Evil Ash: Part Two

~DREAM WORLD-Holding cell~

Ash gasped.

          "You?! How is this possible? I thought you were gone for good! You were never supposed to bother me again! WHY?! Why are you here?!" he screamed.

          "That is none of your concern," it said, as it stepped back into the shadows. "What matters now is that I tire of this. Now you will entertain me. And if you do a bad job, I may just have to get rid of you."

Ash gulped.

          "The game is a modified version of your 'hide-and-go-seek'. I will chase you. If I am pleased with how well you can avoid me, I MAY spare your life and allow you safe return to consciousness. But, should I find you and you cannot get away from me, you will not be so lucky." It said, with a sneer.

          "You have Fifteen minutes to find a place. After that, I will come. And when I find you, I expect a good chase." An hourglass appeared in Ash's hands, and his cage disappeared.

          "What makes you so sure you can find me?" Ash replied, staring at his captor.

          "Dear boy, you forget. I am the master of this realm. I know every nook and cranny of your dream world, though I have been here only hours. I suggest you get moving. You now have only thirteen minutes."

          With that, Ash ran out of the building. He headed straight for the Dream Pokécenter. After getting inside, he headed for the bedrooms. He stopped at the door, and heard his captor's voice.

          "No, no, no. That won't do at all. Choose a good place." It said.

          Ash panicked and ran out. He checked the hourglass-ten minutes left.

~REAL WORLD-Pokécenter~

          Nurse Joy looked on. Brock and Misty had finally given up on trying to wake Ash. "Maybe you two should try to get some more sleep. You look tired. I know you're worried, but I'll stay awake until Jenny gets back or he wakes up. I promise."

          "Okay, Nurse Joy," Misty replied. "I'm just so worried…I hope everything will be alright. I don't think I can get back to sleep, though…"

          "Well, we'll just have to try, and see how the situation is in the morning," Brock replied. "By the way, Nurse Joy, thanks for offering to stay up for us. I'm sure Ash would appreciate it too. I really hope Officer Jenny gets back soon."

          "I know, but it takes at least a half-hour to get to the field she was talking about. And even then, it might take a while to actually find a Hypno." Joy replied with a sigh.

          "Let's just hope, then, that Officer Jenny can find one as soon as possible. For Ash's sake." Misty concluded.

Misty and Brock laid down on their beds and tried to get to sleep.

          The air in here sure feels really weird, Misty thought to herself, as she drifted off into sleep. I wonder why…

          What I wouldn't give for a jelly-filled doughnut right now… Brock thought as he slipped into unconsciousness. Maybe someday Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny will finally fall in love with me…

~REAL WORLD-Somewhere…~

          "I wish I had brought my motorcycle… Or even Growlithe. I don't know how I'm gonna catch a Hypno without my Growlithe…" Officer Jenny said to herself.

          As she neared the halfway point to the Field, she wondered why Ash was taking longer that the others. Then she had a terrible realization.

"Oh no! He's finally learned how to restrict people! The others HAD mentioned something about using control over their dreams to wake up…If Ash hasn't woken up yet, then he must not be able to do anything about his situation…" she trailed off.

Then Officer Jenny had another horrible thought.

What if he had learned to drag others into the same dream? He had already learned how to control everything, and even cut off the conscious mind's abilities to change things in the Dream World…

Officer Jenny quickened her pace.

~DREAM WORLD-Holding cell~

"His time is almost up. I hope he has found a good spot. For his sake, he had better be a fast runner…"

The figure watched another hourglass. Two minutes left.

~DREAM WORLD-Cinnabar Lab~

          Ash was out of breath. Every time he came upon what he thought to be a good spot, HE had spoken up and said that it was a terrible one. Ash finally figured that this would be the last place HE would look. Ash checked the hourglass. Thirty seconds left.

He scrambled for a corner with a bunch of boxes. He covered himself with them and tried to make them look less suspicious. He watched as the grains of sand slowly ticked out.

5…4…3…2…1…0…

He hoped that his captor would never look in Cinnabar Lab.

~DREAM WORLD-Holding cell~

"His time is up. Let the hunt begin," the figure announced. "This should be easy…"

The figure disappeared, chuckling to himself. He thought that this would be barely entertaining enough to curb his wrath…