Walking on Water
A Pokemon fanfiction by Kasumi Todoh
Chapter 5
The Second Test
As Ash and Pikachu entered the second room in the test, they were nearly knocked back by a wave of intense heat. Before them was a large cavern, at the bottom of which flowed a river of glowing orange lava. The heat from the lava felt like an oven, emanating throughout the room as it reflected off the stone walls. The lava also seemed to be the only source of illumination in the room, and through its flickering orange glow Ash could make out the black mouth of another cave on the other side, as well as several tall platforms (obviously meant to be used as stepping stones) rising out of the river below.
"This is probably another one of Lawrence's illusions," Ash muttered, almost to himself. Pikachu overheard him, though, and nodded in agreement.
"Quite perceptive," came a now-familiar voice. "The object you must find in this test is called the Flame Staff. Once you find it, only then will you be able to leave." Then the voice cut out again, leaving the trainer and Pokemon alone.
Ash looked around quickly. "Well, I don't see anything resembling a Flame Staff on this side, Pikachu, and I doubt Lawrence would make it that easy anyway. So it must be on the other side of the lava."
They approached the platforms, each one only about a foot across and easily three feet apart. Ash swallowed hard, then looked at Pikachu. "Hold on tight, and don't look down, okay?"
Pikachu nodded, climbed up on Ash's shoulder, and clung to him for dear life. Ash took a few steps back to get a running start, then charged toward the first platform and, reaching the edge of the cliff, leaped into the air. He landed on the platform on one leg, waving his arms frantically for a few seconds before regaining his balance. The second platform was reached in a similar fashion, followed by the next one and the one after that.
They were about halfway across when suddenly a loud rumble shook the room. The platforms began swaying. Ash glanced back to see the ones behind him start to crumble and collapse, breaking up into large chunks that disappeared into the lava below. The one directly behind them broke off near its base and started toppling towards them, like a tree that had just been chopped down.
"Hang on, Pikachu!" Quickly Ash was forced to jump for his life, and for his Pokemon's life as well, barely managing to land safely on the next pillar. He was unable to stop to catch his breath, though, for the pillars were now falling like giant dominos, and seconds later they had jump again. Finally, leaping across the last four platforms in quick succession, Ash and Pikachu lay sprawled and panting in front of the mouth of the cave on the other side. They watched as the last platform crashed into the wall beneath them and crumbled into the lava.
"I guess that's that," Ash said finally. "Now, let's find that staff."
After the two of them disappeared into the darkness of the cave, the lava below suddenly began to stir and bubble. Five dark shapes jumped up out of the bright hot river, and landed at the base of cave. Dripping lava onto the floor, they silently filed into the cave after the unsuspecting duo.
************
"All this walking is killing my feet," Jessie complained loudly. "How can something that looked so small from the outside be so big on the inside?"
After climbing across the rope from the balloon to the castle, Team Rocket had managed to find a way inside rather easily. Once inside, however, finding Ash and Pikachu, or anyone else for that matter, turned out to be easier said than done. They been wandering around inside for the past hour without seeing anyone, Pokemon or human.
James tried the knob on the next door they approached. "This one appears to be unlocked. Let's look in here. If nothing else, maybe this one leads to the kitchen where we can get something to eat."
The two humans and Meowth stepped into the darkened room, and James quickly a light switch. Light flooded the room, revealing several ancient artifacts, meticulously restored and mounted on shelves, walls and golden pillars.
"It's almost like a museum, or a really pricey antique store, in here," Jessie remarked, walking amongst the different items and looking at each one.
"Hey, you jus' gave me a great idea," Meowth said, its face lighting up the way it usually did when the prospect of making money was involved. "Let's steal dis junk and sell it! I'm sure there's plenty of museums an' antique stores dat would be willin' to pay a pretty penny for dese relics!"
"Hmm," Jessie pondered. "Whoever owns this stuff did leave the door unlocked, so that must mean it's free for the taking. Well, their loss is our gain. Our financial gain, that is."
"All right then!" James whipped out a large beige sack, grabbed the item closest to him, a golden, jewel-encrusted goblet, and dropped it inside.
No sooner had he lifted the goblet off its shelf, when suddenly a blinding red light started flashing and a small door opened up on one side of the room. Out rolled a three-foot-tall metallic robot. It moved between them and the exit and spoke to them.
"Hello. I am head of Lawrence's security personnel, Unit # 00269."
"This oversized garbage bin is the head of Lawrence's security personnel?" James laughed. "Oh, please. Back home, I used to play with toy robots that were bigger than this thing."
"Please state your name and the password," Unit # 00269 politely asked.
"I think that's our cue," Jessie replied. Then she struck a pose. "If you're prepared for trouble..."
"Then you might as well make it double," James finished, striking a pose.
"To protect the world from devastation..."
"To unite all peoples within our nation..."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love..."
"To extend our reach to the stars above..."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! Dat's right!"
Unit # 00269 was quiet as it absorbed this information. Finally it said, "Invalid password. Conclusion: theft in progress."
"That's right, you giant sardine can," Jessie shot back at it. "We're taking your precious artifacts and selling them to get rich, and there's nothing you can do to stop us!"
"Initiating intruder elimination program."
The robot raised one of its arms, and from it a small laser shot out and neatly sliced James' sack in half. The goblet fell to the floor along with the bottom half of the sack. Then it raised its other arm and fired a second laser, this time making a small crater in the floor in front of their feet.
At this point, Team Rocket decided that a strategic, and very high-speed, retreat was in order. Miraculously they managed to get around the robot without getting shot or sliced to bits, then tore out of the room and took off down the hall, Unit # 00269 still in hot pursuit and firing at them every few seconds.
"Nice going James, trying to steal that goblet!" Jessie shouted as they ran. "Now you've really pissed it off!"
"Me?!" James cried. "It was Meowth's idea! Besides, I wasn't the one that called it a sardine can!"
"I t'ink it's best," Meowth panted, "if we all stopped arguin' an' saved our energy for runnin'!"
"I think," James said, "this is where we say, 'Looks like Team Rocket's running away again!'"
************
"Seems like we've been walking through this tunnel for ages," Ash muttered, even though there was no real way to know long he and Pikachu had been in there. The cave entrance was now so far behind them that the only light from the lava had become a very dim glow. And yet, he noticed, no matter how many steps they took forward, the glow never seemed to totally diminish, almost as if it was following them. However, despite the little light they had, it had become very hard to see the cave around them, and next to impossible to tell what lay ahead.
"We could be walking around in circles for all we-" WHAM! Ash never got to finish his sentence, for at that moment, the tunnel came an abrupt end, causing him to walk face first into a stone wall.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out in concern, running to its fallen trainer. "Pi-ka-chu?"
"Yeah, I'm okay, Pikachu," Ash replied. Getting to his feet, he examined the stone wall by the light of the distant lava, which suddenly seemed to be getting brighter, although he failed to notice it.
"Great, it's looks like we've hit a dead end, Pikachu. Now what are we supposed to do?"
Pikachu, who had been secretly wondering how thick that rock was and whether or not it could blast through with its Thunder Bolt, suddenly had the feeling that they were being watched. It glanced back the way they'd come, just for a moment, then did a double take. And suddenly it was pulling on Ash's pant leg and shouting, "Pikapi! Pikapi!"
"Huh? What's wrong, Pikachu?" Ash turned around and looked down at his Pokemon, and then forward in the direction in which was pointing. Then his eyes widened as he saw what Pikachu was looking at.
About fifteen feet away and moving slowly towards them were five ominous-looking creatures. They sort of looked like Grimer, except that they were almost as tall as Ash himself, they were covered in dripping lava, and each had two large, glowing circles for eyes. They were also giving off an orange glow which Ash now realized was what really been lighting up the cave the entire time.
"What the hell are those things?" he shouted, flipping Dexter open and pointing it at the advancing group.
After a very long minute, Dexter answered, "Unknown Pokemon. No data available."
More of Lawrence's toys, I'll bet, Ash thought. With the creatures in front of them, and the wall behind them, there was nowhere for him and Pikachu to run. Their only option was to fight.
"I guess we'll have to battle our way out of this one, Pikachu." Pikachu nodded, the sparks already crackling from its cheeks.
"Use Thunder Shock, Pikachu!"
With a loud, "Pi-ka-chuuuuuuuuuuu!", a large yellow bolt of electricity shot out from Pikachu's body and headed straight for the lava creature in the middle of the pack. The being swiftly and immediately flattened itself into a large puddle on the floor, Pikachu's Thunder Shock whizzing harmlessly over its head and disappearing down the tunnel behind it. It then grew and reshaped itself into its original form, and continued moving forward.
"No way!" Ash cried. Pikachu looked equally surprised.
The creature then retaliated by raising one arm and shooting off balls of molten lava straight at them. The other four behind it proceeded to follow its example. Both Ash and Pikachu ducked as the lava balls hit the rock wall behind them instead, blasting it apart in a terrific explosion. Ash got to his feet again, only to discover there was now a large gaping hole in the wall behind them. Furthermore, there appeared to be another room on the other side!
"That must be the way outta here. C'mon, Pikachu!"
However, as soon as they took a step towards the hole, another ball of lava hit the wall next to them, indicating that Lawrence's lava creatures had no intention of letting them get that far.
"I guess we'll have to take care of these guys first." With that, Ash grabbed a PokeBall from his belt, pressed the release button, and threw it. "Chikorita! I choose you!"
"Chika!" Out popped a small green four-legged Pokemon with a giant leaf on the top of its head. It ran over to Ash and immediately started rubbing its head against his leg as a sign of pure affection.
"Not now, Chikorita!" Ash cried. "We've got work to do!"
Sensing the urgency in his voice, Chikorita quickly became serious and turned around to face its opponents, ready to attack.
"All right, Chikorita! Attack with Razor Leaf!"
"Chika!" Chikorita spun the leaf on its head around in circles, unleashing several razor-sharp leaves that spun toward the group of still moving creatures. They responded by shooting more lava ball at the oncoming leaves. The leaves instantly burst into flame and dropped to the ground, still smouldering.
"That's okay, Chikorita!" Ash called, seeing his Pokemon falter as its attack failed. "Try a Vine Whip instead!"
Chikorita looked at Ash and nodded. Two long vines extended from both sides of its neck, and shot toward the middle creature. Only when they touched the being's body, the vines themselves burst into flame! With its vines on fire, Chikorita panicked, and started frantically running around in circles. This only made the flames worse, until Ash came to its rescue by shouting "Chikorita, return!" and recalling it back to the safety of its PokeBall.
Okay, so grass types don't work against these things, Ash thought. Which means I can't use Bulbasaur either. Knoctowl's still resting from that last battle, and Cindaquil's a fire type, and these things are practically made of fire, so I don't think it'll be able to do any damage either. That just leaves Pikachu and...of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner?
Dodging another ball of lava, Ash pulled out a different PokeBall, pressed the release button and threw it, calling out at the same time, "Totodile! I choose you!"
This time a little blue lizard appeared in front of them, and happily started dancing.
"Totodile! Use Water Gun on the leader in the middle!" Ash shouted.
Obediently, the Totodile turned around and a massive stream of water burst from its mouth. The Water Gun attack arced through the air and blasted the middle lava creature, who didn't have time to react. It tried to move forward, but the pressure of all that water held it in place.
A huge cloud of steam obscured the tunnel, but Ash said anyway, "Keep it up Totodile! It's working!"
In response Totodile added on more water to the assault. Finally, when the attack finished and the steam subsided, all that remained of the creature was a black, steaming statue, which for the first time was unable to move.
It worked, Ash thought. All that water cooled it off, and when lava cools, it hardens. Aloud, he said, "All right Pikachu, hit that statue again with your Thunder Bolt!"
"Pi-ka-chuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Since the lava being could no longer move, it couldn't protect itself. The Thunder Bolt smashed it to smithereens.
The four remaining creatures kept moving forward, and were now only about five feet away, but without a leader to follow, they seemed unable to attack. Totodile and Pikachu took them out one by one, using the same strategy as before. Totodile hardened them with Water Gun, and Pikachu destroyed them with Thunder Bolt. In only a few minutes, all five lava creatures had been reduced to a large pile of blackened, steaming pieces.
"Another victory goes to us!" Ash cheered raising one hand in a V.
"Pipikachu!" Pikachu added, copying Ash's victory sign.
Then Ash noticed his Totodile collapse out of sheer exhaustion, and recalled it. "You did a great job, Totodile. You deserve a long rest. Now let's just see what's hidden behind this rock here."
He and Pikachu peered into the hole. There, sitting on a small ledge, was what appeared to be a long gold sceptre, like the kind royalty would hold. A large ruby adorned the top of it, while several smaller rubies circled the round part underneath.
Reaching in, Ash grabbed the sceptre's handle and pulled it out. As he did, the big ruby on top jiggled loose and a small key fell into his hand. "I guess this must be Flame Staff we were sent to find."
Instantly, the cave, the heat and the lava all disappeared, giving way to another grey room like the one they had been in before.
"I commend you for completing the second test," Lawrence's voice echoed off the empty walls. "Personally, you had me on the edge of my seat for a while there. I didn't think you were going to make it through this one, but now I'm glad I wasn't disappointed."
"Just cut the crap and show me to the next test!" Ash replied angrily, so angry in fact that he didn't care what kind of language he was using. "I don't need or want any of your compliments."
"My, my, aren't we getting a little testy. Very well, if you're that eager to meet your failure, who am I to stand in your way? Just use the key, dear boy. It'll take you directly to the next test."
As Ash turned the key and opened the door, he said, "Whatever he's got in store for us, we'll be it together, right Pikachu?"
Pikachu nodded, determined to follow Ash into hell if need be.
Above, Lawrence watched them through a hidden camera. "We'll just see about that, Ash. We'll just see about that."
______________________________________________________________________________
Well, this is just as much a surprise to me as I'm sure it must be to you folks. I actually managed to get another chapter finished and put up! Will wonders never cease! Anyway, finishing this chapter means I've actually reached the halfway point of this 'fic. (You heard right, she's half done.) Maybe that'll inspire me bring out a chapter more than once every three months. Or maybe not. I guess we'll just have to see.
Thanks again to Alicia, for her input and suggestions on this chapter, and to all the readers who haven't (yet) given up on this 'fic and are still reading it. I kiss the ground you walk on.
Kasumi Todoh
^_^
