Sorry that I haven't updated in a long time. Been really busy with college stuff lately and its frustrating. Still, I finished a lot of it and I just got a huge scholarship to the University of Portland and Dominican. I guess it payed off. Anyway, lets continue with this chapter.
Chapter 5 Escape from the Reverse World
Reverse world
Ash couldn't help but marvel at the world around him. As he stepped on the warped concrete, he almost wondered if the floor would give way at any moment. When he looked below, he saw a glowing bottom. It rippled like the waves of the sea; the artificial sun reflecting off the glassy surface. Bubbles floated all around and they showed different parts of the Village. Ash felt that he was walking through one of those illusionary houses in Saffron City. Everything looked impossible. All the buildings had some sort of bent shape or twisted in a way that defied common sense. In fact, when Ash thought about it, he wondered if he was even right side up. For all he knew, he was upside down.
Guess the rules of the real world don't apply here. He said to himself.
On top of his forehead, Shaymin was dwelling on all that happened. He started from the beginning until he arrived at where he was now. According to Newton, he had hurt Giratina. The concept seemed almost absurd. In size, Shaymin was not even a hundred of the size of Giratina. The fact that he managed to do so much destruction filled him with mixed feelings. Once, he would have been filled with overwhelming confidence. He would view it as a major accomplishment; he defeated a Dragon. That would have been the story.
Now, Shaymin could only feel both embarrassed and red faced. All this excitement had put him in the spotlight. Only instead of a light of praise or respect it was one of contempt and aggression. He didn't know how he felt about Ash and the others now. Now that he knew he was a target to this Giratina, the last thing he wanted to do was have them risk themselves for his own safety. If he did say something though, and they did decide that he was not worth their protection, then that would mean that not only would he have to get to the flower garden on his own but he would have no protection whatsoever. Who knew how long he would last on his own?
He remained silent and decided to focus on the now and not the future.
As they walked they came across a black cloud and Newton led them to a stop. The shape contracted and expanded like a sickly black heart. Sparks could be seen from the interior and it resembled a small storm cloud. Within the gaseous body was a dark entity that was unnatural. The cloud was supposed to be a rare occurrence, only instead of being an occasional sight, it was recently becoming a common occurrence in the reverse world. After years of living here, Newton had seen a steady increase in these entities and it was alarming. Of course, the two trainers had no idea what they were and they just stared in awe.
"What is that?" Dawn finally asked.
"Whenever there is an imbalance between time and space, the reverse world acts as a neutralizer and corrects the change. When this occurs a black cloud appears." Newton explained.
The humans watched from a distance unaware that Pikachu and Piplup were approaching the cloud. They were somewhat frightened of the cloud but they're curiosity took the best of them. Piplup stuck his head out dangerously close and only as it was extended did it realize the risk.
The air was toxic.
"Don't breath it in!" Newton commanded. The two trainers gasped as they realized what could happen. Dawn tried to run out but Ash grabbed her hand and held her back. As if in understanding, Pikachu whipped its tail in front and blew away the cloud like a fan. The tense situation cooled and everybody was able to breath a sigh of relief. All except Piplup, who was trying to hold his breath to his best strength. Shieldon came over to say that the smog had left and only then did Piplup open its mouth and inhale as much air as he could.
"The cloud is poisonous. One breath and it can be lethal." Newton explained. The two trainer nodded their heads and together they continued on. "Unfortunately, those clouds have become more numerous as Dialga and Palkia have increased their hostilities to each other. The mixing of the two dimensions is what caused all these implications, including what is happening in the reverse world."
Shaymin breathed a sigh and finally spoke up. "Okay, but why me? What did I do? I never wanted to get involved in any of this!"
"That may be, but when you used Seed Flare to free Dialga and more importantly hurt Giratina, you got yourself throughly involved." Newton countered.
Shaymin bowed his head in submission. The man was right. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, no matter how badly he wanted to say that he was innocent, no matter how badly he wanted to change the past, the fact was clear. He was involved and there was nothing he could do about it. His actions were most problematic. All of these problems were getting out of hand. He just hoped Giratina would just disappear from his life. Only time would tell.
As they passed by Ash noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a bubble, but it was floating towards him. The picture inside was awfully familiar. It was geen and blue. The picture came into focus and it revealed a man watching a mirror. Brock.
Real world
Brock stood outside, thoroughly perplexed as the mirror glowed faintly. When he touched it, it moved like a gel. It was as if the mirror was alive. He had been waiting for minutes it seemed. But then those minutes had started to accumulate and before he knew it he had been staring at the screen for over a half hour. Boredom was starting to kick in. He tried to ignore the fact that some of the walkers looked at him weirdly. In his mind, they saw him as some weird stranger who was staring at a wall. He knew that they were still alive, Ash and Dawn, but he couldn't help but think that they were gone. Forever.
"Ash? Dawn? Come on guys? What happened to you?"
Reverse World
"Hey thats Brock!" Ash said.
"He must still be there." Dawn replied.
"Maybe he thinks we're dead." Shaymin followed.
"Brock! Brock are you there!?" Ash called.
"Can you hear us?" Dawn asked.
"No, stop it!" Newton screamed upon turning around. Unfortunately, it was too late. Ash had just barely touched the bubble when it burst into a flash of light. They flinched from the explosion and Ash had a very bad feeling.
Real World
Brock didn't know what happened. He was just sitting there when all the sudden he was blown backwards by an invisible wall. He yelped in surprise and fell onto the grass. He looked up at the mirror with a shocked expression, not sure what was going on. He decided to simply do nothing and just sit still, hoping that nothing strange would happen again.
Reverse World
"Idiot!" Newton scolded. "Whatever you do here has effects in the real world!"
"So-Sorry." Ash shook his head in understanding. "Hey Dawn, lets uh...lets not tell Brock."
"Good luck with that." She smirked.
"He-Hey!"
"Nice going." Shaymin whispered.
"You be quiet, you would have done the same thing." Ash replied.
"Anyway, changes in those spheres is reflected directly to the real world." Newton continued.
"You mean that if we were to destroy the sphere with electricity, we would create an explosion in the real world?" Dawn asked.
"Most certainly. Although it would probably resemble a small thundercloud more so than an explosion. The point is, whatever you do here is reflected."
They continued onwards until they saw a warped bridge. It curved in a corkscrew and the trainers looked with a sense of confusion. This keeps getting weirder and weirder, Ash thought to himself.
"Gravity gets strange again." Newton announced. He leapt in a huge stride and made a jump that would have been impossible in the real world. Upon landing, he turned around with a smile on his face. "But it can be kinda fun when you get used to it. Come on the destination is right ahead-"
He was interrupted by a roar from behind, or rather below him. The golden scales on his back were mistakable. The long tentacles flowed like waves in the still air. The body seemed to expand indefinitely until the tail finally halted at a golden tip. It was Giratina. It flew ahead and gave loud screeching sounds. It continued to fly away in the distance before turning its body to face the humans. The red eyes glowed ominously and even from a distance they were bright enough to instill fear. Its body twisted and the dragon flew at them.
"What are you doing? Run!" Shaymin screamed while clinging to Ash's head. The boy flinched from the sudden sound of terror and instinctively ran forward. It hopped over levitating rocks as the dragon drew near. It was hard to focus with Shaymin's jerky movements above and the boy tried his best to gain control. He was jumping from one of the stones when he felt the roar from Giratina coming behind him. The breath was like a gust and it knocked Ash towards the ground. The giant mouth barely missed Ash and the boy ducked his head upon roughly touching the ground. He looked up briefly to see that his hat had fallen.
The rider was nowhere to be seen.
Ash gasped and looked up to see Giratina holding a victim in its jaws. Shaymin.
"No, Shaymin!" Ash screamed.
"It can't be!" cried out a voice. Dawn had reached him and she helped him to his feet. The two humans and their trusted partners stared in terror. A strange movement caught Pikachu's attention and it pointed to Ash's hat. The cap was moving. When it was flipped into the air, it revealed none other that what was supposedly in Giratina's jaws. Shaymin.
"You didn't think it get me that easily did you?" Shaymin grinned.
"If thats you then what's that?" Ash asked.
"My little escape plan."
The shape in Giratina's mouth was crushed violently by the dragon. Suddenly it became bright and it burst into light. The dragon screamed upon realizing it was tricked by the decoy. It angrily shut its mouth and prepared to make a second run.
"Substitute." Newton nodded. "Most impressive."
"Oh its nothing." Shaymin replied honestly. "Just a trick I learned."
"Wait, you planned for this?" Dawn asked.
"Oh yes, the day that a massive ghost-like dragon would appear from the depths of hell to consume me and crush my internal organs! I obviously knew! Of course I didn't plan for this you idiots!" Shaymin screamed.
The roar of Giratina prompted them to continue running it would not be long before Giratina returned and there was no telling when that might happen.
"Nows our chance. Hurry." Newton commanded. "Theres the portal. Nothing can get in, but you may be able to get out."
They ran to a blackish hole. It glowed brightly and spun like a vortex. A sense of hope came to the trainers; they might make it; they might escape. However the dragon continued to give chase and wouldn't give up. The heart was filled with a desire for vengeance. It charged a blue sphere and prepared to fire it. Newton took notice and prepared to counter it.
"Shieldon use Ice Beam."
"Pikachu use Thunderbolt." Ash commanded in unison. The two attacks collided with the Dragon Pulse and the attack was negated. The dragon disappeared and Newton saw the opening for escape. Piplup dove first with Pikachu behind him. Dawn was then guided by Ash to the portal and she was helped through. Only two more to go and they were free.
Real world
Brock was about to give up when he saw a blue shape moving through the portal. It was a head, a very familiar head.
"Piplup?" Brock asked quizzically. The bird fell through the mirror and crashed on the ground.
Next, a yellow mouse came through the mirror and Brock watched with amazement as Ash's partner appeared next to the blue penguin.
"Pikachu?"
Then, a human appeared in the mirror, or rather, half of one. Dawn had here eyes closed and grunted as she tried to push herself through. She felt as if she was trapped in quicksand. She finally opened her eyes to see Brock reaching for her.
"Dawn." He called out before pulling her completely through.
Reverse world
Giratina reappeared and was approaching again. Shaymin watched from Ash's head as the giant got closer. Ash needed to hurry or else they would get attacked, but his thoughts drifted to Newton. He would be trapped here for who knew how long.
"What about you?" Ash asked.
"I still have things I need to do. You need to leave, or you may not be able to get out!" Newton replied.
Ash nodded and proceeded to exit the reverse world. He grabbed Shaymin from his head and held him with his left arm. He wanted to say some sort of good bye and thank you to Newton, but the roaring of a giant forced him to concentrate solely on escaping.
"Hurry, its coming!" Shaymin screamed.
Giratina was only about 100 meters away when Ash stuck his free hand through the portal. It felt very strange and the boy pulled it back out in reflex. Newton gripped his back and led him through. Giratina roared and accelerated forward.
"Giratina may not be able to leave, but it can still see into the real world. Keep Shaymin hidden, it will be what its looking for. Be careful, Ash, and also beware of mirrors."
The world of light disappeared and Ash stuck his head into the portal with Newton's help. He turned around to see Newton jump away as a massive head came forward at maximum speed. He wanted to help Newton but he felt his hand touch something soft: a human hand. He then felt a tug on his leg and screamed as he was tugged in both directions. He didn't know which way he would end up; would he reach safety with the others; would he be trapped in the reverse world forever; or would he end up ripped in half due to the painful tug of war? He was afraid of not seeing his friends again when he felt Giratina abruptly release him. Together, he and Shaymin fell through the world of blackness and collapsed onto grass. He was out. They escaped.
And that does it for chapter 5. Please review and PM me. I may be out for a while but I hope to continue this story. With that said, I'm off. Thanks for reading.