Chapter 5: A Whole New World

(DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE MARIO FRANCHISE/SERIES OR POKÉMON. MARIO (FRANCHISE/SERIES) BELONGS TO NINTENDO/GAMEFREAK. POKÉMON BELONGS TO GAMEFREAK/NINTENDO).

Please Read and Review.

(After going through the portal Ash ended up sent flying into while in Ultra Space, Ash goes flying out of an Identical looking Origin Ball somewhere that had a connection to the Portal he entered while screaming in fear and panic. He goes flying onto a Giant Berry and bounces off the Springy Spore before landing on another Giant Berry before slowly sliding off and tumbling onto the grass-covered ground while groaning in pain from his crashes just now as he tries to get back up on his feet. Once Ash gets up, he looks in amazement at what looked like a Giant Berry tree forest causing him to go wide eyed and gasp softly to himself, wondering just where on Earth he could surely be. Ash continues to stare in awe at the world around him, wondering how this could have at all happened. One minute, he and Ritchie were trying to fix a pipe that burst and needed fixing and now Ash was in a place that he had never seen before, it was like something out of a Fantasy Movie where the Hero ends up Trapped in Another World. He then sees a Blue Berry on the ground close by, he begins to cautiously walk over to touch it. But then suddenly something burst out of hiding and screamed at Ash causing him to scream and stumble back and fall to the ground).

Creature: Do not touch that Berry, you will die! (The thing that suddenly hysterically screamed at Ash causing him to scream in panic, suddenly calmed down, and began apologizing for the sudden scare, it gave Ash realizing that it overreacted). Oh, I am sorry. (Chuckles). That one is perfectly fine. (The creature then pats and hugs the Berry, while Ash still freaking out over this begins to back away along the ground from this thing that was clearly Hidden in Plain Sight. Once Ash calmed down a bit (while still majorly freaking out a bit) he saw the thing that scared him, was just a Pokémon. One that was much smaller than him, with a white upper body and a deep-green lower body. It has eyes that are black with a Blue, leaf-like extension over each eye that resemble eyelashes. It has long, notched ears with a red ring around each base. Along with a Blue tail that is spade-shaped, and it has thin arms with mitten-like hands. It has two thin black lines on its head. The Small Pokémon was also holding an incredibly unique looking flower, one that has Six rounded petals, three of the six petals are big and the other three petals are smaller. The stem is red and leafless, and the stigma is black and conical. The flower's underside is black and the top of the three big petals have red and black patterns. Ash was still majorly freaking out, as he said to the Pokémon before him).

Ash: Th-that is a little Flower m-man. A little Flower man talking to me. (The Strange Pokémon in front of Ash is not at all bothered by clear look of fear and panic. Calmy and Friendly introducing itself to Ash, floating over to him).

Creature: Pleased to meet ya, I am Floette. (Floette then gestures to the Flower it was holding). And this is my Eternal Flower. (Then Floette (Eternal Flower) begins floating off, while Ash, feeling relieved that Floette made no attempt to harm awkwardly introduces himself to Floette).

Ash: Uhh... Ash. (Then Ash hears a rustling noise and looks over to see that appearing from a nearby bush are a trio of Pokémon he recognized as Flabébé. Deciding not to risk provoking them in any way, he Gets up and follows Floette). So, this is, uh... This is, this is not a dream, right? (Then Floette goes and whacks Ash's arm with his Vine Whip attack, causing him to exclaim in pain). Ow!

Floette (Eternal Flower): That hurt, right? (Then Floette kept moving on while Ash gave him an exasperated and angry answer that made it clear that his Vine Whip attack hurt).

Ash: Yes!

Floette (Eternal Flower): Surely not a dream. (Despite not liking Floette's idea of a Dream Reality Check, he was glad to know this was not a crazy dream or that he was imaging this whole thing, even if Floette's actions were Innocently Insensitive for a Bizarre Dream Rationalization. But now, Ash was wondering he was).

Ash: Then, it is... This place is... (Then Floette cheerfully and happily let Ash know where they were).

Floette (Eternal Flower): The Berry Kingdom!

Ash: Berries... really? Now that is a cruel twist of fate... (Ash snaps out of his Deadpan Snarker mode when he suddenly, he hears something. He turns around and spots a Ferrothorn stooping over his head as it Crosses paths him and Floette) ...Hello. (The Ferrothorn continues walking on, with a couple more Ferrothorn following it, as Ash rushes to catch up with Floette to tell him something). Yeah, I am truly looking for somebody, uh, my brother, in fact. He looks exactly like me, but tall, and skinny, and has Auburn Color Hair. See, last time I saw him, he-he was falling through a pipe. (As Floette keeps listening to Ash he floats down a hill, gently moving a couple of Flabébé out of the way). It was foggy and-and I bet there was lava... (Suddenly, Floette gasps in fear as he knows The Dreaded place that Ash is referring to here).

Floette (Eternal Flower): (Gasps). Uh, that... is not good. Umm... Your brother has landed in the Fiery Path. They are under… (Floette then says in a Whisper to Ash). Koraidon's… (Then Floette says in his normal voice) control. (Ash having never heard of this Koraidon individual before asks Floette).

Ash: Koraidon? (Floette then goes ahead to tell Ash just who Koraidon is as they keep moving through the forest).

Floette (Eternal Flower): He is the most evil, wretched creature alive. (Floette then hovers across a small gap onto a Giant Berry before Ash jumps to follow him. Then Floette begins floating towards a much larger Berry right in front of them, initially having a little trouble before making it on top of the Giant Berry. But not before using his Fairy Wind attack to help lift Ash up onto the Giant Berry where he already was, before proclaiming to Ash what he was going to do), I am taking you to see the princess. She can help you. She can do anything. (Hearing this, Ash was surprised asking Floette).

Ash: Princess? (But then Ash gasped in shock at the sight before them. In the distance, Ash sees a magnificently beautiful white and red pristine castle surrounded by a large town in the distance. Suffice it to say, it took Ash by surprise, leaving him amazed and awed it in delight. Then Floette snapped Ash out of his stupor, telling him).

Floette (Eternal Flower): Come on, Ash! Our big adventure begins now! (Ash hung back for a moment to say to himself and Ritchie hoping that he was okay).

Ash: Hang on, Ritchie! (Then Ash and Floette begin to jump across the Berries toward the castle going into the kingdom. For Ash, given that he just went down a Bunnelby hole and has no one to guide him, he was glad to know that this friendly Floette is willing to help him get to where he needs to go).

(Meanwhile at the Dreaded Fiery Path, which looked like a dark forest, Ritchie was just regaining consciousness after his crash landing here, and then remembered how ended up separated from his brother. Once he comes to, he stands up and takes notice of his environment, not exactly finding it to be very pleasant or friendly. As it was a dark and desolate place filled with dead trees and it currently looked to be Nighttime. Ritchie then grabs his bag of tools and starts exploring this unfriendly looking place, hoping his brother is somewhere around here).

Ritchie: Ash? Ash? Where are you? Huh? (Then he sees that a branch snagged him by his gloves, Ritchie's tries to get free from the branch work a little too well as he pulls to hard causing him to stumble towards a nearby lava stream, nearly falling in but then he manages to run across safely, before he bumps into a tree, getting the attention of its occupants, a Swarm of Crobats. Ritchie begins trying to swat the Crobats away before they can seriously hurt him, but after a couple of moments they just fly away into the dark sky. Ritchie then grabs his flashlight then continues walking through the Dark Forest).

(As Ritchie continues Cautiously moving through the forest, he hears something in a nearby set of bushes, he turns to see what it was, but sees nothing. He was really starting to lose it; this place was really starting to scare Ritchie and make him shake in his metaphorical boots and become a Nervous Wreck as he was more prone to panicking than Ash. He keeps shining his light around the area and sees something in the lights before passing over it, before realizing it and trying to shine the light on what it was that he saw. But when he did, it was gone. And to make this scary situation even worse, his Flashlights shut off. Ritchie tries to get them going again, and luckily was able to do so. But when he shined the light again, he saw something right in front of him. It was a horrifying scary Pokémon! One that was a gray, dinosaur-like Pokémon with a hooked beak, red irises, and a hard, blue, dome-shaped head with four spikes on its back. The Pokémon had a hard skull in its Head with stubby arms that have three claws. The back half of its body has a large, spiky pattern of blue and it has a short tail. It has feet with three forward claws and one backward. Ritchie recognized the Pokémon that was attacking him was a Cranidos! Then the Cranidos began chasing Ritchie to attack him, causing him to run for his life, leaving his bag of plumbing tools behind. As Ritchie kept running, he looked back to see Cranidos catching up to him, but then he suddenly hits a branch causing him to recoil and go flying back towards the Cranidos knocking him out. Ritchie manages to recover quickly, getting back on his feet).

Ritchie: Oh. (Then Ritchie notices the knocked out Cranidos). Ha, ha! Yes! You just got a- "Ritchie'd"!

(Ritchie felt relieved that he managed to stop the pursuing Cranidos and felt happy with how he just pulled off his own version of the, "You just got Vectored" meme as a Bond One-Liner before he picks up his hat that fell off his head and landed on the Cranidos' head when he crashed into it. From that Ritchie discovered that the Chekhov's Gun for these things is hitting them hard enough to knock it out. But Ritchie's relief ends up short lived when suddenly the Cranidos' eyes flash red with Anger and Rage as it somehow revives itself and begins glaring at Ritchie once more with its Glowing Eyelights of Undeath. Ritchie's first thoughts upon seeing that was, "Red Eyes, Take Warning" as it now was looking ten times scarier. Ritchie begins to back away from the Cranidos in fear, but then to make matters worse, more Cranidos arrive on the scene to get Ritchie, with a couple even bursting out of the ground. Ritchie was beginning to feel like he was in a "Night of the Living Mooks" situation here, and he did not like one little bit. Ritchie continues trying to fend off the Cranidos as best he can. But one of them manages to grab Ritchie by the arm, but he manages to break free of its grip quickly. Then Ritchie just goes and then runs for his life with the swarm of Cranidos following him into the forest. As Ritchie kept running for his life, the number of Cranidos chasing him continued to increase. With one of them, even leaping from a tree but does not manage to land on top of Ritchie. But then Ritchie happened to see something that may save him and keep him safe from all these Cranidos and their Dem Bones, an abandoned building resembling either a mansion, castle, or fortress. As Ritchie got even closer to the building, he nearly fell in the moat of lava surrounding it. But he knows that he has no choice but try and traverse a group of floating craggy rocks in the moat to get across, but the Cranidos keep chasing him. As Ritchie continues to traverse the Lava Moat, he manages to land on one of the Rocks and turn it around to stop a Cranidos causing it to fall into the lava, but its head manages to get onto the rock, and bounce closer to Ritchie, who responds by knocking its head into the lava. Before getting back up and continuing making its way across the Moat. Ritchie leaps and manages to grab onto a part of the castle wall near the bridge but was now dangling over the Lava as an increasing number of Cranidos jump and grab onto him to try and drag him down with them. Ritchie, however, manages to kick a couple of them off, sending them plummeting into the Lava, hoping that they will not be able to come back after that. Then Ritchie manages to climb up and run towards the Castle Doors, with more Cranidos giving chase. He then goes and opens the castle doors, runs inside, and quickly tries to close the doors behind him. But the horde of Cranidos makes it hard for him, with a couple of managing to grab onto his face, but then Ritchie successfully closes to door and then barricades it by putting the Drawbar down. Ritchie then backs away from the door and sees it rumbling as the Cranidos keep trying to pound the doors open, but to no avail. Then Ritchie looks at the interior of this castle he was in. And found it to be quite scary and decrepit. But he would take a Scary and Decrepit place like this over those Hordes of Cranidos. After Ritchie manages to barricade the doors shut to protect himself from the horde of swarming Cranidos in this abandoned decrepit place via his Tactical Door Use skills, he feels as though he found sanctuary in the sanctum of this place, hoping it will be his hope spot knowing that he will not have to deal with them again. Not only that, but he also kept himself from getting a terribly bad burn from the ambient heat coming from the pool of lava he was just jumping over a moment ago. But he was also glad that while compared to Ash he was even more uncoordinated, he was nonetheless able to hold off the horde of Cranidos. But then as he is sitting down in relief, a lightning flash shows that, unknown to Ritchie, he was not alone! He had a group of Banette and single Morgrem standing behind him in the shadows. But once he does realize that he is not alone here, he screams in the dark, just wishing Ash could have been here to help save him, since Ash had always helped get Ritchie out of any situation he was in for the longest time but now he was not here to save him. And he felt as though he had the worst bit of sheer bad luck of all. And he missed his brother. He just hoped that wherever Ash was right now, he was safe and having even better luck than he did right about now).

Replies to my reviewers:

Ashpoke55: Good, I am glad that I did not hurt your feelings. As for Misty, to be honest she was never my top favorite Pokégirl, but I do love what she brought to the Pokémon Franchise. (The Games, TV Show, Movies, Manga, etcetera.). And I heard she won the hearts of a ton of fans when she debuted in the Anime. And while the Anime came out in September 1998, I was born in 2002, and the first episode of the Pokémon Anime I ever saw on TV was the Orange Island episode, "Pokémon Food Fight!" It was (and is) possible that when I first saw the previously mentioned episode, it could have been a rerun on a TV Network (Maybe Cartoon Network or something) because it came out in August of 2000. And I do not think I started watching the show until I was like 4 or 5 Years old. (So, again, the "Pokémon Food Fight!" episode could have been airing as part of a Rerun, I do not know). Anyway, when it comes to Ash's traveling companions, Misty is a well-loved character in the Pokémon Franchise. But I respect your feelings and opinions on Misty. Now as for your question about the anime, "Code Geass" and "Bleach", I have heard of those two Anime Shows, but I do not watch them. The Only Anime Shows I do watch are, "Pokémon", "Beyblade", and "Bakugan". (Not sure if those last two count as Anime. But their art and Animation Styles do suggest to me that they are Anime). The thing I find distracting (for lack of a better word) about multiple (Japanese) Anime shows (regardless of whether they get english dub versions or not) we have available is how they are always going overboard with being flashy and over the top. And sure, to an extent that is a given with Anime shows like the ones you mentioned have expectations to have flashy and over the top moments, it just gets to be quite jarring to me. But Anime shows like, "Pokémon", "Beyblade", and "Bakugan" they do have those moments where things get (again) flashy and over the top, but it never happens too excessively. It balances those two things well with the show's overall story and character personalities. They keep it simple and use (what I would describe best as) simple Anime Visuals like Background, Character design, animation graphics etcetera. All other Anime shows usually go extremely overboard with it. For example, I have seen clips of various Anime Shows (too many to count or even name) going overboard with the animation for "Special" Attacks (So to speak) used by Specific Characters. Here is one I often see, the animation done for Goku's Signature Kamehameha attack from the Dragon Ball franchise is one that I see as ending up overly dramatic with its animation, where the animation for the Special Moves for the Various Beys in "Beyblade" (Metal Fusion, Masters, Fury, Shogun Steel) look more realistic, while animation for other anime (like "Dragon Ball") looks overexaggerated. Even the Animation used for the Bakugan abilities (all kinds), the animation used for when the Bakugan go from Ball form to Bakugan Form and every bit of Animation from Pokémon (Anime, Games, etcetera.) all look a heck of a ton more realistic than anything I have seen in the millions of clips of Anime shows I have seen. Now, I am not saying that overexaggerated animation is a terrible thing, because it is not. I just prefer animation styles that are simpler and not the overly dramatic kind like in the "Dragon Ball" Franchise. Because when the animation looks more realistic and down to Earth, it just feels more believable. Now this next reason for why I do not mostly watch Anime Shows (Other than the ones I mentioned earlier) is not a huge problem, but it is still a big problem, nonetheless. It is because a ton of them only have Japanese dubbing (or any language that is not English) and only provide English Subtitles. The English Subtitles are more of a distraction then anything beneficial to those who do not understand Japanese (or again any language that is not English for the Language the Anime Show characters are speaking in), and for me personally, I do not like having to constantly read the Subtitles every couple of seconds just to follow along with what the Characters are saying. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)

Please Review

-To Be Continued-

Next time on ... THE SUPER KETCHUM BROS.:

The Berry Kingdom