Chapter 9

Morning found Ash still propped against a tree, trying to keep his eyes open. He had been on all night Hunts before of course but never found them easy. Much to his relief, the presence hadn't come back and he had neither seen nor heard anything for the rest of the night.

Come to think of it, that was a bit odd; during the entire time that he had been on this island, Ash had seen no sign of pokemon and even the sounds of the bird types singing or bug types clicking was missing. His attention was drawn to his companions when he felt Misty stir beside him. He glanced down at her.

'Morning Ash', she greeted, blinking up at him.

'Morning', he replied.

She stretched, making her top rise up enough that Ash just caught sight of the bottom of her bra. He quickly tore his gaze away from the sight before she could catch him staring.

'Hey, are you okay? You don't look like you slept much last night', Misty said, noticing that he looked tired.

'Yeah I felt like I should keep a look out last night. You know, in case that prescence or whatever it was came back', Ash admitted, knowing that it would be pointless to try and keep it from her.

Misty looked concerned. 'You should have woken me, we could have kept watch in shifts'.

'Nah, I'm okay. I'm used to it', Ash said, brushing it off as nothing.

Misty gave him a cynical look but dropped it. Ash was rather surprised; he had been fully expecting to get into one of their infamous arguements with her but she had dropped it, just like that. Maybe it was because of the situation they found themselves in, they did have more important things to focus on after all. Like working out where the hell they were and how to get off this damn island.

'I'm going to wash up and then find us something to eat', Misty decided. 'You should probably wake Dawn up'.

'Right'. Ash knelt at Dawn's side and shook her gently. 'Dawn, Dawn come on, wake up', he called softly.

Dawn groaned and opened her eyes to see Ash hovering over her. 'Morning', she yawned.

Ash smiled at the younger girl, filling her with warmth. 'Morning', he replied. 'Misty's gone to go find us some food and as soon as we've eaten we're moving out'.

'Okay, I'm going to wash up'.

Dawn knelt on the bank of the stream and splashed water onto her face, shivering when some travelled down her neck. She allowed herself a few minutes to fully wake up before heading back over to Ash. Misty had returned and he was deep in quiet conversation with her, breaking off when Dawn got within earshot.

'What are you guys talking about?' Dawn asked, sitting down opposite them.

Ash and Misty exchanged a quick glance before Ash answered. 'Oh nothing much', he said with a nonchalance that Dawn saw through immediately.

'Here, have some berries', Misty said quickly, pushing a handful towards Dawn. 'It was all I could find nearby'.

Dawn took the offered berries and ate them, letting the matter drop for now. But she couldn't help wonder what Ash and Misty was keeping from her.

'Does anyone else find it weird that the whole time that we've been here we haven't seen any sign of any pokemon?' Dawn asked as she, Ash and Misty traipsed through the forest.

Ash glanced at Misty before answering. 'Yeah, we were talking about that this morning', he agreed.

'How come you didn't mention anything to me?'

'We didn't want to freak you out Dawn', Misty replied.

'I can handle all this creepy stuff you know', Dawn said,hating the fact that her voice had taken on a slightly whiny tone.

'I know', Misty agreed quickly, looking back over her shoulder at Dawn. She cursed loudly when she walked straight into Ash's back, who had stopped suddenly in front of her. 'Ow! Ash what are you -'.

'Hush', Ash interrupted her.

'What is it?' Dawn asked, peering around Misty.

'I thought that I heard something'.

The three of them stood and listened, making out the sound of branches snapping under the weight of something big.

'Ash?' Misty whispered.

'Start backing up. Slowly', Ash murmured.

They hadn't moved more than a few metres when whatever was approaching came into view.

The creature was easily over eight feet tall and was as wide as an army tank. It's head was that of a grey wolf, it's lips pulled back in a feral snarl revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth each individual tooth as long as Ash's forearm. The body was that of a brown bear, the legs ending in massive paws larger than the group's heads and five rapier like claws. It's tail was dark green and reptilian. Huge purple-black spikes ran down the length of the scales. It growled at the three terrified trainers, saliva dripping from it's fangs.

'Ash, what is that thing?' Misty squeaked, clutching Ash's bicep.

'Uhh... a werebear?' Ash suggested lamely.

'You don't know do you?'

'Not a clue'.

The creature growled again, sending ice down Ash's spine and prowled towards the frozen group. It's tail lashed out and struck a tree. The wood instantly began to sizzle and disintergrate, quickly reducing what had once been a sixteen metre oak to nothing more than a puddle of goo on the ground.

'Run'!, Ash exclaimed, turning and urging Dawn and Misty in front of him.

The creature growled and chased after the fleeing trainers. It easily caught up to them and Ash could feel it's hot breath on his back.

'Go right', he called to the girls. They heard him and dived to the side. Due to it's bulk, the creature was unable to turn as quickly and growled in frustration as it passed by them.

'We should climb a tree', Dawn suggested.

'Good idea, get up there', Misty said, giving the younger girl a boost up onto the lowest branch of the nearest tree.

Dawn scrambled up as quickly as she could to give Ash and Misty time to climb up too before the creature found them again. She could already hear it coming.

'Hurry up', she urged when she saw its back approaching over the foliage, reaching down to give Misty a hand whilst Ash gave her a leg up.

Before he could follow Misty, the creature broke through the foliage. Ash, Misty and Dawn all froze. The creature had stopped and was regarding it's prey, confidant that this time Ash wouldn't get away. It crouched down, it's powerful hindlegs tensing, ready to propel the creature at it's target.

Keeping his eyes on the predator and taking a deep, steadying breath, Ash jumped for the branch above his head just as the creature lunged. Misty and Dawn grabbed his arms and hauled him up. Ash winced slightly as a claw scratched his left calf but he was up and safely out of the creature's reach, panting on a thick branch with Misty and Dawn. The creature snarled and paced back and forth, it's tail twitching agitatedly. It tried jumping a few times and actually managed to reach the lowest branch but it's weight forced the branch to bend and threaten to snap.

'What do we do now?' Dawn asked, watching the creature prowling below them from where she and the others were perched higher up in the tree.

'The only thing we can do is try and wait it out', Misty replied. 'Ash you're leg!' she exclaimed, only now noticing his torn and bloody jeans leg.

'It's just a scratch', he replied carelessly.

'I have some antiseptic in my bag', Dawn said, offering the little bottle to Misty.

'Thanks Dawn. I don't suppose you have anything to clean the blood off do you?'

Dawn handed her a wad of tissues. Misty rolled Ash's jean leg up and cleaned up the wound as gently as possible. It actually wasn't that deep but he still jumped slightly when she sprayed the antiseptic on. As she worked, he thought about how nice it felt to have her take care of him.

'All done', she announced, handing the antiseptic back to Dawn and snapping Ash out of his reverie.

'Thanks Mist', he smiled, slightly disappointed that she had finished.

'You're welcome', she smiled back.

Night had begun to fall before the creature finally gave up it's hunt and stalked off through the forest but it wasn't until the darkness was total that Ash, Misty and Dawn summoned enough courage to climb out of the tree. All three of them were understandably shaken up and made the decision to make camp where they were.

'Maybe we should take it in turns to keep watch tonight', Dawn suggested.

'I think so too', Misty agreed. 'Ash, you go to sleep first'.

Ash lay down without complaint and closed his eyes. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the lack of sleep last night had caught up to him. He felt Misty sit down next to him and heard her start up a quiet conversation with Dawn. As subtly as he could, he wormed closer to Misty so that his hand was just touching her bare leg. Misty glanced down and a fond smile flickered across her face.

Dawn caught the look and was hit by a wave of disappointment. When she had first met Ash, she had thought that there might be something between them. But having watched the way he and Misty were around each other, she unwillingly had to admit to herself that he probably had stronger feelings for Misty than herself. Maybe he hadn't quite realised it himself. Dawn sighed; oh well, as long as he was happy, she thought to herself as she prepared to fall asleep.

Brock and May

'What do you mean that there are no islands around here?' May demanded, angry that Jimmy could suggest so calmly that her friends might be dead.

Jimmy exchanged a look with Aaron.

'It's like Jimmy said', Aaron told her gently. 'There aren't any islands in swimming distance from here'.

'But...' May trailed off, unable to argue any further.

She turned to look at Brock. His face was almost unreadable but May knew him well enough to tell that he was very upset at the news. May expected Pikachu to be distraught but was surprised to find that the mouse had a stubborn look on his face, like he didn't belive, no, more like he knew that Ash was still alive somehow. May looked at the pokemon curiously but nobody else seemed to notice.

'I'm sorry but we need to head back now', Jimmy said, turning the boat back towards the shore.

Jimmy and Aaron looked extremely sombre as they docked and said goodbye to May and Brock, apologising that they weren't able to find their friends. May thanked them and told them that there was no need to apologise before leaving for the pokemon centre with Brock.

'Hey Brock', May began as they headed across Vermillion city. 'Is it just me or does Pikachu not seem upset to you?'

'What do you mean?' Brock asked, looking down at the pokemon in his arms. Pikachu looked back at him curiously.

'Well, you'd think that he would be really upset about what Jimmy said but look at him; he doesn't look sad at all, he looks more... determined'.

'Determined?'

'Okay maybe determined's the wrong word. But it's like he somehow knows that Ash is alright. Does that sound crazy?'

Brock was silent for a moment. 'Honestly, it kind of makes sense, it certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened with those two. So do you think that they're alive?'

May considered for a moment. 'I think that as long as Pikachu isn't worried then there's no need for us to be'.

Brock nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer. 'Come on, let's get a room at the centre. I've got an idea that might help us find Ash and the others'.

Ash, Misty and Dawn

As soon as morning broke, Ash, Dawn and Misty set off, too nervous to stay in one place too long. The air was hot and humid and it wasn't long before all three of them were drenched in sweat. Misty probably had it the easiest, being dressed in only her usual yellow top and shorts. Dawn rolled her jeans legs up past her knees and Ash had long since removed his jacket.

'We need to find the stream again', Misty groaned, her face flushed red from the heat. Ash only grunted in response whilst Dawn couldn't even summon up the energy to reply.

After what felt like a day but was really only a few hours, they found the stream again and happily flung themselves into it. They allowed themselves time to enjoy splashing around before reluctantly dragging themselves back out of the water to continue their trek across the island.

As they walked, they noticed that the air temperature had begun to drop, making them shiver in their damp clothes. They also noticed that, although it was getting cold, the sun still shone down brightly through the leaves and the patches of sky that they could see where as blue and cloud free as ever.

'What is going on with this temperature?' Misty asked through chattering teeth, her breath now clearly visible.

Neither Dawn nor Ash had the answer and so the three of them kept trudging miserably along. When they were only a mile further upstream, the temperature soared back up enough to have the trainers sweating again, quickly followed by rain, hailstones and snow before returning to the normal stifling heat.

'What the hell?' Misty snapped for what must have been the fifth time in an hour.

'Misty, for the last time, none of us know', Ash replied through gritted teeth, the crazy weather and Misty's repetitive outbursts beginning to get on his nerves.

'Can we take a break?' Dawn pleaded.

Ash looked back and took in her tired, flushed face and weary posture. 'Yeah of course we can', he said, his tone softening.

Dawn gratefully slumped to the ground, glad to rest her tired feet. Misty sat down on a stump but Ash remained standing. He was on edge; as soon as they had stopped he'd had the feeling of being watched again and he was on the lookout for something approaching. He noticed Misty watching him and he met her gaze for a brief moment before returning his attention to the forest.

'Dawn are you ready yet?' he asked, anxious to keep going.

'Yes', Dawn replied, oblivious to Ash's edginess.

Misty sidled up to him and nudged his arm. 'Hey, what's wrong?' she asked in a low voice.

'I've got the feeling something's watching us again', he replied in a murmur. ''Dawn let's go', he called.

Dawn got to her feet and joined Ash and Misty. The group turned to go but stopped dead when they saw what had appeared behind them.

Three human like figures stood before them. They were dressed all in black and wore white masks on their faces. The eye holes were dark and empty as if there either was no eyes behind them or the eyes were completly black, like a shark. The masks also had a nose and closed mouths. The middle mask was smiling whilst the other two had neutral expressions. Each monster held a box as they continued to stare silently at the trainers before them.

Ash cursed.

'What?' Misty squeaked.

'Those things are called the Silent Ones', he explained. 'When they open those boxes, your soul gets sucked inside and trapped'.

'You know how to fight them though, right?' Dawn asked.

'Yeah I know how. Unfortunately I don't have any holy oil and I don't know if my lighter is working'.

Before them, the middle Silent One began removing the lid of its box.

'Fuck', Ash swore. 'Get out of here'. As he ran with the girls, Ash prayed that the Silent Ones wouldn't follow them.

They ran until they were no longer able to. Stumbling to a stop, Misty and Dawn collapsed to the ground and Ash doubled over as they caught their breath. The only sounds were their panting and luckily, it seemed that the Silent Ones hadn't followed them.

Being the fittest of the three, Ash was the first to recover. He stood up straight and scanned the area for what he wanted.

'Ash what are you doing?' Dawn asked. Raising her head tiredly, she watched him poke around the area, picking up some sturdy branches and a few rocks.

'Well Dawn', he began, picking up a rock, inspecting it and putting it back down. 'Since there seems to be monsters on this island and all of my weapons got left on the boat with my bag, I'm going to make some. They won't be as good and to be honest, they probably won't kill much. But they should at least slow down whatever comes after us and it's better than having nothing at all'.

Sitting down against a tree, he placed a stone on a flat rock, took another, rougher rock and begun to scrape it along one side of the stone he was holding.

'What can I do?' Dawn asked, eager to help.

Ash glanced up. 'You and Misty can keep an eye out for anything coming', he suggested.

'Okay'. The girls sat down facing opposite directions while Ash continued to work methodically.

A few hours later, Ash was finally happy with the sharpness of his stones and looked up. 'Hey Mist'.

Misty looked over. 'Yeah?'

'How much do you like your bag?'

'Why?' she asked suspiciously.

'Because I need something to tie these stones to these sticks and the strings of your bag are the only thing that'll work'.

Misty shrugged. 'Sure', she said, handing it over.

'Thanks'. Ash took the bag from her and worked to remove the draw strings. Having succeeded, he wound them around the stones and sticks and ended up with three crude, short spears. He handed one each to Dawn and Misty and tucked his own into the waistband of his jeans.

'There', he said, smiling proudly. 'At least now we won't be weaponless'.

Ash was rudely awakened during the night by somebody jabbing him sharply in the side. Cracking one eye open, he saw that it was Misty.

'Why the hell are you jabbing me?' he hissed, annoyed at being woken up in this manner.

Misty didn't answer but continued to poke him. Ash caught ahold of her hand and sat up, taking a closer look at her. He frowned. Her face looked even paler than usual and her eyes were wide and staring across the clearing. Ash followed her gaze and his blood ran cold.

Eight beady, black eyes glinted at him from the trees, set in a gigantic hairy head. The moonlight glinted off razor sharp fangs and Ash could just make out the shape of the chunky body and the eight, spindly legs. Movement caught his eye and he spotted two or three more of the creatures around the outskirts of the clearing.

Swallowing hard, Ash reached over and gently shook Dawn awake. He placed a hand over her mouth as soon as she opened her eyes and signalled for her to keep quiet. She nodded in acknowledgment and he removed his hand.

'There are some Acari over there', he whispered. 'Basically they're giant spiders but with certain other abilities. So we're going to stand up really slowly and hopefully get away without them attacking us', he finished.

'Okay', Dawn nodded. She gathered her legs under her and rose as slowly as possible. Her heart leapt into her throat when the nearest Acari crept forward but it didn't attack, for which she was glad. She stood with her back pressed against the tree.

Ash knelt down in front of Misty. 'Hey', he said softly. 'We need to move okay?' Misty didn't give any indication that she had heard him. 'Misty?' he coaxed, gently nudging her.

'Ash', Dawn squeaked.

Ash looked behind him and saw that the Acari had come closer. He licked his lips nervously. 'Misty come on, we have to move', he said more urgently, jabbing her in the arm. She flinched but otherwise didn't respond, her whole body was shaking and she looked as if she was about to cry.

Experimentally, Ash tugged on her arm. Numbly, Misty yielded to his pull and Ash was able to draw her slowly to her feet. Across the clearing, the Acari watched them silently.

'Dawn, start walking backwards and whatever you do, don't turn your back on them; that will just invite them to attack', Ash instructed.

He and Dawn began backing up, pulling Misty with them. The Acari coiled, gathering themselves to pounce.

Ash cursed. 'Dawn. Run'.

'But you said -'.

'I know what I said but they're going to attack anyway. Now go!'

The panic in his voice must have snapped Misty out of her paralysis because Ash no longer had to pull her along. Behind them, Ash could hear the Acari as they pounced after them. He ran faster, wishing that he had a flamethrower and getting really fed up of running from things that he would normally have no trouble killing.

He split off from the girls, hoping to lead the Acari away from them. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, he saw that two of them had decided to follow him. He would just have to trust that the girls could handle the rest, or at least evade them. Right now though, he had to focus on getting rid of the two that were following him.

Knowing that he would never be able to outrun them, Ash made his stand. He turned to face the monsters, quickly sizing them up; the foremost one was probably around twenty feet tall whilst the other was bigger and around thirty five feet and chunkier too. As far as he knew (he mainly relied on Brock for information on monsters) the Acari didn't spray acid or poison, so that meant that if they wanted to kill him, they would have to bite him. Watching them approach, Ash came up with a plan.

He let the smaller Acari come almost within striking distance before running forward and under it's stomach, stabbing it with his makeshift dagger. There was a horrible moment when he had trouble getting it back out again and thought that he would lose it. But with a yank, it came free and Ash ran out from underneath the monster. He dived to the left at the last second, barely avoiding the fangs of the second Acari and rolled to his feet.

The smaller Acari had stopped dead when Ash had run underneath it and, as a result, the larger one barelled into it, resulting in the two monsters becoming entangled. Ash seized his opportunity and ran towards the monsters, taking advantage of their distraction to stab them as many times as possible, hoping to do enough damage to slow them down. The bigger one snapped at Ash and he leapt out of the way of the thrashing creatures.

They managed to untangle themselves and turned to Ash only to find that he was no longer on the ground. He had scaled a tree and was perched on a branch that extended out over the smaller Acari's back. He dropped down onto it, grabbing onto the hairs on it's back to keep himself from being thrown off.

The larger Acari struck but Ash had been expecting it, in fact, that was what he had wanted. He avoided the fangs and they sunk into the smaller Acari's back. It shrieked in pain and thrashed as the venom made its way through the monster's veins, liquifying it's internal organs. Ash was thrown from it's back and landed harmlessly ten feet away. He crept into the trees and slipped away whilst the Acari fed on it's dying former ally.

He was walking slowly through the forest looking for any sign that the girls had come this way when he heard the scream. He stopped dead and listened, reluctant to call out lest he attract something to himself. A minute passed until there was a second scream and he took off running in the direction that it had come from.

He found Misty stuck to a tree by a web and an Acari approaching her. Misty was visibly shaking and looked as if she might pass out from fear.

Ash picked up a stone and threw it at the Acari. 'Hey', he shouted.

He successfully got it's attention which, he decided, might not necessarily be a good thing. It sprang towards him and this one was lightning fast; he barely had time to register the movement before he was on his back with the creature on top of him. It drove down with it's fangs and Ash was just able to bring his spear up and block it.

'Ash', Misty called out in concern, trying in vain to get out of her bonds.

The Acari continued to press down and it was taking all of Ash's strength to keep the fangs away from his chest. All of his observation was on this task, so he only noticed that Dawn had arrived on the scene when the Acari switched it's attention from him to her.

She was soaking wet and looked near exhaustion but she stood firm before the Acari, brandishing a branch that she had somehow set on fire. With a look of determination, she rushed at the Acari and touched her torch to it's leg. Instantly the hair caught fire and spread rapidly, engulfing the spider.

Ash scrambled away from the spider caught in it's death throes. The stench of burning hair and flesh filled the air, making all three of them want to vomit. The Acari's agonised shrieks pierced their ears and made Ash almost feel sorry for it. It's shrieks changed so that they sounded exactly like Misty screaming in agony before switching to Dawn's voice and then Ash's. This was an ability they possessed; to mimic human voices.

When the fire burnt out, leaving nothing but a charred lump no longer recognisable, Ash walked over and carefully cut Misty free of the web and they both walked over to Dawn, who was staring at the remains of the Acari.

Ash touched her shoulder. 'Hey, you okay?' he asked.

Dawn jumped slightly and looked around at him. 'Oh, yeah I'm okay', she replied a little distractedly. She couldn't quite believe what she had just done.

'You were awesome just now. Great job'.

'Thanks'.

'How did you get the fire?' Misty wanted to know.

'I learnt how to make fire by basically rubbing to sticks together. After I lost the Acari that was after me by diving into a pond and hiding under water, I figured that fire would kill them, so I made some and came to find you guys'.

Misty and Ash looked impressed and Dawn felt a sense of pride swell within her.

'Well you really saved our asses', Ash said, hugging her.

'Yeah, thanks Dawn', Misty smiled, also hugging her.

'You're welcome'.

'I don't know about you guys', Ash said. 'But I can't stand this stink any longer, let's move'.

Misty and Dawn wholeheartedly shared that sentiment but they soon found out that the stench of burnt flesh had embedded itself into their hair and clothes.

'Ugh, we need to find somewhere to wash', Misty expressed.

'Do you think that it'll work?' Ash asked.

'It's better than nothing', Dawn pointed out.

Ash, Misty and Dawn found a fairly clean looking pond and submerged themselves in it whilst still fully clothed. When they were done, they smelled like stagnant water but it was a mild improvement over smelling of burnt flesh.

Ash volunteered to take first watch of the night and Dawn opted to keep him company for a bit.

'What do you think this place is?' Dawn asked as they sat together.

'I don't have a clue', Ash admitted. 'But I do know that I want to get off here as soon as possible.

Their conversation was interrupted by an evil chuckle that seemed to chill the air around them.

'You're never getting off this island', a voice that was neither quite male nor female yet was unmistakably evil said menacingly.

Ash stiffened, where had that voice come from? Dawn pressed closer to him and Ash put an arm around her protectively. Misty didn't stir from her sleep.

'Who are you? What do you mean?' he demanded.

The voice chuckled again, a humorless, hair raising sound. Ash's blood ran cold; that voice was coming from Misty. Her mouth was moving but her eyes were still closed.

'What I mean is that this island is my home. I control it and everything on it and I decide who leaves and right now, the three of you are too much fun to play with. As for who I am, think real hard and maybe it will come to you'.

Ash ran through the list of monsters in his mind that he knew could control people. The only things that came to mind where ghosts and demons and that was only through posession. He knew that Misty couldn't be posessed because when he had first become a Hunter, he had given her an anti-posession charm which she had since had tattoed on the small of her back.

'You're Togoros, aren't you?' Dawn said suddenly, snapping Ash out of his train of thought.

Misty's mouth smirked, which looked incredibly creepy with her eyes still closed.

'Clever girl', he/she mocked. 'Yes I am'.