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Chapter 2
As Ash, Tyson and Max crashed through the door, everyone looked up.
Kenny was the first to react. "Hey you guys! Where've you been?"
"Yeah," said Misty. "And why are you so out of breath?"
Tyson was the first to recover. "We heard – we heard voices!" he said.
"Huh?" said Misty.
"We're not crazy!" said Max, noticing the look on her face. "We really did hear voices – there are people here!"
"Come on – we'll show you!" said Ash, starting back out of the room. Tyson and Max followed, indicating for everyone else was to do the same. As they left, Misty looked back at the window, out into the storm. She frowned for a moment, then flicked a piece of her fringe out of her eyes confidently. "It's nothing," she told the empty room. "Nothing at all." She turned and left the room, running to catch up with the others.
When they reached the tapestried wall, Ray looked quizzically at Tyson. "Now what?"
"Wait for it, wait for it..." said Tyson, feeling all over the tapestry. Eventually there was a click and the same whirring noise that Ash, Max and Tyson had heard before. As the tapestry swung back once again, Tyson said triumphantly, "Tada!"
He led the way confidently into the dark passage. When they reached the lit section of the tunnel, he motioned for everyone to stop. "Walk slowly and quietly from now," cautioned Ash. "Otherwise you won't hear it."
As they moved along, Ash, Tyson and Max heard the voices again, but they kept on moving, so that the others could hear them.
"What – ? I can hear something!" said Kenny in surprise.
"So can I!" said Ray, coming up behind him.
"What can you hear?" asked Brock.
"A sound like someone talking – really far away," said Kenny, and Ray nodded his head in agreement.
"Told ya so!" said Tyson.
"I guess it's probably coming from one of these doors," said Kenny, walking over to the first door and tugging on the handle. The door shook, but stayed closed. "It's locked!" said Kenny disappointedly.
"Let's all try a door – then we'll see!" said Max. They fanned out along the passageway, each tugging on a door.
"Hey, this one's open!" called Misty from her purple door. Everyone clustered around her, and she slowly turned the handle. The door swung open inwards, revealing only darkness. Misty, being in front, noticed that none of the light from the hallway had entered the room, as though something was blocking it. And that was the last thing she noticed before she, along with everyone else, was sucked into the blackness!
As she flew down a black tunnel, Misty heard vaguely the sounds of Pokemon speaking. "Pika?" "Toki!" "Vul! Vulpix!" Then the sounds changed. She could now hear a jumble of musical notes and a faint roaring. Then, abruptly, the noise stopped and a high pitched whine filled her ears. She clamped her hands over her ears, but could not shut out the persistent noise. Eventually, the noise stopped, and the music returned, the roaring getting louder as she went. Then – she saw the end of the tunnel, it's green hue a stark contrast to the choking blackness of the tunnel. She swooped down the tunnel, and landed gently on a patch of grass. Looking around, she saw all of the boys landing nearby. They appeared to be in some sort of park. Misty had landed quite close to the road, and she could see a few people walking up and down. She noticed that there was short boy with spiky hair and a girl with brown just-above-shoulder-length hair walking towards her. They were talking animatedly. Ray came over to Misty. "Are you hurt?" he asked.
"No," said Misty, getting to her feet, and dusting herself off. "Just looking around."
"Good."
"What just happened?"
"We just went through a wormhole. Is that what Nurse Joy called it?"
"Yes. Wow, a wormhole," Misty suddenly looked around. "Togapi? Oh no! Where's Togapi?"
"Here," said Ash, coming towards her with Togapi in his arms. "Have you seen Pikachu?"
"No," said Misty. Ash gently placed Togapi in her arms. "Oh Togapi! You had me so worried!"
"Anyone lose a Pukachu?" asked Max, from across the park. Pikachu was standing a few meters away from him, electricity flashing around its cheeks.
"Pikachu," corrected Brock, approaching Pikachu slowly. Pikachu calmed down considerably when he saw Brock's familiar face. "Pika!"
"There you are!" cried Ash, running towards Pikachu. As he came near, Pikachu took a flying leap into his arms. Ash laughed with relief.
Soon everyone had been found, and they were standing awkwardly by the road when they saw the short boy Misty had seen earlier. "Hey!" began Ash, but before he could carry on he was grabbed roughly from behind.
"You!" said the boy who had grabbed him. "I want a duel!"
"A what?" asked Ash.
"Don't play dumb!" said the boy, sweeping his long green hair from his face. "You're just scared I'll beat you!" Ash looked into his hard black eyes and realized that this was one person who would not accept the idea of people from different realities. "Um," he began, desperately trying to think of a way out of dueling.
"I accept your challenge!" said a voice. Ash and the challenger turned around in surprise. The speaker was the boy Ash had tried to speak to.
"What? I challenged him, not you, moron!" said the green haired boy.
"I said, I accept your challenge. You want to duel, I'm willing to duel you – what's the problem?"
"Whatever," said the boy.
"Where are we going to duel?"
"DuelHead Area," muttered the boy.
"Hey, you've dueled there Yugi!" said the girl, speaking for the first time.
"I remember that, Tea. It's quite an arena."
"Mmm..." said Tea noncommittally.
"So, we gonna duel or what?" the boy said, irate.
"Let's go!" said Yugi, turning and beginning to walk towards the brightly colored DuelHead building. As Tea and the challenger followed, Ash and Tyson looked at each other. "Let's go!" they said together, and ran after them. Ray rolled his eyes and sighed. Misty covered her eyes. "I suppose we should follow them," said Ray.