1Some days you just don't want to get up in the morning...

The Light Within

Ch.3: The Next Day

Ash sat up straight in his sleeping bag. The sun had already risen and now sat far overhead baking him with hot rays. Ash stretched and let his eyes close. He felt exhausted, but he must've gotten sleep. It's hard to wake up without being asleep first.

He shook his head to ease his blurred vision and saw that Misty and Brock must've already gotten up. Ash had a nagging feeling, something that said he was supposed to remember...something. From the night before…and in a flash it all came back to him. He remembered everything about the dream, down to the last detail, which was strange for him. Normally he could only remember vague ideas and images from dreams.

Ash stood up, seeing Misty and Brock close by, cooking breakfast. He yawned and headed towards them.

" Cauldron warriors…ha."

James almost missed the chance to see Ash that day. Jessie and Meowth had proclaimed the day for a vacation and he'd almost agreed, but then he remembered. Remembered that he had to see Ash today, had to know the truth about last night.

So instead of cheering with them, he'd made a wonderous speech. He claimed that they should never take a break, not till they'd won. And if the chance to win was today, they'dd miss it. And besides the boss would get mad if he found out. That had done it, it had given the others a great burst of confidence and they agreed with. James wished he felt the same, confident, ha, that was a laugh.

They formulated a plan, and now went to carry that plan out. That's where they were now. Hiding in a tree. Waiting for the precise moment for the twerps to arrive and wam! They'd hit them with a surprise attack! Of course, they had to say the motto, so there would be plenty of chances for the twerps to prepare…but that didn't matter to James now. What mattered was the truth.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, James turned to Jessie who pointed to where the twerps now came into view James put on a fake evil grin and nodded. She smiled back and with her hand counted. 3...2...1...they jumped down.

" Prepare for trouble…" Jessie began.

" And make it double." James replied.

James could barely go through with it. He didn't have the gleeful spirit he was famous for, but...in reality, he rarely did. In fact his whole life, he felt he'd been living lie. The motto continued and only at the end did James look at Ash, who was glaring at him.

Ash felt weird around James now, it was if they had created some bond in the dream last night. No, it was if, he had created some bond with a James that was only an image his brain put into some stupid, senseless dream he'd had. But the mere fact that he felt this strange friendship….not friendship, he hadn't even become friends with him for God's sake! But just the fact that he felt so weird made him angry...

" You evil heartless bastard!" Ash shouted much to the surprise of everyone else.

" You self-centered, cocky little brat!" James yelled back, getting angry himself.

" You purple haired, ugly, worth-less freak!" James and Ash grew closer to each other with each word, both seemingly infuriated with the other.

" You slime faced, poor excuse for a pokemon trainer, even uglier, asshole!"

" You puking son of a jackass!" Ash countered.

" Errrrr, Cauldron damn it!" James finally shouted, and everyone looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Everyone except a very shocked Ash.

Ash breathed heavily for a long time. Suddenly, James wondered if he really was so delusional and last night was nothing but a dream. The awkward silence seemed to mount endlessly.

"…warrior.." Ash replied finally.

Before anyone could say anything else, a white light shone around the two. James and Ash were lifted into the sky and disappeared in front of the horrified glances of their friends, leaving nothing but their pokeballs.

Ash and James landed in the stone room from the night before. James was laughing his head off despite the anger he had displayed only seconds earlier. Ash gave him a look.

"What's so funny?"

" 'You puking son of a jackass'? What the hell?" James said still laughing and Ash joined him.

After a while, their laughter faded and they turned to face the fairy. There was no doubt now this was either real or one very long dream.

" Great, now that we're finished maybe we can get onto saving the world." The fairy said, pale arms folded; Ash and James exchanged glances.

" There's no time to waste, Giovanni's created this giant metal monster in the lowland swamps. He's surrounded it with his minions and the swamp is already full of evil creatures of all sorts."

"Wait," Ash interrupted. " How do we fight? I mean…since our training was canceled."

" As I said last night, you'll learn as you go. Most of it you'll be using you're hands and feet. However, I do have swords for you two but they shouldn't be used until you approach the metal beast or any of Giovanni's strongest minions. You'll know when you encounter them who they are. Magic can be used also, that you'll definitely have to learn on your own. I don't know about your magic."

" Why do we have to destroy this 'metal monster'. I mean, we're only supposed to be protecting the earth cauldron right?" James asked.

" Yes. However, Giovanni created this monster to find the earth cauldron. It's got excellent tracking abilities, it's one of the only machines that can track magic. The earth cauldron emits more magic than anything else in the world...making it extremely vulnerable to this machine. Besides it will be good practice for you."

" Practice?" Ash exclaimed. " Risking our lives is considered practice? What do we have to do in the real thing, actually die in order to save the day."

Possibly, the fairy thought.

" Rest here," she motioned to the left and two beds appeared. " I'll have everything ready for you and when you wake up, you'll be in the swamps. Time will run normally, unlike it did last night. You'll no longer be in the dream state. Good luck, you can do this, it's written in the legends."

James wondered how much of a legend is actually true…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note: Two chapters left to edit, and then it's starting work on chapter 6. Thanks for your patience, and reviews are greatly appreciated.