Chapter 3: The Space-Time Tower's Legend
"There's a strong possibility that the same thing has happened before... It must be... Maybe there's something in Godey's diary- Ngh!" Tonio started to himself before he bumped his face into a wall, startling a Chansey walking by as the Alamos scientist took his leave, as Alice smiled sheepishly at her childhood friend's way of making his words and intentions.
"That is so him... Once he starts thinking about something, that's that..." Alice said as the others walked over to hear Alice talk about her childhood friend as Dawn frowned, before she turned to her childhood friend.
Noticing the bitter look on his face, the Twinleaf girl frowned, as she began to grow worried about Hikaru.
"You're not telling us something, Hikaru... What is it that you're hiding from us?" Dawn thought to herself as she watched Hikaru shake his head before he sat back down on his bed, rubbing Monferno's head with care and love, much to the Playful Pokémon's content.
Later that night...
The fireworks in Alamos Town began, as they were shot up into the sky to bring the festivies to the people of Alamos alive. At the Pokémon Center, Hikaru watched from the balcony to see the bright fireworks go on and off, seeing the people enjoying the festivity of tonight.
Even with the fireworks shining in the air, this didn't change his bitter expression and thought on his face and mind as he recalled of what Darkrai had said to him and Ash earlier in their nightmare together. "Young Prince... Darkrai, could you know something that I don't know of...?" Hikaru said to himself silently.
His thought was interrupted when he felt someone climbing up on his left shoulder. Knowing who it might be, the Twinlead boy turned to see his Playful Pokémon looking at him with a curious look on his face! "Mon? Monferno?" Monferno cried out, catching Hikaru by surprise as he looked at his starter.
Monferno was looking at him with a cheerful smile on his face, as if to brighten his spirits up. "Ferno! Mon Monferno!" Monferno said cheerfully as he reached for Hikaru's cheeks.
Before the Twinleaf boy could figure what the Fire-Fighting Type was doing, the Playful Pokémon stretched his human brother's cheeks, much to the Twinleaf boy's surprise! Yelping in surprise, he managed to pry the Fire Type off of him as Monferno flipped back down next to him.
The Playful Pokémon looked up at him curiously again as Hikaru let out a small chuckle, followed by a small smile on his face.
"Ha ha... I see what you're relying to do... You're trying to get me to smile, huh? After that nightmare incident, you're the only one that saw me behaving differently, huh?" Hikaru asked as this earned a nod from the Fire-Fighting Type as Monferno turned his smile to a worried look on his face.
"Mon? Monferno?" Monferno asked as the Twinleaf boy shook his head in denial, before he spoke.
"It's nothing, Monferno... I just... remembered of what Darkrai said to me and Ash earlier before you and Pikachu woke us up..." Hikaru said, catching the Playful Pokémon's attention as he hopped onto the balcony railing as Hikaru explained.
"Right before you and Pikachu woke Ash and me up, Darkrai showed us a picture of some sort... showing us the face of a colossal figure... Maybe a Pokémon." Hikaru explained as Monferno widened his eyes in surprise. He doesn't know a Pokémon that would be that big from what his human brother was saying.
Looking back at the bright moon, Hikaru folded his arms, making his prediction of what Darkrai was trying to say to him. He took a deep breath before he said his belief.
"I think... that colossal Pokémon I saw in the nightmare... was Palkia, the ruler of space." Hikaru said, shocking Monferno as the Fire-Fighting Type couldn't believe of what he was hearing. His human brother... meeting the Legendary Pokémon and the ruler of space in a nightmare!?
"M-Mon...? Monferno?" Monferno asked in disbelief as Hikaru sheepishly smiled. "Unbelievable, right? I know... I don't know what brought me to say that, but... I know what I saw, and I want to know why Darkrai showed those images to both Ash and me..." Hikaru explained with a serious look on his face.
"Mon..." Monferno said with a worried look as Hikaru noticed this before he reassured to the Playful Pokémon that nothing dangerous was going to happen for now.
"Hey... Don't make that face. I'm not going to do something stupid, I promise... I just... need to find out what that nightmare was all about, and what Darkrai was trying to tell me." Hikaru said as another voice interrupted their conversation.
"What are you not going to do?" Dawn asked as her sudden appearance alarmed both Hikaru and Monferno as they sweat dropped to see her coming out of nowhere as the Twinleaf girl looked at her childhood friend with a worried look on her face. "What are you trying to do, Hikaru?" Dawn asked as Hikaru frowned.
"This... has nothing to do with you, Dawn. It's something that only Ash and I saw, so it doesn't mean anything to you." Hikaru said as Dawn glared at him, snapping back at the Twinleaf boy.
"Yes it does! It does have something to do with me, Hikaru. You and Ash were involved something very dangerous, and we all thought we lost the two of you when Darkrai attacked you both like that..." Dawn said as Hikaru made a correction to her words.
"He was attacking Ash, Dawn. Not me. And to be quite honest, I think Darkrai was surprised to see me be trapped into his attacks." Hikaru said as the Twinleaf girl frowned, before she shook her head in disbelief.
"But, how do you know that?" Dawn asked as the Twinleaf boy bit his lips, not knowing how to answer that. Dawn continued her questions before she also made a serious look on her face. "You've been acting quite bitter lately, and the others are worried for you. And that includes me, too." Dawn said sadly.
Hikaru listened as his childhood friend continued on.
"When a friend has a problem, we'd all like to hear it. If it has to do with something bad or something big, then don't do it all by yourself. There are some times when you need a friend to help you with your problems." Dawn said as Hikaru blinked before Dawn gave a sad smile to him.
"Can you please tell me and the others on what's going on? Did it have to do with what happened today with Darkrai?" Dawn asked as Hikaru began to hesitate, before he frowned. Remembering what Darkrai said to him about him as a young prince, the Twinleaf boy gave a hesitant smile to Dawn.
Trying to cover his true feelings, the Twinleaf boy made a "small" promise to his childhood friend.
"I'll tell you and the others later, I promise. But tonight... I just want to hit the hay... After everything what happened this afternoon, I just want to sleep and forget about it now..." Hikaru said hesitantly as this earned a lot of disappointment from her childhood friend before she nodded in understanding.
"Alright then... Soon, okay?" Dawn asked as Hikaru nodded with a smile. Monferno watched as Dawn headed back inside where Ash and Brock were as he looked up at Hikaru, who dropped his fake smile. "Mon? Monferno?" Monferno asked as Hikaru smiled down at him.
"I can't risk the others, buddy... If Darkrai wanted to let me know something, then I'd like to solve this alone... with you and the others." Hikaru said softly. Monferno blinked, realizing that his human brother meant him, Luxio, and the others as the Playful Pokémon accepted his words reluctantly.
Hikaru's Dream
Hikaru felt wind blowing at his face as he slowly opened his eyes and widened them in surprise! He was lying on a small hill of grass where it seemed to be the garden where Alice had showed him and the others!
Standing up straight, he noticed that he was in his usual traveling outfit as he dusted himself off. "Where... Where am I? I can tell that this is the Alamos Town garden, but... how did I get outside?" Hikaru asked as he slowly walked around.
Before he could explore around, he saw someone quite familiar to him! Taking a closer look, he noticed that it was a little girl that had a similar face as...
"Alice!? But... how...?" Hikaru said in surprise as he watched the little girl look around before she ran off to a different area! Seeing her run off, the Twinleaf boy tried to call for her. "Hey! Wait up!" Hikaru cried as he ran after the little girl.
By the time that he caught up, Hikaru stopped to a shocking scene to his eyes! The little girl was shocked as well as she looked around to see several Pokémon all wincing in pain, as if they were sleeping painfully! One of them was a Roserade, with the Budews surrounding it in worry.
Another one was a Kirlia, that was struggling with the same fate. Seeing the Pokémon in pain like this left the Twinleaf boy speechless as he didn't want to believe on what he was seeing. "Why... How...? How did this happen!?" Hikaru said in disbelief.
His question was soon answered as he heard an explosion occurring near both him and the little girl! The two of them turned to see a Luxray leaping back and shooting a Hyper Beam at an unknown opponent!
The attack seemed to have made a hit, but then... a familiar attack hit Luxray, causing the Gleam Eyes Pokémon to yell before it fell unconscious, suffering the same fate that Roserade and Kirlia were hit with! Both Hikaru and the girl gasped as they ran over to see Luxray wincing in pain.
"Ah! Luxray!" The girl called in worry as she ran over to it, before she turned to see who had defeated Luxray in the battle. Hikaru also ran over and knelt down to comfort the Gleam Eyes Pokémon only for his hand to go through! Hikaru yelped in surprise as he fell back, before he shook his head.
"I can't touch Luxray!? But, but that would mean... that I'm in a memory... A memory of Alice or someone that looks like her..." Hikaru said to himself, as he slowly turned to see who the little girl was looking at. He widened his eyes to see Darkrai, who seemed to be struggling to stay floating.
"Darkrai...? Could this be... when the girl meets Darkrai here...?" Hikaru asked himself as he watched the Pitch-Black Pokémon slowly falling to the ground, possibly due to being injured from its recent battle with Luxray and its previous battles with the other Pokémon in the garden.
As the Pitch-Black Pokémon fell, the young girl ran over to Darkrai before the Twinleaf boy could stop her as she approached and touched the Dark Type, who seemed to be hesitant with her. But as Hikaru approached, he felt as if a bond was beginning to form between the two.
"Darkrai and this girl... Could this be...?" Hikaru started to ask himself as he looked at the girl who tried to comfort the Pitch-Black Pokémon, as she seemed to notice on how much Darkrai seemed to be hated by the people that was around it.
Watching the scene unfold, the Twinleaf boy watched as the girl began to heal and comfort Darkrai until the mysterious Dark Type Pokémon was fully healed. But, remembering the Pokémon that were still trapped in their nightmares, Hikaru turned to see the Pokémon all suffering from the Bad Dreams.
"Am I supposed to just stand here and do nothing...?" He grunted to himself until he noticed the girl walking to where the swing was on a tree. Several wild Pokémon helped their evolved forms get to her as she motioned them to get the suffering ones come.
As Hikaru remained silent and kept watching, the girl got onto the swing and took out a leaf, which Hikaru recognized as a similar way that Alice had used when she tried to keep things peaceful. As the girl began playing the music of some sort, all the sleeping Pokémon began smiling.
The Twinleaf boy watched in amazement as the girl kept playing the leaf music, causing the sleeping Pokémon's Bad Dreams to go to good dreams, thanks to the soothing music the girl was playing. As Hikaru watched, he couldn't help but smile in relief.
"So... I guess this is a way for the Pokémon to enjoy their time even when they're asleep, making them forget the nightmare." Hikaru said softly as he watched. But while he watched, the Twinleaf boy noticed a large shadow on top of the tree's shadow as he looked up to see nothing on top of it.
However, from the form it was showing off, the Twinleaf boy could only conclude on who was on top of it. "Darkrai..." Hikaru said silently as he kept listening to the music play. As he sat on the hill watching the girl playing, he noticed a leaf next to him.
As he tried to reach and touch for it, he felt it on his fingers causing him to widen his eyes. At that moment when he was surprised at being able to touch the leaf, the scene of the girl and the wild Pokémon all began to distort, as if they were vanishing from his sight!
Standing up in shock, Hikaru whipped his head around to see nothing but darkness surround him, until a faint light came out of nowhere in front of him, with a voice calling to him. Recognizing the voice, Hikaru approached the light slowly as the voice became even louder.
"-aru...? ...karu, wake up! Hikaru!" Dawn's voice cried out as the light became bigger, much to the Twinleaf boy's surprise.
Reality
"Come on, Hikaru! You can't be in another nightmare, right!?" Dawn cried out pleadingly as Monferno and Piplup watched from the sides in worry. Nothing happened to the Twinleaf boy as he remained asleep, increasing the worries of the Twinleaf girl and the two starters.
When Dawn and Piplup woke up, she heard the worried calls from Monferno when she got dressed. Noticing that Hikaru wasn't waking up, the Twinleaf girl panicked until she brought Ash and Brock to where Hikaru was.
But as Brock checked the Twinleaf boy's condition, there was nothing wrong with him.
"Could Hikaru be in another nightmare? I mean, if he's sleeping like that..." Ash was saying before, until Brock shook his head in denial, giving a reason as to why it couldn't be a nightmare.
"No, that can't be... If Hikaru was in a nightmare, then he'd be tossing and turning even right now, while grunting as if he was in pain right now. But with the way he's sleeping, he could be in a dream world where he's maybe having a good dream." Brock explained seriously.
With those words said and checked, the two left the room, as Ash had told Dawn that they would be in the lobby, waiting for her and Hikaru to come down, in case if the Twinleaf boy would wake up. Before they had left however, Ash gave a comforting smile to her.
"This is Hikaru we're worried about, right? No need to worry! I'm sure Hikaru will be up in a flash once he gets out of his dream world! He's stronger than you think, right?" Ash said confidently before he left with Brock and Pikachu.
But despite of the Kanto trainer reassuring her that her childhood friend would be alright, few minutes had passed when Hikaru was still sleeping. This was enough to make Dawn worried as she sat on the chair next to the bed, worrying over the Twinleaf boy.
The same went for Monferno as he stayed close to his human brother, in case if he were to have woken up from his dream. Piplup stayed along, having the same concern for his Trainer's childhood friend as the three of them watched Hikaru still sleeping together.
But, as another minute had passed, they all heard a grunt coming from the Twinleaf boy as Dawn stood up straight in surprise. "Oh my goodness! Hikaru, are you awake!?" Dawn called out as she tried to help her childhood friend sit straight as Hikaru struggled to wake up.
"Nuts... Stop yelling, Dawn... My head is already aching from your worries and yelling..." Hikaru groaned as he shook his head while trying to look around. As he did so, he noticed the worried looks on his childhood friend's face, along with Monferno and Piplup's concerned looks.
"Did I... overslept or something?" Hikaru grunted silently as he held his aching head, as he tried to recover from the dream he just had, despite of it being a good one. Dawn frowned, before she pouted as she began to pull on her childhood friend's left cheek, while pinching it at the same time!
"Ow ow ow ow ow! What the heck, Dawn!? That hurt!" Hikaru yelped as he managed to pry Dawn's hand off, until he looked to see her angrily pouting at him. Monferno and Piplup on the other hand, watched as they both sighed in relief to see Hikaru okay.
"Do you even realize that the others and I have been waiting for you to wake up for a while!? You haven't been waking up, so we all thought you were trapped in another nightmare somehow!" Dawn cried out, before putting her hands on her hips as the Twinleaf boy blinked.
"I wasn't trapped in another nightmare... I was in... some kind of memory of some sort..." Hikaru said silently, before he turned to the window to see the morning sun rise up, showing the whole town as Dawn blinked in confusion.
"A memory...?" Dawn repeated in confusion until Hikaru stood up, before he got ready to change. "I'll tell you all about it later. You can't be the only one to know this, you know..." Hikaru said reassuringly, causing the Twinleaf girl to frown before she gave in to Hikaru's words.
"Fine... But you better tell us, okay? And remember, you also owe me the other explanation you've promised me last night!" Dawn said in reminder as Hikaru smiled bitterly, before giving a small nod to his childhood friend. "Right... I haven't forgotten." Hikaru said silently.
Later...
"I'll take that one, please!" Dawn said, pointing to a charm that seemed to be a peculiar, but pretty feather as the man smiled, before giving it to her. "Of course! This Lunar Wing will make bad dreams a thing in the past!" The salesman said warmly, causing the Twinleaf girl to smile back.
"Great! Thank you!" Dawn cried as she ran with her newly bought Lunar Wing charm. Piplup ran besides her, as the three starters and Chimchar ran up with Dawn to join Ash, Hikaru, Brock, and Alice.
After Hikaru made the same explanation for his late awakening, the two reluctantly accepted it, as they weren't sure whether to believe their friend had seen a memory or dream, considering that Darkrai was on the dream or whatever it was.
But Alice, overhearing the dream accepted it immediately as she found it quite familiar of what the Twinleaf boy had seen while he was asleep. By the time the five all were heading for the Space-Time Tower, the four trainers all decided to forget about the subject and be focused on what Alice was about to show and tell them.
"No need to worry about nightmares now!" Dawn giggled as she held her charm up to her face, causing the Twinleaf boy to smile at her, seeing how she was enjoying the charm she had bought for herself as he turned to Ash, who seemed puzzled about something.
"Man... I sure hope that thing works..." Ash said as Hikaru began to walk besides him. "Is this about the nightmare the two of us had when Darkrai put us to sleep?" Hikaru asked as the Kanto trainer nodded grimly, as he remembered on how bad it was.
Alice seemed to have heard the two and approached them with a warm smile, before she called to them. "Is something bothering the two of you? Ash... Hikaru?" Alice asked as the two turned to their new friend, before they both gave her a small smile of reassurance.
"Nah... It's nothing." Ash said as Hikaru agreed with him, until he asked her a question.
"Alice... Do you really believe what I said about my dream probably being a memory of someone...?" Hikaru asked as Alice smiled back, before she nodded with affirmation. "I do... What you described before... I felt like I've heard of that memory before..." Alice said softly.
She looked up at the blue sky, which Hikaru followed until they and the others heard a loud sound! Everyone turned to the Space-Time Tower to see it making large, loud, but musical sounds as it went on, seemingly alerting the people and citizens of the tower's presence.
By the time the large music has done its tune, Alice began to give a tour the group about the Space-Time Tower, and what the tower had inside. One of the places was where the Alamos Contest was taking place as the group was amazed with how big it was inside.
"And this, is the site of the Alamos Town Pokémon Contest!" Alice explained as Dawn and Hikaru were the most awed ones as they expressed their desire to win tomorrow. "I am so psyched! I can't wait for tomorrow!" Dawn cried out happily as Hikaru whistled in amazement.
"I can't wait for tomorrow, too... To win, that is!" Hikaru said, earning a playful look from his childhood friend.
Later, Alice guided the group to where there was a large mural where a girl was sitting on a branch, making music with a leaf. The way she had it in her mouth seemed similar as to what Alice had done to calm the Pokémon down as Hikaru recognized the girl on the mural.
"The towers are just as impressive on the inside as the outside!" Brock commented as Alice made a reminder on where they were right now. "And we are right in the middle!" Alice said, making the group amazed until they stopped to see Hikaru gazing at the giant mural with an awed look on his face.
"Hikaru? Something up?" Ash asked as he ran over to see the mural, causing him to widen his eyes. "Whoa..." was the only thing Ash could say as the others walked over, as Alice just watched with a warm smile on her face.
Before anyone else could speak up, the Twinleaf boy commented about the girl that was on the mural. "That girl on the mural... I saw her on my dream or memory last night..." Hikaru said, catching the others by surprise. They all looked back up as Dawn was the first to ask.
"You mean... the girl on that mural?" Dawn asked as Alice explained who the girl was.
"That girl on this mural... is when my grandmother was a young girl." Alice said, catching the others by surprise. "Grandmother...?!" Ash said in surprise as Alice nodded in affirmation before she turned to the Twinleaf boy.
"I believe that the girl you saw on your dream or a memory was my grandmother... She's the girl that helped all Pokémon have pleasant dreams instead of getting nightmares, thanks to the music she played... The same music that I played yesterday before we met Darkrai." Alice explained.
This made the group amazed as Hikaru frowned, as he was now confused. Now that he discovered who the girl was, another question came to his mind. Why did he have an old memory of Alice's grandmother? Did it have something to do with his nightmare that Darkrai had given him?
He shook his head, a little frustrated with not getting the answers he desired for his questions right now. Clearing those thoughts out of his mind, he remained silent as Alice guided him and the others to the two towers that Godey had created.
"This is the Space Tower... and this is the Time Tower! The architect, Godey, who designed the Space-Time Tower was Tonio's great grandfather!" Alice explained, as the group was amazed with the two towers with the designs presenting itself to show which tower was which.
"Tonio's laboratory is directly below us!" Alice added as she led the group to where her friend's lab was as they entered, after calling for their entrance. "Tonio? It's Alice!" Alice called as she was the first to enter the lab.
"Sorry to bother you!" Dawn called out in advance as the group walked around to see where the researcher was. As Alice looked around, she noticed to see a pair of feet that she recognized on the ground! "Tonio... Ah! Tonio!?" Alice gasped, as she ran to where her friend was.
As the others noticed the unconscious Tonio, they all gasped as well as they ran with the four starters to see Alice holding Tonio's body with her arms. "Tonio, are you alright!?" Alice cried as she tried to shake her friend awake as the researcher groaned, before he opened his eyes.
Then, realizing on the situation he was in right now, he gave a smile to Alice. "Oh... Alice! Good morning...?" Tonio said sheepishly, causing everyone to blink before Alice scoffed, dropping her childhood friend to the floor, hard.
"Well! Don't sleep on the floor!" Alice snapped, causing the researcher to wince in pain before he sheepishly got up from the floor he was sleeping on. "Ha ha... sorry. I found a reference to the nightmare in Godey's diary last night! Wish I could have a nightmare..." Tonio said softly.
At his wish to have a nightmare, everyone looked at the researcher in bewilderment before Tonio took out a photo that seemed to have a picture of Godey and Alicia together. "Not only that, I found a picture of your grandmother. It shows her with Godey." Tonio explained.
He handed the picture to his childhood friend, causing the group to see the picture that Alice was looking at, as she smiled at the old photo. "Grandmother Alicia..." Alice said as Dawn noticed on how similar Alicia looked to her granddaughter.
"Looks just like you!" Dawn said cheerfully as Hikaru kept the frown on his face, which remained as Alice flipped the photo to see some musical notes, causing her to blink in surprise as she recognized it a little. "It's music...!" Alice said, catching the group's attention.
While the humans were focusing on the photo of Alicia and Godey... Pikachu, Piplup, Chimchar, and Monferno ran to where there seemed to be some plate-like contraption as Piplup tried to balance one on his head, causing it to fall down and onto Pikachu's face as the Electric Type caught it on time!
Both Fire Types watched in surprise as the Mouse Pokémon struggled to keep ahold of the giant plate as he jumped back a few times, before he tripped on a wire, causing him to lose grip on the giant plate, with Ash catching it on time.
"That was a nice save, I guess..." Ash said, causing Pikachu to rub his head sheepishly. Hikaru sighed as he took the plate from the Kanto trainer before he noticed a plate that seemed to be missing the cover as he placed the plate-like contraption cover onto the plate, as he looked up.
Above him and the others were more plates that seemed similar to the one he fixed just now, as Ash raised the question. "What are those?" Ash asked, as Alice smiled, before she made the answer. "Music discs." Alice answered, catching both Hikaru and Ash by surprise.
"Music discs...? Are these supposed to be music for the tower?" Hikaru asked, as he earned a nod from the researcher before Tonio explained. "That's right. You see, that's how the tower's music is able to play!" Tonio explained, leaving Dawn amazed as she immediately made a request for this.
"Oh! Can I try it!?" Dawn exclaimed, catching everyone's attention, as Tonio gave a weak smile, before giving a reminder to the Twinleaf girl. "But to do that, we'll need to walk all the way to the top!" Tonio reminded as Dawn just smiled back cheerfully.
"No need to worry!" Dawn said, causing Piplup to say the same thing! Hikaru only sighed, knowing what the results will be once they do the climbing actually. And his thoughts were right as everyone began climbing up to the top of the Space-Time Tower!
While they were all walking up, Dawn was already exhausted, despite of not being able to climb up a lot as she groaned for her overconfidence. "Ugh... Me and my big mouth..." Dawn groaned as Ash found the excitement and energy he needed to reach to the top first!
"Come on! Move it! Run!" Ash cried out as he ran ahead, causing Pikachu to follow along! "Ha! Race you to the top, Dawn! Hikaru!" Ash cried out as he and Pikachu began to run up ahead, causing the Twinleaf boy to narrow his eyes before he ran after the Kanto trainer.
"He's going to be out of steam if he keeps running without looking..." Hikaru grunted as he followed Ash with Monferno following him! The others watched as the Twinleaf boy ran after the Kanto trainer as the boys ran up the stairs, climbing higher and higher to where the top of the tower could be!
As Ash was running, he didn't notice the balloon as he kept running up, as he was determined to get to the top before the others did! But Hikaru managed to notice the balloon as he skidded to a stop, before he called for Ash and Pikachu to come back down to where the balloon was.
"Ash! Pikachu, wait!" Hikaru cried out as Monferno climbed up to his shoulder. "Sorry, Hikaru! I'm not falling for it!" Ash said loudly, ignoring the Twinleaf boy's call as he and Pikachu kept running up! As the two disappeared up higher, the Twinleaf boy face palmed.
"Man... Did he pass the balloon because he didn't notice it, or was it because he saw it, but he didn't want to go up the easy way?" Hikaru asked bitterly as Monferno gave a sheepish smile. "Mon. Monferno." Monferno said sheepishly as the others arrived after a minute had passed.
"Hikaru? Where's Ash?" Alice asked as Brock gave a sheepish smile. "Did he run up without noticing the balloon?" Brock asked as the Twinleaf boy made a bitter expression.
"It's either that, or he didn't want to go up the easy way." Hikaru said immediately, with Monferno nodding in agreement. Dawn and Brock smiled a little, as they knew how the Kanto trainer was once he got determined to do things his way.
"That's Ash for you. He's going to be regretful for not wanting to take a break." Dawn said as she approached the balloon. Chimchar quickly got near to the top so he could start the balloon flight, as everyone got in! "Okay, Chimchar! Help us up!" Alice called, causing Chimchar to nod.
At the call to start, the Chimp Pokémon used Flamethrower on the balloon's valve to start the flight as it began to float up, passing each steps and making the balloon get closer to the top!
When everyone noticed Ash and Pikachu looking exhausted while walking up, Dawn was the first to make the first tease! "The only way is to fly!" Dawn cried out as Piplup began to tease the two as well, shocking both Ash and Pikachu as they complained about the free flight they were getting!
"Hey! That's no fair!" Ash complained, with Pikachu crying out his complaint as well! Alice and Brock smiled at the shocked Kanto trainer pitifully before they teased him once again!
"Sorry! But you were fast!" Alice cried out as Brock made the second tease. "You can climb!" Brock teased as Hikaru made the last hit. "I told you to stop, didn't I? But you just had to get your pride and determination in the way." Hikaru said as Monferno teased the two as well.
"HEY! Let us on, too!" Ash pleaded desperately as he tried to reach for the others as well, despite knowing that it was futile now that the others were way up high. By the time Ash's cries had gone by, everyone else had reached the top to where the music discs were to be set!
As everyone went inside and looked around, Alice explained to Hikaru, Dawn, and Brock about the tower and the reason why Godey had created the twin towers in the first place. "Godey built the Space-Time Tower as a beacon of hope for the happiness of people and Pokémon." Alice explained.
"A beacon of hope?" Hikaru repeated silently as Dawn repeated the other words.
"The happiness of people and Pokémon..." Dawn repeated along as she and Hikaru looked to see how the music floor was designed as Brock gave a chuckle, seeing on who had finally shown up to the top. "And here's our very own beacon of hope now!" Brock chuckled, catching everyone's attention.
They all turned to see both Ash and Pikachu finally making it while looking very exhausted! The two of them took heavy breathes, as Ash took a deep breath of relief. "FINALLY!" Ash grunted as Hikaru walked over to try and help the Kanto trainer out.
"Next time... Try to watch where the balloon is before you run ahead of us, okay?" Hikaru asked as Ash gave a weak smile at that. "I'll keep that in mind..." Ash groaned, as Pikachu followed along with Monferno helping him out as well.
Later, once Ash recovered from his short break, Tonio began to spin the music discs roulette to let the group place the music disc, by removing one of the old ones that played a few hours ago.
"Normally, it's set to play automatically on the hour, but if there's something special you want to play..." Tonio started to say as he and Alice removed one of the music discs for Dawn to put on as the discs were removed for the new one to be set!
"...You put in the discs you need!" Alice finished as Dawn got ready for her chance to put the new disc on. "Great!" Dawn said as she began to place the disc onto the empty slot until Ash piped up, having the desire to place the disc himself. "Hey! I want to do that!" Ash cried out, only to be denied immediately.
"No way! This was my idea!" Dawn snapped as Ash groaned, until Hikaru snatched the disc away from his childhood friend, causing her to be startled and protest a little for the sudden thievery. "Wha- Hey!" Dawn pouted as the Twinleaf boy gave a teasing look at her.
"You're taking way too long, so allow me to do the honors." Hikaru said teasingly as he began to place the music disc on Alice's instructions. "Then push it down..." Alice said, as the Twinleaf boy did so, with Monferno watching on his left shoulder.
As the disc was set, the four trainers and their starters all looked around to see if anything was about to happen, only for nothing to occur as Alice turned to the Kanto Breeder for him to hold one of the old music discs. "Brock, would you mind?" Alice asked, causing Brock to comply.
"Not at all!" Brock said as he took the disc, before he and the others watched to see Alice pulling onto the lever of the music machine! Once she pulled it down to activate it, the power began to generate, allowing the gears to move and do its work to let the towers play the music.
As everyone listened, a new music began to ring on the tower, making a pleasant sound to the ones that were hearing it! At the music being played, the group were amazed as Tonio smiled with the new music that was being played.
"You see? This tower is the world's largest musical instrument as well!" Tonio commented, causing everyone to be awed, with Ash and Pikachu being the most amazed ones of all. As the music went on, Hikaru gave a small smile as he listened with Monferno on his side.
"It is the largest... and one of the most pleasant ones, too..." Hikaru commented as Monferno cried out his agreement softly as the tower's music went on. With the music going on, everyone headed back to where the balloon was as they were to head back down to the hard ground.
Ash was able to get on this time as he let out a big grin for being able to make a ride back down. "You know... Balloons rock!" Ash commented, with Pikachu crying out in agreement. The others chuckled at the two as they all made their way back down.
As everyone was back to the ground, Tonio headed back to his laboratory to continue on with his abnormal research while Alice was about to guide everyone else to another part of the town. But while the group were soon out of the tower, they were all met with three trainers from yesterday!
Kai, Maury, and Allegra all greeted their new rivals and friends, making a battle challenge to Ash, Dawn, and Hikaru.
"If it isn't Ash and Hikaru? So let's battle again!" Kai said with a confident look on his face.
"I need someone to play with Torterra!" Maury called out, with Torterra grunting in reminder. Allegra joined in, before taking out Infernape's Pokéball! "Come on, me too?" Allegra asked. At their requests, Ash, Dawn, and Hikaru accepted their challenges as they took their battling positions!
Ash and Pikachu got ready to face Kai and Empoleon while Dawn were to face Allegra, with Hikaru facing off against Maury.
"Leafeon, it's time for a battle!"
"Buizel, spotlight!"
Hikaru and Dawn sent their two battling Pokémon out to face their opponents as both Leafeon and Buizel were ready to face Torterra and Infernape! Ash and Pikachu were ready as well, as the Kanto trainer called Pikachu to make the first move!
"Alright, Pikachu! Get a move on!" Ash cried out, as Pikachu did so! As Empoleon and Pikachu were starting their battle, the Twinleaf boy prepared to call Leafeon to make her first move! But just before Hikaru could do so, he felt an uneasy feeling creeping up to him as he blinked in surprise.
"What...? What is this? I feel like... something's watching me or somehow...!?" Hikaru thought as he was about to call Leafeon, by trying to push his thought off of his mind. But just before he could call the first attack, a bright light purple glow came out of nowhere, coming from above the tower!
Everyone, including Brock and Alice all turned in surprise to see what was going on, as the glow caught the attention of all the citizens of Alamos Town as well! As the glow went on, Hikaru felt something powerful coming from above as he widened his eyes.
"What...!?" Hikaru could say silently as he couldn't shout his shock as the glow went on, with the Twinleaf boy still feeling a powerful presence from above. What he didn't know, was that a legendary crisis would soon occur to this town... involving him and his friends.
Hikaru's Team:
Monferno: (M): (Flame Wheel, Fire Spin, Mach Punch, Fury Swipes)
Luxio: (F): (Thunder Fang, Spark, Hidden Power, Iron Tail)
Leafeon: (F): (Razor Leaf, Synthesis, Shadow Ball, Iron Tail)
Buizel: (M): (Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Swift, Water Gun)
Dratini: (M): (Wrap, Thunder Wave, Twister, Dragon Rage)
Next chapters:
Chapter 4: The Confusion of the Fog
Chapter 5: Palkia VS Dialga! Another Dimension!
Chapter 6: Play the Oración! Battle for Hope!
Chapter 7: Reach the Top! Fight, Darkrai!
VOL 2:
Chapter 1: Enter Shaymin and Giratina!?
Next chapter preview:
Ash: What's with this fog? It's like covering the whole end of Alamos Town! I can't see a thing!
Allegra: It's no good. Even with Honchkrow's Defog, the fog just won't lift! We just get back to where we started!
Baron Alberto: I'm telling you, people! This is all Darkrai's doing! Trainers! Hear me out!
Hikaru: You don't know what you're talking about! What proof are there that he's the culprit?!
Alice: I believe Darkrai has nothing to do with these incidents... That's what I'm sure of...
Tonio: You're right... There was a time, when Darkrai had saved your life before in the past.