A/N: Well, since you all asked so nicely, here's part two of No Need For A Birthday!
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: *sigh* Once again, Lady Cassandra here saying I HATE DISCLAIMERS!! Oh well, enough of my rambling, let's just get on with it, shall we?
None of the characters or places in this story belong to me except Echo Peak. Anyone trying to sue will be firmly bashed by my trusty mallet *grins wickedly* No, really, if you do try to sue, you'll only recieve about $9.17 because that's pretty much all I've got. The bottom line is, you shouldn't even try. Thank you for reading through this boring old thing, but you didn't have to. WHAT?! you say? "I really didn't have to read this?!?" That's right, you could've just skipped the whole thing, you know. Too late now, I guess. Oh yeah, has anyone heard of Sakura Avalon's (Kinomoto) new contest? Check it out, and tell me if you're going to turn in anything, o.k? I think all of you should. The stuff you write is very good! On with the story!!


No Need For A Birthday!
Chapter (Part) Two
No Need For An Avalanche!

"Wow..." Misty said breathlessly, "It's even more beautiful than I had imagined!"

The object of her affection was the fantastic view of Cerulean City from the top of Echo Peak. The emerald-green fields and forests stretched out to the horizon where the sun was setting over the tall buildings and beautiful homes that made up Cerulean City. The fiery oranges, calm pinks, and quiet purples caused by the setting sun were woven together by the fluffy white clouds that were sprinkled across the sky.

Even Ash was silent, astounded by the beauty of the moment.

Brock was the first one to recover his senses and say something that had been calling to him from the back of his head since they had gotten there.

"Um, guys?"

"Yeah Brock?, " they said in unison, not taking their eyes off the sunset for a moment.

"How are we going to get down there?"

The mood was immediatley ruined as reality came crashing down around them. They both understood exactly what he meant.

Echo Peak was a cliff about halfway up the mountain they had been climbing. From what they could see there was no way down the mountain on that side, except to go back the way they had came and to go around the whole thing. The reason they hadn't done that in the first place is that the mountain's base was very wide, and to go around it would've taken at least three days, compaired to the one day it would've taken them to climb it. Ash needed to get his next badge immediatley, and the three days would cut drastically into his traveling time.

"We don't have that much time!," he yelled in frustration.

"Sshhh!" Misty said as she quickly covered his mouth with her hand.

Ash mumbled incoherantly through her hand.

Misty decided to ignore him and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear wha..." Ash started, after he had finally gotten free of her hand.

"That."

The sound that was being described was a low rumbling that sounded like it was getting closer by the second. Suddenly our famous trio could see a herd of wild Tauros passing just in front of where they were standing!

"Don't move, you guys," Brock said quietly.

"Why not?," they both asked.

"I heard that if you stay absolutley still they'll sometimes pass right by you."

Ash, Brock, and Misty all huddled together in a group and tried their best to stay as still as possible. Soon afterwards the rumbling that had once been roaring in their ears was reduced to just a slight tremor in the distance.

"Boy were we lucky," Ash said with relief.

Misty was looking horrified with her mouth open and her eyes wide at the area behind Ash and Brock.

"Ss...Aaa..." she stuttered.

"What is it Misty?" Brock asked with a hint of worry in his normally calm voice.

"Aaa..." she kept saying, shaking with terror.

Ash turned around, only to come face to face with the most horrible thing he had ever seen in his life. A wall of snow, pure white and at least twenty stories high was pouring quickly off the top of the mountain.

"Avalanche!!" He yelled, seconds before the roaring, raging wave of snow hit him, blocking all his senses. Before everything had went totally black, though, he heard a scream and a sickening thud as one of his friends succumbed to the giant wall of ice and snow.



So? What did you think? Did anyone die? Will anyone die? Could I be that cruel? Maybe. *grins insanely* To find out you'll have to tune in to the next chapter of No Need For A Birthday! As always, questions, comments, and yes, even critisism can all be recorded and magically sent to me by way of the little blue review box at the bottom of this screen!