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Chapter 49
Ash's POV
I wasn't sure what a hydra tasted like, but it sounded good. Maybe it could be a sushi or maybe I could fry it and then season it. I'm pretty sure Pikachu would love it with ketchup.
"Pikachu are you ready to try hydra with ketchup?" Pikachu's cheeks sparked in excitement.
The hydra charged its ugly head toward the raft I was on. The closer he got the more I could smell his breath, which surprisingly smelled of peppermint.
"Get it away from me!" Dawn was squealing and right into my ears too!
"Pikachu, use thunder!" Pikachu released an electric bolt and it fried the hydra. Actually, it left a tiny scratch on the hydra's body, but that was enough to make the hydra angry.
"It's angry! Let's go!" Misty started paddling with the oars a lot faster.
"What are you young 'uns talking about? It's just an iceberg." Henry must've seen the hydra as an iceberg, but I wish I was that lucky!
"Never mind. I just really want to go to Dewford." Misty lied. I wonder if all that lying was good for you, but Gary's already warned me that I shouldn't ever tell the truth to random people if it was about demigod things. I wasn't sure why, but Gary had already bribed me with a battle, which I lost…
"What's the rush? You whippersnappers are all in such rushes these days." Henry said.
"Oh, we're just really excited to battle the Dewford Gym. You see we're all pretty dedicated battlers, well, except for Dawn. She's a coordinator." Misty explained, which was still a lie.
"It can wait until tomorrow." Henry shrugged. You could only hold off a hydra for so long before you actually got hurt and by that I mean my arm. It had a large gash bigger than Pikachu. It hurt like my 3rd degree burns too!
"What happened to your arm? I knew that icebergs were dangerous, but that's a little exaggerated!" Henry's eyes were wide and his mouth was gaping. My blood was dripping either down my arm or down into the water. The hydra's tooth was lodged into my arm! Well, the tooth was covered in my blood too. Whoever wants some of Ash's blood come and get it!
Misty looked away and Dawn was trying her hardest to focus on the water. I guess they didn't like the view of my arm. Oh, well. "Pikachu use volt tackle!" Pikachu glowed with electricity and charged toward the hydra. This time the hydra actually took damage. The whole body was shocked with paralysis.
"Let's go!" Gyrados gave Misty a helping hand and shoved our lifeboat toward Dewford. Even I could see the nearby island, Dewford. I was starting to feel faint from the loss of blood. My eyes slowy drifted shut. I tried to fight it, but it didn't work.
"Hey, do you think he's going to wake up soon?" I heard a muffled voice. Dawn's? Misty's?
"Unngh." I tried to say something normal, but it came out as a groan.
"He's finally awake? I knew they shouldn't have given him that much sleeping gas." Yep, Misty's voice.
"Guys, what time is it?" I at least managed to groan that out.
"I don't know. I think it's around 5." I saw Dawn shrug. I sat up, but when I tried to move my arm it felt really numb.
"Oh, right. That hydra's tooth was stuck in my arm, huh? Too bad, I was looking really forward to eating some hydra." I wasn't the only one. Pikachu was too. I was on a bed with blue sheets, but the rest of the room was just as plain. The walls were painted a jade green and there was a painting in the middle of the wall that was of a basket of fruit.
The fruit somehow taunted me as my stomach growled. "I don't know about hydra, but I've got a cheeseburger with your name on it." Misty handed me a cheeseburger wrapped in a napkin. I took a big greasy bite. The salty goodness made my tongue ooze with flavor. Okay, I was going to need a few more. Maybe the rest of the cow.
I gobbled the rest of the burger down as if I've never eaten food until now. Why does food taste so good? "Do you think we should've saved more for him?" Dawn asked.
"No way! I was really hungry." Misty said.
"What? You guys only saved me one?" I folded my arms.
"Pikachu ate about 3 of them. I ate 4 and Dawn ate 2." Misty explained.
"Where'd you get 'em?" I asked eagerly.
"Oh, Henry cooked them for us. We could always get food later. Right now we need to contact the others. You're the only one who knows how to use the communicator thingies." Dawn said.
"Fine, but after this we're getting food. I'm hungry enough to eat a whole Whalord." I activated the communication device by saying, "Ενεργοποίηση."
It was the Greek word for 'activate.' A lot of demigod devices worked with command words. It was easier this way! I don't know why so many people hate it. Maybe, it was because this was the reason for having so many things stolen and then used.
"Who's this?" Drew's voice came through the black communication device.
"This is Ash. Misty and Dawn told me to tell you that we have to hydra scale." I said. I thought I heard Drew mutter, "Already?"
But then he said, "Okay, good. The others should be able to hear us too. It's either they're being polite or they like to eavesdrop."
"Gary? Paul? Jimmy? Lisa?" I heard someone snickering.
"Yeah, we're here." Paul grunted.
"Sorry, it's night here. I was trying to sleep." Lisa apologized.
"You wouldn't even want to be where I'm at. It looks like a rainbow had a party with all of his rainbow friends here." Gary said.
"I'm waiting for May and Drew to catch up. They kept on falling into the water." Jimmy complained. It looks like my friends aren't any different from the last time I've seen them.
"Oh, sorry! I was on this date with this guy." I don't know why, but I pictured Felicity bowing down in an apologetic way.
"You're on a date? At a time like this?" Drew didn't sound happy.
"Actually, I kind of had to. Simon had to go to the bathroom and we didn't want to go to the boys' bathroom, so we had this lovely man guide him to the bathroom, but he made me agree to go out with his son, you see?" Felicity explained.
"So all of this for a bathroom break?" Paul scoffed.
"Right, but don't fret. It's almost over plus it's night here, so I should be sleeping soon anyway." Felicity said.
"Then go to bed, so you can save your energy for the task." Drew replied.
"You know, we've got months until she actually turns 16, right? Or did you want to confess your undying love for her sooner?" Gary's voice interrupted. Drew went silent, well; at least I think so because he didn't answer.
"Since there's an awkward silence I'm going to end our conversation." Jimmy ended the conversation with, "τέλος," which meant 'end.'
"What'd they say?" Misty asked.
"Um, well, Felicity was on a date with some guy and then Gary said something about birthdays and then our talk was over." I shrugged.
"No, what'd they say about the hydra scale?" Misty smacked my head, which really hurt.
"Oh, um, I don't know. We ended our conversation a little early, but I'm guessing we're supposed to help the others if we could." I answered.
"Well, no one's near us, so let's just track the nearest one down." Dawn sighed. My burgers were going to have to wait, probably. Well, maybe just a few, so I'll have enough energy to find another group.
Leaf's POV
The list of children's names was almost all crossed out. Why were children so disrespectful? Some of the kids made rude remarks, some threw food, some threw toys, and some did all of the above. That's why I now have a new respect for babysitters and daycares. Gary and Paul had gone outside because they had grown tired of all the annoying children.
If only I could find a child like one of my friends. Even a kid like Gary or Drew would be good! But no-o, I get stuck with bratty kids who could use a long timeout! There were only two kids left on the list, Sarah Thomson and Austen Williams. Dear Athena and all the other mighty gods, if you could, could you please make one of these children a nice behaved one?
They apparently shared a room, which was weird since I thought all the rooms were divided into boys' and girls' rooms. I entered the room and saw an ill little girl in bed and an ill little boy in another bed.
"Are you two Sarah and Austen?" I asked. The little girl sat up and nodded. She had dark hair and chocolate brown skin. Her hair was short and looked like it had been chopped off.
"I'm assuming you're Sarah?" I asked. This time the little boy sat up and nodded. The little boy had bright red hair, lots of freckles covered his whole entire face, and he had bright blue eyes, much like May's.
"Okay, so you're Sarah?" I pointed to the little boy as he nodded, "And you're Austen?" This time the little girl nodded. Hm, quite the interesting names their parents gave them.
"Do both of you have dyslexia?" I asked. They both nodded. Well, they both seem to be polite, but which one was better for the invulnerability?
"Okay, so can I ask you two some questions?" I asked.
"My momma said not to talk to strangers." Austen said. Good point. At least this girl's got some common sense.
"Oh, don't worry sweetie. I'm one of the assistants." I lied.
"Oh, okay…" Austen replied. I guess she still didn't trust me. Good girl!
"Okay, so do you both have the same illness?" I asked. They nodded.
"Why are you asking us these questions? Didn't the weird old man give you these answers?" Sarah said. Hm, so this boy's got some common sense too. And not to mention a very good point, Harley is a bit strange.
"Like you said, he was a weird man and made me eat his cookies, so he didn't let me see your info, but he did send me here to see how you two were?" I was honestly just making this up along the way.
"Oh…" Sarah didn't seem to trust me either. What amazing children these two were!
"Do you both know what disease you have?" I asked.
"Pneumonia." They answered in unison. They have a lung disease?
"Do you know how you got it?" I asked. The two nodded.
"Our momma and papa smoked a lot. I tried to tell them my coughing really hurt me, but then Sarah started. After that someone heard him coughing at school and then he was at the hospital. My momma and papa were really mad at him, so I tried really hard not to cough, but it really hurt and then I was in the hospital. The police for some reason arrested my momma and papa because of something called meth. I'm not sure what it was, but they smoked it a lot and that's why Sarah and I are in the hospital." Austen explained.
I felt anger rise in me. This little girl even told her parents she had a coughing problem, but they didn't even try to at least smoke outside? What kind of parent would put their child in such danger?
"Oh, I see." I answered awkwardly.
"Yep, that's why my brother and I only have a few more years to live unless some kind of miracle happened." Austen said. The only thing that didn't make sense was that they were brother and sister.
"Does this mean you two are brother and sister?" I asked.
"Yeah, I was adopted." Sarah answered.
"Oh, I see…" I answered awkwardly, again.
"Uh huh, my dad said he named me Sarah because he thought my hair was girly." Sarah answered back. These kids were way too okay with this. If I were named a guys' name because I was manly then my dad would've never heard the end of it.
"Oh…" I said lamely.
"Are you really a nurse assistant?" Austen asked.
"Um, no." I said truthfully.
"Then why are you here, creepy lady?" Sarah asked.
"I'm here to cure one of you." I said.
"Then you should cure Sarah." Austen said immediately.
"No. You should cure Austen." Sarah answered back. Okay, I know I just prayed that one of these kids should be polite, but these kids were too hard to choose from. They were both sick and they were both related –where it counts. The only thing I couldn't decide from was which one I should turn invincible. I know I could turn both of them, but invulnerability was a big weight to hold onto your shoulders plus if they somehow got injured in their vulnerable spot then they would die.
"If you're not getting cured then I'm not getting cured." Austen crossed her arms and huffed.
"Then I'm not either." Sarah crossed his arms as well. Why is it that children are so stubborn?
"Well, then it looks like I have no choice. I'm going to put my faith into two little kids. I'm going to need you two to trust me and follow me, okay?" I sighed. Looks, like I just agreed to let two kids become invincible, how demented.
"Okay, creepy lady, I'll trust you for my sister." Sarah unfolded his sheets.
"Me too! I want to know how it feels to not be sick!" Austen jumped out of her bed and took a handful of masks. She strapped one onto her face and gave one to Sarah. Sarah strapped the given one onto his freckled face.
"Okay, then I'm going to need to take you two out on a little trip. Oh, but before that I need you two to meet these two loony bins. Don't worry they're nice when you get to know them," I said. I wasn't sure what Gary and Paul's reaction towards these two was going to be, but I have a feeling that it was going to be surprised. After all they did expect one child, right?
Lisa's POV
I woke up, like I usually do, groggily. Some warm figure was next to me, but I already knew it was Simon. The little sneak! Oh, well. I looked in the other bed, Felicity.
"Felicity, you awake?" I heard her figure roll, so I'm guessing she was awake.
"I guess I am now. Is it time to go diving?" Felicity asked from her bed.
"Actually, I was thinking of doing it the easy way. I was planning on doing the whole diving thing, but I'm just feeling lazy right now, so want to just do our task, the easy way?" I suggested.
"What's the easy way?" Okay, so maybe doing the easy way was probably smarter from the start, but seeing all the underwater creatures sounded like fun.
"I'll just summon Artemis and give Simon back his memories. Simple as that," I jumped out of bed and threw on my clothes as fast as I could. While Felicity was using the bathroom I gave Simon two quick pecks. Hey, I already have a good excuse if I need to explain to Artemis why I summoned her.
A teen dressed in a suit of armor with black hair pulled into a ponytail flashed into the room, "Hey, I'm done, so-" Felicity stopped as she noticed Artemis in the room.
"Hey, mom." I greeted casually. Artemis scowled.
"Why did you summon me by kissing this disgusting urchin?" Her voice was pretty high and mighty, well, in a teenage body, anyway.
"Oh, well, because I need to ask you two favors since these two favors help you." I shrugged. Artemis raised her brow.
"Really? What are they, young one?" This was good. I had lured her attention away from Simon, so far so good.
"Well, I'm going to need you to flash you to a group of four demigods, May, Drew, Jimmy, and Marina. One of them should be the girl you're looking for and then I'll need some ambrosia." I said.
"Daughter, you truly are a lazy girl. I'll grant you the ambrosia, but you must feed it to that Maple girl yourself." Artemis's calloused fist opened to reveal a golden plant. She was always about showing off, but the moment you took a bite out of it, it'll taste like a burning sensation in your mouth, but to me it was tasted like an apple. I guess having Artemis's blood in me made me immune to the effects. I wasn't sure why it didn't work that way with demigods.
The golden plant looked like, oregano except golden. It was as simple as that. I grasped it into my hand, "Okay, so it's the normal procedure, right? The feeding and then the contract, huh?"
"Indeed. Now stop making me grant you favors. It'll make you seem like you're my favorite." Artemis sighed. She handed me a quiver of arrows, the magical kind.
"Yeah, you tell me that every time and I know I'm spoiled, but hey, I'm your only daughter, so…" I shrugged my shoulders. I heard Artemis sigh and put her delicate and strong hands on her hips. She then flashed out of the room. Yep, that was my typical visit.
"Um, who was that?" Simon said. Oh, right I gave the little booger his memories back.
"Oh, that was Artemis." I said.
"How did you summon her?" Felicity said.
"Oh, easy I just gave Simon back his memories." Okay, so maybe I was underreacting, but this was me I was thinking of! This kind of crap happens often enough for me to not freak out.
"Wait, I lost my memories? Adrian's going to be so mad at me." Simon said. Well, at least he was back to normal. His brotherly complaints were a little annoying, though.
"Okay, well, we should go tell the others we're coming to Drew, Marina, May, and Jimmy." I said. I muttered, "Ενεργοποίηση."
"Hey, guys. It's Lisa. I've got some ambrosia, but I need to know where May is." I said through the BCD.
"She's going to have to eat that, right? Well, she's heading to Slateport." Drew answered.
"Okay, thanks. That's all I need. Τέλος" I ended the short talk. That was all I needed to know. I was planning on flying there after all.
"Um, what's going on?" Simon asked. Oh, right! He didn't remember anything during his 'poo brain' mode. I gave him a brief explanation on why we're here and then how Artemis came and why he lost/gained his memories.
"Are you serious? I missed two kisses?" Well, looks like his unrequired crush still lingered in his annoying brain.
"Yeah, yeah. Do you have any flying Pokémon?" I asked. Simon gave a sheepish look.
"I don't have any Pokémon." He answered shyly.
"Why not? They're nothing, but helpful and amazing." I said.
"Um, I wasn't allowed?" Simon shrugged.
"Okay, then I guess I'll use my flying Pokémon." As he was getting ready, Felicity and I went up to Nurse Joy.
"Could you help me exchange some of my Pokémon?" I asked.
"Of course, dear. Just go up to that machine and if you have any questions, feel free to ask." The pink haired nurse smiled. Together, Felicity and I went up to the machine. I looked through my Pokémon for the flying types; luckily, I categorized my Pokémon by type. Too bad all of my flying Pokémon was too small.
"Never mind, it looks like we're going to have to swim there or dive, like we planned." I shrugged.
"Okay," Felicity said. I went back into the room and got into my swimsuit, which was a black one piece. Felicity's was a white bikini. It's either Simon fell asleep in the bathroom or he takes longer than two girls combined to get ready.
"Simon, are you almost done!" I knocked on the door.
"Actually, I'm going number 2…" Oh, well, this was awkward.
"Are we going swimming?" Simon had finally come out of the bathroom after we watched, Tangled. Geez, it was either that boy was constipated or he was trying to test our patience.
"Yep, now go change and don't take another few hours." I threw him the orange swim trunks we bought him. He caught it clumsily and walked back into the smelly bathroom. This time he came out a few minutes later.
"Here. We got these for you too." Felicity handed him the orange diving gear.
"Um, thanks, but I have no clue who you are." Simon took the gear.
"Oh, right. I'm Felicity and I'm well aware you're Simon." Felicity greeted.
"Nice to meet you, but why do I need this?" Simon asked.
"I don't know it you know this, but diving gear is for diving." Well, it's not like we were going to eat it!
"That makes sense." Simon agreed. I sighed. I put on my snorkel and ran outside and dived right into the water. I sent out my Milotic. I felt two other people dive next to me and then two red lights. It was Felicity's Omanyte and Kingler.
Yep, time to swim and then take a train maybe? Oh, well that was a later problem.
Marina's POV
I was searching for the entrance to the labyrinth. We probably should've asked where the entrance was in the city. Oh, well I didn't think that finding the entrance was going to be easy. All of my Pokémon were helping me look. I had been assigned the north part of town, May had been the south, Drew had been the east, and Jimmy had been assigned the west.
The north part of town was greener than the rest. It was also the part of town with a Pokémon Centre and a contest hall. I had already checked the whole contest hall, but May beat me to it, so I double checked in case May missed a part. I then checked the Pokémon Centre, but Jimmy and Drew were already healing their Pokémon, so I double checked again.
My Pokémon came back and shook their heads, guiltily. I sighed and returned them back into their Poke balls. It seemed like the entrance just didn't want to be found. I didn't give up, though, and I continued searching.
"Entrance, where could you be?" I muttered as I checked behind a couple of trees.
"Could you be talking about me?" I jumped and looked behind me. It was a young boy, but he was dressed in a white linen toga with a wreath in his hair.
"You're name is entrance?" I said.
"Hm, well, you certainly are a demigod, but if you want to find the labyrinth then I propose you play a game with me." The little boy said.
"Okay, what kind of game do you want to play, sweetie?" I said.
"Let's play hide and seek. I'll hide and you seek. You'll get thirty minutes to find me or you lose." He giggled.
"Then I'll count to ten, okay?" 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10! Ready or not, here I come!" The funny thing was I didn't even hear him move. I looked behind a couple of trees, some buildings, and inside some, but I couldn't find the little boy. How could he have hid so well in ten seconds?
Then I heard his giggling again, outside. "I don't think I'm about to let my friends down by losing a game to a little boy."
I looked outside, nothing. I started running, twenty minutes left. I ran down to the east side and asked Drew if he saw a little boy in a toga, but he said no, 15 minutes left. I asked May if she saw the little boy, but she also said no, 12 minutes left. I then asked Jimmy, but he said no, 6 minutes left.
I was rushing and then I fell. I closed my eyes, but I was still falling.
"You found me."
Hm, so Marina found the entrance first? Who knew? I actually planned for May to go in first, but what the heck! Okay, well, review and then find out next chapter if the others make it into the labyrinth! The last chapter's next and then I'll work on my other story and as soon as I finish I'll start the sequel! REVIEW!
~TDF~
