Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I am just using the characters to write a story.

A/N: Thanks, everyone who reviewed! Here's the second chapter. Enjoy!

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Ch. 2 – Entry

"Oh, so you're at the Warped Mountain? Wow, I didn't know you'd get there so quickly. Well, you really must stay there for a few days. Training there would prove more worthwhile than getting a gym badge!" Professor Oak told Ash over the videophone.

Misty laughed. "I think Ash it going to have a hard time swallowing that!"

"Hey!" Ash felt rather disgruntled.

"Anyway, you're going to need a permit to train there. I'll send it over via the item storage system." (A/N: do those exist? I'm not quite sure…)

"Can I go too, Professor?" Misty asked.

"Of course you can. I'm transferring it right now. I'm also sending one for Brock. Say, where is he?"

"Oh, he went to get some groceries." Ash told him.

"That's too bad. Anyway, there's a legend about the mountain you might be interested to hear." Professor Oak closed his eyes and thought for a while before continuing. "They say that steel types originated from that mountain. In the ancient past, the mountain was inhabited by a lone Onix. It is the one what created the cavern system inside. With the help of the mountain's strange energy field, the Onix was able to greatly attune itself to the earth. It absorbed the metals found within, and thus turned into a Steelix. After that transformation, the rest of the Pokémon were able to access the steel element. The legend didn't say how this works, but my guess is that the elements are linked together like a computer network. When that transformation occurred, it gave the 'computer' the 'software' for the steel element."

"Cool, but why are you telling me this?"

"Well, you never know. Most of the Pokémon legends seem to be true…"

Ash shrugged. "By the way Professor, why didn't you tell me about this place before?"

Professor Oak grinned. "Ever since you were little, you're always too over-ambitious. I was afraid that you might do something stupid and get hurt."

Ash groaned. He knew what was coming next…

"There, it's all confirmed!" Misty giggled.

"At least I've got ambitions!"

"Fat load of help they are!"

"Jealous!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

They continued to yell at each other and their voices got louder.

"Now now, kids…" Professor Oak said nervously with a sweat-drop.

"WHAT?!" The two of them yelled at him. It took some time for them to realize what they had done.

"Oops, sorry…"

The Professor sighed. "Well, you had better be going, the sun is setting pretty soon."

"Okay!" Ash said determinedly. "Say hi to mom for us, will ya?"

"Right." The older man nodded. "And please remember to take care!" With that, he hung up.

Ash collected the permits, handed one to Misty and pocketed Brock's. "Let's go, Pika­— oh…" He remembered that the electric Pokémon had gone to the shop with Brock. "Well, come on, Misty…"

They stepped out of the Pokémon Centre and realized that they were quite high above ground. They were on a ledge, and there was a cave entrance nearby. Standing in the way was a huge, burly man, dressed in a black suit.

"Your passes, please," he said gruffly. They showed him the permits and he wrote down their names. "Ash and Misty, is it? Got it."

"Why do you need our names?" Ash inquired, curious as usual.

"Record the people who go in. They might get lost inside or get trapped by a cave-in, ya never know. Never happened before, Pokémon Centre always goes to the rescue, but like they say, there's always a first time…" He grinned slyly.

Misty gulped, but Ash was unconcerned. He suddenly had a thought. "Anyway, if the Pokémon Centre can appear inside, won't people be able to sneak into the caves without a permit?"

"Nup, mountain's smart. Keeps to da rules."

"So, if it keeps to the rules, why do you need to stay here to check people's passes?"

The fellow is starting to get annoyed. "Ya talk too much, kid. That mouth of yerz is gonna bring yer downfall someday. Now go in before I decide ta rip yer passes apart."

Misty dragged Ash into the cave. "He's right. You're gonna regret opening that mouth someday."

There was a source of light in the cave, and it seemed to be everywhere. It's rather dim but it's just enough for them to see things quite clearly.

They walked around for a while, but saw no Pokémon. Ash was getting frustrated.

"Grrr… I do wish we would meet that Rhydon in the picture. It looked really powerful." He then cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "HEY, ANY POKÉMON AROUND HERE? COME OUT AND BATTLE!!!"

Both of them had to cover their ears as Ash's shout echoed around the cave loudly.

Misty whacked him on the head. "Moron! You could cause a cave-in!" She looked around and saw something that made her widen her eyes.

"Something wrong?" Ash asked, rubbing his head.

Misty pointed a trembling finger at something behind Ash and stuttered, "Be c-c-careful what you w-w-w-wish f-for!"

Ash turned around. Standing there, looking none too happy and getting ready to charge, was the steel-plated Rhydon. It was WAY bigger than it seemed in the picture.

Ash remained steadfast. He calmly plucked a Pokéball from his belt. "I choose you, Snorlax!"

The overweight Pokémon appeared. It looked in surprise as the Rhydon he had never seen before, charged, thundering far louder than Ash was shouting just now.

"Snorlax, mega punch!"

However, Snorlax didn't have time to react before Rhydon slammed right into him. Snorlax pushed against Rhydon with all his might but Rhydon was too powerful. It barely slowed down and pushed Snorlax all the way to the other side, leaving two long trails of Snorlax's heel-marks.

Ash and Misty leapt out of the way and watched in horror as Rhydon rammed Snorlax deep into the wall, producing many flying stones and a heavy cloud of dust. Snorlax gave a loud groan and collapsed.

"Snorlax, return!" Ash got angry. He got ready so send out the rest of his Pokémon but Misty grabbed his arm and ran.

"DON'T BE AN IDIOT! THAT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO MESS WITH!!!"

She dragged Ash along and ran through the tunnels blindly, with Rhydon right at their heels.

She came to a fork and took one of them without any hesitation, but then stopped suddenly. "Oh, crap!"

They had reached a dead-end. Ash regained his composure and they turned around, only to face a raging rhino. It advanced slowly, glaring at them with menacing eyes.

Togepi chose a really bad time to start wailing. Misty frantically tried to calm it down, but to no avail. Rhydon turned its gaze onto the little egg Pokémon and started moving faster.

Ash got a sudden idea. He removed his jacket and ran towards the end of the tunnel. "Hey, you oversized bully!"

"Ash. What. Are. You. Doing?" Misty asked nervously through gritted teeth.

He held his jacket to one side like a cape and started waving it. "Toro! Toro!"

Rhydon's rage increased by a notch at the sight of the waving jacket and charged. Misty pressed herself against the wall, terrified, while still holding a bawling Togepi.

"Olé!" Ash dramatically pulled his jacket away and Rhydon smashed right into the end of the tunnel, lengthening by several feet. The whole area shook slightly and the ceiling above Rhydon crumbled and buried it.

Ash calmly put on his jacket again. "Learnt that while watching Taurosfighters." He said, grinning.

Misty staggered, still shaking like a leaf, towards Ash and grabbed his collar. "Don't you DARE pull a crazy stunt like that again!" she yelled in his face. Togepi started crying even louder.

A low rumbling sound was heard coming from the direction of the rubble.

"C'mon, let's get out of here. I don't think the Rhydon will be staying there for long," Ash said in a serious tone, brushing aside Misty's outburst.

"For once, I agree with you," She murmured nervously. They hurried away from there, trying to find a way out.

"Hey, you there!" A voice called out.

Ash and Misty turned towards the direction of the voice. A male trainer with moderately long brown hair, slightly older than them, stood there. He was dressed in a plain navy shirt and a pair of jeans. Six Pokéballs hung from his belt. He wore a smug look on his face that reminded them a lot about Gary.

"You wouldn't happen to know the way to the exit, do you?" Misty asked politely.

Brown-Hair laughed. "You obviously don't know too much about this mountain. Weren't you supposed to do some reading before you came in here?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Um…" Ash felt abashed.

He tsk-tsked at him. "I was hoping to challenge you to a battle, but you obviously are a disorganized person. You're probably the one who yelled his lungs out earlier. I won't waste my time on you. Goodbye." He turned around and walked away,

Ash clenched his fists and felt anger rise within him.

Misty grabbed his arm. "Come on Ash, let's just get out of this place…" she pleaded.

Brown-Hair paused and turned around. "Ash… Ketchum?"

"Yeah, and you'd better know it!" Ash replied defiantly.

"I thought you looked familiar. I watched you lose in the Indigo League," Brown-Hair smirked. "Judging by your Charizard, you're definitely a lousy trainer."

That was the last straw. "I managed to take on the far tougher Orange Crew! I'll show you! Go, Bulbasaur!" Ash threw his Pokéball and the green Pokémon appeared. He glared at the other trainer, ignoring Misty's quiet pleading.

Brown-Hair looked amused. "You come in here with a puny BULBASAUR?! Man, I'd DEFINITELY be wasting my time. Well, I'll take you on if you want me to, but only one Pokémon each. And, you can start first. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Taking his time, Brown-Hair slowly plucked a Pokéball from his belt. "Go, Hitmontop!" A fighting Pokémon, spinning on his head, appeared in a flare of red light.

"Bulbasaur, razor leaf attack!"

Several spinning leaves flew towards Hitmontop.

"Hitmontop, spinning kick!"

Hitmontop whirled around at lightning speed, deflecting all of the leaves. Brown-Hair's expression grew even smugger.

"Finish it! Jumping spinning kick!"

"Vine whip!"

Hitmontop leapt high up, spinning as fast as ever. Bulbasaur was slightly fazed by this display, but attacked without hesitation. Twin vines extended towards the whirling mass and somehow managed to wrap around Hitmontop's legs and tangled him up. Off-balance, he tumbled and crashed onto the floor. Everyone waited for it to retaliate, but Hitmontop remained still. He was knocked out cold.

"Great job, Bulbasaur. That was one of the fastest battles I ever had!" Ash gloated, returning Bulbasaur. His moment of glory was cut short by an all-too-familiar roar.

Brown-Hair, however, looked delighted. He took the rest of his Pokéballs and threw them. "Go, Machamp! Golem! Charmeleon! Hitmonchan! Nidoking!

"Time to bail!" Ash grabbed Misty's hand and pulled her away.

"Don't you think we should help him?"

"Nah, he seems perfectly capable of taking care of himself. The worst that could happen is probably a few broken bones, that's all." Ash grinned evilly. "Hey, there's the exit!"

The both of them were relieved to be out of the caves, even Ash. Then, they realised that they were a whole lot higher up than they were at the first entrance. The sky was also considerably darker.

"Hey, I don't remember going up any slopes…" Misty said worriedly. Togepi was finally quiet in her arms. She had managed to calm it down while Ash was battling.

Ash got as close to the ledge as he dared to and peered downwards. The treetops looked pretty small… "Okay, this would be a VERY good time for the Pokémon Centre to show up!" Ash said loudly, directing his words at the mountain. He turned around to see if the Centre came. Instead, something had disappeared.

"Damn!" he swore loudly and sprinted towards the spot where the cave entrance was. In its place was now solid rock.

"The mountain is smart, he says…" he muttered angrily. "Hey, we wanna get back to the Pokémon Centre!" he yelled and punched the rocks. He only succeeded in injuring his knuckles. He gave a loud yelp and clutched his fist.

"Ash, be careful!" Misty scolded him. "I'm also interested in getting back, but hitting the wall isn't going to open any doors." She set Togepi down, wedged between some rocks so that it wouldn't wander off. After telling it to wait, she knelt down and examined Ash's hand.

Normally, Ash wouldn't have liked having to be taken care of, but his hand was in pretty bad shape then. His face contorted with pain, he appreciated Misty's help then. She took out some pieces of tissue from her pocket.

"I don't have any bandages, so these will have to do," She started wrapping up Ash's hand.

Things got worse when the already-dark sky darkened some more and thunder sounded from the heavens. The winds picked up speed and started tossing their hair about, also making Misty's bandaging attempts more difficult.

She had just tied up the last piece of tissue to Ash's hand when she heard something over the howling winds. "Togi! Togi!"

"Togepi?!" She looked around frantically. There, at the ledge, Togepi was tethering precariously, with only one foot touching the floor. The little egg Pokémon was waving its tiny arms about as it tried to balance itself.

Misty screamed and dived over just as a gust of wind blew Togepi over the edge. She managed to grab hold of its shell, but tumbled over the edge herself. "Ash! HELP!!!"

"No!" Ash dived over just like Misty had and grabbed her hand. He strained every muscle in his body, trying to pull her up. Blood started oozing faster out of his wounded hand. Lightning flashed.

"Hurry! Togepi is slipping!!" Misty's voice pitch considerably. She was holding Togepi's shell with only one hand and it was at the wrong angle. It was very difficult to keep her grip. The winds got even stronger, now threatening to push Ash down as well.

Ash let loose a cry and in one mighty yank, hauled Misty up. Then, things seemed to go in slow motion as Misty heaved Togepi upwards in a desperate attempt to keep it from falling. However, her strength wasn't enough to keep it up there for long and Togepi started to fall again. Misty was sent hurtling inwards by the force of Ash's pull, away from the ledge.

As she watched helplessly, Ash made a desperate lunge for the falling Pokémon. Having caught it, he went off balance again, going off the ledge. This time, there was nobody to grab him. He plummeted downwards, his scream getting drowned by the winds.

"ASH! TOGEPI! NO!!!" Misty stared in horror at the spot where Ash was just a split second ago.

As if the mountain had a grudge against them, another huge clap of thunder boomed and a heavy torrent of rain descended.

"No…" She whispered again. Completely drained and feeling utterly defeated, she collapsed onto the floor, her tears blending in with the rain.

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A/N: No, I won't be killing Ash. At least, I currently don't have any plans on doing so. But I just might be unable to think of something better to write, so… :-D Anyway, please remember to review!