Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or associated characters.
Fantasy Generation: Chapter Three
A roaring sound came from somewhere behind Ash.
"Ash!" Misty shrieked. "What do we do?" she said with her hands on her cheeks worriedly.
//We're going to wonderland (ehoes in the background quietly, as music starts to get louder)
Ash grabbed Misty's hand as he jumped on the ground with full force. "Fly!" he shouted over top of Misty's screams and the roaring of the monster.
//Come on, I wanna fly with you (I wanna fly with you),
//The place I wanna take you to (I wanna take you to)...
The monster flew into view. It had large, sharp fang-like teeth, and it looked like a giant green lizard with red bloody scales here and there. It flashed its sharp teeth as it roared. It appeared in front of Ash and Misty. They both skidded to a stop in the air, and Ash gasped at its appearance.
//We're gonna make a dream come true (Dream come true, oh),
//(Oh) Take my hand--(ohhhhh) we're going to...
"W-what is it?" Misty asked quietly and worriedly.
"I don't know..." Ash said with a determined expression, before grabbing a gadget out of Misty's bag.
"Ash- wha--" was all Misty could sputter out, before Ash threw a small wand looking gadget in front of him. It opened up slowly, and formed a large wand with a knife tip.
//Who knows where - who knows where the journey ends?
//The journey ends - Count me if you're thinking of!
Ash hurled the gadget towards the lizard and the lizard gasped from the tremendous pain.
"What just happened?" she asked in her still worried tone.
//Take my hand - Take my hand, we're going to...
//We're going to wonderland.
"I tried out one of the gadgets, and it worked," Ash smiled, resizing the gadget back to its small form, and placing it back in Misty's bag.
//Won-der-land! (echoes softly and music ends)
Misty smiled slightly back.
"That wasn't so hard," Ash said with a proud grin.
"I guess, once you figure out what to do," Misty said simply with a smile.
A dripping sound filled the room, and Ash looked around.
"Huh?" he said quietly.
The dripping got louder.
"Ash!" Misty's eyes widened, as she pointed. "Behind you!" she said almost breathlessly.
The giant lizard was behind Ash again, and was taking swipes at his head. Blood was pouring from its chest where the gadget had struck it, and it's mouth was dripping with hungry saliva, illustrating it was hungry.
Ash clenched his teeth, reaching for a Pokeball, but then frowned.
"Ugh! Professor Coal still has our Pokemon!" he said aloud, angrily, before a red flash stopped everything. Ash turned to Misty questioningly, as she threw the time stopping gadget up in the air with a grin, and then caught it with her hand.
"Good thinking," he smiled. "It'll buy us some time..." he said, before rummaging through her bag for any useful gadgets.
"Have you noticed, Ash, that all of the gadgets we've used so far look like items that could help? Like the watch on the time stopping one," she paused to take out the gadget so Ash could examine it, as she continued, "the flying gadget with the wings, and the knife wand for..." she paused, trying to think of a word, "um...damaging," she concluded, taking out the flying and wand gadgets.
Ash grinned. "I never really thought of it that way!"
Misty smiled at him before landing on the ground safely. Ash followed, as she spread out 3 more gadgets on the ground. "Let's see what we have here," she said as she placed her bag to the side, and examined the gadgets. Ash sat down beside her.
First, Misty shoved forward a gadget that resembled a tiny knight's shield. She turned to Ash. "This one is probably some sort of shield device," she said and Ash nodded as she shoved forward another gadget.
This gadget looked like long rope with a hook. "This one looks like one of those hook rope things, that you can get to high places with," Ash said, and Misty nodded before shoving the third gadget forward.
They both recognized it. It was a small bead that made an invisible wall. Ash painfully remembered, and started to rub his face.
"That still hurts, by the way," he said with a frown. Misty rolled her eyes at him, before placing the gadgets back into her bag.
"While time's stopped, we can set up this invisible wall," she said before jumping into the air and flying around. Ash joined her.
The invisible wall appeared, and Ash and Misty flew back before making time move again. The red flash disappeared, and the giant lizard spotted Ash and Misty.
"Nya nya!" Ash called as his back faced the lizard, as he patted his butt teasingly.
"Come and get us!" Misty called tauntingly before pulling down her eyelid and sticking out her tongue.
The lizard roared loudly before charging towards them. Ash and Misty grinned wickedly as it smacked against the invisible wall and tumbled to the ground with an earth quaking thud. Ash and Misty high fived before landing on the ground beside it.
Ash stabbed the lizard with the knife wand to make sure it wouldn't come back, and then slapped his hands together as if he was wiping off dust from his hands.
Misty smiled before placing the gadgets back into her bag.
"Job well done, if I do say so myself," she said haughtily with a grin, and Ash winked at her.
"Yeah!" he agreed with a smile.
"Well done, Pokemon Trainers," the booming voice returned.
Ash chuckled. "Thank you! Did you see us, we were great!"
"Yes, you performed quite gracefully under pressure," the booming voice replied.
Ash smiled, placing a hand behind his head happily. "Awww, shucks!"
"So I guess now we can pretty much beat anyone, huh?" Misty asked with a grin, as she put her arm around Ash. Ash smirked.
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but...no. That lizard would be classified as the easiest of your problems during this adventure," the booming voice said.
Misty placed her arm from Ash back to her side. "What? Well...what sorts of other things will we have to do during this adventure?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. More battles, more enemies, more mysterious guests," the booming voice explained.
Misty and Ash sweat dropped. "Well shouldn't we get going somewhere now, instead of standing here and talking to you?" Ash asked flatly.
"Yes...right...of course," the booming voice sounded flustered as it continued. "Your next destination is to venture deep into this room...or should I say...world?" it concluded as it disappeared.
Ash and Misty exchanged glances before walking forward, blindly.
"Do we have any light gadgets?" Ash asked, coming to a stop. Misty bumped into him.
"Don't just stand there!" she said, flustered, before she pulled out a gadget from her bag that looked like a small flashlight.
"It's worth a try," Ash shrugged, taking the small flashlight gadget and pushing a small button on it. Light engulfed the room, and Ash turned to Misty with a smile. She smiled back.
"Problem solved," she smirked, before putting the small flashlight gadget back in her bag.
Ash walked a little further ahead, excited to see what was in store. He started to run forward, and Misty lost sight of him.
"Ash?" she called. "Don't go too far ahead!" she called after him, calmly following. She didn't hear him answer, so she started to run ahead.
"Ash?" she called worriedly. "Ash, where are y-" she stopped, to see his Pokemon League hat right in front of a large cliff. Misty gasped, before picking up his hat, and clutching it to her heart.
"Ash...no..." she said slowly, tears starting to brim at the corner of her eyes. "Ash..." she repeated sadly.
Misty closed her eyes and hugged the hat tightly, before a distant male voice was heard.
"Misty! Down here Misty!" it sounded exactly like Ash's voice.
Misty wiped her tears away, and cleared her throat. "Ash?" she asked, looking on the other side of the cliff.
Ash was dangling from a low down ridge on the cliff. "Misty! Help me up!" he called up to her. She took a deep breath of relief, as she wiped away any evidence of the fact that she was crying over him.
"Ash!" she called down to him, and threw the small rope hook gadget to him. He just barely caught it. "Push the button to make it full sized!" she yelled down to him.
He followed her instructions without talking, and the rope extended, as he threw the hook to the higher ridge of the cliff Misty was on. He pulled himself up as he rock climbed along the side of the cliff. He got up safely, resizing the gadget, and dropping it on the ground as he panted.
As soon as he was standing, Misty hugged him tightly. At first Ash was surprised, but then hugged back with a soft smile.
"Sorry 'bout that, Mist," he said shyly, before placing the gadget into her bag. "Did I worry you?" he asked her slyly with a toothy grin.
"No," she answered quickly with a blush. Almost too quickly.
Ash smiled to himself. "Whatever," he said quietly.
"How did you get down there, anyway?" Misty asked him, still a little shaken up about how he could've been dead.
"Well I ran ahead, and I didn't see the end of the cliff, so I fell," Ash explained and then smiled. "I sure am lucky I caught that ridge," he added. "And I'm also lucky that you were there to help me."
Misty tilted her head slightly to the side, as she smiled at him softly, her expression showing she had been worried but was happy he was safe. Ash smiled back warmly.
"Let's keep it to a steady walk from now on, okay?" she asked him with the same soft smile.
He laughed. "Okay." She ruffled up his hair, causing her to join in with him laughing. Then she placed his hat back on.
Once his hat was back on, Ash fixed it so that it was backwards. He grinned.
Misty squinted at him anime style. "Ash, I thought you stopped with the hat thing."
"No way!" he smirked, and she smiled slightly, before looking down at the cliff and then the huge gap between the land parts.
"I guess we can use our wings to get across this huge gap," she said simply. Ash nodded.
"Right," he said as he jumped full force and then was in the air. Misty followed his lead, as she appeared right beside him. They flew across the gap with ease, before landing on the other side.
Suddenly a near by phone rang. Misty sweat dropped. What the heck was pay phone doing there of all places? Nonetheless, she ran to it, and answered it. "He...hello?"
"Hello. It's been a while," Deep Voice said.
Misty smiled. "Deep Voice--it's you! Good to hear from you again. We've made it here!"
"Yes, I know that," Deep Voice said calmly. "I didn't know if you'd make it when Ash fell, but you proved yourselves as strong individuals."
"Gee, thanks!" Ash spoke up, listening in on the conversation.
"I'm just telling you your next clue. You will soon come across a jail. To activate the next stage, you must get help from one of the individuals in jail. They all have weaknesses and strong points. You must choose ONE to get help from."
"Jail?" Misty questioned. "I don't get it..."
"You'll figure it out. You two are both smart," Deep Voice said, ending the conversation. Misty placed the phone back in the receiver. She sighed.
"We better get going," Ash said from somewhere ahead of her.
Misty turned to him. "I guess so."
They both walked for a while until they came across a jail.
"This must be it," Misty said with a sweat drop as she glanced at all of the people in the jail cells. Some of them looked barbaric, trying to break out of the cells. Some of them just gave Ash and Misty icy glares.
Ash sweat dropped. "It must be."
Ash walked forward slowly. "What...are...your...weaknesses...and...strong...points?" he asked them slowly as if he was talking to someone who spoke another language.
A guy with spiky black hair glared at him. "Why should I tell you?" he asked firmly. He was probably middle-aged. He was hunched over, and he had engraved a rough sketch of a dead man on the bottom of his cell with the tip of a jagged rock. A skeleton was collecting dust in the corner of his cell.
"Because I wanna know," Ash said simply. "I need help from someone so we can go onto the next stage of this adventure thing we have. Our friends have been kidnapped. Right Misty?" he asked, turning to her. She was a good two feet behind him. She simply sweat dropped, nodded and waved with a nervous grin. "A heh heh…" She didn't want to get close to any of the prison people.
Ash sweat dropped and squinted at her anime style. He then focused his attention on the man again.
"What's in it for me?" the spiky black hair guy asked simply.
"Um..." Ash frowned. "The good feeling of helping someone out?" he tried. The guy snorted.
"Keep tryin', buddy!" he said angrily, turning his back on Ash. Ash frowned at his behaviour.
"Okay, next!" Ash called, looking at the next guy in the cell. "What are your strong points?" he asked the guy. The guy was probably in his thirties, and he was chewing a piece of bubble gum really loudly. He was rather chubby, and his black and white cell shirt was riding over his large stomach as he paced back and forth. He was balding with brown sideburns at his ears. A beard was in the process of growing on his chin.
"What?" he asked Ash as he continued to chew his gum loudly.
"I said-" Ash began to start.
"Shaddap!" a voice came from beside the chubby man. The chubby man glared at the person the voice had come from. It was a middle-aged woman with brown hair. She was middleweight and had a new york-accent voice. She glared at the chubby man. "What do ya think yar doing, Larrai?" she addressed the chubby man as 'Larry'.
Larry sneered at her. "Chewing my gum, Molly!" he said stubbornly as he addressed the woman as 'Molly'.
Molly scowled at him. "Well keep it down, wouldja? Yar drivin' me up tha wall!"
He grinned wickedly. "Good," he said simply.
Molly gaped. She was outraged. "Say anotha thing like that, Larrai, and you'll be seein' mah fist!" she said, as a vain popped out of her fist as she shoved it as far as she could in his direction.
Larry put his hands up. "Ooh, I surrender," he said falsely before laughing.
"I swaihre, Larrai!" Molly said, raising her fist again. All the jail people started talking at once.
Ash rolled his eyes. "Will anyone tell me their strong points?" he yelled over their voices. Everyone stopped to glare at him, except a male teenager with dirty blond hair, black sunglasses and dull voice.
"The next stage leads you to a slammin' winter wonderland. I thought it was pretty sweet until my friend ditched me. Then I had to do this trippin' stunt thing that made me end up in here," he rambled on dully. Ash tried to follow him.
"So your friends were kidnapped too?" he asked curiously.
The guy nodded. "Yeah, dude," he said simply as he placed his sunglasses on top of his head so Ash could see his eyes. "I was with my best friend but then we got in like this totally stupid fight, and she like, ditched me, so...yeah," he said dully.
Ash nodded. "Okay...so how do you get to the next stage?"
"Well," the guy paused and thought. "You have to go through this ring of fire, thing, and it's totally sweet...but it burns. Like, literally, dude. So you have to like, use water on it while you go through it."
"Water?" Misty questioned. "That would be my speciality if my water Pokemon were with me," she said sadly, remembering Professor Coal.
"Like I totally have this water bottle with me," the guy said, handing his water bottle to Ash through the bars.
"Wow, thanks!" Ash said gratefully as he took the water bottle and opened it. He closed his eyes, put it up in the air and tipped his head back. He was about to drink from it, when Misty snatched it from his hand.
"Huh?" Ash opened his eyes quickly.
"Ash!" Misty scolded, taking the water bottle. She sweat dropped and blushed at his stupidity. "It isn't to drink! We have to use it for the next stage!"
Ash gave her a confused look. "Ash, listen carefully," she looked at him straight in the eyes with a frown. "A fire ring. We need water. This guy just gave us a bottle filled with water."
Ash nodded slowly. "Oh, I get it now!" he said. He turned towards the guy. "Thanks!"
"No problem man, but I thought you were like, thirsty," the guy said dumbly. Misty sweat dropped.
"I'm surrounded," she said quietly as she grabbed Ash's hand and dragged him away from the jail.
"If we spent any more time at that jail, I think my brain would've turned into mush," Misty stated once they were clear of the jail.
Ash just stared at her, confused. "That's nice?" he tried.
Misty frowned. "Nevermind..." she said quietly, with the water bottle in her hand.
"All we have to do now is look for the fire ring..." she said, scanning the area for anything that looked like fire.
A burning ring in the distance caught her attention. "Ash, look!" she cried, pointing at the fire ring.
Ash grinned. "Perfect! Now what're we waitin' for?" he said, charging towards it.
"Wait, Ash!" Misty called, in tow. She opened the water bottle and lunged the water around the ring, just as Ash halted in front of it.
"Right," he said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. The ring slowly evaporated and a glowing door appeared. Ash and Misty glanced at each other before opening up the door and walking through it. The door closed by itself and disappeared once they were both through.
Misty glanced at where the door had been, and then joined Ash in gazing at the new environment.
"Wow," they both gasped.
To be continued…