Well, the reaction may not be surprising enough, but there are some surprises in this chapter, so let's begin!
CHAPTER 12
“WHOA!” Ash yelped.
Both he and Big Sis (who panicked upon hearing the loud cry) toppled backward into the water. Completely shocked by the freezing temperature of the spring, Ash swam up to the surface and climbed onto a nearby lily pad, wide-eyed and gasping for breath.
“I guess I won’t have to take a cold shower to wake up,” Ash managed to say, his teeth beginning to chatter. He then looked around; Big Sis had not come up yet. “Hey, where’d that…that…thing get to?”
“Ash? Ash, where are you?” A frightened little voice had spoken up right in front of him. Ash started and glanced in that direction, hoping to find the speaker. However, the only one he could see was…
“Pikachu?” Ash asked himself, staring in disbelief at the electric rodent sitting up in the seashell; he couldn’t have heard what he thought he heard. As he leaned forward, a weird sensation came into his ears; he smiled.
“There’s the problem: I’ve got water in my ears.” Ash shook his head and tugged at his ears, trying to drain them. Once finished he sat up again and chuckled, “Boy, that’s a relief. For a minute there I thought I was going crazy.” Then he resumed the surveillance of the area, “But how did we get here? Where are we?”
At that moment, the exact same voice spoke up again: “I was gonna ask you the same question.” It sounded almost like Ash’s voice, but much higher pitched---like it was him standing inside a helium-filled balloon.
For a few minutes, Ash could hardly say a word: was Pikachu actually talking to him?! No, it just wasn’t possible! Pokemon aren’t supposed to talk like humans---only Meowth could do that! Mewtwo, Lugia, and that Lapras he met near the North Pole didn’t count; they used telepathy. Pikachu didn’t know telepathy…or did he?
After some thought, Ash had an idea: he decided to test Pikachu. He crouched down to the little mouse’s eye-level, and stared hard.
“Okay, Pikachu,” Ash began, “How did you and I win our Gym Battle against Brock three years ago?” He watched his friend very carefully, hoping that this was all just some kind of dream.
Pikachu’s mouth did move, but not to smile, “Well, we didn’t actually win: you were just about to tell me to finish off Onix, when all Brock’s brothers and sisters…Ash, what’s the matter?!”
While Pikachu talked, Ash’s eyes had shifted to something else. The boy was staring upward, his face pale with utter fear. Sensing that something was behind him, Pikachu turned around slowly; sure enough, he was almost in the same state as his trainer.
Big Sis had silently risen up from the water, and was now towering over them. She cocked her head sideways while gazing at the twosome below, wondering why they looked so frightened. They moved back a bit when she lowered her head towards them.
“What is that?” Pikachu exclaimed.
Ash scrambled to his feet in a flash and snatched his pal. “I don’t know, but I’m not gonna stick around and find out! Run!” And run they did; hopping from one lily pad to the next, the pair made their way to the northern edge of the spring, and ran into the woods. Before pursuing them, Big Sis tilted her head in the other direction, clearly surprised by her new friends’ actions.
“Rrrmmm?” she wondered.
Meanwhile, in a small bamboo grove close to the spring, Volbeat and Illumise were hard at work building Ash’s “house”…well, actually, it was Volbeat who was working hard.
“Now remember, Bro,” Illumise instructed from the grass below, a basket full of flower petals on her head, “If you don’t get that roof on tight it’s all going to collapse.”
“I’m doing the best I can, as usual,” Volbeat growled in response, wrapping some vines tightly around the top of the “roof.”
The house itself was made entirely of bamboo stalks, all of which reached more than four times Ash’s own height. The bottom formed a circle around fifty-two feet in circumference. A small door was made on the side in front of where Illumise was standing, and was covered by a curtain made of pond rushes. With the tops of the stalks being tied together, the whole thing began to resemble a Native American wigwam.
Illumise suddenly smiled to herself. “Ooo, this is so wonderful. I wonder what they’re all doing…” At this moment, both she and Volbeat heard a rustling from the bushes behind them.
Ash and Pikachu, without entering the grove, ran by at lightning speed. Following them at a steady pace was Big Sis. Volbeat’s eyes opened wide with shock, but Illumise only laughed heartily.
“Isn’t that sweet?” she asked, “Ash and Big Sis are playing Tag.” She then turned to look up at her brother, “I told you they would become a great pair!”
“I dunno, Sis,” Volbeat replied, “Ash looked kinda scared to me.”
“That’s because he doesn’t want to lose the game on his first day here,” Illumise answered, “waving away” her brother’s comment, “Now let’s keep working; we have to get this house finished before sunset, and this basket is getting heavy.”
Volbeat returned to work, but turned his head so Illumise wouldn’t see the angry look on his face.
For the next five minutes, they ran through the dense woods; jumping over fallen branches, passing tree stumps and rocks. Neither one looked back for fear of seeing that strange Pokemon following close behind. Upon leaving the woods, they stopped.
Right in front of them was a beach, the right side of which was guarded by a huge wall of rocks. Waves were breaking against the pink-tinged sand, and a variety of seashells lay scattered in all directions. Ash and Pikachu, at first, were not aware of their surroundings; after coming out of the woods, they plopped down onto their knees (Pikachu landed on his tummy), and panted heavily.
“Man,” Ash said, once he’d gotten some wind back, “What was that thing?”
“I know this much,” Pikachu gasped, “She looked way too pretty to be a Gyarados.”
Ash looked at his little friend in great surprise, “You could actually tell that it was a girl?”
“Sure, couldn’t you?” Pikachu replied forcing a smile, only to receive a sour look in return. Turning his attention away from the yellow mouse, Ash got up and walked onto the beach. He stopped close to where the sand met the water, and looked out onto the open ocean; he just stood there, not even bothering to say a word.
After a while, Pikachu got up and made his way to Ash’s side, and gazed at the rolling surf. He looked up at his young trainer, and spoke cheerfully.
“Cheer up, Ash, I bet we can still make it back to Lilycove City if we start walking.” To his shocking surprise, Ash slowly shook his head.
“No, Pikachu,” he said, his voice wavering, “We can’t…we won’t be able too: I don’t even think we’re in Hoenn anymore…”
Meanwhile…back in Lilycove City…
“Oh no!” Delia sobbed; she was in the waiting room of Waterlily Hospital, Brock and Daisy trying to comfort her on each side. Dr. Franklin and Officer Jenny were standing in front of her.
“Believe me, Mrs. Ketchum,” the officer said reassuringly, “We’re doing everything in our power to find your son; I’ve even alerted every police unit in every city and town---with instructions to contact me if they hear anything.” This bit of information, however, only made the poor woman cry even harder.
“Oh, what will I tell my husband?” she cried, “He’s already suffered enough these past couple of nights; this will just kill him!”
“Don’t say that!” Brock exclaimed, “It will all be okay, you’ll see.” He then turned to the officer, “Do you know how it happened?”
“Well,” Jenny began, “The window was wide open, but it’s a five-story drop to the street below; if he jumped, it wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. It’s weird, though; the bed was stripped bare---even the pillow was gone!
“There were several items scattered all over the floor too: a pair of scissors, a few Great Balls, a PokeDex…”
“His PokeDex?!” Brock gasped, his eyebrows lowering, “Then he couldn’t have gone willingly; Ash never goes anywhere without Dexter.”
“That’s not all,” the policewoman continued, “We also found this stuff on the floor, surrounding the bed.” She then handed Brock a small plastic bag; inside was a bright lime-green dust.
Brock took the bag, opened it, and carefully sniffed the contents, “Sleep Powder…a Grass-type Pokemon…”
Everyone instantly became very quiet; what would Sleep Powder be doing in Ash’s room? It was true that his Meganium knew Sleep Powder, but she had agreed to spend the night in her Poke Ball with the others. At that moment, the door burst open, startling everyone present.
Steven walked quickly into the room. By the serious expression on his face, they all had a feeling that something was wrong.
“What’s the matter, Steven?” Daisy asked, “I thought you were going back to the hotel to check on Aurora and David.”
“Aurora and David?” Jenny asked, “Who are they?”
Delia spoke up, “Aurora is Ash’s girlfriend; David is my stepson.” She then turned to the newcomer, “Are they alright?” Steven paused gravely before speaking.
“I’m not sure,” he said, “They weren’t there; no one was in the room.”
“WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed at once; Aurora and David gone? Delia couldn’t help but faint hearing this; luckily, Daisy was there to catch her.
“They’re missing too?” Brock asked.
Steven nodded, “Yes, but I found this on the table near Aurora’s bed.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Handing the paper to Brock, everyone crowded around to see the words written on it---words which made them more curious about their friends than about how they disappeared:
Do not fear, for they are safe.
One’s journey has ended,
The other’s has just begun.
To The Rainbow's End
And don't worry about description too much, eventually you'll know when to add it and when not to. A good idea is to read through it while "role-playing" the reader, so to speak, and assuming that the reader is fairly clueless about recent happenings in Pokemon. That helps me quite a bit in my writing, and it'd probably work for anyone who can effectively put themself in the shoes of the reader. Good luck, have fun in Lake Placid, and please continue!
Originally Posted by Gavin Luper
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If he didn't have the impending business with David, this wouldn't be nearly as bad of a situation... Unless the "Big Sis" is evil and crazy or something. ^_^
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? I managed to re-word that phrase, but I couldn't find any typos (believe me, I did the Spell Check AND read the chapter over 5 times!).
Poor... uh... "Kipper"... never knowing his mother... how sad...
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Well, I can still enjoy this fic! 