Chapter 2: Bal-toying Around


Away from their hometown, trapped on a foggy mountain, a song that's eating away at their minds... Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup found themselves away from New Townsville no thanks to that villainous simian, Mojo, after he stole Ken's Teleporter and a few extra devices. Stranded on the mountains, the girls ran into a woman who sang about "Baltoy's Path." Soon after, Ash stumbled into their arms, literally, and introduced himself and Pikachu. "Now about that song..." Ash questioned.

"The song mentioned something about some road known as Baltoy's Path," Bubbles explained. "The song mentioned what to expect when you travel down the path." Ash listened, wondering the same problem the girls were experiencing.

"Baltoy, huh?" Ash pulled out a red hand-held device where he hit a few buttons and a light brown clay doll with a top-like foot and looking like it was from an Aztec relic.

"Baltoy, the Clay Doll Pokémon," it computed with a woman's voice. "There are stories about Baltoy that have coexisted with humans in ancient times." Blossom and Bubbles peered at the screen, viewing the described Baltoy.

"That's a Baltoy?" Blossom gulped. "And it's a Poke- What?"

"A Pokémon," Ash repeated. "Pikachu's a Pokémon, too." Pikachu flashed two fingers, a peace sign.

"What's a Pokémon?" Buttercup asked. Ash would be able to explain since he's got a better idea than the girls.

"Pokémon are everywhere and exist alongside humans," he clarified. "There are over 400 known Pokémon that exist. Pokémon are a lot like partners, we do a lot together from battling to saving lives." The girls seemed intrigued with what Pokémon were.

"So, Pokémon are more than just a mouse and a clay doll," Blossom wanted to make sure.

"Trust me, Pikachu and Baltoy are only two. There's a lot more. Anyway, we should stick together." An idea that even Buttercup had no problem with.

"Yeah, if it means finding New Townsville, I'm all for joining you to evacuate this fog," she joined along. The group wandered into the thickets of the fog.

"So, how did you find yourself in this fog?" Blossom wondered.

"We were cutting through the mountains to reach Rubello City for May's next Pokémon Contest and somehow this fog threw us all off track," Ash confessed. "I'm only wondering if the others made it out." Bubbles wasn't worried about Ash's friends.

"I'm sure they're all right," she reassured. The fog became more dense that visibility was absent. It would nearly cause a disaster. Blossom took one step too many and she started to fall.

"AH!" she shrieked. Ash was quick to catch her by the arm before she fell over.

"I gotcha!" Ash grunted to keep her safe. Buttercup and Bubbles latched on to Ash and helped pull their friend up. The momentum proved better than just keeping Blossom from a casualty. Ash, Bubbles and Buttercup fell on the dirt while Blossom fell on him. Pikachu got to everyone to make sure they were okay. As Blossom rose back up, she and Ash's eyes met. Ash wanted to make sure Blossom was in good shape. "You okay?" Blossom, cheeks blushing red, could only nod. Bubbles was thankful that they could help their partner.

"That's a little close for comfort," she relieved.

"I'll say," Buttercup agreed. "I think I'll bring a flashlight on anymore foggy journeys." How would that help? All got up on their feet and looked down, viewing what seemed to be an endless fall.

"One more step and we would've been goners," Ash huffed. It was a close call for Blossom. Seeing how far a fall would have been, Blossom wrapped her arms around Ash. Was that fear or admiration for saving her life? "Easy, Blossom. You're safe." Ash believed it was the sudden fear of heights. That's when more sounds echoed. All turned to the voice. "What's that?" Out of the fog was...a Baltoy? How lucky do you have to be?

"That's a Baltoy?" Buttercup wondered. When they saw where the Baltoy was spinning towards, going to the edge of the cliff, they became a little worried.

"Oh no!" Ash reacted. "It's heading straight for the cliff!" Bubbles sprinted out to the spinning Pokémon and hoisted it to her.

"Where do you think you're going, silly Baltoy?" she teased. Baltoy looked up at Bubbles with the squinted eyes. "You were just about to take a risky dive off the mountain." Baltoy freaked out, thinking that it was about to fall off and die. At least it was safe in Bubbles' arms.

"You don't have to be cruel about it, Bubbles," Buttercup reprimanded. Yeah, it was rather harsh.

"Sorry. But think about the song, Baltoy's path." Baltoy scratched its head wondering about what this girl was talking about. Before they had an idea on how to approach the subject...

"There you are!" a girl raced in, calling for someone. The redhead pigtailed girl wore a blue overall dress with green bracelets. She raced to Bubbles still holding on to Baltoy.

"I take it this Baltoy belongs to you?" She snagged Baltoy out of her arms and embraced it in a hug.

"Yes. Thank you." Ash came forward to explain Bubbles' quick act.

"We were fortunate to keep your Baltoy from going over the cliff," he expressed. The girl seemed puzzled. Everyone's on a mountain, how could there not be cliffs to watch out for?

"What cliff?" she asked. Ash and Buttercup darted their eyes to where Baltoy would have ended up if not for Bubbles' actions. She saw the edge, freaked out and clutching Baltoy even more. Very understandable for her response. "Baltoy, I promise not to go wandering off like that again." Baltoy was forgiving. "I'm sorry. I guess I was kinda reckless about coming to the mountains without thinking." She's not the only one.

"That's okay. I'm Ash and this is Pikachu." Pikachu did the peace sign once more.

"My name's Calista," she let her name be known. "Of course, you've met my Baltoy." Baltoy waived its arm, saying hello.

"I'm Bubbles," the blond allowed to say her name, as well as her friends. "That's Blossom and Buttercup." Names done, Blossom decided to ask about Calista's reason for being on the mountain.

"Anyway, what brings you two to the Kiri Kiri Mountains?" she questioned. Calista became ashamed about being on the mountain unprepared.

"I guess I need to explain, don't I?" she mulled. She walked over to a few tree stumps and sat down. Ash and the girls joined her, Bubbles sitting on another stump. "You see, we were trying to find ancient ruins on the mountains. Then the fog rolled up and we got lost so I asked Baltoy to lead the way." The other kids were amazed that she was searching for some ruins in the mountains.

"You're kidding!" Blossom awed. "There are ancient ruins in the mountains?"

"Yes!" Calista reached into her bag and pulled out an orange book which the cover had a Baltoy and some stone circle with markings on it. "This says so. See, this book tells us that there are ancient ruins in the Kiri Kiri Mountains and that they hold the most valuable artifacts in the whole universe." How...much are we talking when she meant valuable?

"The whole universe?" Buttercup gawked, looking like Calista wanted to pull her leg.

"Once we get our hands on those artifacts, it'll tell us about the civilization that resided here." So, she's not finding the artifacts for profit? Money's not her thing, huh? She clutched the book to her chest while Pikachu played with Baltoy. "Finding those artifacts is my dream."

"Hey, if you can find it, more power to you," Blossom cheered.

"Thanks. You see, I want to be an archaeologist." That's when she frowned, alerting the rest. "Sadly, that might not happen." Whoa, no need to put yourself down.

"Why do you say that?" Blossom asked.

"Because my parents don't want me to be an archaeologist. They want me to be a doctor like they are. When they found the collection of artifacts that I found, they got mad at me. I think they were so upset that they threw my collection away...except for this book that I hid. That's when there was a phone call for me. The woman on the other side told me to come to the mountains as soon as I could. She sounded rather urgent to meet me up here and told me that the contents of the book were true. So I sneaked out of the house without telling my parents, of course." She certainly took a big risk but the way her parents were treating her, not even Buttercup could blame her.

"Hey, I may support some parents but when they hold you back from seeking your dream, I just wanna give them a piece of my mind," she snarled. While Ash and Blossom understood Buttercup's anger, that might have been a little overexerting.

"You don't really need to beat them up to prove a point," she attempted to calm the rough raven-haired girl down. Ash wanted to get back on track.

"So, Calista," he called. "Do you know a way to search for the ruins?" Calista was more than eager to allow her new friends some knowledge.

"Yes," she said with glee. "You see, there's a song that goes with it." She opened the book and read the lyrics in song. "Listen, listen to what I say; Pass, pass on through as you enter Baltoy's path!"

"Go on ahead will you ever make it back!" Bubbles added in song. Calista and Ash were shocked to find out someone else knew of the song. Buttercup palmed her face in anguish. She didn't want anyone other than someone who knew the song to sing it.

"But how do you know the song, Bubbles?" Bubbles wasn't shy about where she learned the song.

"There was a lady who was singing it by a tree. I think that tree's close by." Calista felt that she was on the right track about finding the lost civilization.

"My thoughts are that the song holds a key to finding the ruins. Do you know where the tree is?"

"You bet," Blossom answered. "It's not far from here and we can help you find it." Calista was happy to receive escort.

"Thanks, all of you." She, Blossom and Bubbles departed for the tree, as well as the Pokémon. Buttercup's sigh alerted Ash to this frustration.

"Is something wrong?" he pondered.

"Oh, I don't know," she growled. "We had school, checked in on a close friend at a laboratory, fought a crazy monkey, transported over here against our will..." To Ash, the girls had suffered enough.

"Okay, you've been through a lot! I'm sorry for asking!" Buttercup shot a look at Ash, wanting him to relax.

"No!... I-I didn't mean to snap at you." She shook her head, trying to say something that didn't make her feel like a jerk to him. "Sorry. Yeah, it's been a long day for all of us." Finally, they traversed to meet up with the rest. Once reaching, the kids found the same woman in the hooded cloak.

"There she is!" Bubbles recognized. The woman looked up but didn't do a repeat performance.

"You're the same girls I sang to before," she thought. "At least my memory isn't fading at my age." Blossom shook her head, denying that she was old.

"I don't think you're that old, yet," she giggled. "Anyway, there's someone we brought over that wants to learn about the origins of the song." Calista came forward in wonder.

"Please, you got to tell me about the song's meaning," she pleaded. The woman wasn't concerned.

"Why, it's just a song," she played it off. "Why do you want to know of its origin?" Calista was a bit steamed about getting denied.

"I'm talking about traveling Baltoy's Path! See, I think that song holds the key to the Baltoy's civilization." The woman was satisfied with who this little girl was.

"I knew it...the moment we talked on the phone." This befuddled Calista. "Follow me." She entered the large hole in the tree as she recited the song. Shockingly, everyone managed to fit inside. Then the floor below gave way. Everyone screamed as they fell down a long slide...except for the woman who seemed composed. What awaited at the bottom of the slide? A civilization? A trap? A way home for the girls?


TO BE CONTINUED...