Pokémon: The Prism League Chapter 3 : Less is Alto Mare
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Ash and his friends arrived early the next morning in the Town of Alto Mare an island town full of canals located in the Johto region. It was here that Ash had come to find the final Pokémon he wished to add to his team. But at the moment the group was about to compete in the world-famous Tour de Alto Mare a water chariot race in which trainers ride on floating platforms pulled by their Pokémon. At the front of the pack Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracy, May, and Dawn dressed in their swimsuits stood ready with their chosen Pokémon.
"Let's do it Buizel!" Ash said to the sea weasel Pokémon.
"Bui!" (Right!)
"Chu chu pikapi" (Good luck Buizel!) Pikach cheered from Ash's shoulder.
"You ready to go Piplup?" Dawn asked her partner Pokémon.
"Piplup!" (Always!) The penguin Pokémon replied confident as ever.
"Time for another win Corsola" Said Misty.
"Corsola!" (Yeah!)
"We've got this Wartortle." May encouraged.
"Tortle!" (Totally!)
"Let's show them what we can do Marill!" Said Tracy.
"Mar rill!" (You got it!")
"Give it you best Swampert!" Brock said to the water and ground type.
"Swamp!" (Right!)
"Everyone looks super pumped." Iris said as she watched from a nearby bridge with Cilan and Max.
"No doubt everyone's competitive spirit has ignited. Cilan agreed.
A loud groan gained Iris and Cilans's attention causing them to look to Max who had a dark cloud hanging over him. "Hey what's wrong Max?" Iris asked the younger trainer.
"I'm finally a trainer and I still end up missing out on competitions." Max said his head hung low.
"It seems sitting on the sidelines is a sensitive subject" Cilan sweat-drop as he watch as the cloud grew darker.
"I knew I should have caught a water Pokémon." Max whined.
"Ladies and gentlemen it is now time for the Tour de Alto Mare to begin!" The announcer's voice came over the intercom. "Trainers when the Kecleon turn green begin. Three red Kecleon took their place on a platform above the racers.
"Kecle!" (Ready!) All three Pokémon said.
"Kec kec!" "(Get set!) The three Kecleon turned from red to yellow.
The competitors stood ready waiting anxiously for the signal.
"Kec!" (Go!) The Kecleon turned green signaling the race to begin.
"Lets go!" Ash cried as he and the other racers shoot off from the starting line into the canals of Alto Mare. The contestants surfed across water at high speeds, going into the first turn Brock and Swampert took the lead.
Quickly Ash and the others took the top spots with Brock in front followed by Ash in second, May and Misty vying for third, Tracy in fifth and Dawn in sixth. The narrow canal and swampert's size was preventing anyone from passing until they entered an open area letting Ash and Buizel pass followed by May and Wartortle.
"Sorry Ash but I'm winning this one." May said as she caught up to Ash.
"We'll see about that!" Ash replied as both May and himself battled for first place.
"Chu!" (Yeah) Pikachu agreed.
"Coming through, Piplup and I have a race to win! Dawn said out of nowhere Dawn and Piplup sped past the both Ash and May.
"Hey!" Both trainers cried as they watched Dawn take the lead.
Back on the bridge Cilan, Iris and a still sulking Max watch as the race began to heat up. "Wow Dawn's in first." Iris cheered.
"Yes, Dawn and Piplup's strong connection will be a great asset in this competition." Cilan evaluated.
Misty, Brock and Tracy were now once again fighting for second with Ash and May while Dawn had taken the leaders position. As the next turn came Dawn cut it wide while Misty and Tracy cut in closer allowing them slip past Dawn and take the lead. The next canal was much smaller than the last causing Misty and Tracy to ride next to one another with Corsola and Marill neck and neck.
As they left the canal Misty and Tracy continued their duel for first place when May began to pull ahead of them. The three trainers were soon locked in battle for the lead each keeping pace with one another quickly gaining back the slightest inch lost to the others.
Seeing his chance Ash rushed past Misty, May and Tracy taking the lead. "Alright Buizel time to go all out!" Ash told the sea weasel Pokémon.
"Buibui!" (Right!) Buizel's two twin tails began spinning faster increasing Buizel's speed widening the gape between Ash and the others.
"It seems that Ash has the advantage now." Cilan said watching Ash turn into another canal with a large lead.
Ash turned out of the canal into the last leg of the race. "Alright!" Ash cheered seeing the finish line in sight when on the side-walk he noticed a boy about his age with dark black hair wearing a hat and a blue jacket. Ash could not believe his own eyes when for a moment he thought he saw himself.
"Chu pipi pika pika!" (Ash what are you doing!) Pikachu cried out as he notice Ash was not paying attention and began to lean over their chariot until both trainer and Pokémon were in the water.
"Bui, Bui!" (Ash, Pikachu!) Buizel cried as he noticed his riders had fallen off.
Ash and Pikachu resurfaced a moment later. "Sorry about that guys." Ash apologised to his Pokémon when he saw his friends had just left the last turn and were now fast approaching. "Wow Buizel we gotta go!" Ash swam frantically back to his chariot and continued with the race. Brock, Misty, Dawn, May and Tracy had caught up with Ash were now in a fight for the finish. All six Pokémon charged ahead with everything they had the end in sight then with one final push crossed the finish line at almost the exact same time.
Ash and the others came to a halt. "Who won?" All six teens then looked to the screen above the finish line. A moment later the displayed the results with Ash in sixth place Tracy in fifth May in fourth Misty in third Brock in second and in first place was Dawn.
"Alright Piplup we did it!" Dawn cheered as Piplup hopped up into her arms.
The audience burst into applause for Dawn"s victory. "Way to go Dawn!" Iris cheered.
"Dawn's determination combined with Piplup's confidence made for a winning recipe." Cilan stated.
"I still wish I could have competed." Max sulked.
"This is so cool!" Dawn said holding her first place medallion up to sun. "The symbols look like Pokémon."
"They are and one of them is the same Pokémon we're here to find called Latias. Brock explained.
"I've heard of that Pokemon from back home, it's a dragon type!" Iris said excited
"Well I'm surprised Ash let us stopped looking for Latias long enough for us to race." Said May.
"Yeah lucky for us the one thing that will make Ash stop trainer for a competition is competing in another." Misty said getting everyone laughing.
"Come on guys we need to head over to the museum to find Bianca." Ash said trying to his friends back on track.
"Ooh but Ash I wanted get some ice-cream." May complained.
"Yeah I'm starving." Said Tracy.
"We can get something to eat after we find..." Ash replied but was interrupted by his stomach growling.
"Looks like your stomach disagrees with you." Dawn giggled.
"Ok we'll get something to eat but let's make it fast." Ash gave in to friends and his hunger.
"Make that two things that will keep Ash from training." Misty said with a smirk.
After finding an ice-cream stand the teens had settled down at a group of benches to eat. Ash eager to get going ate his cone as fast as he could which gave him a case of brain freeze. "Ash the museum isn't going anywhere." Dawn said watching Ash hold his head in pain.
"I just want to get there as soon as we can." Ash replied.
"Ash your such a little kid, you can't wait a few more minutes to get there." Iris said finishing her ice-cream.
Ash sighed in defeat when across the plaza caught a glimpse of a girl with brown hair that resembled the wings of Latias wearing a white beret a green blouse and white skirt. "Bianca." Ash said rising from then bench bumping May causing her to drop her ice-cream cone.
"Pi pika." (It's her.) Pikachu agreed seeing the girl.
"Ash you just wasted a perfectly good ice-cream cone!" May said annoyed.
"I'll be right back." Ash said before taking off in the direction he had seen the girl.
"Ash where are you going?" Misty asked but got no replied. "He's so impatient, we better go to."
"Right." Brock agreed as he and Misty went after Ash.
"Ash come back here, you owe me a new cone!" May shouted as she joined Misty and Brock.
"Hey wait for us." Said Dawn running after the others joined by Max, Tracy, Iris and Cilan.
Ash and his friends took off on a chase across Alto Mare going from the largest plaza to the most narrow back alley.
"I'm exhausted." Dawn said out of breath as she leaned against a wall.
"Yeah it feels like we've been through the whole town." Said Iris.
"Come on I know I saw her around here somewhere." Said Ash.
"Ash we need a second to rest." Max replied.
"Do you even know which way Bianca went?" Asked Brock.
"Well." Ash said looking around when he notice Bianca enter an alleyway just across the canal. "There!"Ash rushed forward seeing a gondola coming down the canal. "Sorry!" Ash said to person steering as he jumped across to the other side of the canal.
"Excuse us!" Said Misty and Brock as they jumped across the boat following Ash.
Tracy ran to the edge of the canal just as the gondola passed leaving him and the others to find another way over. "We need to find a way over before we loss them!"
"To late, they're already gone." Said Max noticing that Ash Misty and Brock had already disappeared from sight.
The remaining teens groaned at their turn of bad luck. "Oh great now what are we going to do?" May asked no one in particular.
"We just searched this whole city looking for one person, no way am I searching all over again. Said Dawn.
"Dawn's right it would be far to difficult to search again, so perhaps we should go to the most likely place we would find them. Said Cilan.
"Cilan what are you talking about?" Iris asked the connoisseur.
"Ash said he museum was where we needed go, so at some point Ash and the others are bound to show up there." Cilan replied.
"Well that sure beats running around the city again." Said Dawn.
"And I can't think of anything else we should try." Said Tracy.
"Then to the museum it is then!" Said Cilan.
Cilan, Tracy, Max, May, Dawn and Iris had found their way to the Alto Mare museum. "Wow this place is amazing." May's voice echoed in the large hall.
"Look at this it's an Aerodactyl fossil." Max said looking at the fossil engraved in the floor.
"This building is an architectural marvel." Said Cilan taking in every detail of the museum.
"So beautiful." Dawn said watching the sun pour in through the large stain glass windows
Tracy was in the middle of sketching the DMA when he noticed two people standing on the upper level of the museum one looked to be the same girl from earlier but without her beret. And the other was a boy with messy black hair under a red and white hat. "Hey guys look up there ." Tracy called to the others.
"Finally we found them!" Dawn cheered seeing Ash upstairs.
"Lets get up their before we loss them again." Max advised before he and the others rushed up to the second floor.
"Hey Ash!" May called out waving to the trainer. Ash and Bianca turned to see the group running up to them but said nothing. "We were hopping you'd be here. May said but got no reply and watched as Ash and Bianca stepped back from them. "Something wrong? May asked confused.
"Hey when did you change you clothes Ash?" Dawn asked noticing instead of his blue pokeball symbol hat, blue and white jacket, black finger-less gloves, black pants and red high tops Ash was wearing his old green cheek hat his blue jacket with a black tee-shirt, green finger-less gloves, jeans and tennis shoes. "And what happened to Pikachu, Brock and Misty?"
Ash had yet to say a single word to his friends and watched them sternly keeping space between them while Bianca had stepped closer to them then circled them looking everyone over. "What's going on?" Iris asked confused.
A bright smile appeared on Bianca's face she then walked over to Ash and pulled him away from the others.
"What's going on, why won't Ash say anything?" May asked.
"This isn't like him at all." Said Tracy.
"I must agree, this is hardly the behavor of the Ash I know." Cilan thought aloud as he scratched his chin.
"I don't know what's going on but something is different about Ash besides not talking and his cloths." Said Dawn.
"What do you mean. Iris asked the coördinator.
"He got shorter." Dawn replied bringing to everyone's attention that Ash was now an inch or two shorter than herself.
"Hey your right and he looks a little paler to." May added.
Piplup and Axew tugged on their trainers legs getting their attention. "Piplup pip pip." (That doesn't smell like Ash.) "Ew ax axew axew." (Yeah they smell like Pokémon.)
"Even Axew and Piplup think something's up." Max confirmed then looked to Ash and Bianca who seemed to be having a conversation with one another but no words we're being exchanged only nods and other gestures.
"This is getting weirder by the minute." May said just as Bianca came over to her and began to tug on her arm. "You want me to follow you?" The Hoenn region coördinator asked the silent girl only to receive a nod. "Alright then." May allowed the Bianca to pull her away while Ash waved his hand for the others to fallow as well.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Max asked as they began to fallow Ash and Bianca out of the museum.
"I'm not sure about any of this." Dawn replied.
"Pip lup." (Me ether.)
Ash and Bianca lead the group from the museum back to the streets without a word. The unusual silence from the normally energised black-haired trainer had left everyone confused and uneasy while trailing behind the pair. After a short walk from the museum the trainers found themselves in a seemingly deserted part of the town.
"Where are we going anyway?" Dawn asked hoping to get an answer only to have Bianca and Ash turn down an alley. When Dawn and the other turned the corner they found only a dead-end and no Ash or Bianca. "What?"
"What happened to them?" Iris asked shocked.
"They went down this way, I'm sure of it." Tracy looked down the alley trying to find any sign of Ash and Bianca.
"They just disappeared." May said unable to think of any other explanation.
"That's impossible." Cilan walked to the end of the alley. "Perhaps there is an ahhh!" Cilan let out a yelp of surprise as he fell straight through the wall.
"Cilan!" The group cried their friend's name in worry.
A moment later Cilan reappeared from out of the wall unharmed. "I believe I've just found where Ash went." Cilan told the group.
The teens traded confused looks with one another before following Cilan through the wall into a dark tunnel leading to a beautiful garden. "Wow, this place is amazing." Iris said in aw of the surroundings. All through the garden were wild Pokémon Butterfree flew from flower to flower, Pidgy were perched in the trees and Poliwag swam in the ponds.
Across the pond Dawn notice Bianca sitting on a swing and Ash was leaning against the tree it hung from, Dawn rushed straight up to the silent pair with her friends not far behind. "Alright you two we've been running after you guys all day, now will you tell us just what is going on?" Dawn demanded wanting answers.
"There you guys are!" The group heard a familiar voice from behind them then turned to see Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Misty.
A look of shock crossed everyone's face as they looked back and forth between both Ashes when shimmering light surrounded Ash and Bianca then in their place were two Pokémon resembling a mix between a dragon and a bird one much larger with a blue and grey body and the other smaller with a red and white body. Dawn and the others looked with wide eyes and dropped jaws as the two beings they thought were human reveled themselves to be Pokémon "Will someone tell me what is going on!" Dawn shouted.
"I think I can explain." Bianca stepped out from behind Ash Misty and Brock confusing the others even more. "I'm Bianca, the real Bianca and Latias and Latios must have figured out you we're looking for Ash, Misty and Brock so they brought you here to find them.
"They're Latias and Latios?" May asked still in shock.
"That's right." Bianca replied.
"But how come they looked just like you and Ash?" Iris asked.
"That's one of their powers they can take on a human appearance, Latias likes to change into me a lot and Latios uses Ash's appearance." Bianca explained.
"Wow those are some impressive Pokémon." Max said staring at the two legendary Pokémon.
"They certainly do have a unique blend of flavors." Cilan evaluated.
"Bianca how is Latios here now, after what happened I thought Latios was..." Ash felt saddened by the memory.
"It was Latios's father he returned to take his son's place as the soul dew giving Latios a new life." Bianca said with a gentle smile.
Knowing of Latios's revival caused Ash to smile when Latias flew over to Ash and began to nuzzled him. "Hey alright I'm glad to see you to Latias." Ash chuckled.
"She's really missed you Ash." Bianca laughed at latias's affection.
"Well we actually came here to find Latias." Ash replied.
"You did, what for?" Bianca asked.
"I've been invited to this big competition called the Prism League and wanted to ask Latias if she would join my team but now I was kind of hoping Latias and Latios would come along." Ash turned to the Eon Pokémon who both let out a cry of excitement.
"I think that's a yes." Bianca laughed.
"Awesome!" Ash cheered.
"But Ash your going to need help training them." Bianca informed.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked confused.
"They're not like any ordinary Pokémon, they're powers are on a completely different level you can't just start training them without understanding their abilities."
"She has a point Ash we don't know much about working with legendary Pokémon." Brock added.
"Yeah you guys are rights" Ash said disappointed
"Luckily I know everything there is to know about Latias and Latios." Bianca replied.
"Wait Bianca you'll help me train them?" Ash asked hopefully.
"Of course I will and someone needs to keep any eye on them." Bianca smiled.
"Great thanks Bianca!" Ash said with excitement.
"Looks like you finally got your team together Ash" Brock stated.
"And after some training your going to be stronger the ever. Said May
"Then nothing will stop you from wining." Dawn encouraged.
"So you ready to train Ash?" Asked Misty.
"Yeah and then I'll be ready to win the Prism League!" Ash cheered when he suddenly remembered something. "Hey Bianca I have one last question."
"What is it?"
"Before we left Alto Mare last time was it you or Latias that brought me your drawing?"
"Oh I had Latias take it to you, why do you ask?
"Oh no reason." Ash said his face as red as Pikachu's cheeks while Misty smirked knowing why he had asked and Brock was grinding his teeth still jealous of Ash for receiving a kiss long before he ever had. "No reason at all."
I am very sorry about the long wait for this chapter but my other story and a lot of writers block really set me back but now this story is my main focus so updates should be coming quicker. Also I'm just saying this now so no one has to ask about it later I am not shipping Ash and Bianca or any other Ash pairings in this story. I have no problem with romance in a story but for this one it is just going to focus more on friendships.
Also I felt the need add on to Max's team so in Chapter 1 he now has two new Pokémon.
And to SpecialGuy9000 I want to thank you for your many reviews and I am very sorry for this long wait but it is always nice to know people are excited about my story.
Please read and review.