So this chapter is a little shorter but and it's basically a filler just for fun. Enjoy!


The bright sunshine made walking a little easier to bear as it was at least very warm. Ever since the deal with the Pinsir and the Heracross we'd travelled for two days, however we still don't seem to have got anywhere.

But then yesterday we did bump into a really nice lady called Rochelle who showed us how she finds amberite. She even let me take some away with me as a trade for one of my evolution stones. It's a good thing I thought to bring plenty with me, so I now had a beautiful amberite bracelet made from little beads which sat snugly on my wrist. Anyway, despite all this. It appeared we were now once again lost and Brock was beginning to twitch in frustration. "Don't tell me. We're lost again aren't we?" Misty sighed so I looked at her.

"In that case, I won't tell you." I answered, sitting down on a rock and Misty whirled around to glare at Ash and Brock.

"This is the last time I trust either of you boys with a map." Ash was looking this way and that, shielding his eyes to try and see further.

"We're not lost exactly." He answered, still looking.

"Oh no, we're not lost, it's just that we don't know where we are." Brock replied sarcastically and I giggled. It was rare you ever heard that tone come from Brock. Misty hung her head despairingly.

"This always happens when Ash is in charge."

"Pika! Pika…" Pikachu agreed as Brock growled.

"It's almost sundown and we're going to be stuck in some spooky forest all night!" Misty blinked, leaning back a little.

"Did you say…spooky?"

"Don't worry guys!" Ash suddenly leaped up with a loud and bright voice. "Come on let's go!" He charged forwards and I sighed before standing up and grabbing his collar, stopping him short before hauling him around.

"Wrong way genius, that's a tree." I told him and he opened his eyes to look where he had just been running towards.

"Huh? Oh right. Thanks Ruby!" He called then rushed off again, this time heading down the road. "Let's go!"

"Go where?!" Misty yelled after him but Ash didn't break pace.

"You'll see! Our troubles will be over in no time!" I glared after him, one hand on my hip.

"I vote we just leave him here." I said and I could tell the others were considering agreeing with me but instead we followed after him, letting him run off some steam until finally, he was walking at a normal pace again. We trekked through the forest, simply following the path that was there though I was pretty certain we were going in circles because that tree root looks very familiar. And to boot, it was dark and the trees were beginning to creep up on me.

"Argh, Ash! Where are we now?!" Misty yelled in a rage, the four of us stuck in a glade without a clue in which direction we should take. I knew I should have just asked Pidgeotto to find us the way out, or ridden Charizard over the forest like I had suggested but no. Ash wanted to go inside to find more Pokémon! That kid will be lucky if he sees the next sunrise.

"Now we're…lost." Yup. He's dead.

"And we're in the middle of nowhere!" Misty continued in her famous temper.

"Everywhere is somewhere." He answered but I merely smacked him on the back of the head so he hit the ground.

"At least most somewhere have a name and a location we can point to on a map to find our way out of it!" I yelled at him. "You had better get us out of this mess genius, because if you don't then I'll feed you to Charizard!"

"Wargh alright! I'll think of something!" He leaped up, waving his hands at me. "Just please don't do that!" Nodding my head I sat down on the floor and waited with my arms crossed, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"I don't like this place…it's spooky…" Misty murmured a little fearfully, looking around at the trees as their shadows grew.

"It's alright Misty, there's nothing to be afraid of." I assured her, folding my legs and closed my eyes to meditate and relax for a minute. Just as I finished speaking a ghostly voice called out spookily, making my spine tingle nervously as Misty shot me a look.

"Nothing to be afraid of, huh?"

"It's…just the wind." I laughed nervously, slowly standing up and Misty quickly moved over to me and we clung to one another. The sound came again and we both gulped and went as stiff as a plank.

"Cut it out! Making those sounds isn't funny!" She yelled at Brock but he turned around and shook his head.

"It isn't me Misty!" Ash growled and clenched his fists, facing the darkness with a brave expression though I could see his knees quivering.

"Who's there? Come on out!" He challenged, but all he got in answer was the spooky and now slightly terrifying voice again. There was a dim glow of light and suddenly the tree nearest us had a face, screaming at is with a jagged expression and we all yelled and grouped together, huddling close for protection.

Now completely freaked we all ran for our lives but the next tree we faced grew features too, glaring down with a large gaping mouth with a new sound like a wail. "Back that way!" I yelled and we all hurtled for a new escape with the same result.

A howl broke through the other noises, the new face even scarier than the last so we changed direction again, trying to find a way out but no matter where we turned all I saw were hideous faces that grew larger and larger, moving forwards to eat us up for a light evening meal.

We all cried out in fear and ran with our eyes shut, planning on just making a break for it but suddenly we were swallowed in red light, making us all stop and slam into one another in our hasty stop.

I gasped and looked around, seeing the trees go back to normal as if nothing had happened at all. Everyone looked around in equal confusion. What had just happened? And where had that light come from? "What was that?" Ash demanded in bewilderment, still slightly shaky from the adrenaline rush we had all experienced.

"It was nothing." Someone said behind and we all whirled around in shock.

"Gary!" Oh great, another Gary rescue to add to the list. This has not been my day, or night!

"Everything you saw and heard was just an illusion." He explained then rubbed the head of a funny looking Pokémon. It looked like a bird but it stood on one foot and it was really round, with brown feathers, little wings and black marked around its glowing red eyes. "Good job Hoothoot."

"Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" It chirped back and I just stared at it.

"What's a…?" Ash cut himself off and drew out Dexter to listen to what the information was.

"Hoothoot, the owl Pokémon. Hoothoot stands on one leg but uses both eyes to see through even the darkest of night." Dexter explained as the little Pokémon hopped away.

"Ah, it's so sweet." I smiled, walking forwards and kneeling down. "Hi there!" I greeted and it turned its bright glowing eyes on me, forcing me to cover my eyes. "Wow, those are some headlights you got there." I said then let it eat some of my Pokéfood I have for Pidgeotto, which it pecked happily out of my hand.

"Hoo-hoo!" It trilled happily and I giggled.

"Unprepared as usual. Don't you know you have to use a Hoothoot to get through this forest?" Gary asked so I stood up and glared at Ash.

"Well if someone hadn't got us lost, then maybe we wouldn't even be in these woods in the first place!" Suddenly Hoothoot flew up to my shoulder, flapping its little wings.

"Hoo-hoo!"

"Huh? Oh sorry, you weren't finished, were you?" I smiled, all irritation gone as I gave it the last little bits of seeds which he pecked out of my hand.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked Gary as he pulled his eyes away from the Hoothoot. "What happens if we don't?" Gary's expression remained serious, focusing in on Ash as I stepped forwards with Hoothoot still on my shoulder.

"You'll get lost here. Forever."

"Forever?!" Ash and I cried out together before I turned on him.

"Ash Ketchum, this is totally all your fault!"

"My fault? I was the one following the map!" I growled and gripped my hat, flattening it to my head.

"You were reading it upside down!" Exhaling I shook my head slowly, focusing on just calming down. Anger won't solve this, we need to remain calm and think things through carefully.

"But you have a Hoothoot and you're still here in the forest." Misty reasoned smartly. "If you're not lost then how come we caught up with you?" I love Misty so much right now. So Gary, how come you're still here in these giant woods if you're so smart?

"Oh that's easy." He answered. "I've been…busy. I've caught so many Pokémon that I must have lost track of time." Gary explained then lifted his head with a knowing smirk. "You see, that's what makes me a great Pokémon trainer! As soon as I got to this forest I sized up the situation and took action! I realised I needed a Hoothoot and I got one." I arched an eyebrow.

"So long story short, you can't figure out which path to take to get out of here." I translated for him with a chuckle. "Great Pokémon trainer, right?" He glared at me.

"Alright so I may have taken a wrong turn but I have caught loads of Pokémon!" He answered so I just folded my arms and pouted as I looked at him mockingly.

"Oh yeah? How many then?"

"Loads!"

"Specifically." He growled at me.

"Ugh…I don't have time to waste with you losers, I've got to get going." He flicked a hand then made to turn around.

"Just so you know, I'm entering the Johto League." I said before he got away and he whirled around with a shocked expression. "So you'd better watch out, because I'm going to win that trophy."

"What?! No way!" I nodded my head. "Well in that case you'd best get your tissues ready, because you'll be the one who needs them after I'm done wiping you out!"

"Oh yeah? Well you're going to be the one who'll taste my Pokémon's fury because we'll be way better than you are by the time we get to the Johto League!" He stepped closer with a glare, our faces barely four inches apart.

"Your Pokémon won't even be able to look at my Pokémon. You might as well give up now Rubes." This set off the spark. He's been getting away with calling me Rubes for a while now, what's wrong with me? I'm begging to slack off.

"My name is RUBY!" I yelled. "And you're just an arrogant jerk!"

"You're a whiny wimp!"

"At least I don't go around with a bush on my head for hair!"

"At least mine doesn't look like it's been fried!" Point taken. Hey wait, my hair looks crispy still? Oh no! Gary frowned slightly, peering a little closer. "What did happen to your hair?"

"A giant Pinsir robot zapped us." I answered, folding my arms with a huff. "Now, don't you have somewhere to be and more Pokémon to catch?" I asked sarcastically and he smirked.

"Exactly. Come on Hoothoot. Let's go somewhere where the air smells better." I flung my fists down to my side, growling at the insult.

"I hate you Gary Oak!" I yelled after him but he merely flicked out his hand in farewell. Once he was gone I turned around and stomped my foot. "Right, everyone stand back. We're getting out of here so we can get to Violet City and win our first badge!" I decided and everyone instantly stepped back, though Ash looked excited.

"Alright!" Nodding my head I picked up a Pokéball and let it fly.

"Charizard! I choose you!" Charizard appeared with a bright flash and shook out his head, ready to fight though he looked a little confused. "Sorry buddy but no battle tonight, we need to get out of this forest and we can't go through it, so we'll have to try going over it." He nodded his head as I brought out the map and my compass, looking for Violet City.

It was north on the map and I turned around until I was facing north with my compass. "Alright, we need to head that way." I directed. "Everyone climb on."

"How about I ride my Charizard?" Ash suggested and before I could stop him, he'd called his Charizard out. "Go Charizard!" The smaller Pokémon instantly whirled around to face my own Charizard, growling as they locked heads and began to push against one another, growling as they tried to settle on who was the better.

"Alright you guys, break it up!" I clapped my hand and walked between them, making them step backwards. "Let's be serious here, okay? We'll fly out of these woods, find somewhere to camp for the night then head on towards Violet City in the morning. Got it? No fighting, squabbling, growling or glaring whilst you're both out of your Pokéballs. That's final." I iterated and they glared at one another a moment longer before huffing and looking away. "Good, so let's get going."

"Alright! Let's do this!" Ash leaped up onto his Charizard's back, making him jerk forwards and growl in irritation. "Let's fly!" Meanwhile I settled myself onto Charizard's back with Misty and Brock, the three of us comfortable and already lifting off the ground as Charizard flapped his broad wings.

"Come on Ash, quit fooling around!" Misty called down to him as we rose above the trees.

"What are you doing Charizard? You're meant to fly!" Ash said to his Charizard who growled then began to flap his wings. Instantly I realised that his Charizard wasn't used to taking off from the ground with a passanger.

"Well, we'd better give a helping hand Charizard." I sighed and I saw the little smirk that stretched on Charizard's face. He dove down and in one clean sweep, grabbed Ash from Charizard's back.

"Hey what's the big idea?! Let me go Ruby!" He yelled as my Charizard rose up into the sky with him held firmly in his grasp. "Let me down!"

"Just hang on Ash, we're helping you to get a little lift." I said, smiling as Ash's Charizard flew up after us with a roar, furious at being shown up whilst Pikachu sat on his head with a happy beam. "You know, you should really work on your take off." I said to Ash before nodding to Charizard. "You can let him go now."

"What? No!" Too late. Charizard let go of Ash and the three of us watched as he fell down through the sky, tumbling before he landed on his Charizard's back. "Alright!" I chuckled then turned to Charizard.

"Try going higher above the clouds Charizard, I believe we promised Misty to show her what's like to fly really high." Misty held onto me a little tighter as Charizard banked upwards. When we broke through the clouds and into the night sky, all Brock and Misty could do was gasp and stare around them.

"I thought flying at sunset was beautiful, but this is just amazing! It's so magical like you said!" Misty breathed, staring around her in wonder at the billions of stars that gleamed effortlessly around us.

"Wow…I wish I'd asked for a ride earlier. I never knew flying could be this awesome." Brock said as Ash caught up with us.

"Hey guys! Isn't this great?"

"It's brilliant!" Misty called back with a wave. "We should do this more often!"

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu agreed but as far as I was concerned, everything else spiralled out of focus as I leaned closer and gently rubbed Charizard's neck.

"Let's just take things nice and steady, Charizard. I want them to always remember this moment." I said to him and he nodded his head. Quietly I pulled out my camera and took a photo of Ash flying on his Charizard with Pikachu, smiles plastered on their faces with the stars and moon as a perfect backdrop.

I then turned it around and smiled into the lens, snapping a shot of myself with Brock and Misty before twisting and taking individual shots of their wonderstruck faces, saving them on film before putting it away safely. I'll print them off and add them to the album. But for now…let's just enjoy the flight.