CHAPTER 7

MISTY POV

"Tell me again, where are we supposed to find that damned entrance to hell?" Dawn asked.

"Uh, it's actually underworld, not hell" Drew pointed out

"Whatever" she waved off

"I think Lady Girantina said it is supposed to be in a cemetery." May replied.

"But which cemetery? It will take us years to find out." Leaf groaned.

"I am hungry!" Ash exclaimed.
Paul smacked him and muttered that he was hungry all the time.

Gosh, this is annoying me. I mean we have been walking around town for two hours finding the gateway to hell. And the most irritating part is that we have only been given a clue that it is in a cemetery. But which cemetery? Where? And how are we supposed to find it? And to top it all off, these people are arguing, yelling and smacking each other.

I know that I am supposed to be calm and collected but there is a limit to what one can handle. And my patience with my friends is running thin.

"You will find it in a place where people grieve, lose their precious, and the second life starts." Gary quoted the exact words of Girantina with sarcasm.

It was clear that it is supposed to be a cemetery. "A place you find the most honored and richest of the old buried." Paul quoted Arceus with air quotes.

There is something missing. I know this place but I just can't put my finger on it. I closed my eyes drowning out my friends' voices and concentrated. Cemetery… burial of the rich and respected…old and ancient times…click…!

I gasped "Oh my God! How could I? I knew this all along." I started ranting.

My friends turned to face me. The girls trying to calm me down, but it was no use. I could not hear them or see them. I could only see flashes in my mind of the place where I read these exact words. I knew I was missing something important.

WHACK

I held my head in pain and looked up to see Ash holding my mallet with a serious look in his eyes. Everyone was silent. As soon as Ash realized I had snapped out of my trance he took a few steps back smiling sheepishly. He dropped my mallet which Paul caught and handed it back to me, the rightful owner of Mr. malicious mallet, with a wicked smirk.

I thanked him taking the mallet and was about to charge at Ash when May stopped me. Leaf took the mallet from me and told me it was not the time.

"Mist, what in the world were you rambling on and on about before. What do you know?" Dawn asked looking at me.

I then remembered what had been the cause of my rants and motioned all of them to gather around. When I had everyone's attention I told them.

"Guys, I know where the cemetery that holds the entrance to the underworld is." "Where?!" they interrupted. "May, remember when we were watching the boys play, the day Dawn gave us a scare." I asked and May nodded. "Well that day I was doing my assignments and had borrowed a book from the library, which instead of chemistry turned out to be the book on the history of our school." May nodded again.

"Now that I think about it, I remember reading something about our school being built on a century old cemetery of the nobilities." Paul answered deep in thought.

"Exactly! And if I remember correctly, the exact words of the first chapter were 'prestigious Carmel Academy has been built on a century old cemetery.'" I said. "And the next sentence was 'the blood of the nobles and the most honorable was what made this place so special. The most rich and respected of the olden times have blessed this ground for the beginning of their second lives.'" Paul finished.

I gave him a praising smile at his strong memory to which he nodded and patted me on my head for figuring it out.

"Um, so we just have to go back to school and find a cemetery that is buried 200ft. deep in the ground right?! Hah piece of cake." Drew's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Alright guys, what are we waiting for, let's go." Leaf cheered running towards the huge gates of our school.

We all followed her and entered the school. Now as to where do we start, well we'll just start from the huge front garden or more like a grassy field. We split up into teams of two taking one of the four directions. Leaf and I took the southern or the back side, Gary and Ash took the eastern side while Paul and Drew chose the western side. And May and Dawn searched the northern or the front-central area.

GARY POV.

Ashy-boy was basically fooling around, smelling the flowers and sniffing at the fruits on trees. So it was up to me to look for the gateway to hell. Man, this is the only time I was wishing that this school was not so big.

Oh and by the way how am I supposed to know how the entrance would be like. I sighed and kept looking, between the flower beds, around the trees, over the fences and where not. That is when I heard Ash knocking on the bark of a huge tree.

"Ash, what the hell are you doing bro?" I asked him annoyed.

He looked up and replied "You never know if a hollow trunk is the entrance to the dead." I shook my head and continued. After a thorough search and failure I dragged Ash to where Misty and Leaf were searching the bushes.

Ash grinned and kept a finger on his lips, motioning me to stay quite. He slowly crept up to the oblivious Misty who had her head in the bushes. Leaf looked up sighing and saw Ash who looked at her with a pleading look. She nodded and mischievously smiled.

BOO

"AGGH" Misty jumped up and out of the bush shrieking. Leaf laughed at the look on her face and Ash and I were holding onto our aching stomachs laughing like madmen. After all it was not every day that you see Misty Waterflower shriek like a girl.

MEANWHILE..

"Drew, stop using that magic or you will get us in trouble." Paul hissed.

"Look who's talking." Drew fired back.

Drew was currently busy raising and dropping the earth near the flower beds to look for an underground entrance. He saw a rose bush and was stroking the flowers, while, Paul had turned into a shadow creeping up the trees and around the ground to find any clue. They were quite sure that they were the only ones using magic and if Misty knew about this she would bite their heads off.

A few minutes later they heard a girlish shriek from the backside and'oomph' from the front. They quickly stopped their search and rushed to where Misty was glaring at Ash, Gary and Leaf who were laughing their asses off.

"Hey, what happened?" Drew asked and Paul raised an eyebrow. "Oh it was like…" Gary started when they were interrupted, yet again, by a scream.

MAY POV.

"Dawn.." "Yes, May?" "Um, nothing" I replied. After a few minutes "Dawn.." "Hmm" "Uh, never mind" I answered. It went on like this another time with me calling Dawn and ending up in silence. After the fourth time Dawn turned around and held me by my shoulders. Even though she was a little shorter she looked more mature and motherly.

"May, is something bothering you?" she asked concerned.

I shook my head confused at what she was talking about. "Are you feeling alright?" she inquired and I nodded this time. "Then what is the problem, June" she poked me.

What?! Not her too. That bloody nickname and its creator are rubbing off on my sweet little Dawn. No I won't let this happen at any cost. I thought, overreacting much, huh May?

I scowled shaking her off. "Don't be like the Grasshead. And by the way I was only bored of the silence." I said sticking my tongue out which caused her to sweat drop.

I continued my search around the huge fountain. It was quite fancy, with the statue of our school's founder. And from under the platform on which he was standing crystal clear water gushed out into the base which was filled up to two feet. Dawn came up to me and we stood on the outer circular boundary of the fountain knocking on the marble tiles.

That was the biggest mistake we made. When we heard someone shriek we lost our balance. And you can guess with our luck, instead of falling out on the field we fell into the fountain.

"oomph" I choked.

When I got up I saw Dawn standing, and well let's say that she was not a pretty sight to see. With her hair dripping and arms on her hips she glared at the statue like it was the cause of her state. I held her hand trying to get up but that was another bad move on my part, because Dawn screamed and fell down again hitting her head against the platform. I yelped holding onto her head and that's when I heard rushing footsteps.

Dawn groaned rubbing her head and I helped her get up. Oh May! When will you stop making mistakes? Yep, my third mistake was when I held onto the statue's foot heaving Dawn up. I felt the feet of the statue move from my grip, which I again lost. And the result was Dawn and I fell again with a splash.

By now the guys and girls were standing in front of the fountain, with amused looks. I had expected them to be laughing until they cry but no, they were staring at us and then above our heads.

I looked up confused and my confusion turned into shock. The statue had twisted 180 degree and now there was a huge opening in one wall of the cubical platform. It was big enough for us to crawl through and it was pitch black in there.

I looked back at my friends who had now climbed into the fountain. Ash was the first one to break the silence by asking "What happened to Dawn? Does her brain hurt?" Paul smacked him and replied "Her head hurts."

"Dawn, you okay?" Drew asked looking concerned. "Yeah, just hit my head against that thing" she replied pointing towards the platform. Leaf rubbed her head a little and Dawn smiled saying she was fine.

"How did this happen?" Misty demanded. I sighed and told her the whole thing, though she blushed a little and glared at the rest of them excluding Dawn and I. hmm, wonder what happened I mentally smirked.

Paul peeped inside the opening a little. "See something?" Gary asked sarcastically. I thought Paul would glare or retort, but I guess I should stop thinking and expecting things. Paul turned and smirked "As a matter of fact, I can see everything."

We turned to him confused and he shrugged. "I guess that comes with being the mage of shadows and darkness." Drew smirked and patted his back.

"Ohkay… So what do you see?" Gary asked.

"Nothing good, just an endless staircase with white smoke on the steps and a few burnt torches." Paul replied.

"So this is it?" Dawn asked as she started to crawl inside, but at that moment Paul caught her by the waist pulling her back harshly. "Hey, what was that for?" she scowled and Paul scowled back. Man, I have to admit his scowl is giving me chills but Dawn did not flinch.

"Troublesome girl, don't go crawling into the unknown. The staircase starts after a 6ft. fall. And we do not want more trouble with you breaking your legs." Paul growled and Dawn looked down.

Drew put a hand on Paul's arm. "I think it would be better if you went down first, followed by July who will light the torches." He stated. And that is what Paul did; we all heard a thump as he landed. Being taller than the rest gave him an advantage as we could still see the top of his plum colored hair. He held his hand out of the opening and I gladly took it.

PAUL POV.

That troublesome girl, always trying to be the brave one, I thought sourly. I held out my hand for May to take it which she did. After she jumped inside I knew she could not see a thing as she still clutched my hand. At least I respect her enough to call her May. Don't get me wrong, not that I would care, she is a kind one and a good musician.

I carefully reached for the torch as my one mistake will cost me my life in the floating steps. When I had it in my hand I took May's hand to give her the torch. She felt around the handle and reached the top where she lighted her hands into small flames igniting a flame. One was not enough so I pulled another.

Now with the two torches in her hand I lifted my hand out of the opening. Long hair brushed my arm so I knew it was that Leaf chick. I helped her down and gave her another two torches which were lit.

She held them carefully making space for another one to come down. Ash jumped down, followed by Gary and Drew. They all descended the step a little to make room for the two girls. Misty looked down then turned back to say something to troublesome. She waved me a little farther because I knew she would be able to do it. So I stepped down.

Misty jumped landing on her feet; she stood up and dusted off her shorts. Drew and Gary helped her down the steps when I looked towards the opening. I knew troublesome can come down on her own so I smirked wanting to see how she is going to show off this time.

And sure enough I was right; she did show off by flipping and then landing on her fours like a wild cat. May handed out one torch to her which she accepted. We all started walking down the steps with fog blocking the view of our steps. I led with May at my heel, followed by Ash and Leaf, then Misty and Troublesome, with Drew and Gary at the rear.

No one talked, not even Ash and May for the next half an hour. But my happiness was short-lived as soon May started complaining on how much longer and Ash groaning that he was hungry. I could not help but smirk at the antics of these people I call friends.

After another half hour I held out my hand and May bumped into it followed by the rest, because the sight in front of me was not cool. Not cool at all.

We all now staring at the graveyard and the forest surrounding it had the same thought in mind.

'This is where it all begins, our dangerous journey on the highway to HELL.'

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