Chapter 24

"What was that all about?" asked my brother as the reporter started talking about a different story.

"That was the man I told you about," I replied, feeling a sense of dread, "Cryus,"

"The one who tried to destroy the world?"

I nodded. "I don't know how he got here, but this isn't good,"

"Do you want to try to find him?" asked David, "Or should we look for the portal first?"

"Let's look for the portal first," I replied, "we'll probably need my friends' help anyway,"

With Ash and Pikachu (3rd Person P.O.V.)

"You recognize this place buddy?" asked Ash.

"No," said Pikachu. He sniffed the air. "something smells familiar though,"

"What is it?"

Pikachu paused for a moment. "It smells like... Michael!"

"Can you figure out where he went?"

Pikachu shook his head. "He must have flown somewhere, I can't smell him on the ground anywhere else,"

Ash frowned. "I guess we'll just have to start looking then,"

"Right now? Why don't we wait until morning?" asked Pikachu, "I can hardly see anything,"

"But Cyrus and Michael are already here, we need to catch up to them!"

"How are we supposed to do that when we don't know where they went?"

Ash sighed. "I guess you're right,"

"Look, I want to find them just as much as you do, but we can't just rush into this," said Pikachu, "we can't find anyone when we don't even know where we are,"

"Good point," said Ash, "I'll check my Pokedex,"

Ash pulled the rectangular device from his pocket and went to the map. He frowned. "Guess the map won't be helpful," Ash put the Pokedex back in his pocket, but it began beeping.

"Why is it saying we're still on Mount Coronet?" asked Pikachu.

Ash looked at the screen. Sure enough, the map had flickered to life, showing a beeping red dot in the center of the mountain. However, instead of staying there, it was flickering, occasionally showing a 'no data' screen.

"That's strange," said Ash, "maybe the portal messed it up?"

Pikachu jumped on his shoulder to get a better look at the map. "Try moving, maybe that will fix it,"

As Ash walked, the dot on the map suddenly disappeared and reappeared a moment later in Viridian City.

"Yeah, this thing's broken," said Ash, putting the Pokedex away. "let's just look around,"

"There's someone over there," said Pikachu, "maybe we can ask for directions,"

"Good idea," said Ash, "Hello mister!"

The man turned, "Good morning young man, that's an interesting pet you've got there,"

"Oh, this is my partner Pikachu," said Ash.

"Hello!" Pikachu greeted.

"Interesting, what kind of animal is that?" asked the man.

"What's an animal?" asked Ash, confused.

The man looked equally confused. "Surely you know what an animal is,"

Ash shook his head. "Is it a new kind of Pokemon?"

"Pokemon? What's a Pokemon?"

Pikachu sighed. This was going to be a long day.

With Michael (Michael's P.O.V.)

"Are you sure you want to go with me?" I asked David.

David nodded. "I wouldn't miss it for anything, besides, I want to see this Pokemon world,"

I switched to my Latios form and lowered myself to the ground. "Alright, get on,"

As soon as David was securely on my back, I turned to my parents. "Goodbye, hopefully I'll be back soon,"

"Be careful," said my dad.

"And try not to scare us to death," said my mom.

"Don't worry," said David, "I'll make sure he stays out of trouble,"

I chuckled. "I'll do my best,"

After a final wave, I tucked in my arms and flew toward the ocean; David giving me directions as I didn't trust myself to find it.

"A little more to the west," said David, "we should be there soon,"

Sure enough, after several minutes of flying, I looked at the ocean and the place where I had almost died to that missle. I checked my invisibility to make sure it was still working; I didn't want a repeat of that night.

"Let's see, you crashed into the water right about there," said David, "the portal must be around here somewhere,"

"I'll try looking for it underwater," I said, "I'll drop you off over there,"

I flew toward the ground and lowered myself so David could get off.

"I take it you can swim," he said, stepping onto the creaky boards of the dock.

I nodded. "I figured that out a while ago, I just can't stay underwater forever,"

"Good luck then, let me know if you find anything," said David.

"I will," I said, before diving into the water.

I felt the cold water rush over me as I swam forward. It was a bit unconformable, as I wasn't used to being in the water, but my waterproof feathers took care of most of it.

I looked around in the water, hoping to see something, but all I saw was the wooden poles of the dock, a bit of seaweed, and a few tiny fish. A few crabs crawled away as I swam along the ocean floor, trying to remember which way I went when I was shot.

I decided to swim back and forth, looking for anything unnatural. After about 5 minutes of searching, I was forced to go back up for air.

David was waiting for me on the docks. "Find anything?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Just the usual fish and crabs,"

"Did you say crabs?" asked David.

"Yeah, there were a few crabs," I brushed a piece of seaweed out of my feathers.

"Michael, crabs don't live around here," said David.

"They don't?" I asked.

"They don't," said David, "unless..."

"The portal brought them here?" I guessed.

"Exactly. See if you can find any more of them, you might find something," He chuckled. "Oh, and make sure you're invisible when you come up there's a few people around here."

I quickly turned invisible. "Thanks for reminding me,"

David nodded. "See you in a bit,"

I dived back into the water and looked for the crabs I had seen earlier. After scanning the ocean floor for a few seconds, I saw them. Now that I was looking carefully, I noticed that they didn't look like regular crabs.

"Wait!" I said before they could run away.

They stopped for a second before one of them who looked like the leader turned to me.

"Do you need something from us Lord Latios?"

I was about to correct them, thinking they had mistaken me for Latios, but I decided to just get to the point.

"Yeah," I replied, "have you seen anything strange around here?"

The Pokemon shook his head. "Nothing around here,"

"Are you sure?" I asked, knowing they had to have gone through the portal to get here.

"Actually... come to think of it there was this strange circle we walked through to get here," The Pokemon pointed with his claw. "It's that way, if it helps,"

"Alright, thanks for your help," I was about to swim away when I remembered something. "Oh, one more thing," I said.

"What is it?"

"I'd recommend going back through that portal soon," I sighed. "I don't know how to explain this, but you're not in the Pokemon world right now,"

"What do you mean?"

"Just trust me, you need to go back," I said.

"As you wish Lord Latios, we'll go back as soon as we finish gathering food,"

I decided to leave it at that and turned to swim in the direction the Pokemon had given me. Sure enough, after about a minute of swimming, I was met with a purple and gold portal. Before going back to David, I made a mental note of the location to make sure I wouldn't forget as I couldn't keep David underwater for long.

"I found the portal," I telepathed to David, tapping him on the shoulder as I had turned invisible to make sure I wasn't spotted.

"Great!" said David, "I'm ready to go when you are,"

I lowered myself and used Psychic to get David on my back as he couldn't see me to get on. "You sure you want to do this?" I asked.

David nodded. "I wouldn't miss it for the world! Just try not to drown us,"

I chuckled. "I'll do my best,"

David and I took a deep breath and I shot into the water.

There's the chapter!

I meant to post this on Saturday, but things got in the way :)

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