Chapter 12: Dungeon of New Power, Part 1

Learning from Duke Alfred, a new destination. It's a new day and after breakfast, Touya used Gate to reach the Kingdom of Mismede. He, Ash, Linze, Elze, Yumina, Yae, Sue, Kohaku and Pikachu saw people with animal traits where Ash befriended some, including a blond girl who awed Pikachu. She wore a pink dress with a darker pink over-skirt and boots. She also had fox ears and a tail as she joined in the convoy of carriages heading through the country to the temple. "Ash, I kinda wish I had met you before Sueshie," she commented to Ash with Sue by his side.

"Who knows, Arma," Ash mentioned. "Once we find a way back to my world, you can see all sorts of Pokémon besides Pikachu." Arma smiled to the thought.

"Are you worried about what's in there? Or what it can contain that you're proceeding into it?"

"All that I know is that as soon as we get there, we'll know what to do."

"You've been known to go blindly into a situation. I hope everything goes well."

"With Ash having all six of the Elemental Magics and some Null Magic," Sue spoke up. "I'm sure we'll be fine." Touya and an orangish-redhead woman steered the carriages through the road paved through the country. The redhead wore a similar outfit to Arma, except it was blue with a white skirt, black leggings and boots. She also had fox ears and a tail.

"You know, if this is true, Touya," she voiced. Touya turned to the redhead. "You can take in Arma to replace Sue."

"Please, Olga," Touya sighed. "I'm happy as it is. I mean, I'm not going to take Misty away from Ash to replace Sue, either."

"That may be, though after seeing Ash's mother with his Null Magic, and that you told me that he showed her to the royal families… It's making me start to think of possibly starting a family myself."

"You mean Lyon, right?" A turn of the head was Olga's initial response.

"Who else?" All Touya could do was shrug. Before long, there was a giant temple in sight. "This has to be it." They rolled to the front of the bridge over a swampy moat. Everyone stepped out to see the temple.

"It doesn't look like much," Elze studied.

"But we did hear that several adventurers perished after entering the temple," Yumina believed.

"We won't know what's here until we go deeper," Touya advised. They proceeded on with Ash and Sue holding hands. They traveled into the temple where they saw seven halls leading to darkness.

"This seems like a temple full of trials," Linze guessed. Ash and Sue released their hold and looked around.

"That's how I would've been guessing," Touya assumed. Ash came to the doorway of one hall.

"What could be in these halls?" he wondered before stepping through.

"Don't we all?" questioned Arma. Suddenly, a flash on the door frames. Arma tried to reach for Ash. However, an invisible wall shot lightning at her, forcing Arma back. "Oh no!" Touya reached the door frame before lightning stopped him.

"Great!" he grunted. "Ash, don't move! I'll use Gate to get you out of-"

"SILENCE!" a voice rang out. Everyone looked around.

"What's going on!?" wondered Olga.

"A SOUL HAS ENTERED TO TAKE THE TRIALS!" the voice warned. "THOSE WHO INTERFERE IN THE MIDST OF THE TRIALS WILL FORFEIT THE TRIALS AND PERISH!" Everyone gasped to the warning.

"He… can't escape!?" cried Sue.

"That's not fair!" shouted Elze. Ash looked on ahead and saw something in the distance.

"Is that…" he wondered. He stepped further in.

"Ash, wait!" shouted Arma. Ash stopped before turning to Arma. "Just say that you're just visiting, and it'll release you!" Ash looked ahead again.

"I don't think I have a choice," he denied. "I'll see what the trials have." He headed out, making Yumina worried.

"Touya, you gotta save him!" she pleaded.

"I can't," Touya sighed. "If we disrupt the trials, Ash dies." Pikachu gulped, hoping to see Ash survive. Ash came to the end of the hall where the floor began to move down. It startled Ash.

"Okay, it's an elevator?" he pondered. At the bottom, the area was excessively scorching. Fire burned through the area and Ash studied it. "Talk about a trial by fire."

"THE FIRST TRIAL IS WATER MAGIC," the voice started. "INSIDE IS THE GEM YOU NEED TO PASS THE TRIAL. YOU MUST USE ONE SPELL. FIND IT, AND YOU WILL PROCEED TO THE NEXT TRIAL. FAILURE, AND YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR LIFE."

"So, I have one shot at it," Ash realized. "Let's see…" He looked around, the heat from the flames getting more and more intense and unbearable. "Man, I could use Squirtle's firefighting training for this." He saw one flame that was larger than the rest. "Could it be?" He prepared his arm to use. However, he hesitated. He pulled his arm back. "I need to think about it. If I were to use one spell, it would need to be a massive one. I have a better chance to use something like that than direct it on one flame." He rose his hands to the air. "Descend, O Water; Blessing of the Heavens… Heavenly Rain!" The blue circle appeared before clouds covered the ceiling. It began to rain before the fire began to loosen its intensity. That's when Ash spotted a blue gem close by. He broke his concentration and grabbed for the gem. It was just long enough before the flames erupted again.

"IF YOU HAVE FOUND THE GEM, PRESENT IT AT THE END OF THE ROOM," the voice instructed. Seeing the end, Ash came over and presented the gem to a cubbyhole in the wall. There was silence for a minute. Finally, the wall turned, opening a path to the next room.

"Okay!" he cheered. "I think that was easy." As he made his way through the hall, those who couldn't get to Ash waited.

"TRIAL #1…" the voice spoke. "SUCCESS." The doorway marked with the Water Magic was aglow. The girls cheered, believing Ash was okay.

"Now, it's onto the next trial, I suppose," Olga muttered.

"But… will Ash be okay?" asked Linze. Sue stood up, her belief to Ash still strong.

"Hang in there, Ash!" she cried out. When Ash reached the next room, he stood on one end while an orange gem was on a pedestal on the other side. Ash pocketed the blue gem.

"Okay, now what?" he wondered.

"THE SECOND TRIAL IS EARTH MAGIC," the voice rang out. "THE GEM IS ON THE OTHER SIDE TO PASS THE TRIAL. YOU MUST USE ONE SPELL. REACH IT, AND YOU WILL PROCEED ONTO THE NEXT TRIAL. FAILURE, AND YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR LIFE." Ash looked down where there seemed to be no bottom.

"This is like do I want to die by falling or by whatever this temple will do to those who refuse to do these trials?"

"THE CHOICE IS YOURS!"

"That's not what I meant!" He let out a sigh. "Seriously, doesn't he know the meaning of sarcasm?" He looked to the gap and realized that it was too far for him to simply jump. "I'm known to leap pretty far, but this is a bit too far for me to do on a single bound." That's when he had an idea. "What if this is a bridge that I have to come across? Can I expose it?" He stuck his arm out. "Let's see if two blinds can bring me sight. Come forth, Sand! Obstructing Dust Storm… Blind Sand!" An orange circle emerged before sand caught ledges and platforms. "Now, these jumps I can perform." He hopped from one platform to another. Six hops from one side to the other, Ash crossed the bottomless pit and reached the other side. He hoisted the gem.

"IF YOU HAVE REACHED THE GEM, PRESENT IT AT THE END OF THE HALL." Complying, Ash reached and presented the gem to the pedestal. A minute later, the wall opened to let Ash emerge to see a new hallway. "TRIAL #2: SUCCESS." The Earth Magic symbol appeared on the doorway. Touya nodded, sensing that Ash had been successful in two of the trials.

"So far, so good…" he muttered. Arma, holding Pikachu, didn't seem to be calming down.

"Touya, do you know how many trials are here?" she asked.

"No, we're still learning about it ourselves," he denied. "All we know is that Ash has the magic needed to surpass each trial. He can think outside the box if he needs to." Sue prayed, hoping to see the one she loved again. Ash reached a new room which was a contrast to the first room. Instead of a room of fire, it was a room of ice.

"Okay, I'm sure I've been in colder weather than this," he mentioned.

"THE THIRD TRIAL IS FIRE MAGIC," the voice spoke again. "INSIDE IS THE GEM YOU NEED TO PASS THE TRIAL. YOU MUST USE ONE SPELL. FIND IT, AND YOU WILL PROCEED ONTO THE NEXT TRIAL. FAILURE, AND YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR LIFE." Ash sighed, the voice's words repeating every trial.

"You'd think you'd have other things to say," he mulled. "At least this is more bearable than the first trial. I think I'll be patient on this one." He searched through the room. He wanted to use as little magic as possible. He looked into the icicles, ice blocks, ice walls… He viewed through the room, hoping to see something that would alert him to finding the gem. Suddenly, he saw some discoloration on a large icicle above a puddle. It looked to be in shape of the gems he had. "That looks like it's up there! Well, if I'm wrong, that's it." He aimed his arm at the icicle. "Come forth, Fire; Whirling spiral… Fire Storm!" A tornado of flames emerged and engulfed the icicle. A minute later, a gem flew out of the frozen pillar above. It flew and landed on another block of ice. Ash stopped and came back to the block as the flames subsided. Seeing the block, Ash climbed it to find the red gem. "Well, now you're mine." He jumped down and found a smaller icicle. Picking it up, he climbed back on the ice block before poking the gem off. To him as he picked the gem from the ground, he passed the trial. "Three for three."

"IF YOU HAVE FOUND THE GEM, PRESENT IT AT THE END OF THE HALL."

"Yeah, yeah…" Finding the pedestal, Ash placed it. A minute later, the wall opened before Ash took it out. "I wonder if Wind Magic's next. It would be more interesting if they mixed up the process a little bit." Outside, they expect to hear Ash being able to move on during the trials.

"TRIAL #3: SUCCESS," the voice reported. The Fire Magic symbol appeared on the doorway.

"I'm starting to think that Ash may succeed in these trials," Elze grinned as she crossed her arms.

"That may be," Yae pondered. "Still, we don't know how many trials this temple has. It may be endless." Pikachu worried more as Ash entered a new room where many fans on arms hung on several levels. Ash gulped to the sight of the trial at-hand.

"When I said it would be more interesting if they mixed it up a little bit," he reminded himself. "This… works."

"THE THIRD TRIAL IS WIND MAGIC," the voice reminded. "ABOVE IS THE GEM YOU NEED TO PASS THE TRIAL. YOU MUST USE ONE SPELL. FREE IT, AND YOU WILL PROCEED ONTO AN INTERMISSION TO REPLENISH YOUR ENERGY FOR THE NEXT TRIAL. FAILURE, AND YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR LIFE."

"Wait, you're giving me a break?" Rather than wait for an answer, Ash prepared to find a way to free the green gem that looked to be dangling above. He saw a staircase and climbed up to the next level. He saw turning wheels that seemed to be connected to the fans. "Oh, this must be how to adjust how the fans are arranged. Let's see…" He grabbed the handle and turned the wheel. It reached to the farthest part. "This should be easy." He soon came to the other wheels and spun them to reach the farthest length, including those on the third level. "And we're done." He returned to the bottom level and looked up. That's when he saw a problem. The fans were stretched to the farthest length, but they didn't align. "That's not going to work. If I used Whirlwind right now, it won't be straight." He started his way back up and turned the wheel back about half of a foot. He turned each wheel back a small amount when he saw how it was aligning itself. After aligning the last one, he returned to the bottom and looked up. He smiled. "Okay, that looks right. Here we go." His hands were straight up. He prepared to use his magic. "Blow forth, Wind! Soaring, spinning Gust… Whirlwind!" The winds blew up and spun the fans. They collectively gathered winds before it blew the gem from its holster and flew straight down. Ash caught it with two hands. "Well, you weren't so easy to get, right?"

"IF YOU HAVE FREED THE GEM, PRESENT IT AT THE END OF THE HALL AND REUNITE WITH THE PARTY FOR THE MOMENT." Ash reached the pedestal and placed the gem on it. A minute later, the wall opened to where he saw the group.

"ASH!" they cheered. They came to the invisible wall where they could still talk to each other.

"TRIAL #4: SUCCESS," the voice judged. The Wind Magic symbol appeared on the doorframe.

"Hey, four trials passed," Touya smiled. "Not bad."

"Thanks, and look!" he spoke as he showed the gems.

"Okay, you got something to bring home after all of this," Elze joked.

"Yes, but knowing that we can't reach you," Linze started to realize. "It means that your journey isn't over."

"No, but I do get a chance to take a breather," Ash sighed. "I've done Water, Earth, Wind and Fire Magic." Yumina pondered to what the tests contained.

"That will mean you need to use Light, Dark and Null Magic," she guessed. Pikachu returned to his worried behavior.

"Pikachu, if it works, we'll be back together," Ash promised. Pikachu nodded, hoping for it to happen. Ash looked to the doorway lit. "It seems that is going to be where I go next."

"We'll be waiting, Ash," Arma promised. Ash nodded before he proceeded on. What more lurked in the temple?

TO BE CONTINUED...