the corridors. "Go to the last cell. You'll find
instructions in an envelope. From this point on, you must maintain radio silence. Good luck Brock."
"Sure, now let's see..." Brock recognized the cell as being the one in the video. "Should have seen that
coming" he remarked. Entering the barred cell, he put his hand-held camera on the bed and opened the
envelope. The single light bulb in the hall shed too little light for reading, so he held his glowstick up to
the. "On the bed you will see a lock", he looked down, "video tape yourself...locking the padlock on
the...cell." He looked around some more, "where's the key? Oh crud, there's no key!" After a few
minutes of hesitation and deliberation, Brock aimed the camera for the door. "See? I'm locking the door.
I must be out of my mind." After clicking it shut, he took a seat on the cot. The camera caught a glimpse
of Brock's face with a look of pure terror.
"Anybody got any aspirin?" Sydney asked, rubbing her head. Everyone else shook their heads. "Oh man.
How long does he have to stay down there?" Tracey shrugged, "it didn't say. I'm not in a hurry for him to
return though. Being Navigater means I don't have to go out on a dare." "Oye vey" Misty groaned. The
computer popped up a message box. "The next dare is for Blue, Green will navigate. Blue, go down to the
Officer's Berth and await further directions. No Pokemon is to be used. Good luck." Misty began
collecting her stuff, "fun fun. I hate the "await further directions" part." "Hey, it's not that bad. Just think,
payday!" Sydney assured her, handing her the small camera. Poliwag seemed happy not to be going. It
hopped up and down gleefully as Misty walked out the door.
Brock sat nervously alone in the dim lighted cell. His eyes shot from left to right with every little sound. A
loud, hollow rumble grew from the deep bowels of the ship. "Maybe I should lay off the "out of my mind"
jokes for a while" he laughed in a fidgety tone, an attempt to keep himself calm. "I hope Ash or somebody
will come with the key soon."
Misty's bright blue eyes shown in the light from her camera as she moved cautiously through the halls.
"Um Sid, what door is it? The Officer's B....Ber.... Berth?" "Yea that's the name, the one on the left. You
in yet?" Misty walked slowly into the cabin. It contained two dust-covered dressers, a bunk, and a smaller
room adjacent to it. "Yes, what am I supposed to do here?" Sydney's voice echoed in the small room.
"Here's the story: this cabin belonged to an Admiral. His ghost has been seen here, clear as a real person.
What you are to do is..." pausing to click on the mouse for further reading. "Again? Can't they come up
with something that won't mess with our heads?" Tracey asked, reading the screen. Sydney sighed, "you
have to wait in radio silence for a half an hour." Misty moaned, "grrrrrr, a half-hour? I'd like to see those
producers stay in here for ten minutes. Talk to you then." "Ok, hang in there." Misty clicked off her radio.
She used the light on her hand-held camera to scope out her new location. "Like a real person huh? Well,
at least there wasn't some horrible death story with this one. The guy here doesn't sound like a bad guy."
She sat on the sheet-less bunk and put the camera in her lap.
There was a worn out and anxious silence in the safe house. The town navigators sat in computer chairs
next to the monitor, Ash was sprawled on the bench, munching on a garnola bar. "I got just about no sleep
last night. I hope my dare is easy today" Ash said between bites. Sydney rubbed her eye, "true, no sleep
here either. Just look at the pokemon." The little creatures were sleeping all cuddled up next to each other
on Ash's bunk. Moving her chair over, Sydney sleepily leaned on Tracey's shoulder and shut her eyes. He
looked at her in surprise, but smiled anyway. Ash noticed this and gave him a sly smirk and nod. Tracey
narrowed his eyes at him and mouthed the words "shut up."
Misty was growing agitated. "This thirty minutes feels like forever!" She got up and started pacing about
the room. She came to a abrupt stop mid pace. "It feels weird in here. Like someone, or something..."
She waved her hands, "no, no, no. I'm just scaring myself." She sat down again. A chilling wind passed
through the room. Misty cringed and curled her arms in. Suddenly she heard a low, haunting echo in the
room connected to the one she was in. Misty pulled her legs up onto the bunk, trying hard not to make a
sound. The echo grew louder. "Who...who's there?" Misty whispered weakly, her throat was very dry.
She began to breathe heavily, "it's.... it's just the TV people trying to scare me. That's all", she didn't even
believe her own words. Misty's ears began to ring from listening so hard. After sitting in a state of silent
anticipation for what seemed like an eternity, she carefully began inching her way towards the room. As
she entered, a friendly almost warm presence came over her. "This is definitely freaky." She shown her
camera light around. "Hmm, it's just a bathroom. There's nothing in..." Something shiny in an envelope
caught her eye in the sink. Misty reached in it and retrieved a white envelope with the bulky object in it.
"A key?" Pulling a gold key on a string out of the envelope, she aimed her light at it to examine it. "I
wonder what this is for" she whispered. Without warning, a low rumble startled her, causing her to drop
the key. It fell with a metal clang on the floor. Breathing a sign of relief, she bent down to pick it up. Just
as she was inches away, it seemed to move. "What?" Misty tried again, but this time the key shot across
the floor! She let out a high pitched scream and jumped back. The key came to a rest just inside of the
cabin. Misty braced herself against the wall, panting. "What is going on here!?" Collecting every bit of
courage she could muster, Misty crept towards the bewitched key. She kept the light on it at all times.
Gently picking it up, she held it by the string. It swung slightly from side to side. Then, ever so slowly, it
started to swing in the direction of the door. The swinging increased by the second. "Does...does...does
this thing want me to open something? I don't understand." The key began to tug somewhat on the sting.
"Whoever you are, are you trying to lead me somewhere?" Misty began to follow the tugging force out of
the cabin and down the corridor. Down one hall and through another it led, finally coming to some stairs.
"I guess I go down" she supposed, laying her hand on the rail. A loud menacing growl stopped her in her
tracks. Misty screamed, "what are you doing, what do you want?!" The key tugged again, directing her
down the staircase, as if it were trying to get her away from what was making that noise. She darted down
and stopped to catch her breath in one of the hallways. "That...was...so...scary!" she managed to sputter out
in between pants. "Misty? Is that you?" a familiar voice called from the end of the passage. "Brock is that
you?" A green glowstick appeared from out of the darkness. "Brock!" Misty ran towards the end, her
light reveling her friend in the cell. "Boy am I glad to see you!" he laughed weakly, "I'm locked in!"
"Locked in! That's horrible! Did they give you a key or something?" He shook his head, "no. Aren't you
here to open it?" A cold shiver passed down Misty's back. She held up her key, "would this fit the lock?"
Brock jumped up and down. "Good enough for me, come on let me out of here!" Shakily she freed Brock
from the damp cell. "Could have opened it sooner you had it instead of playing dumb" he remarked. "But
I didn't know what it was for, I didn't know I had to.... I didn't..." "Wait a second" Brock interrupted,
"they didn't tell you to come and unlock me? How'd you get the key?" Before Misty could answer, the
radio suddenly came to life. "Misty? You ok chica? Look you have to go in the washroom and...." "I'm
ok, I'm here with Brock" Misty radioed back. There was a pause, "with Brock? How did you get down
there? You have to take the key and...." "I already unlocked his cell." Another pause, "But how did....
return to the safehouse so we can figure out what happened here."
Sydney put down the transmitter and rubbed her eyes. "What just happened here?" Tracey asked. "The
computer just told me that Brock got instructions to put a lock on his cell. Misty was to go and let him out
after spending thirty minutes in the Berth. You didn't even tell her where the key was yet!" And the only
person who knew about the lock was Brock!" "But how did she..." Ash was cut off by the swinging open
of the safehouse door. "Polly!" the small pokemon cried as it leapt into Misty's arms. "You were worried
weren't ya?" she cooed to it. Brock entered and plopped down next to Ash on the bench. His pokemon
curled up affectionately next to him. Sydney wasted no time, "how did you know about Brock being
locked in?!" Misty looked at her for minute, "well...it's like this: I heard this noise in the smaller room and
went in to see what it was. In there I found a key. It kinda.... told me to go to Brock's cell." Tracey broke
the stunned silence that followed. "The key told you? The key?" "It didn't tell me exactly. It started
moving across the floor! And I picked it up, it pulled me around till I got to where Brock was." "Pi?" the
little rodent cried, looking at the object still in Misty's hand. Ash grabbed it out of her hands. "This thing
is haunted?" He ran over and threw it in the refrigerator and slammed it shut. "What was that about?"
Tracey asked, pointing at the refrigerator. "Just to be safe" he explained. "Yea, you wouldn't want it to
spoil" Brock commented sarcastically. "Well, that settles it. Between that and Misty's little adventure, I'm
officially freaked" Tracey concluded. "I want to get out of here!" Sydney cried, covering her face with her
hands. "The plantation was spooky, but this place is just plain terrifying! I want this thing to be over!"
Everyone agreed, four days is more then enough. Just then, the computer displayed another message.
"Please say "congratulations you have completed your mission"" Misty pleaded. "No such luck" was
Brock's response as he clicked on the mouse. "The next dare is for Yellow, Red will navigate. Red go
down to the Sick Bay and await further instructions. A pokemon can be used, good luck." The monitor
replayed the video of the interview with a veteran. "This one fight deck officer walked into a propeller. A
few other men and me brought him down to the Sick Bay, you could see his brain. He bled to death. He
must have stayed alive for about two hours after the accident." Ash looked a sickly pale, Pikachu too. The
clairvoyant appeared again, "I'm sensing a presence here." She touched the metal table, "the table is hot,
but I'm feeling a cold presence above me." The video ended and everyone turned to Ash, waiting to see if
he would accept the dare. He sighed, "I'm not quitting now! I've done too much to give up!" "That's the
spirit Ash! You know what else: we don't have that much time left, the dare is gonna be a short one"
Sydney pointed out. "I hope" he replied, looking down at his little friend. "I told you before Pikachu that
you didn't have to go if you don't want to. You can stay here." With this the creature hopped up onto his
master's shoulders. "Pika pi" it cried. Ash was surprised, "you want to come? I guess you don't want
anything to happen to me huh?" "Chu." "Well then, let's get going!"
Ash moved slowly through the dark corridors towards his menacing destination. "Ok Brock I'm here, now
what?" Brock's static voice disrupted the cold silence of the Sick Bay. "You are too act as a medium for
the spirit of the flight deck officer. See the clothing on the table?" Ash sorted through a pile of clothes, in
it were uniform shirt, pants, and a hat. "Yea, do I have to where them?" "Yep, they belonged to the
officer. Just the pants and hat." Touching the clothing made Ash's skin crawl. "You have to lay on the
table with the shirt over you and wearing the rest." "Bet you he doesn't take off his hat" Misty said to
Sydney and Tracey. Sure enough, he put the officer's hat over his own, along with the pants loosely over
his own, and laid down on the icy table. Pikachu sat next to him on the floor, looking nervously around the
room. "Ok now repeat after me: I'm sensing a presence here that needs to come forward." "Do I have to?
Oh man. I'm sensing a presence here that needs to come forward." Brock continued, "Come forward now
I command you, I invite you to enter me." "Come forward now I command you. I invite you to enter me,
of course that is only a suggestion." Brock shook his head, "Now you have to stay there in radio silence for
five minutes, you ready?" "The quicker I get out of here the better, go ahead." Brock clicked off the
walkie-talkie and leaned back. "I'm glad it's only five minutes. The whole inviting the spirit the enter
thing is dangerous" said Misty. "Oh yea" Tracey agreed.
"Cold table, cold table" Ash complained. "Chu" the animal cooed worryingly. "I'm glad you came
Pikachu, I would hate to do this by my...." All at once, the few hallway lights went out. "Ahhh!" Ash
screamed. "Piiiiiika!" A loud bang echoed through the room. "That's it, I want out!" Almost at the same
time, the radio came back to life. "Dare's over, come on back!" "I was gonna do that anyway!" Ash yelled
back, dropping the shirt and running out the door with Pikachu close at his heels.
The door swung open violently and in jolted a ghostly pale Ash, still wearing the sailor's pants and hat.
Pikachu rushed in and hid under a pillow. "You're really stylin' Ash" Sydney chuckled. Misty elbowed
her, "I told you about the hat." Ash quickly removed the pants and hat, flinging them in a corner when he
finished. "That was horrifying" he managed to gasp out. "What happened?" Tracey asked. "The lights
went out, then I heard this tumultuous clang and...." He plopped down in the vacant computer chair. "I
think something really was in there!" "There's no doubt this place has something freaky going on here"
Misty concluded. "The computer has another message!" Brock called to the rest of his team. They all
gathered around the screen, eager to be told that the whole ordeal was over. Sure enough, a text box
popped up. "Congratulations! You have completed your final dare on board the USS Hornet and MTV's
FEAR." A roar of joyous cries erupted from the tired gang and their pokemon. "Return to the helicopter
pad, from there you can return to the flight deck and claim your prize." "Pack up Chikarita, we've got
some dough to claim!" Sydney shouted to her little creature. Brock walked over to the cabinet in the
kitchen nook. "Might as well get some free eats" he said, as he put some energy bars in his bag. "Yea they
owe us big" Ash laughed.
"Not the helicopter lift again, this thing made be sick last time" Tracey groaned. "At least this time you
won't have that bag over your head" Brock reminded him. "Hey, what's this?" Misty asked, pointing to a
cardboard box next to the controls. "It has a note attached to it, it reads: Dear MTV contestants, you must
put all your pokemon in this box before progressing. Even that Pikachu. Signed, the MTV people" Tracey
read. "The spelling is atrocious" said Misty, "why would we have to do that?" "I don't know, but all I
know is I don't want to be disqualified now" Brock said as he pulled a pokeball from out of his pack.
"Come on back Vulpix." A red beam shot out and pulled the fox pokemon into its container. "Good point"
Misty and Tracey said at the same time, recalling their pokemon as well and putting their pokeballs in the
cardboard box. Ash gave Pikachu one last hug before putting him in, "aren't you going to recall Chikarita
Sid?" Sydney looked very suspicious, "this doesn't seem right to me. Still..." Taking out Chikarita's
pokeball from her backpack, she also withdrew two other items and shoved them in the pockets of her
sweatshirt. "Here we go" Brock announced as he pushed a button. The platform began to rise. "Bye
Pikachu, I'll see you real soon!" Ash called to his friend.
"Whoa, breezy" Sydney said as she closed the zipper on her sweatshirt. Thin rays of sunlight streaked
across the night sky as the group explored the deck. It was their first look at how big the ship really was.
"This thing is huge! The deck must be at least a quarter mile" Brock gasped. "Look there!" yelled Tracey,
pointing to a black box in the middle of a landing strip. "That's it!" Ash shouted happily, running towards
it. The rest of the gang followed, eager to receive the reward they worked so hard for. All of a sudden, a
mechanical hand on a cord reached down and grabbed the box, hauling it up into the dark sky. "Huh?
What gives?" Sydney screamed. Her pleas were met by the maniacal laughter of a man and women.
