Time for another batch of updates!
"U-ugh..." Ash groaned, slowly opening his eyes. He saw only a rocky surface hanging ominously from above him. He blinked, quickly realizing that he was lying on his back.
He shot up from the ground, jumping to his feet and scanning the area. He was in a small stone cell, with a small stone fence granting him a view of a similar room opposite his, and a hallway that continued on in both directions.
"Where...am I...?" He grunted softly, walking to the iron fence and looking around the area for Spenser. It was then he noticed that Pikachu wasn't with him, either.
"Pikachu!" He cried, his eyes darting around the cell and down both sides of the hallway. "PIKACHU!"
He gripped the iron bars for a moment in frustration, then he thought of his other Pokemon. "Or are they gone, too...?"
He reached a hand down to his belt, only to find that all of his Pokeballs were gone, as well. Sighing helplessly, he slowly retreated back into the cell, leaned against the marble wall, and closed his eyes.
"Hey! Wait up!" Trey cried, calling after May, who was still running, further down the street. "May!"
She didn't respond, instead turning the corner and disappearing out of sight. Gritting his teeth, Trey continued his pursuit, swinging around the corner a few seconds behind her.
He saw the large Battle Palace now looming over him, even through the darkness that permeated the city. Locking his eyes on May, he ducked his head and sprinted forward toward her.
He caught up to her right in front of the facility, a few yards from the front entrance. Reaching out, he grabbed her roughly by the arm, forcing her to stop.
"Hold on a minute!" Trey urged as she turned to face him, her hand still holding her back by the arm. "You think you're just gonna rush in there without a plan?"
"We don't even know what's going on in there! How am I supposed to - "
"Look, just calm down for a second." Trey said, releasing his hold on her. She continued to look at him for a moment, then took a deep breath.
"...Okay. What are we going to do?"
"Like you said, we've got no clue what's happening in there. But I know we've got to at least be prepared - if he's trapped those two somehow, he could get us without much trouble."
May nodded knowingly. "Yeah..."
"So, knowing that, you ready now?"
May thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. Let's go!"
Trey grinned lightly as she turned and ran forward, disappearing into the darkness before them. "I've always heard it's a bad idea to seperate a man from his girl...but I guess it works the other way, too." Chuckling to himself, he sprinted forward into the Palace after her.
Once they arrived in the main chamber, May glanced around the room, eyeing a few of the smaller cave exits. "Ash! Spenser!"
"You guys here?" Trey added, cupping his hands around his mouth as he yelled.
A few seconds later, both of them shifted their gaze to the largest tunnel, the one the fake Spenser had emerged from the first time they'd seen him. However, this time, they saw only Nate walking across the chamber.
"Wha - Nate?" May cried in disbelief.
"So this is that Nate guy your friend was talking about." Trey said, dropping his hands to his sides. "You've got a lot of nerve, taking over the Battle Palace!"
"Yeah, yeah." Nate replied, shrugging off his words. "I've heard it all before, trust me. Let me guess, you're here for your friends, right?"
"Where's Ash?" May cried fiercely. "What'd you do to him?"
"Whoa, cool down there." Nate replied, seemingly taken aback by her tone. "I'll let you see your friends - but you've gotta battle me for them, first."
"I don't think so!" May shot back.
"Well, that's too bad, then." Nate said sadly, snapping his fingers. Butterfree floated up beside him in an instant.
May glanced at the Butterfly Pokemon. "What is..."
"It'd be a real shame to have to capture you all the same I did your friends. Really, where's the fun in just using Sleep Powder on all of your enemies?" Nate said mockingly.
"You do have them!" May cried angrily. "Let them - "
Trey held out his arm, motioning for her to stop. Staring Nate down, Trey began, "Fine. I'll battle you, you lousy fake."
"Oh, goody." Nate said, gesturing for Butterfree to fall back.
"What are you - ?" May began.
"Trust me." Trey whispered back, taking his place in the trainer's square on the battlefield, as Nate did the same on the opposite side.
"I hope a 3 on 3 is all right with you?" Nate asked, smirking.
"Whatever you want."
"Good." Nate said, grabbing a Pokeball from inside his coat and tossing it. "Go, Donphan!"
"Phaaaa!" Donphan roared, emerging from the Pokeball onto the battlefield.
"A - a Donphan?" May said worriedly. "Just like Ash's..."
Trey reached down to his pants, grabbing the third Ball down on the right leg. "Let's go, Murkrow!"
"Muuuur!" Murkrow cried, materializing on the battlefield as well.
May spared the Pokemon a glance; if the circumstances were different, she'd want to enter the new Pokemon into her Pokedex. As it was, though, she was just eager to find her friend.
"Quick, Murkrow! Use Haze!" Trey called.
"Muur-krow!" Murkrow cawed, exhaling a ridiculous amount of thick smoke from its beak. The large chamber was quickly filled with the stuff, obscuring Nate's vision, as well as Trey and May's.
"Hurry!" Trey cried, turning back to May in the fog. "Go and find them, quick!"
May nodded in response, hastily retreating from the growing cloud of black smoke. She made her way to the edge of the chamber and ran along the wall until the found the tunnel that Nate had come out of. Shooting one final glance back at the battlefield, she turned and ran off down the dark tunnel.
"Aaagh!" Nate groaned. "Donphan! Use Rollout!"
"Phhh-an!" Donphan bellowed, quickly rolling itself into a ball and rolling across the battlefield. He crisscrossed his way around the room, clearing out large portions of the smoke as he did so.
Finally, Murkrow stopped, closing its beak and flying up a few feet. Donphan slid out of its ball position, sliding along the floor as it did so due to the momentum.
"Wait a minute..." Nate said, glancing across the field as the last of the smoke cleared. "Where'd the girl go?"
"Nowhere you need to worry about." Trey shot back. "Murkrow, use Aerial Ace!"
"Mur!" Murkrow responded, flapping its dark wings as it soared higher into the air above its opponent before streaking straight down toward Donphan.
"Donphan, hit it with Hyper Beam!" Nate ordered.
"Dodge it and keep going!"
Murkrow spun in barrel roll around the hulking orange beam that streaked toward it, causing the beam to slam into the ceiling instead, cause the entire room to tremble as bits of debris rained down from the roof.
"Defense Curl, now!"
Donphan roared as Murkrow shot toward it like a bullet, rolling into a ball again, but remaining stationary this time. Murkrow slammed into it, but the attack merely grazed off the armor now encasing Donphan.
"Now use Hyper Beam again!" Nate bellowed.
However, Donphan was still recovering from the first attack, and thus merely unrolled from its ball form and fell on its side, panting.
"What are you doing?"
"Now, Murkrow!" Trey called. "Night Shade, go!"
Murkrow spun around from high above the trainers, locking its sights on Donphan before shooting a series of black rings at it from its eyes.
"Phaaaaan!" Donphan roared in agony as the Ghost attack hit.
"You...you little..." Nate growled, glaring daggers at Trey from across the battlefield. "I'm gonna make you pay for that..."
"Come on." Trey fired back tauntingly as Murkrow floated down in front of him. "Let's see you try."
"Ash!" May cried, her own voice echoing off the walls back at her as she ran through the maze of stone hallways. "ASH!"
She had no idea where she was, or even how to get back to the Palace entrance. Her basic instincts told her to find Spenser first, as this was his facility and therefore he would likely know the way through this labyrinth. But, for some reason...
"I have to find Ash." She thought to herself. "I have to."
She couldn't explain why, but she was overcome with a desire to find him - despite the fact that she knew Spenser was the one that could actually get them out of here.
She turned another corner in the never-ending maze of tunnels, and her ears were suddenly treated to the cry of a familiar voice.
"Pika, pika, pika..." Pikachu's voice came softly from the walls of another hallway. Before she had time to think about it, Pikachu himself ran out of a connecting tunnel into the tunnel that May herself was in.
"Pikachu?" She cried incredulously, running up to it.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, perking up when it saw her.
"What're you doing down here? Shouldn't you be with Ash?" May asked.
"Pika! Pika pika!" Pikachu explained hurriedly, pointing further down the hallway.
"You think Ash is that way?"
"Pika!" Pikachu replied, nodding, before clambering up onto May's head.
May nodded back, shifting her eyes to look at it atop her bandana. "All right, then. Let's go!"
Ash was suddenly awoken from his slumber by the familiar sound of Pikachu's voice, echoing into his cell from further down the hall.
"Huh...?" He moaned groggily, glancing up from the floor. He was slumped over on the floor, against the wall, his hat previously pulled down over his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw May and Pikachu suddenly run into view on the other side of the cell bars.
"Ash!" May cried in relief.
"Pika, pi!"
"Pikachu...?" Ash muttered to himself, his body fully adjusting back to reality. "May!"
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." He replied, running over to the iron bars that stood between them. "But...what are you doing here?"
May smiled back at him. "I don't know...I just got this feeling that you'd need help."
"But where'd you find Pikachu?"
"He was looking for you, too, I think. I found him running through the tunnels on my way here, I was actually kind of lost. He seemed to know exactly how to find you."
"Really?" Ash asked in wonder, looking down at his longtime friend. "Good job, buddy!"
"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu replied happily.
"I don't really know how to get you out of here, though..." May admitted, her face falling a little.
"Pika!" Pikachu assured her, motioning for her and Ash to back away from the bars, its tail beginning to glow white. It leaped up and spun around, slamming its tail into the steel fence. Three bars toppled over onto the ground, resulting in a sufficiently-sized hole for Ash to climb out of.
"Thanks, buddy!" Ash said gratefully, stepping out through the hole in the bars. "Hey, do you think you could sniff out Spenser for us, too?"
"Pika!" Pikachu replied, taking a whiff of the air before dashing off down the hallway.
Ash and May turned to each other, grinning, and nodded before taking off after Pikachu, together.
R&R!