A Jewel in Water
Part 35
A/N: Apologies for the weirdness of the story. Trying hard to fix it…
Ash put the last spoon of stew into his mouth and savoured his last moments of rest. The never-ending challenges were dying down, and apart from some few close calls, no-one seemed to be to threatening. He swallowed and took a sip of water. He had to admit that Ref made a good call telling him to go eat. But now he was awash with drowsiness that may take some time to wash off. He'd only been Master for just over a year but he really hated it when league season finished. Before that he had been Kanto champion, but at least then you'd only get challenges from one region!
But secretly, Ash's feet were itching. He didn't want to be stuck in the battle hall anymore. A year he had been living his childhood dream, but along the way that dream had changed. He needed to go on an adventure. Waiting for the right person to beat him was hard. Out of respect, before giving up his title, he needed to battle at 100%. Why was the calibre so low this year? After thinking these awakening thoughts, he became even more motivated to finish up the battles and head back over to the castle, to meet the other guys. Speaking of other guys… Cilan! He needed to check on his whereabouts. He pulled out his phone and dialled his number. The phone rang once, then twice then:
"Hello?"
"Hey Cilan, that you?"
"Oh hi Ash! Yes its' me. I just landed in Johto."
"Johto? That's so far, why didn't you land in Saffron City?"
"Well, when you're travelling on a budget you have to give up some speed." Cilan sighed into the phone, and Ash guiltily laughed. Cilan owed him a favour for sure but he still felt guilty.
"Ah, I'm sorry about that… I'll pay you back, okay?"
"Well I guess its not too much of a problem. Its quite an zingy flavour – full of excitement! I haven't seen you in a while." Cilan decided.
"No," Ash said flatly, "By the time you come here and find out how you're going to repay that favour…" He couldn't quite figure out how to finish the sentence without making Cilan run for the hills. Luckily Ash was only met with a stony silence on the other side.
Jessie, James and Meowth stood before a menacing looking stone door. The three of them gulped simultaneously.
"Yous guys… Do you think this was such a good idea?" Meowth asked uncertainly.
"Well, I don't know Meowth! The Boss asked us to come here and we came. You were the one who was most faithful and forced me and James to come!" Jessie snapped, out of nervousness.
"Can we call him the Boss anymore? Isn't the twerp our new Boss?" James tried.
"James, will you just shut up? I say we go back now. This was a bad idea. Why ruin the great thing we have going here?" Jessie said, and made to walk away from the door.
"Wait Jessie, don't you want to hear what the Boss has to say to us?" James cried and turned to follow her.
"Curse this feline devotion. I don't care about the Boss anymore. I'm a free cat!" Meowth said to himself and turned to follow Jessie and James. But before they could move far enough away from the door, the floor underneath them gave way. Reminiscent of old times, they crashed into a heap at the bottom of the pit.
"Ugh, not these guys again. Why did the Boss even invite you guys here again?" said a young man with green hair. "Shuckle! Use secret power!"
Before they knew it, a Shuckle appeared and hit Jessie and James with a dose of secret power, causing them drift off to sleep.
"Guys! Guys, wake up!" Meowth cried, scratching them both on their sleeping faces, but to no avail.
"Missed one Shuckle! Use secret power on their Meowth."
"Biff! Not you again!" Meowth cried whilst dodging the Shuckle. Why were they being attacked when they had been invited here. "Why yous two attacking us? We have a special invite from the Boss!"
"For the last time, its Butch! And we are under order to bring you three to the Boss, only the condition is he would prefer you incapacitated! Now Shuckle, try secret power one more time!" Meowth just managed to dodge the attack. There was no choice. His claws were no match for that Shuckle. He would have to go get help, leaving Jessie and James behind. He looked up and saw that the opening had a ladder built into the edge. He tried to scramble up, but before he could escape Butch and Shuckles view, Butch unleashed another attack.
"Argh, Shuckles, it's getting away! Use sludge bomb!" Meowth wasn't able to dodge in time and fell to the floor, hitting it hard. "Hah, got him!" Meowth tried to get up but he couldn't – he could feel the poison permeating through his body. His vision went blurry, and the poison got stronger the more he tried to move. He heard Butch calling for backup to help him carry the three of them into their chamber, but Meowth decided that he wouldn't be down and out. Before Butch could finish calling the backup, he sprang up with every last ounce of his being. Taking advantage of their moment of shock, he scrambled up the stairs and, to avoid getting hit by another sludge bomb, turned to whack everyone below with as powerful a payday as he could muster before carrying on up. He collapsed onto his stomach as he reached the top of the hole, but he couldn't rest. He could hear Butch coming to follow him up. Working past the poison, Meowth ignored the throbbing pain in his body and leaped into the surrounding woods, trying to get as far as possible.
At Cerulean Cave, Brock easily bypassed the 'No entry' sign and made his way in. May was hesitant however.
"Uh, Brock, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, its pretty clear that we shouldn't be entering."
"Normally I would agree with you May. But I don't know what to say. Something makes me want to go in here and check out why its so out of bounds. Will you join me?" May stood behind and crossed her arms.
"I think I might give this adventure a miss Brock."
"Aw, come on May! I'll call my Sudowoodo out if that makes you feel better."
"Nope, but by all means you explore. I'll be off to see the Berry Powder man. Please don't get crushed by falling rocks." She made to turn and go back into town, when a noise came from the cave. Footsteps. Getting louder and faster. Brock turned around to see what was coming, and when the source of noise became visible in the dim light, he let out a yelp.
"GET OUT OF MY CAVE!" an older man called as he ran over with a thick stick, lit on fire.
"Oh my gosh!" May cried. Brock yelped again and legged it back over the cave boundary. The man kept shouting however, leaving the cave wasn't going to be enough.
"Let's get out of here May!" Brock called as he sprinted ahead.
"Wait for me Brock!" she called and they both ran down the grassy field to put as much distance between themselves and the man, as possible.