Shadow lifts.
"It's... a beach ball?"
Ash put his free hand on Misty's shoulder.
"Hold up a second, Misty."
He turned to Grey, who was banging on that black screen of his.
"Why didn't what work?"
"You should be back on whatever trail you were on before you got lost. I just typed in the orders for it. It's like I'm not in control anymore."
Grey paused.
"Hmm, let me check something."
Grey started tapping on his screen again. He looked at an image that came up on the screen. His eyes widened.
"Nooooo! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!"
"What is it?" James asked.
Grey held his head in his hands.
"Look at this!"
Grey turned the screen so they all could see the picture on it.
At the top of the screen, the title read 'Character Bios,' Grey's picture was underneath. There was a short description:
>>Name: Grey Acumen
>>Gender: Male
>>Age: 15 yrs
>>Height: 5'9"
>>Hair: Gray
>>Eyes: Gray
>>Standard costume: Gray shirt and pants
>>Description: Originally Author and Narrator for current fanfic, accidentally gets caught in fanfic thereby losing Author status, still retains Narrative abilities./
"I'm a character now! I can still be the Narrator, but I'm not the Author anymore."
"What?"
"I don't have any influence over what happens anymore."
"So we're still stuck here?" James asked.
"Yeah, and I'm stuck here, too."
"Tog-e!"
"Aw, shut up."
-
Ash tugged at his arm, which was still stuck to his side. Grey began typing a few commands on his screen.
"What's up, Grey?" Ash asked.
"Well, I can't control anything that happens, but I have the story stored in this thing."
"The story?"
"I have a record of everything that's happened so far, plus I'm updating this thing every hour or so in case I get out of this place."
Without warning, Grey ducked down. He was just fast enough to avoid another one of Misty's swings.
"Why are you being so aggressive?" Grey asked Misty, "Is this your period or something?"
"She's been under a lot of stress today," Ash replied.
Misty glared daggers at both of them.
"You jerk! It figures you'd only think about skipping out on us!"
"Well before I start skipping, I thought I might make a few suggestions; like perhaps heading off towards that clearing that Pikachu saw."
James brightened up.
"Let's go!"
-
"I'm hungry," Ash said.
"Me too," agreed James.
"Pik-a!"
"Shut up," Misty growled.
"You know, I'm also kinda hun-" Grey started.
Misty glared at Grey, who broke off what he was saying and tried to look innocuous.
"How much longer to the town?" James asked.
"I don't know," Grey replied, "Ask Pikachu."
"How much longer, Pikachu?"
"About twenty yards."
"Oh, good."
"Wait a minute, did you say that, Pikachu?" Ash asked.
"No, I did."
"Okay then."
Ash turned to continue heading to the town. Grey grabbed him by his collar.
"What?"
Grey jerked his thumb over at Misty and James. Men and women in light armor surrounded them. James had his hands up over his head and his eyes clenched shut. Misty was clutching her pack with Togepi protectively to her.
"You will come with us, Leader."
"Toge-brrii!"
I always thought it was 'take me to your leader' not the other way around.
-
"Mfff rll mmpf mff!"
Ash swallowed.
"This is good!"
James, Pikachu, and Misty ate with just as much ferocity. Grey however, ate somewhat less ravenously, but still managed to finish off just as much as everybody else, though.
"So what's with the special treatment?" Grey asked, "A bit ago, you were acting as if you'd skewer us with those oversized butter knives of yours if we so much as blinked."
Jaron, the leader of the group, bowed.
"Your pardon. You are of the utmost importance to us. You may be our only hope."
Mighty Mouse, The Third Malleteer, an Insecure Transvestite, and 'Pokémon for dummies' are their only hope?
Oh, brother.
"Have you guys seen Brock?" Ash asked.
"The squinty eyed fellow? Who hasn't? Our sword expert, Leto, nearly cut his head off during her tutoring session when he tried to make a pass at her."
"Sounds like Brock, alright," Misty confirmed.
"Here he comes now."
Brock walked in, dressed in the same type of armor as Jaron's group.
"Hey, Ash. You finally got here. What happened to your arm?"
"Long story."
"You can read it if you want to," Grey offered, holding up his screen.
"Who are you?"
"Longer story."
"We also came across these two," Jaron continued.
Jessie and Meowth followed a moment later, similarly attired.
"Jessie, Meowth," James said, "What are you doing here?"
"We're serving refreshments, what does it look like?"
"It looks like you're ready for a battle."
"For once, youse is right. We're apparently part a some prophecy."
"Prophecy?" Ash asked, "What prophecy?"
"The one you guys are in, duh," Grey answered.
"What makes you think that you aren't part of this?" Misty asked suspiciously.
"Because I just came here an hour ago. Prophecies form over a slightly longer amount of time than that."
"That's true," Jaron agreed, "Our prophecy was foretold by a wise scientist, many years ago."
Shift to story telling mode.
"As you may have noticed, there is a barrier that surrounds this place. Though it is possible to enter this area, exiting this place is impossible."
"No, really?" Grey commented sarcastically, "It only took these people seven tries before they figured that out."
Misty elbowed him.
"Shut up!"
"Oww."
Jaron continued.
"Around ten years ago, a number of scientists and myself came to explore this area. We didn't find out about the barrier until it was too late. We tried to send a few radio signals for help, but the barrier causes the signal to break up after about forty feet. Though we thought that this was bad, the true horror of this place was yet to be discovered.
We found out from a few people, who had wandered in, that this area is lorded over by some sort of Scientist/Sorcerer. He is the one who controls this barrier. As we went to see him, in the hopes of having him let us out, we noticed that accidents were happening more and more frequently as we got closer to the center of the circle. Equipment broke down, members of our party tripped and got injured. Even our Pokéballs didn't work.
We finally concluded that he not only had created a barrier around this area, but had also managed to control the laws of the universe within it."
"Murphy's Law," Grey breathed, unbelieving.
"I said shut up, Grey," Misty muttered.
"He has the right of it," Jaron pointed out, "We have firmly documented proof that the possible adversity level rises as you reach the center, and the very edge of the barrier."
"Huh?" Ash asked confused.
"Murphy's Law goes as follows: If anything can go wrong, it will," Grey explained.
"That's right, Ash," Brock agreed, "In other words, as we get closer to the center or the edge of the barrier, the more likely it is for bad stuff to happen to us."
"No wonder you guys are part of the prophecy!" Grey exclaimed, "You guys are used to having the worst possible situations pop up!"
"Anyway," Jaron continued. Apparently he wasn't done yet, "A few years ago, a wise scientist in our group told us that there would be a group of eight people that would defeat the Sorcerer. The Leader, The Guide, The Advisor, The Champion, The Technician, The Assassin, The Translator, and the Breacher."
"So, who's who?" Grey asked.
"We believe that Jessie is the Assassin, and are fairly certain that Meowth is the Translator. From what we've seen, we have concluded that Ash is the Leader. We aren't sure, but we think that Ash's Pikachu is the Champion."
"Pika," Pikachu said solemnly.
"What exactly makes you think we'll help you defeat this powerful Sorcerer?" Jessie asked.
"Because if you don't, you'll be stuck here for the rest of your life."
Gee, The choices are just limitless here.
-
"Are you sure we have to do this?" Ash asked, holding his sword nervously. It wasn't that easy, considering that he couldn't hold the thing with both hands.
"You think that we're going to just walk up to the guy and say 'hi I'm the one who is here to put an end to your evil schemes, there isn't any point to resisting, even though we can't fight back, so please just give yourself up'?" Grey asked, "At least they're teaching you how to use them."
Grey adjusted his grip on his axe.
"It's quite alright," Jaron assured, "For all that it's just a hobby to her, Leto is an excellent weapon master. She's the one that has taught most of us how to use these weapons, as well as teaching us how to make them. One tends to forget that she is an amazing scientist, but if you value your safety, we suggest you don't."
Leto came into view. She was carrying a sparring staff. Brock began to drool. She was small and fairly cute, but she definitely didn't look the part of a sword master. Grey studied her stance intensely.
"Hello, Chosen ones," She said bowing politely, "My name is Leto. Due to the fact that most technology backfires in this area, we have had to rely on the more basic weapons as safety precautions. If you want to have any chance to defeat the evil scientist, you'll also need to be able to defend yourselves."
Brock walked over to Leto like a zombie.
"Hello, my name's Brock, I'd love to learn everything you can teach me."
Leto grimaced.
"I remember you. You can be my personal assistant for the first lesson."
"That sounds wonderful."
Leto turned to the rest of us.
"The first thing you need to learn is; never let your guard down."
Leto swung her staff around behind Brock, knocking his feet out from under him. He landed on his back hard.
Brock has really got to learn which girls are safe to hit on.
Brock got to his feet, and walked back to the group.
"Are you alright, Brock?" Misty asked.
"It must be love," he burbled happily.
"Or disgust," Grey added, "I want to know how she got that good with it just being a 'hobby.'"
"I could have taken a shot like that," Jessie scoffed.
"She wouldn't have used a shot like that on you," Grey replied, "I wasn't referring to the power, I was referring to the grace and fluidity."
Ash stepped up to Leto.
"Okay, Miss Leto, teach me what you know."
Leto looked at him.
"Unless you were more competent, you won't be able to use that thing safely with one hand. Stick with your Pikachu. It's the only Pokémon that we have access to, which gives you a big advantage."
"What about me?" Misty asked.
"Just use your mallet," Ash said, "It's the best thing you've got going for you."
"Just what is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, it's the one thing that you use really well..."
Misty pulled out said mallet and bashed Ash into the ground. Leto sweat-dropped.
"He does have a point, you seem quite effective with that mallet."
"Tell me about it," Ash muttered.
Misty stomped on Ash a bit for good measure.
"You may want to get one that you can use anytime, instead of just when you get mad."
"Jessie, do I have to wear this armor, it's heavy," James whined.
"Of course you do! What exactly do you think is going to keep us from getting sliced to ribbons while training!"
Jessie was in just about as much armor as could fit on her. It almost looked like she was wearing more than one layer in some places.
"Hey you! The one that's big with metal, can you move in that?"
Jessie waddle/stomped over to Leto.
"Of course I can move in this!"
Leto raised an eyebrow.
"Lesson number two."
Leto placed the tip of her staff on the front of Jessie's armor and pushed lightly. Jessie creaked, rotated her arms rapidly, and fell backward. She struggled, but was unable to get back to her feet.
"Never weigh yourself down too much," Leto continued, "Being able to absorb the blow is only about 10 as effective as avoiding the blow completely."
Leto pointed at James.
"Come here."
James shook his head.
"You'll hit me."
"At least you won't feel left out."
James stood in front of Leto. He held his sword uncertainly. Leto stared at him sympathetically.
"Lesson number three."
Leto smacked James sword with her staff. It went flying out of his hands.
"If you don't have confidence in your weapon, you don't have a weapon. You have to hold your weapon like it's a part of you, otherwise it becomes useless."
She pointed at Grey.
"Let's see if you've learned anything."
Grey stepped up warily.
"Pretend there's an invisible enemy in front of you. Kill him."
Grey began to swing his axe at the imagined opponent. Without warning, Leto lashed out with her sword. Grey ducked under the blow, then countered with his axe. Leto parried the blow and called a halt.
"Lesson one, two, and three, very good."
Leto turned back to Ash and Co.
"In this place, you need to be able to react to an unexpected problem, avoid the problem until you can attack, and be strong enough for your attack to be effective."
-
And so for the next few hours Brock, Jessie, and James were put through the most intense hours of their lives. Ash and Misty, due to the fact that they were already proficient with their choice weapons, were exempt for the moment.
"Where'd you learn how to use that, Grey?" Misty asked.
"I had a battle axe that I practiced with before I started writing this thing. I got pretty good, and the axe is a very versatile weapon, provided you don't limit yourself."
"You know, it kind of feels weird talking to the Author of your own story," Ash commented, "It's like getting a chance to talk to God."
Grey brushed back his hair haughtily.
We all know what pride goeth before...
Misty hit Grey with the mallet that Jaron had supplied.
"Yeah right, the God of Idiocy maybe. Besides, you aren't the Author anymore. You're just the Narrator."
That's right, the fall.
Grey got back up almost immediately. He seemed to be getting used to Misty attacking him.
"You've got good form, Misty, but watch your follow through. If I had dodged, you would have spun yourself dizzy with that Turbo-mallet of yours."
"Ahhh! Help! I'm dying!"
Grey, Ash, and Misty turned to see what happened. James was lying on the ground in apparent agony. Jessie and Meowth looked disgusted. Brock stared in shock.
"What happened, James?" Ash asked, worried.
James was curled up in a tight fetal position around his right hand.
"I'm going to die! My hand has been chopped through! I can feel my life blood draining away!"
James stared up into the sky as Grey immediately grabbed James's arm to try to stop the bleeding.
"I'm not going to make it! Everything's getting faint. I can't see. Say good-bye to Jessie and Meowth for me."
"Um, James," Grey interrupted.
"What is it?"
"It's only a small nick on your pinky finger."
James opened his eyes.
"I'm not going to die?"
"With a few years in intense therapy, you may even be able to walk again."
"You wimp!" Misty shouted.
-
"Y'know," Grey said, "I haven't really noticed any major problems occurring recently. I thought you said that the adversity level was higher than normal."
Leto lowered her weapon.
"That's true, this is the longest we've ever gone without something bad happening."
There was an ominous rumble of thunder in the distance.
Don't jinx a good thing.
-
"You just had to say something, didn't you?"
"I said I'm sorry! It's not like you can even prove that it's my fault!"
Leto and Grey were stranded in a large tree. Ash, Misty, James, Jessie, Meowth, Jaron, and everybody else were stranded in other trees. At the moment, it was raining heavily and the ground was flooded to about 7 feet deep.
"I'm freezing," James chattered.
The trees kept off most of the rain, but the water chilled the air to a frigid 10° Celsius.
"Meowth. I hate wada, especially wet wada."
New and improved, Instant Water, just add water. I don't really think it will catch on, though.
"Quit complaining," Misty muttered halfheartedly.
"How did this place flood so high?" Brock asked, "We aren't in that deep of a valley."
"It's because of the force field, it won't let anything out, unless it's in a gaseous state. We have to wait until it evaporates."
Togepi walked back and forth on an outstretched branch.
"Pika!"
Pikachu rushed over to try to grab Togepi before it did something stupid. The branch bent dangerously under Pikachu and Togepi's weight. The branch was wet from the rain and before Pikachu could grab Togepi he slipped and fell into the water.
"Pikachu!"
With Pikachu's weight suddenly released from the branch, the branch snapped up, sending Togepi flying up into the upper branches.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted.
He dove in after Pikachu.
"No, Ash!" Brock shouted.
Ash swam over and grabbed Pikachu before he could be swept away by the current. Ash, however, forgot to take into account the fact that he could only use one arm, which was now occupied by Pikachu, and he was not good enough to swim without his arms in that kind of water.
"Glub-"
"ASH!" Misty shouted.
Misty dove in without hesitation.
"Jaron!" Leto shouted, "Three of the Chosen Ones just went down!"
"Not now! No!"
"I'm on it, Leto," Grey assured.
Grey pulled up his black screen and typed in a few commands, then disappeared.
"Where did he-?" Leto stared.
Grey reappeared in one of the other trees along where Ash went down. Misty was out of site as well. Grey teleported a few more times looking for a sign of life.
"Come on, where are you? Come on."
Grey teleported down to a log that was being swept by and plunged his hand into the water. A moment later he pulled Misty up by her wrist, who had hold of Ash. Grey teleported back to a tree, taking Misty, Ash, and Pikachu with him.
"You okay?"
Misty coughed up some water and clung to the tree branch. Ash lay unconscious across one of the branches.
"Ash..."
Grey put a hand near Ash's face.
"He's still breathing. He should be alright."
"Once he gets better... I'm going to kill him."
Grey smiled knowingly.
"Are you guys okay?" Brock shouted.
Of course they're okay, haven't you ever tried to drown yourself for kicks?
"Considering the options? Yeah."
-
"I don't think it would be wise to wait any longer," Brock said.
The water had just finished evaporating letting everybody come out of the trees.
"Yeah, I'd rather take my chances with the sorcerer than face anything else that could happen," Misty said.
"Hey guys," James asked, "Have you seen Jessie and Meowth? I haven't seen them since the flood."
"The Translator, and the Assassin?" Jaron asked, "Where are they?"
Grey crossed his arms.
"They left on some sort of raft before teh water level finished going down."
"But they're essential to the fulfillment of the prophecy!" Leto gasped.
"Then we better go after them," Ash said.
"But-" Leto began.
"We need to get to this sorcerer guy before Jessie and Meowth do. They're always looking for a chance to gain power."
"It's true," James agreed, "Jessie's always looking out for number one, and Meowth is always ready to follow."
Misty, Ash, Brock, and James got ready to leave. Leto grabbed Grey by his collar and shook him.
"If you saw them leave, then why didn't you go after them?"
"Because I was busy looking after three 'chosen ones' that nearly drowned," Grey stated bluntly.
Leto let go of Grey.
"Sorry."
"No problem," Grey assured, "With luck, we'll have you guys free in no time."
"With luck?" Leto grimaced.
"What can possibly go wrong?"
-
"It's been nearly three days of wandering, we are almost certain that we've been going in circles. My only reassurance is that, from the tracks we have seen, Jessie and Meowth seem to be having the same problem," Grey sighed.
What can possibly go wrong? What can't?
"We had better find that sorcerer soon," Brock said, "Otherwise we're going to run out of food."
"Do you know where we are?" James asked.
Brock studied the map, mystified.
"We've been going in circles around the very spot where the sorcerer is supposed to be."
"There may be some kind of aversion field," Grey suggested, "Even my teleportation doesn't seem to be working properly."
"How are we supposed to get to the guy if there's a field that makes us not want to find him?" Misty grumbled.
"I have no idea, Misty," Grey replied, "I hadn't even thought of this as a possibility when I started writing this thing."
"Which way is the middle of the sorcerer's place supposed to be?" James asked.
Brock pointed.
"That way."
Grey started to walk in that direction. After about ten feet he suddenly swerved to the side.
"Hey!"
James nodded. He pulled a rope out of his backpack, and then threw it straight where Grey had tried to go. The rope caught on one of the tree branches. James started pulling himself along the rope.
As James passed Grey, he seemed to slow down as if he were pulling himself upstream.
"What's going on?" Misty asked.
James finished pulling himself across.
"If it's an aversion field, that means that it will try to keep James from wanting to go in that direction. But he's just pulling himself across the rope, he only happens to be going in that direction. It's sort of like the outer force field."
Grey stared in awe.
"James, you're a frikin genius."
James lowered his head, embarrassed.
"I'm just good at figuring out how things work," he mumbled.
Grey tried to follow James, but still was unable to go in the proper direction. He grabbed the rope and started hauling himself along it.
"Hey, what about us?" Misty asked.
"Me and James will pull you over one at a time. Have Ash go last, we can just tie the rope to him and he can carry Pikachu and Togepi."
Misty went first, followed by Brock. They threw the rope over to Ash, and with a little help from Pikachu, he tied it around his arm.
Grey and Brock pulled on the rope dragging Ash forward. Pikachu and Togepi rode on his back. When Ash was about halfway across, the rope snapped. Ash fell forward and managed to grab the rope, but in the process, Togepi was bounced off.
"Togepi!" Misty shouted.
Togepi made to go back towards Ash, but the field kept making it swerve to the side. Grey and Brock finished pulling Pikachu and Ash in.
"Togepi, come here!"
Togepi found itself swerving away from its destination. Tears welled up in Togepi's eyes. It waved its arms back and forth.
"Toge-toge-toge- brrrriiii!"
Togepi walked over to Misty.
"Huh?" Grey said, "What happened?"
He walked back to where Togepi had been, and then walked back without any problem.
"How the heck did ...?" He muttered.
"Quit swerving you stupid cat!"
"I'm tryin, Jessie, besides youse is swoivin too."
"Don't give me that! The map says that the guy is that way! You keep on going around the place!"
"I can't help it! It's like dere's sumpin controlin me."
Jessie snarled and picked up Meowth. She then kicked him in the proper direction and proceeded to follow. Meowth got to his feet.
"Dat's funny, I don't feel like swoivin anymore."
"That's what a good kick to the butt does for a person!"
-
"'What could possibly go wrong' he says!" Misty yelled, "If we get out of this alive, I'm going to carve that on your tombstone!"
She hurdled a log that was lying on the ground.
"How was I supposed to know that there were Pokémon on the inside of the aversion field?" Grey replied, "Besides Ash is the one that pissed them off!"
"Don't blame me, I was trying to get James out of there!"
"I want my mommy!"
"Now isn't the best time to talk, those Rhyhorn are mad!"
Roughly five to ten Rhyhorn were stampeding behind them.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, "Use your thunderbolt!"
"That isn't going to work, Ash!" Misty shouted, "Electric attacks aren't that effective against Rock Pokémon, and they're using Rage!"
"What's strong against Rock Pokémon?"
"Water, for one thing, but we can't get to our Pokéballs!"
"Anything else?"
"Grass attacks," Misty suggested.
"Oh, that's great!" Grey shouted, "What's the stupid rat gonna do, hit them with a tree?"
Pikachu aimed an intense thunderbolt at the base of a tree. The tree toppled over, and slammed behind them on top of the Rhyhorn.
Apparently so.
"Well, what does it say, Meowth?"
"He says dat da sorcerer lives in a big castle wit a ferocious fire breathin beast guadin the front door."
"Which way?"
"Rattata, rat rata rattata."
"Dat way."
Jessie began to start in the indicated direction. She paused for a moment.
"How ferocious did you say the beast was?"
"Rattata."
"It's killed tousands."
Jessie sweated.
"In that case, let's go this way," Jessie said, pointing in the other direction.
Jessie took off and Meowth followed.
-
"This is the Sorcerer's castle? The one that is despicable and vile? The most powerful Scientist and Magic user ever to exist?"
"That's what is says on the sign, Misty," Ash said.
"It does look kind of small," Grey commented.
Small only barely described it. It was a hut. It had a roof made out of straw and a Growlithe chained outside.
"That is strange," Brock noted, "You'd think that somebody this powerful, and this cruel, would also be a little flashy."
"Well, let's see if he's home," James suggested.
He went up to the door and made to knock. Misty grabbed him.
"Are you nuts!" She hissed, "Evil sorcerer, Magic powers, Life or death!"
"What do you mean?"
"Whoever opens that door could be turned into a skeleton or something!"
James gulped.
"So who opens the door?" Ash asked.
"Grey does," Misty answered.
"Hey! Wait a minute! I may be brave, but I'm not stupid!"
"You aren't part of the prophecy, so you're most likely to be expendable, plus with your teleportation you can move to safety faster than any of us could."
"Hold on!"
"Plus, you have a better chance of surviving whatever is over there than you do of surviving me."
Grey thought about this factor.
"I believe I see your point, Misty."
"I thought you would."
Grey walked over to the door. He tapped the handle of the door carefully. Once he made sure that it was safe, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it quickly. As the door opened, he disappeared.
"Hey!" Brock shouted.
"Sorry," Grey said, getting off of Brock.
"How come you don't land on her?" James asked, pointing at Misty.
"Because if I did, she'd kill me."
Does anybody remember the door?
"The door," Ash said.
Everybody started towards the door. James stopped and patted the Growlithe, who barked happily in reply.
"James! Quit fooling around and get over here!" Misty hissed.
"But-"
"That's what I'm going to kick if you don't get over here!"
James looked at the dog forlornly. The feeling seemed mutual. James started to get up. The Growlithe howled.
The earth shook under everybody's feet.
"What is this?" Misty shouted, "An earthquake?"
The earth shook again.
"Actually," Brock said nervously, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was..."
A huge Arcanine rose over the horizon, it was at least fifty feet tall.
"Footsteps!" Brock finished.
Don't you just hate it when this happens?
"What do we do?" James moaned.
"Fight?" Ash offered.
"In cases such as these, discretion is the better part of valor," Grey said.
"Huh?"
"RUN!"
"Run where?"
Where else?
Everybody headed towards the small hut.
"Um, guys," Brock said, "Does anybody here actually believe that this little shack is going to protect us?"
"Ah-heh-heh. Ha, oh boy."
"Well why are we staying here then!" Misty asked.
"Because the door's closed," James answered.
"So what?"
"It's locked."
"Grey, why don't you teleport out of here and let us out?" Misty inquired sweetly.
"Because I would stand a better chance against you than that Arcanine," Grey replied, just as sweetly.
"Go do it."
"Not on your life."
"How about yours?"
"Moot point now," James interrupted.
"Whaddya mean," Grey asked.
"We've set off the trap doors in the floor."
"What trap doors?"
Grey, Misty, Ash, and Brock felt the floor drop out from beneath them.
Ask a silly question...
"Aaaahhh! Meowth, you said that that rat told you the monster was this way!"
"I tot dat was what he meant, Jessie. I didn't translate exactly. What he said was 'the monster normally attacks over there.' He must commute or sumptin."
Jessie looked around for places to hide.
"Quick, Meowth. In that hut!"
"But what about da dog."
The Growlithe was still howling.
"There's a much bigger dog to worry about right behind us!"
"Oh yeah! Yipe!"
Jessie grabbed the doorknob.
"Oh, no! It's locked!"
Jessie began to fiddle with the lock.
"Jessie?" Meowth squeaked.
"Shh, I'm concentrating."
"ROWLF!"
"Aaaahhh!"
Sluuuurp- Chomp!
-
"Is everybody okay?" Ash asked, pushing himself back to his feet.
"I'm alright," Brock said.
"Togepi?" Misty called.
"Brii!"
"Pika pika-pi."
"Check," Grey said.
"Actually, that was kind of fun," James said.
"You think that sliding down, what felt like a mile long slide, at was seemed like terminal velocity, was fun!" Grey asked.
"Well, yeah."
"Me too. Woo-hoo!"
"This isn't a game you two!" Misty shouted.
She hefted her Turbo-mallet menacingly.
"Yeah, I know," Grey said, "So, Brock, where are we?"
"That's easy, underground."
"Oh, gee, thanks."
"Does anybody have a flashlight?" James asked, "I can't see."
It was fairly dark; the only thing that could really be seen were shadows. Grey pulled up his black screen.
"What's that for?" Misty asked.
"It gives off its own light source."
The screen turned on and lit up the surrounding area for a few feet.
"I don't think I wanted to see that," James whimpered.
The light showed bones littered about the walls, various torture devices could be seen as well. One of the skeletons that was manacled to the wall looked up at them.
"Put out that light!"
Grey turned off his screen quickly.
"Thank you," the skeleton said.
"Why did you do that?" Ash asked.
"You wanna argue with a talking skeleton?"
"This place is freaky," Brock muttered.
"No kidding," Grey agreed.
"How do we get out of here?" Ash asked.
"Go straight that way, third door on your right, unless you're looking for the bathroom," the skeleton answered, "That's the second door on the left."
"Thanks," James said, gratefully.
"Forget about it."
"Weird," Grey muttered.
"Toge!"
"Shaddup."
Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem dry-i-yi bones.
Ash and everybody else followed the skeleton's directions. James started to swerve to the side.
"Where are you going?" Ash asked.
"To the bathroom."
"Be careful, you don't know what could happen in a place like this."
James went in cautiously. They waited a few moments.
SPLOOOOOOOOZZZZHHH!
"Yaaaayaaayaaayaaayaah!"
Grey, Ash, and Brock rushed inside to check on James. There was no sign of him. Grey stared at the toilet.
"My god, he's been flushed down."
"No way," Ash breathed.
"What a cruel way to go," Brock mourned.
"Farewell, James," Ash said, "We will always remember you in passing."
"I'm up here."
They looked up at the ceiling. It was pretty high up for a bathroom. James was clinging to a light panel.
"What are you doing up there?" Ash asked.
"I'm stuck."
"I'll get you down," Grey said, "Just hold on."
Grey typed out a command on his screen and appeared next to James. He grabbed James and teleported again.
"Where are we?" James asked.
Grey and James were in a completely different room.
"You remember that adversity factor that Jaron and Leto told us about?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd say it's working, I have no clue where we are."
"Where did he go?" Ash asked.
"I don't know," Brock replied, "Hey Misty! Misty?"
Brock went out into the hallway and looked for Misty. She was gone. Brock went back into the bathroom.
"Hey Ash, Misty is gone too. Ash? Ash!"
Now Ash was missing.
"Oh, shoot."
"So what exactly happened that you jumped all the way to the ceiling?"
"I saw an alligator come out so I flushed the toilet, then jumped away."
Grey looked around for some sort of landmark so he could orient himself.
"You jumped straight up that far?"
"I was scared," James said.
Grey turned around. James's voice had sounded like it was about twenty feet away.
"Yo, James. Stay with me so you don't get..."
Grey ran to where he had heard James voice. James was nowhere to be found.
"...Lost."
"Let go of us you filthy mutt!"
"Ahh, Jessie, given our current position, I don't tink dat would be too good of an idea."
Jessie and Meowth dangled from the large mouth of the Mega-Arcanine. They were at least fifty feet above the ground. The Arcanine walked over to a clearing in the woods and began digging an enormous hole in the ground.
"Jessie! You don't tink he's gonna, ulp, bury us?"
"You wouldn't dare!"
Oh, he wouldn't, would he?
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
>>Voice sensitivity activated.
"Okay computer," Grey said, "Start mapping the surrounding area, work on figuring out why my teleportation wasn't working, and see if you can put a trace on the adversity field to see if we can find this scientist."
>>Unable to map surrounding area, no problem found with teleportation mechanism, adversity field suggests likelihood of finding scientist in this direction.
An arrow showed up on the screen. At first it pointed strait ahead, but when Grey started to walk in that direction, the arrow began to spin randomly.
"What's going on?"
>>Error in external sensory devices. Constant reading is unobtainable.
The last thing Grey wanted to do was get lost, not that he wasn't already, but he didn't want to get even more lost.
"What about the tracking devices?"
>>Tracking devices on Jessie, James, Meowth, Ash, Brock, and Misty are malfunctioning. No fix can be put on locations. Information is still being transmitted.
"Any suggestions?"
>>Negative.
Grey sighed and sat down, cross-legged.
"Guess all I can do is watch, now."
"Where did everybody go?" Misty asked herself quietly.
She clutched Togepi closer to her. She still had her Turbo-mallet, which gave her some sense of security, but what she really would have liked was access to some of her other Pokémon.
"I'd even settle for Psyduck," she sighed.
She must really be desperate.
"I turn back to keep an eye on that third door, and poof, everybody disappears. Now I don't even know where I am."
Speaking of which, Misty could swear that this was the third time she had gone by that same mirror.
"I'm sure that I've only gone straight. What's going on?"
Misty put down Togepi, then thought better of it and put down her Turbo-mallet instead. She continued in the direction she had been going, and sure enough, she found the mallet in the exact place she had left it.
"Nooo! I'm going in circles! Now what do I do!"
Misty began to tremble. She glanced over at the mirror. Her reflection seemed to stare back mockingly at her. She clenched her fist and grabbed her Turbo-mallet off the ground. The mirror followed suit, but grinned even wider.
"Why...you..."
Misty slammed her mallet into the mirror. The mirror did likewise striking the same spot. Instead of breaking, the mirror sent back a reverberation that numbed her arm.
"Oww!"
The mirror almost seemed to be taunting her. She tightened her grip on her Turbo-mallet and slammed it into the mirror repeatedly. None of her attacks got through. The mirror's smug demeanor got worse.
"Aaarghh!"
Misty pulled out her personal Mallet. The mirror followed her motion, but no mallet appeared. She slammed her Mallet against the mirror. It shuddered, and shattered.
That's seven years bad luck.
Misty drew a shuddering breath. Where the mirror had been, a passageway was now revealed. Misty watched it for a moment, then went in.
"Was that passageway there before?"
>>Subsonic reverberations and stability factors suggest that no passageway was present until the mirror had broken.
"Hmm..." Grey mused, "How are Jessie and Meowth doing?"
>>They are currently separated.
"Tune into the signal on Meowth."
"Diglett dig, diglett dig, diglett dig."
"Meowth. Youse guys wouldn't mind diggen me outta here, would ya?"
Meowth was trapped in a small spot underground. Luck have it, a Diglett happened to come across him.
"Diglett!"
"What are they saying, computer?"
>>Please install translation program.
"What would the Digletts want with a translation program?"
>>The translation program needs to be installed to interpret Pokémon speech.
"Didn't I install that before we started?"
>>Negative.
"Nuts."
"You want sumpin in return?"
"Dig."
"But I don't have nutin ta give ya."
"Diglett."
The Diglett started to leave.
"Wait! Don't leave me here!"
Meowth thought frantically.
"What is it ya want?"
"Diglett."
"A shrubbery? Whacha gonna do wit a shrubbery?"
"Dig."
"Com' on. Help me out here! Isn't dere sumptin else I could do?"
"Diglett."
"The Diglett dug a tunnel through the ground, leading up towards the surface. Finally, Meowth reached the top. He came out a hole in the ground next to a fairly large tree.
"Diglett, Diglett, Dig, Diglett."
"You want me ta knock down da tree..."
The Diglett disappeared under the ground and came back with a fish. He gave the fish to Meowth.
"Diglett."
"Wit a herring!"
Insert creepy background noise here.
"How am I supposed to knock down da tree wit dis?" Meowth said, pointing at the fish.
"Diglett dig."
"I'm telling ya, it can't be done!"
Meowth threw the fish into the woods disgustedly.
"Rrrr-RhRhRhR!"
"What was dat!"
A Nidoking came charging into view. On its face was the fish that Meowth had thrown. The Nidoking charged at Meowth.
"Yiee!"
Meowth dodged out of the way. The Nidoking barreled past, slamming headfirst into the tree. Nidoking knocked himself out. The tree creaked, then toppled over, revealing a large hole leading deep down into the ground. Meowth stared with his jaw hanging open.
"Um, like I said, it's a snap."
"Meowth seems to be okay. How about Jessie?"
>>Processing.
"Ohh, that stupid mutt! How dare he bury me!"
Jessie walked through a dark corridor.
"Hmph! Lucky I fell into this tunnel, otherwise I'd give that dog an earful!"
She checked back the way she had come, just in case Meowth had managed to follow her.
"Now how do I get out of here?" She grumbled.
Clang!
"Yowch!" Jessie shouted, rubbing her head.
She looked up at some sort of hatch in the ceiling, like on a submarine. There was a sign next to it, but it was too dark to read easily.
"This must be a way out!"
Jessie grabbed the wheel-like handle on the hatch and began turning it.
"Geeze, this thing is hard to turn," Jessie groaned.
Red lights suddenly started flashing wildly.
"What's that? I didn't do it! I've been framed!"
In the flashing lights Jessie was able to make out the wording on the sign.
"Water... Hatch? What's that supposed to mean?"
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.
Jessie was thrown to the ground as the hatch burst open, gushing water.
"Yaaaahhh!"
Jessie was carried off in the torrent of water.
Grey winced.
"Can you follow her?"
>>Affirmative, however turbulence would make the picture nearly indecipherable.
Grey sighed.
"Are there any readings on anybody's location?"
>>Yes.
"There is?"
Hope sprang into Grey's eyes.
>>You are currently standing in a room roughly 20 meters in length.
Hope beat its head against the wall repeatedly.
"Computer..." Grey gritted, "I mean anybody else's location."
>>Negative.
"Then show me how Ash is doing."
"Blast him Pikachu!"
"Pi-KAAA!"
ZAP!
Ash shot through the hole in the crowd of Zombies. One of them nearly latched on to his arm, which was still covered with that sticky white stuff.
Ash shrugged the Zombie off as Pikachu zapped it. He ran down the hall and around a corner.
"How many of these things are there?" Ash puffed.
"Pika."
"They aren't that fast, but there are a lot of them."
"Pi-Ka."
Ash poked his head around the corner.
"uuuhngh."
"Ahh!"
Ash scrambled back.
"PIKA!"
ZAP!
"Come on, Pikachu. Let's get out of here!"
Ash picked up Pikachu and started running.
"Pika pika pikapi, pikachu!"
Ash looked where Pikachu was pointing.
"A door!"
Ash ran inside and slammed the door behind him. The room was completely dark.
"I've been expecting you, Leader."
"Who's there?"
"I believe you know me as the Sorcerer."
"-- - - - - --- - "
"Computer, what's going on?"
>>Ash's signal has disappeared.
"This is not good."
"Where did everybody go?" James asked.
Nobody answered.
"This is way too scary. I wanna go home."
James looked around. He noticed a strange looking door.
"Maybe that's the kitchen."
He pushed open the door and went in.
"Where's the light switch?"
James felt along the wall. His hand caught on a switch.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop.
>>Welcome, you have turned on the Temporal Distortion Computer. Press any key to continue...
"Alright, a video game. I could use something like that to calm my nerves."
James went up to the control panel and looked at it.
"Any key... any key... enter.. ctrl... alt... where's the Any key..?"
He finally shrugged an tapped on the space bar.
>>Radius of influence: 10 Kilometers
>>Adversity factor: 87
>>Reality distortion: 40
>>Field status:
>>Main Block: Green, Aversion: Red, Sub Block: Blue
>>Enter password:
"Password? Ummm."
James punched a few keys.
"Gi...O...Va...Ni?"
>>Password accepted. Welcome Paravachi.
"Paravachi? Where have I heard that name? Oh, well. Now let's get down to the games."
James typed in a few commands.
"Let's put the Radius up, and Adversity down to 20, and I want to be Blue. But put the Distortion up so there's a bit of a challenge."
"Okay computer, since we can't tune in on Ash's signal, then see if you can find Brock.
>>Searching...
"Huh?"
>>Brock is currently 10 meters behind you.
"You know where Brock is? Lets go!"
Grey started to get up. The ground shook suddenly.
"Woah! Computer, what's going on?"
>>The adversity field has decreased, however, the radius of the enclosed area has increased. The level of Reality Distortion has increased as well.
"You mean the field's changing?"
>>Affirmative.
The scenery began to change colors rapidly. Strange plants began to grow from nowhere, bloom, then fade away, and various objects began to melt and harden. Odd, disturbing noises filled the room while objects started floating moving of their own volition.
"Get us out of here!"
>>Processing...
"Woah! This video game is nuts!"
"Get away from there!"
"What?"
James turned around as the wall behind him disappeared to see Ash, Pikachu, and a dark looking man standing next to them.
"I said, get away from that computer, you idiot!"
James cringed away from the computer. The man quickly ran over to the computer and re-adjusted the settings back to where they were.
"Who are you?"
"He's the sorcerer that we were sent for," Ash answered.
"That's right, but I have the upper hand now. I guess the prophecy was wrong."
"Not quite."
Ash turned around.
"Misty?"
There was the shatter of glass and Misty walked out of the mirror.
"What? How did you get out of my Mobius hallway?"
The air rippled as Brock and Grey popped into view.
"Brock? Grey?"
Grey turned to look at Brock.
"How'd you get here?"
>>You said 'teleport us'
"Oh."
"Don't forget Me-owth!"
Everybody looked up. Meowth dropped through a hole in the ceiling.
"Ha-ha, taught youse could staht da pahty witout me, huh?"
The sorcerer began to splutter.
"How did you escape from my Mega-Arcanine?"
I'd say that this is going to be one sorry Sorcerer.
"Who da ya tink youse is?"
The Sorcerer saw this as a chance to regain his composure, as well as his daunting presence.
"I am Paravachi! The Lord of Chaos and soon to be the Herald of Destruction for the entire world!"
Meowth seemed to go pale.
"No way, youse can't be!"
"Who is he?" Misty asked.
James started shaking as well.
"He's the most evil and insane person that this world has ever seen. He's been responsible for thousands of lost lives. He's completely heartless."
Why can't we have some average badguys in these fanfics?
"And he's our Boss's father."
The Sorcerer grinned evilly.
What did you expect? A silly smirk?
"So, my son has continued my legacy. Since you know who I am, why don't you join me?"
"Don't do it," Ash shouted.
"Yeah!" Misty agreed.
James shook his head.
"The Boss doesn't want to destroy anything, he just wants to control everything. Sure he's greedy and power hungry, but he's not insane."
Paravachi frowned.
"My son is as foolish as his mother was. I will destroy him for his weakness once I finish with you."
"Threaten da Boss, huh? I don't tink so!"
"I threaten who I choose! But right now, it's time for me to destroy you!"
He started pressing various buttons on his computer. The floor began to shake, large pieces of it dropped out from underfoot, revealing an empty void below.
"Pikachu, Take him out!"
"PIKA!"
Paravachi pressed one of the buttons on his computers. Pikachu's electric attack slammed into an invisible barrier in front of him.
"Is that the best you can do?"
Misty ran in with her Turbo-Mallet, James and Brock pulled out their swords and followed. Misty miscalculated where the barrier was and slammed into it hard. Brock and James skidded to a halt and swung at the barrier.
"Aghh!"
Both Brock and James were the recipients of a shockwave that sent them flying back.
"Guys!" Grey shouted, "The floor!"
The entire back end of the floor had dropped away. The floor to either side was gone as well.
Estimated 30 seconds before floor has dropped away entirely.
"That's right! You might as well say your prayers!"
"Pikachu, use your Thund-"
The section of floor that Ash was standing on dropped away. Time seemed to stand still.
"Ash!" Misty shouted.
"Pika-pi!"
Misty dropped to her knees, letting her bag slide from a nerveless shoulder. Grey watched as his fanfic went completely wrong.
"No."
Grey walked over to the edge of the shrinking floor, and stepped off.
"What's da kid doin?" Meowth yelped.
Togepi slowly crawled out of the bag. It stared at the computer, with all it's flashing lights and blinking patterns. Togepi waved its arms in time to the patterns.
"Toge-Toge-Toge-Briiii!"
Caution: Adversity level dropping, Sub Block status is Yellow, Reality distortion is dropping.
"What? What's going on? NO!"
Paravachi slammed his hand against the console in frustration.
"Huh?"
Paravachi had accidentally pressed one of the buttons that controlled the floor. Pieces of the floor began to rise back up to form a path to the main door.
"Piki ka pi!"
"Ash!"
Ash was on one of the pieces that came back up.
"Pikachu, Thunder, Now!"
"PIIIIKAAAAA!"
"Oh no!"
ZAP-BOOOOOM!
Paravachi's Temporal Distortion Computer began to explode. Sparks flew out, pieces shot off. Then, in one giant explosion, the whole thing went up in smoke.
"Ash, you're okay!"
Misty hugged Ash.
"Yeah... Misty."
Ash swallowed nervously.
"Um, where's Grey?"
Misty let go of Ash and chewed on her lip.
"He jumped off," Meowth answered.
"He's gone?"
"Just like you'll soon be!"
Everybody turned to see where the voice had come from. Paravachi emerged from the rubble that used to be his computer.
"I may not have my Computer, but I still have this!"
Paravachi pulled a gun out from behind his back.
"Misty, look out!"
Ash stood up in front of Misty as Paravachi pulled the trigger.
"ASH!"
Ash was thrown back by the force of the bullet. Misty caught Ash and lowered him gently to the ground.
There was a rumble. The scientist looked up.
"What?"
One part of the wall blew out in a geyser of water. The scientist was caught by the blast and knocked into one of the pieces of the floor that hadn't come back up. He screamed in dismayed fury as he fell to his doom.
"NOOOOOOO!"
As the rush of water slowed down, Jessie crawled out of the rubble of the computer, completely soaked.
"What happened? Where's the Sorcerer? Did you guys beat him already?"
Misty watched Ash tearfully.
"Ash..."
"Ow, that really stung."
"Huh?"
Misty checked where Ash had been shot. There was a dent in the sticky substance that coated Ash's arm and waist, and the flattened out bullet could be seen inside.
"You're alive!"
Misty hugged Ash, once again, in relief.
The whole building shook.
It ain't over yet.
"What's going on?" James asked.
"The building's collapsing!" Brock shouted, "We've got to get out of here, now!"
"Which way!" Meowth asked.
"That way," Brock answered.
Gee, how did he figure that out? It is the only accessible door in the whole room.
"Now where?" Misty asked.
Brock thought for a moment.
"Well, we are underground, so head for those stairs."
Everybody got moving as the floor disappeared behind them.
"Now where?' Jessie asked, "And what's going on!"
"Talk later, Jessie," James moaned, "Run now!"
"Brock? Which way?" Ash shouted.
"Just follow me!"
Brock simply kept an eye out for any staircases leading up, and headed towards them. After a bit more shouting, and a lot more running, everybody finally ended up outside of the hut, just in time to see it sink into the ground.
"That was...too much," James panted.
James then proceeded to pass out.
What staying power.
Ash shaded his eyes with his free hand.
"What's that over there?" He asked.
Brock checked where Ash was looking.
"It looks like Jaron, and Leto."
"And it sounds like they're cheering," Misty added.
Leto waved to them.
"Congratulations!" She called, "I'd say this is the perfect occasion for a party!"
"YEAH!"
-
"So what happened to Grey?" Leto asked.
"We don't know," Misty answered, "But we were just about in for it ourselves, then all of a sudden, everything went haywire for the Sorcerer, and Pikachu managed to blow up his computer. He pulled a gun on us, and shot Ash. Then Jessie came out of the wall and knocked him off the edge of the floor. The whole place dissolved after that. I hope that Grey's okay though."
"Speaking of which," Jaron commented, "Where is Team Rocket?"
Ash looked around frantically, Jessie, James, and Meowth had disappeared soon after the party started.
"Oh no! Now how am I going to get this stuff off my arm!"
"Toge!"
"Huh?"
Misty looked down at Togepi, who was holding a piece of rolled up paper.
"What's this?" Misty asked.
Misty unrolled the paper and started to read.
To
Ash, Misty, Brock, and everyone
else,
It's me, Grey. If you're reading this, then I'm okay. I had been checking on my computer for any possible ways to resume my status as the Author. My computer informed me that as long as I was a character, I couldn't be the Author. I didn't want to take the chance before, but with how bad things were going, I had to take the risk and try to write myself out of the script so that I could get my abilities back. Oh, by the way, one thing that James forgot to mention was the fact that the solution that dissolves that sticky stuff on Ash's arm is simply a mixture of soapy water with a bit of lemon juice in it.
So long, and have fun!
Grey Acumen
P.S.
Better watch out, Misty, my next fic is gonna be a
romance. ;)
Misty turned red.
Just
wanna keep them on their toes.