Previous on Pokemon Master: The gates to the Astral Plane, better known
as Hell, was opened by the Pokemon League releasing fearsome pokemon
known as 'the Forbidden' to destroy all life on earth. The world was
ravaged and many people died and are still dying by the thousands.
Duplica, Bruno, Laselle and Junior make their way east to the South
Lavender Rebellion base, while Ash, Misty and Pikachu have arrived
already, only to find that Misty's twin sister Valdera had been
masquerading as her to gain access to the base. Finally, Ash collapses,
the reason unknown.

And now we return to the story...

Warning: This is not standard Pokemon fanfiction. It contains scenes of
violence and some inappropriate language.

*************************************************************************
    
                           Pokemon Master 

Fanfiction by Ace Sanchez.

All parts of this story may be found at http://jsa.users.fl.net.au
Note: Pokemon and its associated characters are copyright by Nintendo,
Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and 4Kids Productions.

*************************************************************************

Part 9 - Restrictions


A blanket of white light. Or red. As smooth as spun silk. A certain sense
of violation. And pleasure. Illicitly vile. An unconscious recognition.
And two thirds reunited. 

A soul was bound. 

Or freed.


<><><>


The forest ground was damp underneath Duplica's chest, the moistness
slighty soaking through her underclothes and cloak as she lay down hidden
in the grassy underbrush. Quietly, she observed the League soldiers walk
around their posts about twenty feet in front of her and down a slight
inclination where the trees started to thin. Each of them held a small
lamp in their hands to light their way and were silent as they performed
their apparent guard duty. According to Laselle's time-piece earlier, it 
was about midnight, yet she couldn't tell the difference between the 
darkness now and the darkness earlier in the day.

A stray breeze wafted the wet smell of leaves and other vegetation by 
her nose, also blowing a strand of dark-blue hair, that seemed black in 
the night, across her eye.  She blinked at the ticklish sensation and 
willed it out of her face. The lock of hair moved of its own accord to 
settle itself around her left ear.

"Another League army?" The soft voice, even though it was whispered,
still startled the hell out of her.

She turned her head to glare at the young black-haired girl lying next to
her. A glare that she knew was invisible in the night, but she felt 
better doing it anyway. It was hard to make her out at first, because 
even though she was quite near, the green and muddy forest cloak the girl
was wearing blended in perfectly with the vegetation of the forest.
"Geez!" she whispered as loud as she dared with the guards such a scant
distance away. "Laselle, I thought I told you to wait with the others!"

"Sorry," Laselle whispered back, although sounding completely
unrepentant. "But I just couldn't stand waiting around doing nothing.
Besides, spying is my specialty," she explained with a tinge of
arrogance. "You didn't even notice me until I said something."

Duplica was glad that Laselle wouldn't be able see her blush of
embarrassment in the darkness. She turned back to observe the guards.
"Well don't worry about it now. Anyway, yeah, there's a League army
camped past those soldiers where the forest gets lighter. But judging
from the number of campfires you can sort of spot, it doesn't seem to be
too big a force. Maybe one hundred or so."

The sound of Laselle swallowing came softly to her. "But I think we have
even less than that back at the South Lavender base. Do-do you think that
they might be heading there?"

Duplica shifted a little, her breasts feeling a little sore now at the
length of time she had been lying on her chest. She had been thinking
about recalling them away as she watched, but then rejected the notion as
it outraged her sense of vanity. She didn't want to be flat-chested, even
for a second. "Well they are heading south-east," she replied a little
testily. "In the exact direction we were heading too. Then again it could
just be a coincidence."

"Maybe," Laselle whispered. She sounded unconvinced.

"You're right, I don't believe in coincidences either."

Then a brash female voice in front of them said out loud, "I'm going
off to the little girl's room! And don't any of you perverts follow!"

Duplica turned back to see one of the female soldiers start walking
towards them. She held her breath and heard Laselle do the same as the
lightly-armoured figure passed within a few feet of them, holding her
brightly-lit torch, and stalked off into the forest, the crackle of
leaves and underbrush sounding at every step.

"But I do believe in luck," Duplica said wickedly. She lifted herself up
and gave a slight sigh of relief from her flattened breasts as she began
to follow the soldier, low to the ground and slowly, so as not to make
any noise. "Stay here and signal a pidgey's call if any of the other
soldiers decide to follow."

"Okay," Laselle agreed as she turned back to watching the remaining
guards.

By the time Duplica caught up, the soldier-woman was already squatting
by a tree. The sound of trickling liquid on leaves was astonishingly
loud in the quiet of the dark forest.

"Ahhhhhh," the woman was sighing, not noticing her, as Duplica crouched
unseen behind a tree trunk.

Duplica then allowed the image of an ekans snake concentrate in her mind.
Breathing softly, she let the perception of it fill her entire being and
felt the familiar warmth of metamorphosis as her body shifted into the
desired form, as she shrunk low to the ground. Then slithering along the
forest floor, her forked tongue flicking, she rose up and stared the
woman in the eye. The sound of trickling liquid abruptly stopped.

Quickly her eyes glowed yellow in a Glare attack. The woman didn't even
get to make a sound before she was wide-eyed and paralysed, still
squatting next to the tree with her pants down. As Duplica returned back
to human form, the woman soldier in front of her seemed to be trying to
talk, her lips quivering, but it was useless.

Duplica reached up over her head and ripped down some thick green vines
that were wrapped around the large trunk and soon the woman was tied up
against the tree, still in a squatting position. The Glare had stiffened
her muscles so Duplica wouldn't have been able to move her in a less
embarrassing position even if she wanted.

"I'll send someone to take care of you later," Duplica whispered. The
woman seemed to stare at her hard and even though she could barely move a
muscle, she still managed to look absolutely furious.

"Now, now, human Glares don't work," Duplica said in a smart-ass tone.
"Now stay still while I have a look at you," she ordered with an ironic
twist to her lips. She looked the soldier over carefully, determined not
to miss a detail. Chain-mail shirt and breeches modified for a woman, a
brown forest cloak with the emblem of the Pokemon League on it, black
leather knee-high boots, a doll-like pretty face with china-blue eyes and
medium length green hair ... she concentrated and her body warmed again
as it changed.

The woman looked even more shocked, if that was possible, due to her
paralysed face, as she ended up looking at her exact twin with identical
clothes. Duplica picked up the lamp the woman left behind and hurried
back.

It was fortunate that Laselle didn't cry out when she saw her before she
told her who she was. She had probably already guessed what she intended
to do; Laselle was a smart girl for her age. "I'm going to find out for
sure where this army's going," Duplica whispered in the brash voice the
soldier woman had. "You go back to Bruno and Junior and I'll meet up with
you later and tell you what's going on. You'll find the woman tied to a
tree, take her with you. I wouldn't want any Forbidden Pokemon to find
her for a snack."

Soon, Duplica-soldier-woman walked down past the guards and was let into
the camp uncontested. She would find out just what was going on. And
she hoped to do so before any Forbidden Pokemon showed up. A group of 
this size had to be attracting attention.


<><><>


Dizzy. The flat face of the table beneath her palms was blurring. As if
she had been spinning around and around and around. It felt almost ...
good. And then with the suddenness with which the feeling had come over
her, it was just ... gone.

"Misty, Misty ..."

Someone was calling her name. She looked up slowly, eyes blinking,
feeling as if she had just woken up. She brushed a lock of red hair from
her cheek. "Wha-what?" 

It was Erika, her grass-green eyes looking worriedly at her from across
the round table. "You just suddenly spaced out or something with a smile
on your lips ..." Her friend, dressed in an emerald green dress, began to
stand up, her just-shy-of-shoulder-length black hair tilting as she
leaned forward. The bright electric lights shone on the strands revealing
deep blue highlights contrasting against the red of her hair-band.

"Remain seated." The low voice came from the tall man with black hair
worn in spikes, sitting on the right side of the table. Thick slashing
dark brows over sinister black eyes were calm as ever. Koga was the only
one at the table still wearing his tight-fitting purple Master's cloak,
although his thin hood was thrown back. Underneath, he wore a black tunic
and matching loose trousers cinched in at the waist. Koga was a ninja,
but to Misty he seemed more like a vampire.

Erika frowned, but still continued to rise.

Misty waved her friend back to her seat. "It's okay, Erika. I-I just 
felt a little weird, that's all."

"It's not your wound, is it?" Erika asked as she sat back down.

"I don't know. I don't think so. I think I'm pretty much healed."

"Enough," an authoritative female voice said. It was Aya, Koga's sister,
the second Poison Master. She was a mature woman with a sultry beauty,
her dark-green hair still worn like she did in the old days in a high
ponytail but tied back with a long black ribbon. The shade contrasted
sharply with the pale milk-white of her skin while eyes matching the
colour of her hair stared at her, full red lips pursed seriously. She was
sitting on the table's left and was wearing a dark-pink kimono, the robes
tightened, outlining her tall, athletic figure. "Now, as you were saying,
Mistaria?" she inquired with a nod of her chin.

Misty blinked and tried to remember what she had been saying. Then it all
came back to her as well as the feeling of outrage. "That's right," she
said dangerously. "I just heard that you've imprisoned Ash. How could
you? While he's sick?"

Aya's serious expression didn't change. "Now, Mistaria, you have to
understand. We have been hearing outrageous news of your activities.
Especially of the disaster at the Castle Town west of Cerulean. Did you
know Ashura somehow decimated an army of over half a thousand men
single-handedly? Letting an uncontrolled force like him loose would be
foolhardy."

"That was a League army!" Misty protested. "If nothing else, they
deserved everything they got for the butchery they committed. You must 
have seen what they were doing to all the human settlements around that
area. In fact, weren't Erika, you and your brother putting a stop to just
that? I demand you set him free now!" Her blue eyes glowed icily.

The soft hissing sound of the door to the meeting room sliding open
interrupted them, and she turned her head to watch a slim, beautiful
woman with long black hair, highlighted with brown, walk in confidently,
the sound of her high-heels clicking on the metallic floor. Folds of her
long white lab-coat floated behind her like a cape. In one hand she
carried a small rectangular electronic notebook and around her neck, she
wore a silver stethoscope.

"But that's just the thing," the woman said in a know-it-all tone as she
came to a stop, standing by the table. "We shouldn't have been able to
imprison him in the first place. The device we are using was designed for
the entrapment and observation of hostile pokemon. Its technology is
based on the old laser storage system of the poke-ball. It shouldn't work
on humans. Yet it works on Ash. Interesting, no?"

"Giselle," Misty said in an annoyed tone. "One unpleasant surprise after 
another."

She laughed haughtily, her perfectly red-manicured nails tapping her
shapely lower lip. "Flattery will get you nowhere. And that's *Doctor*
Giselle. Now, as I was saying, the energy walls we've sealed him in can
in fact be walked through by any human or inanimate object. Even air
passes through. Yet it is impassable to pokemon and anything of pokemon
construct. It seems Ash is under the same restraints."

Erika frowned and twisted a strand of hair around her index finger. "I
knew there was something strange about him. He may not even be human."

Giselle shook her head, her long dark hair sliding around on the
shoulders of her lab-coat. "No, he is human. I have run certain tests.
The results may be contradicting, but he is definitely human. An
exceptionally cute one too." She smiled suggestively.

Misty daydreamed about wiping that smile off her face with a flying
tackle. She resisted the urge with some effort. It wouldn't look very
professional.

"But he also passes the tests for pokemon," Giselle continued in her
haughty voice. "And not just any pokemon, but he shows remarkable
similarity to the *Forbidden* Pokemon the world is currently under siege
of. His pikachu is the same. In fact, tests point that Pikachu *is* a
Forbidden Pokemon. And our readings are off the scales when we try to
measure their power."

Misty stared hard at her. "Even if it is as you say, you have no right
to lock him up like an animal for study. We have little enough time as it
is to stop the prophecy from unfolding and Ash is at the centre of it.
I'm sure of it. If anyone will be able to stop this, it will be him."

Aya looked at her, dark-green eyes unblinking. "Explain."

Misty told them what she had learned from Ash and exactly what the League
had done. How they had set the prophecy of Armageddon in motion releasing
the Forbidden into the world. And how they only had a few days left until
the planet was completely overrun and all life on earth save the League
would end. She was careful to omit Ash's participation though, and how he
had somehow been mind-controlled.

Koga, silent and listening, suddenly spoke up. "I know of the prophecy.
It was, after all, extremely similar to how they were used in the Dark
Wars although that was on a much smaller scale. How in the creation of
the earth, the Creator sealed the failures of his makings in a place
between worlds, where the souls of all who die must pass. And how the
world would end if they were ever released. What you say has an
undeniable ring of truth to it."

Misty hoped that he would take her side. Koga was the one who held the
most influence out of the Rebellion. He commanded the most trainers and
soldiers, with his sister as co-leader, between them.

"Yet," he continued, "that does not change the fact that Ashura is an
undeniable risk. An uncontrolled one. Too dangerous to let him loose. We
will find some way to stop this ourselves. We will find some way to
control his unpredictability and use his power somehow so that it is
certain he will do greater good than harm. Maybe we can even set up
Ashura and Lord Garick so they would destroy themselves and leave the
world alone."

Misty stood up, her chair making a screeching sound as it slid against
the metal floor. The air around her abruptly grew cold with her aura.
"You mean, use him like a weapon? One that you think you hold the trigger
of?" Icicles formed on the edge of the table where she was holding it
with both of her hands. "That's absurd! The only thing you'll succeed in
doing is alienating him from the Rebellion as well as the League. I won't
allow it!"

Koga stared hard at her with his small black eyes. "Do not forget
Mistaria, that you yourself have been questionable in these whole series
of events. Both you *and* Ashura have somehow been involved in opening
the gate at Cerulean. And you willingly alied yourself with him in the
first place, a hostile entity that you had no hope of trusting. He is
doubly a traitor, to the League as well as the Rebellion."

No hope of trusting? She looked immediately across the table at her
friend. Erika smiled at her and gave her a secret thumbs up. Misty
inwardly sighed in relief. Erika had not told them of how she had forced
Ash to do her bidding and likely Giselle hadn't discovered it either.

Aya spoke up again. "And now you tell us that Brock is alive and has
allied himself with the League. You understand that we are finding this
very hard to believe. Brock as we've seen him was a devout follower to
our cause for as long as his short life. There was more than one witness
at his death, although admittedly his body was never recovered. But as
such we will not believe this until there is solid proof."

"This is crazy! What if Brock knew about this base before he left to the
other side?" Misty felt the edge of the table grow brittle and break off
in her hands. It fell to the ground where it made a clattering sound as
it shattered into shards of ice. "And what about my sister? Don't you
believe me about her as well? That at this very moment she is somewhere
here probably on some mission of sabotage?"

"Now that we believe," Giselle said dryly, still standing by the side of
the table, her perfectly made-up face looking fascinated at the frozen
bits of table on the ground. "We have video footage of your entrance at
the seaside vertical shaft. And at the same time we were all talking to a
woman who we thought was you. She looked exactly like you. The same voice
as well." She frowned, tapping her lip in thought. "Unfortunately, by
the time we realised our mistake, she had already disappeared."

"But she didn't really act like you, come to think of it," Erika
interjected. "For one thing she was acting like a real conceited bitch.
Kind of like Giselle." She grinned, her green eyes bright with mischief.

Giselle frowned at her and tossed her long brown-black hair
contemptuously.

"But I can't believe that she saved my life, and my guards lives too."
Erika told them about her encounter with the dark beedrills.

Misty shook her head. "Well that was obviously just to use you to get
inside."

"Still, I kind of owe her one," Erika said, smiling at the ridiculousness
of the situation. "But I can't believe the resemblance. She really does
look like you with that red hair."

Giselle pursed her red lips thoughtfully. "She passed the genetic match
otherwise she wouldn't have gotten in so easily. It was how we detected
your entrance so quickly, Ash's DNA code is not in the security system's
database. I thought you said you weren't exact identical twins."

"Well she has different hair doesn't she? She was born a blonde, like my
oldest sister Daisy, while I'm a redhead. And she always looked
different, at least to me."

"Maybe we should have had a strip-test," Erika said, smiling a bit. "The
hair below does not lie."

"Please, save the gutter humour," Giselle said in an acid tone.

Erika moved as if to pull down the long white short-skirt that Giselle
wore underneath her lab-coat.

Giselle dodged her outstretched hand. "Don't you dare!"

"Maybe you're naturally pink, Giselle?" Erika asked curiously.

Koga finally stood up, sliding his chair back in a rapid movement, a
fed-up expression on his face. "Cease!"

Erika and Giselle fell silent.

He turned his intense black stare on Misty. "Now, be that as it may, we
now have a hostile Pokemon Master walking these underground tunnels. One
who at first and second glance is an exact replica of you. Therefore, the
only logical thing to do would be to confine you to your chambers so that
any sign of you outside will result in the imposter being found out
immediately. You will be guarded and put under lock and key within your
chambers until this matter with your sister is resolved."

Misty felt so frustrated, she was grinding her teeth. "That isn't fair!"
she protested. Then she remembered something and her stomach dropped out
from beneath her, suddenly feeling sick. She had to remove the poison
from Ash's body now that they were at South Lavender like they had agreed
to do earlier! Tomorrow would be the seventh day. But she couldn't tell
Koga and the rest about what she had done. She would have to do something
about it soon...

Then Koga whipped around and began to stalk out of the chamber, the folds
of his purple cloak floating behind him. "Consider it also a penance for
not consulting us before planning what you did."

Aya also stood up, her face still serious as she looked at her. "Off to
your room immediately. The soldiers outside will escort you and guard
your doors. This base is under full alert until we find the hostile
Pokemon Master." Her dark-green eyes swivelled to Giselle. "And you,
return to your experiments. We want to know every single thing there is
to know about this Shadow Master." And then she followed her brother out
of the door. The metal doors hissed closed with a snap at their exit.

Giselle's annoyingly beautiful face suddenly smirked as she turned to
Misty. "Now I know why you were so hot and heavy with Ash back then. Of
course it's no surprise since he was already so cute when I first met you
back at Pokemon Tech. He showed a lot of promise." A corner of her lip
turned up lasciviously. "And you know what they say, there is no such
thing as modesty between a doctor and her patient."

Misty felt her face flush. She hoped her face didn't match the redness of
her hair. "You're nothing but a sick voyeur as far as I'm concerned."
Then she bit her lower lip in worry. "B-But ... how is he?"

Giselle shrugged her slender shoulders underneath the white lab-coat.
"Well his condition is stable. He seems to have a remarkable rate of
physical healing. It's just that his energy levels seem to be fluctuating
strangely. As can be guessed, the pikachu is the same way." She frowned
as if annoyed. "Although I'm not entirely sure what is causing the
disturbance. My closest guess would be that it is some sort of psychic
imbalance."

"He's not going crazy is he?" Erika asked worriedly, sliding her chair
backward as she stood up.

"Who knows?" She shuddered delicately. "But I think I'm actually glad
that they've decided to confine him for the moment." Then she smirked at
Misty again. "But maybe I might try him out for myself anyway. When the
rules were 'look but don't touch' I always ended up breaking them." She
let out an arrogant laugh. "After all, you did break up with him years
ago, so he's single, right?"

Misty narrowed her eyes and tweaked the moisture on the air around
her slightly.

"Ow!" Giselle almost leapt up clutching her bottom. Her light-brown eyes
were offended as she stared at her as she rubbed her behind. Then she
lifted her chin and somehow managed to look down her nose at them even
though both Misty and Erika were a tad taller than her. "Humph! Immature
girls, the lot of you!" Then she stalked off, still rubbing herself, as
the metallic sliding doors hissed open at her approach. The guards posted
outside the doors stared at her bottom as she passed them as if they
wanted to be the ones rubbing. Then the doors slid shut again.

The smell of flowers pervaded the room as green energy flashed along
Erika's body forming into her long cloak. Then she looked at her, an
eyebrow tilted upward as she pulled the hood over her head, shadowing
her face within its depths.

Misty shrugged innocently as she also formed her cloak over her body, the
blue liquid-like energy shimmering around her before it solidified into
soft material. "It's not my fault the flies are biting again."


<><><>


"Pika pika!"

The first thing that Ash saw as he opened his eyes was Pikachu's round
blue eyes staring frantically down at him as he sat on Ash's naked chest.
Ash carefully sat up, placing the black electric mouse next to him on the
bed. The bed. So that's why it was so soft. But he didn't understand why
he felt even weaker than when he had been lying on the stone floor of the
cave. He hoped it didn't become a habit.

"Where are we?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse. He coughed to clear his
throat as he turned to observe his surroundings. It looked like an
ordinary hospital room, save that it was totally enclosed by some sort of
red-tinged field of energy. Even the floor seemed to be covered with it.
Over by the far side of the enclosed room was a small white lavatory and
sink. Other than that, the room was pretty bare. He couldn't see his
backpack or cloak anywhere. The only thing he had on were his loose black
long pants, cinched in tightly at the waist.

Pikachu leapt off the bed and ran the dozen feet to the red barrier. He
tapped it with a paw. "Pikapi pi-pikachu!" he said, his pointed ears laid
angrily flat against the top of his head.

"What? You say this is like inside of a poke-ball? But stronger?" He
twisted himself around on the bed and slowly stood up. The floor felt
warm and seemed to vibrate beneath his bare feet. For a moment he
felt dizzy and almost fell over, but at the last instant he gained his
equilibrium and managed to stand up straight. He didn't feel too good. He
was sore all over, especially in his wounded shoulder, and something on
the side of his back stung. Carefully lifting his arm slightly and
turning his head, he saw a line of scratches that were bleeding.
How did I get those, he wondered. Then he checked his arrow wound
underneath the bandage covering it and found it had healed, but not as
much as it should have by now.

He walked slowly over to Pikachu's side, careful not to walk too fast and
dizzy himself. The red energy barrier was more transparent closer up, and
he could see what looked like a laboratory outside, many computers and
monitor screens, switchboards, consoles, the types of things Professor
Oak had in his lab before it was destroyed, except more advanced.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw his backpack, open and obviously looked
through, sitting on a table. Hung up on a swivel-seat next to it was
his black cloak.

"Chuu." 

Ash looked down at his pokemon to see him glow dark and shoot a thin
Thundershock out of his paw and at the wall. But the small spark of
lightning just seemed to, not so much as get absorbed into it, but was
just nullified.

"So we're trapped here, huh?" He pressed his right hand into the red
translucent barrier and tested its strength. It felt just as warm as the
floor and also seemed to vibrate slightly beneath his palm. Then in the
back of his mind, he sensed someone coming and dropped his hand from the
energy barrier. Thankfully, it seemed his senses were slightly recovered,
at least to the point where he could detect people.

There was a click and a hiss as the wall on the far side of the lab slid
open and a tall brunette dressed in a white lab-coat stepped through, the
sound of her high-heels clicking on the hard laboratory floor.

"Ah, my patient is finally awake!" she said in a suggestive tone. As she
stepped closer, Ash noticed how perfectly beautiful she was, like the
cold beauty of a model. Yet he wasn't particularly affected by it since
he had long since been desensitised to beauty. Mostly. There was also a
familiar look to her face, doubly familiar for some reason.

"Where's Misty?" was the first question he asked, surprising himself.
"And why am I being held here?"

"Pika-chu," Pikachu added by his feet, a cross tone in his cute voice.

She seemed to lower her brown-eyed gaze from his face to his bare chest.
Her full red lips tilted as if she found something amusing. He shivered
inwardly at her gaze, feeling uncomfortable, like a slab of meat she
wouldn't mind devouring. "You're under confinement at the strict order of
Master's Koga and Aya. They don't precisely trust you. As for Misty ..."
She shrugged, lifting her gaze back to his face and leaning her head
sideways a bit as if to study him. "Well that's unimportant." She played
with the stethoscope at her neck, swinging it around in little circles
around her finger.

Ash looked around again and then laughed without any humour. "I should
have known this would happen. I guessed it, but I was thinking that they
might have lost their prejudice against me by now."

Giselle paused. "Well aren't you going to ask me who I am?" she inquired
in a piqued tone. "We *have* met before, you know. Although, admittedly,
it has been some time ..."

He turned back to her and blinked. "You really do look familiar." Then a
blurred picture formed in his mind. "Wait, I know you now ... some school
called Pokemon Wreck ... your name is Giraffe or something, isn't it?"

Startlingly, her face filled with red, a flush starting from her
neckline, slowly climbing upwards. "I am *not* a Giraffe. My name is
*Giselle* and it was *Pokemon Tech* not Pokemon Wreck." 

She was so highly indignant, that Ash unwittingly stepped backward even
though the red barrier was between them. "Oh ... Giselle was it?" he said
lamely.

Then she seemed to calm down, her flushed face regaining its normal milky
colour. "Yes, people call me a star ... but I'm just Giselle." She smiled
slowly. "Anyway, let's take a look at you." She took a small computer
notebook out of a pocket in her coat and plugged it in a console by the
barrier. "My, my, you do have an astonishing healing factor," she
commented as her fingers flew over the keys and stared at the small
monitor.

"How long has it been since I collapsed?" Ash asked, trying to change the
subject.

She didn't look at him, still studying her computer as she answered. "Oh,
it's about two in the morning, so that would make it about five hours."

Then he sensed someone else approaching and he turned to see the metal
doors slide open again with a hiss of air. This time it was a young man
in a white lab-coat who walked in. He had neatly combed brown hair and
wore a pair of glasses over his plain face. He also looked familiar.

"Doctor Giselle," he said in a reverent tone, "You're wanted at Medic Bay
number three immediately. Doctor Proctor needs you." Ash could see that
the young man was obviously attracted to her by the way he shifted from
foot to foot and had a nervous look in his dark eyes.

Giselle lifted her nose away from her computer and looked haughtily at
him. "Can't you see I'm busy right now, Joe? You're an intern, you take
care of it," she said arrogantly. "My time is precious and I have orders
to study this highly attractive specimen here." She pointed at him. Ash
folded his arms and pretended not to be listening.

Joe's gaze followed her finger. Immediately, a look of jealousy and hate
flowed over his features. "All monsters are ugly," he stated in a tight
voice. "And that's what he is. Some of the guards and trainers are saying
that he even summoned those Forbidden Pokemon here. And do you even know
how many people he's killed? Why, one of the Power Trainers I talked to
said he was nothing but a torturer and a murderer."

Giselle turned to Ash and squinted her light-brown eyes at him. "Ugly?
Maybe you should get your prescription on those glasses checked,
Joey-boy."

Joe flushed in embarrassment. "Anyway, Doctor Proctor said it was
important so I think you better go."

"Okay, already," Giselle said in an annoyed tone. "You obviously need me
to do every little thing for you." She closed her notebook computer and
unplugged it from the console. "Don't touch anything while I'm gone," she
ordered as she walked rapidly away and through the doors which hissed
open at her approach then closed behind her after with a click after she
walked through.

After a while, Joe turned back to him from staring at Giselle as she left
the laboratory. His face screwed up in anger. "You-you monster! Stay away
from Giselle, you hear me?"

"Um, that's a little hard, don't you think?" Ash asked blandly, waving
his hand at the barrier.

Joe paused at that and got a confused look on his face. Then he shook his
head. "Stop trying to confuse me, monster! Your evil tricks won't work on
me."

Ash sighed and decided not to say anything. Likely anything he said would
probably just confuse him even more. Was love some sort of excuse to act
incredibly stupid?

Joe's eyes lit up behind his glasses as he spotted Ash's black cloak
hanging on the seat. He walked over to it and picked it up, the thick
folds of black material rippling like a live shadow.

"I wouldn't touch that," Ash warned.

Joe laughed, a high irritating sound, as he lifted the cloak high with
both his hands to look at it in the light. "And what are you going to do
about it, monster? I'm out here and you're in there." He smiled,
superior-like, as he draped it along his shoulders and pulled the thick
hood over his head. But the cloak didn't really fit him as he was too
short, the folds dragging on the ground past his feet. "Look at me!" he
shouted in a mocking tone. "I'm the evil Shadow Master come to get you!
The shadow who eats children at night if you've been a bad little boy or
girl!"

"Take it off," Ash said, his voice turning dangerous now. He blew a
strand of hair out of his eye with a tilt of his lips.

Joe was prancing around the laboratory like an idiot, whipping the cloak
around at each step melodramatically. "I bet you I could be a Shadow
Master, much better than you could ever be, you stupid traitor."

Ash's eyes flared golden, an unholy light emanating from his pupils to
cover even the whites of his eyes.

Joe screamed as the cloak glowed black then crackled with powerful
dark electricity. His body jerked backwards and forwards as the sound of
thunder boomed extraordinarily loud within the enclosed laboratory. And
then the cloak just exploded into thin air like a balloon popping. Joe
was thrown backward to land on his back on the hard floor, sliding
crazily until the wall of a console stopped him. For a moment he just lay
there smoking. Then he cried as he ripped off his glasses which had begun
melting down his nose. He sat up with fire in his dark eyes, his brown
hair burnt in several places and still sticking up and popping with left
over static electricity.

"It's fortunate that I pity you, otherwise you'd just be a puddle of red
slime swimming on the floor." Ash shook his head, still with his arms
folded across his bare chest.

"Pika pika pika!" Pikachu laughed, his blue eyes closed from hilarity as
he rolled around on his back, paws in the air.

"I'm going to kill you!" Joe spat as he stood up and reached within his
slightly burnt lab-coat to remove a poke-ball. He threw it. "Victreebel,
go! Razor Leaf! Cut him to shreds!"

The red and white ball split open in mid-air with a flash of red energy
and the yellow tubular, plant-like pokemon came forth, its sharp teeth
snapping and its green vines and leaves whipping. It let out a growling
sound and blade-like foliage began to shoot out from its torso, spinning
around like shurikens.

Ash calmly stayed still, his face a few inches behind the barrier as
the leaves bounced off the red-tinged energy with no effect. He didn't
even blink.

"You shit!" Joe yelled, recalling his pokemon back into its ball and
throwing it aside furiously. He obviously remembered that the barrier was
impassable for all pokemon and their attacks. "That energy field won't
help you from a beating!" He ran berserk towards him, a fist
outstretched.

Ash didn't move until Joe's arm passed through the red energy as if it
wasn't there. Then casually, almost lazily, he lifted one arm to
intercept it, tightly grabbing Joe's wrist in his grip. Spinning smoothly
to the side, he used Joe's momentum against him, jerking his arm upward.
Joe gasped as he flew upwards feet first, being swung overhead like a
throwing hammer. As he passed above him, Ash let go of his arm and
watched as Joe sailed through the air like a mis-thrown javelin. He spun
crazily around, passed through the red energy barrier at the other side,
and landed on a wheeled computer console with a loud sparking crash. The
console tipped backward at the collision and dumped him unceremoniously
on to the floor. His body was unmoving, this time unconscious.

Then the door slid open with a hiss and Giselle walked back in, whistling
a jaunty tune. She stopped as she observed the carnage, eyes widening.
She turned accusingly to Ash.

Ash blinked innocently. "Don't look at me. Joe was the one you told not
to touch anything."


<><><>


"So, Tyra, wanna have some action later on after we destroy that Rebel
base?"

Duplica didn't even look at the punkish soldier striding next to her as
they marched onward through the forest. "Get lost, bozo," she said in the
brash tone she assumed the soldier-woman always used.

The punkish soldier looked disappointed. "But we always get it on after a
successful battle." He fell back to walk with the other male soldiers.

Geez, Duplica thought. This Tyra woman sure was the easy sort. That had
been the seventh guy that had pretty much said the same thing to her
already. She supposed the woman looked nice enough with her long green
hair and tough body, but Duplica thought a little vainly that her
blue-haired and slender but voluptuous body looked much better.

The wagon wheels creaked next to her as the procession of the army train
headed onward to the east through the dark forest. Only the lamps
attached to the wagons, and those being carried by various soldiers like
herself, allowed enough light for travelling. Right now, she walked with
the half-dozen or so supply wagons being pulled along by ponyta fire
horses. The cracking of the whips by the drivers sounded every so often
and the neighing of horses was loud in the comparative stillness of the
trees around them.

As the shadow of the tip of the Pokemon Tower far to the north of the
Rebel base grew ever more visible over the tops of the trees and against
the backdrop of the swirling blue-black sky, Duplica had now been sure
for quite some time that they were indeed heading directly towards the
South Lavender Rebellion base. The wide trail they were travelling
through lead more or less on a collision course directly towards it. And
the little she had heard from the other soldiers of the upcoming battle
was further confirmation.

Feeling that she had learned enough from the soldiers back here, Duplica
decided to move onward toward the front of the army train. She needed
more information on just how they had found out the location of the
Rebels and she figured that whoever was in charge of the army was most
likely riding at the head. She started walking faster to overtake the
wagons.

"Where are ya goin, toots?" a testosterone-filled voice called out from
behind her.

She didn't turn her head as she walked further up, the dirt of the path
rising up behind her boots. "I feel like rootin the boss." That seemed
like something 'Tyra' would say.

"You're an asshole, Tyra." The voice sounded jealous.

"Yeah, I got a reason." Duplica chuckled. "You're contagious."

She left them behind to splutter at her back as she walked faster. Then
as she was about to pass the lead wagon, she heard a whispering through
the canvas wall. "Damn these chains," a familiar female voice cursed. "If
I was free, Joylene, I'd show these League scum..."

Shocked, Duplica edged closer to the wagon's side and lifted a flap in
the wall. She stuck her head through and looked around. Sure enough,
Captain Jenny and Nurse Joy from the Castle town were being held captive
within. Jenny, still in her light armour-uniform and Joylene in her long
white dress, although looking a little worse for wear, were chained up to
the floor of the wagon by their wrists.

Jenny turned hostile maroon eyes on her. Her short blue hair was a bit
rumpled and blood-stained as if someone had clubbed her. The helmet that
she always wore was nowhere to be seen. "What are you looking at League
bitch?" she asked in an acidic tone.

"Jenny," Nurse Joy warned, her long red ponytail beginning to get undone,
long strands escaping around her shoulders.

Duplica allowed her true voice to speak from her mouth. "It's me," she
whispered in a sassy tone. "Duplica."

Nurse Joy's eyes widened, recognising the voice. "One of the Pokemon
Masters back in town?"

Jenny looked shocked but didn't say anything. As soon as she heard her
name her eyes had widened and her expression turned more than a little
uneasy. The Captain of the guards had been more than a little unnerved of
her as soon as she saw how Duplica could manipulate the form of her body.
Unnatural, she called it.

"Yeah, kind of," Duplica answered. "I'm just using this form so I can spy
easier. Anyway, how did you get captured? Where are the rest of your
soldiers?"

Jenny seemed to get incredibly angry, forgetting about her uneasiness
around her. "It was a stinking ambush! We were passing through the forest
when League Trainers and soldiers just popped out from the sides, waiting
for us." Then her anger just seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon
and she looked like she was just barely stopping herself from bursting
out crying. "They killed all our men, leaving only us alive." She laughed
bitterly. "Probably because we're female and they might want to 'use' us
later."

Joylene looked worried. "They confiscated our pokemon too. I do hope
Chansey is alright."

"Don't worry about a thing," Duplica said confidently. "After I find out
what I need to know, I'll bust you out. Maybe even find your pokemon."
Then she slipped out from underneath the canvas flap quickly. It wouldn't
do for her to be discovered talking to the prisoners.

On quiet feet she hurried forward towards the front of the army, passing
riders on horses and marching men, trying to walk past unnoticed. That
was one thing about being an attractive woman. It was hard to stay
unnoticed, especially by an army predominantly filled with men. Maybe she
should have found an ugly female soldier to impersonate. Then she thought
about it some more. Nah.

Finally after several rejected offers of a fling in the grass, she
reached the head of the army leading on through the trail in the dark
forest. She walked as silent as she could next to another female
soldier on horseback to her right side. The woman spared her a downward
glance then turned back to the front uninterested.

In front of them, walking several yards in the lead were two figures on
horseback walking side to side. The profiles were that of a man and a
woman; the man with short aqua hair, the woman with blonde hair in a high
ponytail, and both in steel armour and thin grey forest cloaks.

"Are you sure the Masters from the League were heading to the coast south
of Lavender?" The man's voice was scratchy. Annoying. And familiar.

"Yes, the scouts and our new allies confirmed it." The woman's superior
tone was also familiar.

Butch and Cassidy. So they were still around, Duplica thought, more than
a little annoyed. She decided to eavesdrop further.

"Excellent," Butch said in a satisfied tone. "But I do hope we can get
to that Rebel base soon enough so that we can capture that Shadow Master
for ourselves."

Cassidy sounded almost orgasmic. "Did you see that man's power? How he
totally destroyed our army and the fifth Master Pokemon? Such power!" She
was panting like a bitch in heat. 

Disgusting, Duplica thought. At least this Tyra woman she was
impersonating was an honest harlot. A harlot, but honest just the same.

"Yes," Butch said, his voice now with a tinge of annoyance. He sounded a
bit jealous. "That boy has certainly done well enough for himself. But do
not forget whom we must trust to capture such power."

Cassidy paused. "Those renegades from the Pokemon League," she finally
said. "We should have half a mind to report them to Lord Garick."

Butch let out an annoying froggy laugh. "Ah, but to possess such power,
we might have enough power to oppose Lord Garick himself! I must admit
this thing of letting the Forbidden Pokemon kill everyone on earth is
nasty business."

Cassidy sniffed. "Better them than us."

Duplica had heard enough. She was startled that her fists had closed so
tight in her fury. She forced herself to forget them for now and began to
fall back where she might do something about Captain Jenny and Nurse Joy.


<><><>


Footsteps marched behind her in loud even steps. Misty, with Erika
walking beside her, was being escorted to her rooms by a group of three
soldiers and one Poison Trainer. As she thought furiously for a solution
to the problem, she stared at the glass wall of the eastern side of the
long tunnel they were walking through. The water on the other side looked
black and unnatural. Not a ripple of movement. Usually there would have
been marine life easily spotted, but it looked about as dead as the land
above. She suddenly felt furious that even the ocean had been affected by
the Pokemon League and she vowed that she would somehow, some way,
restore the ocean to its former glory.

She turned her head and noticed they were just walking past the women's
lavatory. An idea suddenly reared itself in her mind.

"Wait a moment," she said, stopping. "Let me just go to the women's
room."

"I suppose that's okay," one of the soldiers said. "But maybe one of us
should supervise."

She looked at them and frowned. "But all of you are men. Erika can stand
watch over me."

Erika's eyebrows went up.

"B-But-" the men stammered.

Before they could give a decent excuse about why she couldn't, Misty
grabbed Erika's hand and pulled her into the women's lavatory with her.

When they were inside the main bathroom, with its white tiled floor,
sinks and mirrors, Misty turned to her friend and threw back the hood of
her cloak, freeing her hair to flow behind her. "Okay Erika, you know I
have to get to Ash and get out of here. I came here looking for aid, not
more adversaries."

"Yes, Koga and Aya are being a little hard-headed about this, I think,"
Erika said as she also threw her hood back and daintily adjusted her
shorter black hair underneath her red hair-band. "They're probably still
stinging from when Ash last defeated them. But how are you going to get
away when the whole base is on full alert? When the soldiers outside are
waiting for you to confine you to your rooms?"

"I have an idea..."

Erika folded her arms and got a long-suffering look on her face. "Now why
do I suddenly have a foreboding feeling about this?"

Misty stepped closer and compared their figures with her hands. "Let's
see," she mumbled, "you seem about the same size I am except maybe a tad
more fleshy-"

"Ha! And proud of it!" Erika declared, placing her hands on her hips.

"And you're only about an inch shorter... it looks like I could get away
with it."

Erika blinked. Then she covered her face with one hand and groaned.
"Don't tell me-"

Misty's blue eyes gleamed. "Of course! Let's switch places!"

Erika spread the fingers of the hand covering her face and peeked at her
from in between them. "I knew you would come up with something crazy like
that!" 

"Come on Erika, you know you owe me a favour," she said cajolingly.

"Well how was I supposed to know Ash was a damned karate expert or
whatever? After all, Bruno was supposed to be the best fighter." Erika
dropped her hand and leaned against the sink. "And just how do you
propose to pull it off?"

"Come on, I know you always carry around a full cosmetics set in that 
bag you always carry strapped on underneath your cloak."

Erika placed her hand over a bulge in her cloak protectively.

"Besides, you are supposed to be the number one cosmetics expert in the
world," Misty continued. "So if anyone could do it, you could."

Erika looked unconvinced. "Ha, flattery won't work on me. But I'll do it,
I suppose, since after all, you are my friend and I wouldn't want Ash
locked up like an animal. Especially since he did save Gloom's life
before, no matter what horrible things he's done since then."

Then an impatient voice came through the closed door. "Are you ladies
done yet?"

"Don't bother women at their toilette!" Misty immediately called out in
an angry tone.

The voice muttered and then fell to silence.

Erika quickly began to strip out of her clothes, first pulling off her
green cloak then her thigh-high, soft black boots. "Well if we're going
to do this, we best hurry up. First thing to do is switch clothes."

Misty followed suit and soon they both stood in only their bras and
panties. Except Erika hadn't been wearing a bra underneath her green
one-piece dress.

"We don't have to switch panties do we?" Misty asked worriedly.

"Don't be stupid," Erika said, snorting. "And you won't be able to wear
that bra with this dress I was wearing."

Misty blushed as she unstrapped her bra.

Erika looked defensive. "Well, what's wrong with dressing a little sexy?
Don't you get sick of always looking the high-born lady?"

"I suppose," Misty decided. Then soon they were both dressed in each
other's clothes, with Misty in Erika's thigh-high black boots and
short-skirted emerald green dress, while Erika wore Misty's shin-high
thick leather boots, and long ocean-blue dress, skirt slitted on the side
to allow for easier walking and movement. Although there was a little
friction when Erika put on Misty's bra and said it was a little bit
tight.

"Honestly, Misty," Erika then said as she looked over herself. "Boots
with a dress like this? What were you thinking?"

"Look, I never proposed myself a fashion queen," Misty said hotly.
"Anyway it looks better with the cloak on."

Misty pulled Erika's power-wrought green cloak over herself, while Erika
did the same with Misty's blue one. They looked pretty authentic from the
neck down, Misty decided, looking at their reflections in the mirror.

"Now for the faces," Erika said, as she pulled out her make-up kit from
her bag. She fixed up Misty's face quickly and efficiently and when she
was finished, the resemblance was uncanny. Misty marvelled at her skill.

"And the trick to applying make-up," Erika said, "is to make it so you
really can't tell the make-up is there at all." Then she took out a
bottle and looked through the small plastic containers from the liquid
inside. "Let's see ... chocolate-brown, silver-grey, ah, here it is!
grass-green." She fished out the small circular container and handed them
to Misty. "Put these on, they're coloured contact lenses."

Misty looked blankly at them. "How do I put them on?"

Erika looked up at the tiled ceiling and sighed. "This is how you do it-"

After a few fumbled attempts and watering eyes, Misty finally had them
on. Now she looked like Erika but with long red hair worn loose around
her shoulders and down her back.

Abruptly, the soldier's voice came back, more demanding and sounding
like two of them were directly behind the actual inner door. "Mistress
Erika, Mistaria, is there a problem? You've been in there for twenty
minutes already." Shockingly, the the door began to open.

"Damn, we're not ready yet!" Misty whispered desperately. "Erika, do
something!"

Erika thought fast. "Gloom, I choose you," she ordered, reaching inside
the cloak where she had replaced her green poke balls. In a flash of
emerald light, the blue and orange mushroom-like grass pokemon stood on
the tiled floor of the womens' bathroom on its short feet. "Uhhh, quick,
make a bad smell!" she whispered.

"Gloom, gloom," the mushroom said in its high voice. It exploded
microscopic spores into the air, right at the opening door.

The door stopped opening instantly. "UGH! Pooh! What is that SMELL?" the
soldier said, in a voice filled with abject pain.

"I wouldn't come in!" Erika called. "Mistress Mistaria is having a bit of
the runs!"

The voice sounded like it wanted to vomit. "O-Okay, t-take all the time
you want!" The door slammed shut with a bang and they heard two pairs of
running footsteps until the outer door of the women's lavatory was opened
and closed.

For a moment there was silence. Then Misty said in a highly embarrassed
voice, "How could you? Now everyone who hears about this will think I'm
a grot!"

"Gloom, return!" Erika said as a thin green laser beam recalled her
pokemon back into its ball. She looked at Misty apologetically. "Sorry,
that's the only thing I could think of." She shrugged. "At least it
worked."

But Misty silently fumed as Erika continued with the disguises. Erika
then held up a can that she had taken from her cosmetics kit. "This 
spray-on colour will get your hair the same as mine, except you might 
have to cut it to my length."

Misty instantly touched her long tresses protectively. "No way am I
cutting my hair. Besides, you can't really tell the length when we have
out hoods on."

Erika sighed again. "I suppose that would work, but don't blame me if
your hood gets knocked off or something and you get found out."

After Erika sprayed her hair with the temporary black hair-dye and
placing the signature red hair-band through the top, Misty covered up her
head with the green hood and looked at herself in the mirror. "I could be
your twin!" Misty marvelled. "You're an artist, Erika!"

"Aren't I?" Erika said proudly. "Now for myself."

Fifteen minutes or so later, Erika also looked the part, with ocean-blue
contact lenses, red spray-on hair-dye, make-up, although it was extra
hard for her to make herself look like Misty since Misty didn't wear any
and any make-up visible on her face might give the plan away.

Erika pulled the blue hood over her head to hide the length of her hair,
and the switch was complete. Of course, the looks weren't perfect,
'Erika' was the tiniest bit taller than 'Misty' when it was supposed to
be the other way around, 'Erika' looked a little more slender and 'Misty'
had a slightly more womanish figure and if one looked very closely,
they'd see the faces were a bit different despite the concealing make-up.
But all in all, it was a splendid switch and Misty was confident they
could pull it off.

"Okay, that's it!" Misty said triumphantly. "It's been half an hour, we
should go now."

"Wait." Erika held her off. "Even though you don't look like a tomboy
any more, you still act like one and speak like one. Say, 'she sells
seadras by the seashore'."

"She sells seadras, by the seashore," Misty said in an irritated tone.
"Now can we go?"

"Now, now," Erika admonished, "Say it softer and in kind of a sing-song
voice like I do." She demonstrated the saying for her.

After Erika was satisfied that Misty could voice-act enough to get by,
Erika practised Misty's tomboyish way of saying things, at Misty's
annoyance. Then they left the bathroom, but not before Erika dabbed
Misty with the perfume she always wore and washed off her own.

It was easier to pull off than Misty realised once she saw that the
soldiers were trying very hard not to look at 'Misty' and even her, with
red embarrassed faces. She almost ruined it by exploding into anger when
she realised what they were embarrassed about but somehow she managed to
hold her temper in check.

Once the procession made it to Misty's chambers, she waved goodbye to
Erika and immediately started off to the elevator leading to the science
division of the South Lavender base.


<><><>


Inside their red shielded prison within the laboratory, Ash sat
crosslegged on the floor beside the bed, facing Pikachu. They both held a
serious look on their faces. Ash held out his right hand, while Pikachu
had his small paw out in front of it to match him.

They began to shake their fists at each other. "Thunder, water, rock!"
Ash called. At the third swing, they stopped, holding out their hands.
Ash held his hand out in a closed fist while Pikachu had a single tiny
finger pointing out of his paw.

"Ha!" Ash gloated. "I got rock. I win that one."

Pikachu shook his head. "Pika pika."

"What?" he protested. "Thunder doesn't beat rock. Don't cheat, Pikachu!"

"Pi-pikachu," Pikachu said stubbornly, cheeks sparking with black
lightning for effect.

"What do you mean your thunder can beat rock? That's not in the rules of
the game!" Then he sighed, leaning his back against the bed, and brushing
a strand of hair that had fallen over his eye. "But I should have known
you'd do this. You do it every single time."

Something beeped and Ash looked to the side to see Giselle standing on
the other side of the energy barrier looking at them. She was holding
what looked like a small brown box with two antennae sticking out of the
front. Little red lights on the box flashed as she waved it across them.

"Don't mind me," she said, looking down at the box to gauge the readings
with a smile on her lips. "Stay still while I scan you." The box beeped
again. "You seem a lot better now..."

Ash shrugged and turned back to Pikachu. He had been feeling stronger all
of a sudden so he wasn't surprised. "So, buddy, wanna play a different
game? Staying in here is kinda boring."

"Pika pika," Pikachu agreed, pulling out a long string he had unravelled
from one of the blankets.

"Ah, Meowth's Cradle," Ash said as he watched Pikachu begin to make
elaborate patterns with the string in his paws.

"You know, I honestly can't tell what level you two are," Giselle was
saying in a marvelled voice. "The reading goes off the scale!"

"Yes, level infinity does that," Ash said in a distracted tone, not
looking at her. "Hey, that's a great onix, Pikachu, but wait till you see
my designs."

"Pika pika."

"Wait, there's something else interfering with the signal all of a
sudden," Giselle interrupted.

Ash turned back to find her staring at his pack strangely. "A pokemon
signal coming from my bag?" he asked curiously. "But I don't keep any
other pokemon in there. In fact I don't have any other pokemon besides
Pikachu."

"There's still a strong signal emanating from it," Giselle said as she
stepped up to the bag and began looking through it. "Ah, here it is." She
lifted out a brown poke-ball that seemed to be flashing.

"Hey, that's not mine-"

Giselle screeched as the ball abruptly broke open in her hand and
brown-black energy escaped from it like the wind of a storm. She fell
backwards landing on her behind as it formed into a large rock-shaped
creature with small legs and huge thick arms sprouting from its round
torso. Its eyes glowed red and the stony mouth on the front of its
rock-like body was twisted in a cruel parody of a smile.

"GRAV!" it shouted and began to rush forward, long thick arms
outstretched.

"Giselle!" Ash cried as he stood up and rushed over to the barrier. No
use pretending now, he had to-

"Get away from me!" Giselle shouted, surprisingly brave, as she rolled
away, the graveller missing her by inches as it crashed to the ground
almost crushing her. "Marowak go!" She reached inside her lab-coat and
threw a poke-ball into the air. "Bone Club that thing to dust!"

The fearsome brown lizard-like pokemon materialised from the light of red
energy, its eyes narrowed within its evil-looking skull helmet. It
silently leaped into the air, lifting its huge bone weapon and came down
in a power drop, smashing it heavily down upon the graveller's head.

"GRAV!" the graveller cried in pain, as huge chunks of rock broke away
from its head under the massive hit. It began to glow darkly.

"Shit! Get your Marowak away from it, Giselle!" Ash shouted. "That thing
is about to explode!" He dived down to his belly flat along the ground,
pushing Pikachu down underneath him. Black electricity flared over his
back as he desperately formed a shield. The explosion wouldn't pass
through the red barrier, but any debris would certainly pass through like
it wasn't even there.

"Marowak, return!" Giselle cried, recalling her pokemon back into its
ball with a thin beam of red as she quickly grabbed some things from the
table and leaped behind some solid steel experimental shielding at the
far corner of the lab.

And then there was a curious silence as if it had decided not to explode
after all. But then a squeak put the assumption to the lie and the
massive roaring of fire and rocks disintegrating and metal twisting
erupted all around the centre of the explosion, shattering the thin
silence as the graveller self-destructed like a small-scale atomic bomb.


<><><>


The ground trembled slightly.

Four cloaked figures stood in a circle facing the violent black waves
of the sandy beach.

"The time to attack is now."


<><><>


Bill was rapidly typing on the keyboard, desperately trying to locate
the source of the explosion that had suddenly rocked the base. His eyes
danced along the monitor, quickly translating the binary code to
information he could use.

"What the hell was that?" Koga yelled, his cloak streaming behind him as
he ran inside the Defence Control Room. Aya ran in after him, also
wearing her Master's cloak.

"I think it came from Laboratory number three!" Bill shouted.

"Damn it! That's the lab Ashura's being kept in! I want information now!
If he's gotten freed..."

And then the ground shook again but harder now, like an earthquake. Metal
squeaked and groaned as the very earth seemed to shift and from up above,
the sound of another explosion, but this one on a much larger scale. For
almost a full minute the base was rocked to the very foundation. Then
suddenly it cut out like it had never been.

Koga and Aya lay sprawled across the ground, knocked off their feet.

"Sir!" Bill called out, panicked as he read some figures. "We've been
breached! The base is under attack!"

The speaker on the computer flared to life with its female sounding
electronic voice. "WARNING! WARNING! MULTIPLE UNIDENTIFIED HOSTILE
ENTITIES DETECTED ON SUB-LEVELS ONE, TWO AND THREE AND DESCENDING
RAPIDLY. SOURCES INDICATE CONSIDERABLE ELEMENTAL POWER."

"Pokemon Masters!" Aya gasped.

Koga leapt to his feet, agile, like the ninja he was and drew his katana
from its sheathe attached to his belt. "I want colonies of Trainers for
interception on levels four and five immediately! All backed up with what
soldiers we have left! Go! Go!"


<><><>


Dario led his group of twenty trainers and soldiers carefully around the
corner. The metallic floor of the passageway was slightly dented and
uneven on the floor due to the tremors caused by the explosion, so there
was some slight difficulty walking through. 

He swallowed as the white lights above sparked as if a fuse had blown and
then began to flicker on and off so that the passageway was like an eerie
game of light and shadows. It was one of those scary games kids played
when they were young. Where people told ghost stories by the light of a
lantern in the middle of a dark forest and periodically switch the
lantern on and off. Dario had never liked that game. Especially when that
bitch, Lara Larame used to tease him about it and use her ponyta to scare
him.

Flash. The tunnel in front of them was brightly lit. Flash. Total
darkness like the inside of a wardrobe at midnight. Flash. It was driving
him nuts.

Flash. Darkness. Flash. "Hello thar, Dario," a voice with a country
accent broke the quiet. A blue-haired woman with eyes as red as her long
cloak was suddenly standing in the tunnel in front of them.

Shit! It was her! "Attack!" he yelled as loud as he could. The shuffling
of his group was loud as everyone reached for their poke-balls or spears.

Flash. Darkness. Loud animalistic growls. Flashes of sudden flame. The
smell of burning and cooked flesh. The beginnings of multiple screams all
around him before they suddenly cut off. Except for one. Flash. He was
still screaming as the lights turned on again.

Dario looked from side to side disbelievingly as his voice grew hoarse
from his yell of fright and then stopped altogether. All that remained of
his men were blackened husks beginning to disintegrate into ashes. Except
one man was still alive. Just barely. If you could call a man with
blackened peeling skin, hair singed to non-existence, and arms and legs
mostly burnt off, alive. The man shuddered once, looked as if he was
smiling at him, before laying still, eyes melting out of their sockets.
Dario looked away, but not before stealing a second horrified glance to
realise that it wasn't a smile, but the way his lips had been burnt off
to make it look like he was.

Behind him was a pack of three huge arcanines, the largest red and black
striped fire dogs he had ever seen. Smoke still drifted out of their
nostrils as their red beady eyes, hard to separate from their red fur,
looked hungrily at him. Dagger-like claws scratched deep furrows in the
metal floor.

Lara walked slowly up to him with a smile on her lips. She wasn't exactly
a tall woman but she certainly gave the effect of one as she stepped
closer, her long red cloak swaying slightly. The edges of the material
looked as if they were on fire, orange flames flickering, and it began to
get unbearably hot as Lara finally stopped directly in front of him.

"Ironic that we switched places like this haven't we, darlin?" Lara said
with a twist of her lips. "If anythin, you shoulda been tha rotton one
and sweet lil ol' me, the vulnerable gal about to meet her maker."

Dario's temper flared breaking him out of his stupor. "You stupid bitch!"
he yelled bringing his hands up to grab her neck. "Ah've always hated
you!"

Soft hands surprisingly strong grabbed his wrists in vice-like grips.
Agony flared as unbearable heat blistered his skin at her touch. "Still
with the ol' temper I take it? My, you're cute when yar angry! You 
deserve a kiss," she said sweetly, puckering up and leaning toward him.

Shockingly, he began to feel excited. How could he? He hated her! But he
could not provide even token resistance as she leaned in closer and
touched her lips to his. Dreamlike, he felt like his lips were on fire.
Wait. They were on fire! Intense pain flew through him and grew like a
brush-fire in summer. He felt his lips shrivel up from the heat and
crackle, turning black and crispy. His eyes watered from the heat.

"I knew ya always carried a torch for me," Lara said as she opened her
mouth and forced her tongue through Dario's burnt lips. It felt like a
snake of fire had invaded his inner-body to feast on his entrails from
the inside-out.

So this is what it feels like to eat fire, was his last thought.

Flash. The overhead light sparked again and dropped the passageway to
darkness. It did not turn on again for Dario.


<><><>


"Careful now! Any of those buggers could be around here, so keep your
guard up!" Damien ordered as they patrolled yet another wide passageway.
Behind him, his group of twenty men marched in formation, walking
silently and alert. In one hand he carried a short sword while in the
other he had a poke-ball ready to throw. If they met any stupid Pokemon
League lackey they'll have a surprise in store for them.

"Char, charmander!"

Damien looked down at his small red lizard-like pokemon. "Quit
complainin! It's only a little water!" The floor of the tunnel had been
slick with it for quite a while now. Damien supposed that one of the
glass walls of the east tunnels had probably sprung a little leak. They
were next to an ocean after all. Or maybe some fool had forgotten to turn
off one of the taps in one of the lavatories.

As they walked on ahead around the corner, Damien spotted a pair of his
guards that he had sent ahead to scout, looking like they were sitting
down against the walls. "You! Stop loafin around!" They didn't move at
his order. Stupid good-for-nothing guards. He'd half their rations!

His boots splashed through slightly deeper puddles of water now, about an
inch deep.

"Char char!"

"I said, quit complainin! Maybe this'll get you strong against water if
you have enough contact with it!" They reached the two guards. The two
loafers. They were sitting down like they didn't have a care in the
world, heads lowered like they were asleep. 

"You, wake up!" he ordered, crouching down and forcibly lifting the
soldier's head with his fist holding the poke-ball. He gasped when he saw
the face. It looked like his eyes were melted clean out of his skull!

He hurriedly let go of the dead man and leaped to his feet. "Shit,
they've been here!"

The ground trembled.

"Sir I hear something coming," one of his soldier's behind him said
panicked.

"Look to the ends of the tunnel!" Damien ordered. "Poke-balls at the
ready, now!"

"CHAR!" The charmander suddenly leaped on to Damien's chest pushing him
against the wall and towards the door of the men's lavatory they were
just passing.

"Charmander, you stupid, what are you doin? UGH!" He was knocked through
the door and fell down on the dry tiles. For a moment he sat down dazed,
then angrily kicked his charmander into the room behind him, knocking it
unconscious. "You stupid pokemon! Why'd you do that for?"

And then there was a loud crashing sound from outside and the world
seemed to flash, the sound of thunder and lightning crackling fiercely
in conjunction with the sounds of his men's screams. The puddle from
outside was leaking in and Damien hurriedly scooted backward from it as
the liquid seemed to be teeming with electricity, thin bolts of lightning
sparking from it, seeming to reach for his feet. And then the cacophony
of sound cut out.

He heard the sound of laboured breathing and abruptly, he realised it was
his own. Large heavy footsteps thumped outside splashing through the
water.

"Looks like a little baby has escaped." The voice was so loud it seemed
to make the very walls vibrate with resonance.

Damien stood up and forced himself backward against the inner door to the
men's room. He held his sword and poke-ball up. "Don't come any closer,
whoever you are!"

The outer door in front of him seemed to tremble. And then it exploded
off its hinges as the biggest man Damien had ever seen broke through, his
tall, thickly muscled frame encased in a yellow Master's cloak while
underneath he wore a soldier's uniform. The opening to the men's rooms
were much too small to fit his huge eight-foot-tall body and it broke
open in chunks, metal, wood and plaster crumbling around him. His head
was unhooded, the hard planes of his tanned squarish face cast in sharp
relief by the bright overhead lights. Short yellow spiky hair crackled
with electricity at the ends. Amber eyes glowed malevolently at him, not
the pupils but every single part of his eyes, even the whites.

He had one chance left. "Gyarados, go!" He threw the poke-ball at the
giant where it began to split open in mid-air.

But shockingly, the Pokemon Master, for he could only be that, grabbed
the opening ball in his huge ham-like fist. Red light tried to escape
from in-between his thick fingers, but he abruptly closed his fist with a
crunching noise. Finally, electricity crackled around his fist and he
threw the melted bits of debris, that was the destroyed fragments of the
poke-ball, away behind him like rubbish.

Damien was paralysed in shock. He had never seen anyone do what the man
had just done.

Then the Master whipped his huge arm and hand forward and a thin bolt of
yellow electricity shot forth from his palm like a rope and wrapped
around his neck. It felt like boiling hot barbed wire around his throat
and he began to choke as the lightning bolt grew tighter.

"Prepare to die, baby."

And then the giant flashed as electricity crackled around him like an
aura of power and rushed along the lightning bolt connecting his hand to
Damien's neck. The barbed wire around his throat exploded with energy,
and for a moment he had the impression that he was flying. But then he
saw that the lower half of his body was still on the ground, toppling
over without a head. Then glorious blackness.


<><><>


Anthony lead his group of men through one of the metallic corridors of
sub-level four. The overhead lights in this part of the base was kind of
dim, so he was extra careful to observe everywhere extra carefully. Next
to him, Primeape hopped along also searching alertly. According to Bill,
any of the Pokemon Masters who had suddenly burst from above could be
around this level or above it. He wished Master Bruno was here as he was
uncomfortable about taking command of the other Power Trainers like this.
He was a fighting man, not an officer. But the main thing was that he
wasn't a Pokemon Master. He felt terribly inadequate, but he hoped that
the men behind him were powerful enough in number to overpower one.

"Sir, I'm gaining a reading from the element detector," one of his men
said from behind him.

He looked over his shoulder. "Where's it coming from?"

The man looked confused. "That's the weird thing. It keeps skipping
around everywhere." He pointed the little rod-like detector around as if
trying to follow the source. "It's like its circling us or something. But
that's not possible is it? Maybe it's just interference."

Anthony narrowed his eyes. "Between levels and tunnels, there's about six
feet of rock isn't there?"

"Well ... yes, there is."

His eyes widened. "SHIT, it's tunnelling around us!"

Simultaneous with the his shout, the earth seemed to vibrate. Then the
gang of men behind him exploded into uncontrolled chaos as something
huge and long and black erupted from the ground in the middle of the
group like a volcano. Except the volcano had jaws and it clamped down on
a man in its way. Red mists of blood sprayed everywhere as the man
screamed, carried upward in the huge creature's jaws.

Everyone began yelling in confusion. The huge snake-like head didn't
pause as it continued rising from the ground revealing a long thick
limbless and rocky segmented body. The sound of its roar shook the tunnel
and it crashed through the roof, tunnelling away, taking the unfortunate
man with it in its jaws. The immense tail whipped around knocking about
half a dozen men over as it followed the rest of the massive snake into
the wall.

"What the hell is it?" someone shouted out of the confusion.

And then the wall began to shake beside Anthony and he dived as the wall
exploded and the huge rocky snake again smashed through, jaws dripping
with blood, just missing him. It had looped around to attack again. The
soldier holding the detector couldn't jump away in time and he was
snatched away next like a worm being swallowed by a fish. It smashed its
head into the wall on other side of the tunnel and began tunnelling away
again.

"It's some sort of onix!" Anthony shouted, getting up and leaping over to
the slithering tail before it disappeared into the wall. "Use Fighting
techniques!" He managed to leap up and kick it with both feet, breaking
off several chunks of stone from its skin before it got away. A distant
roar from within the wall was heard as he flipped around and landed
upright.

There was groaning and Anthony looked around to see over half his men
injured and some in serious condition. Two were missing, having been
carried away by the onix or whatever it was and maybe even eaten, may the
spirits watch over their souls.

"Everyone fall back to sub-level six!" Anthony cried. "This thing is too
powerful and we've lost too many already!" Damn it! he thought. Bruno,
why couldn't you be here? You'd know what to do!

The non-injured members of his team helped the injured ones to their feet
and began to retreat. Anthony brought up the rear after recalling
Primeape back into its poke-ball. He took out his communicator from his
pocket. "Master Koga, Power Team number one is falling back! It was an
onix on level five-" He was cut off as something smashed his communicator
out of his hand knocking it to the floor where it broke into several
pieces. His hand was bleeding and he immediately looked to the back for
the source of whatever had thrown that rock.

Behind, in the dimness of the hazy light, a tall figure in a cloak of
indeterminate colour walked forward slowly. The cloak could have been
brown or maroon, he wasn't sure with the amount of light in the
passageway.

"Master Bruno, is that you?" Anthony called out, confused. The figure had
about the same height as Master Bruno had, at six and a half feet or
maybe taller and even the build was the same except maybe a tad slimmer.

But then the figure threw back his hood and it was definitely not Master
Bruno. Slitted eyes, so narrow so you could not see his pupils, thinner,
neater eyebrows, ruggedly handsome face. Spiked darker hair slightly
shorter...

"Brock!" Anthony shouted in surprise, feeling even more confused if that
was possible. "I thought you were dead!"

"Yes, I get that a lot," Brock said, his voice full of sarcasm. He
stepped closer, his cloak - brown, he could see, now that it was closer -
swaying slightly at each step.

"Wait, that onix ..." Anthony put two and two together and was appalled
at what he got. He stepped backward twice, unnerved. Brock continued to
step closer, now only less than twenty feet away and coming faster. The
slitted eyes flashed. "B-Brock, don't tell me you're with the Pokemon
League?" he asked in a shocked voice. 

"Long time no see, Anthony," Brock said, ignoring his question. "Seeing
you again reminds me about your beautiful daughter, Rebecca."

Immediately he stopped retreating and it felt like his stomach was
ripped out. "R-Rebecca ... she's dead now," he said, his voice just
louder than a whisper.

The left corner of Brock's lip turned up as he stepped ever so closer.
"Well of course she's dead. Because I was the one who killed her. She was
a great lay, one of the better ones. At least until I lost interest."

Anthony shook his head in denial. No. No, he could not have said what he
just said. But the autopsy had said that it was rape-murder. It was him.
Brock was Rebecca's murderer. No, it couldn't be, Brock had been a good
guy. He had been one of Rebecca's closest friends! But-but, how would
Brock know that it was a rape-murder? He had kept it a closely-held
secret, Brock would not have known unless he had actually, he had
actually-

"YOU BASTARD!" Anthony yelled, his body flaring up in fighting spirit. He
lifted his hands and clenched his fists, the knuckles cracking in
preparation.

"Frankly, she deserved it," Brock said, less than ten feet away now. "She
always thought she was too good for me. Just like every other girl. Stomp
my feelings like they weren't even there. Well they sure paid for it."

Anthony wasn't listening any more. "Die!" he cried as he slid forward in
a massive haymaker punch. One, two, one, two. He repeatedly punched him
in the face, then stomach, then breastbone. Brock's body felt like rock,
but he continued to hammer away with his hard fists. This bastard would
pay for killing his sweet Rebecca! He would avenge her if it was the last
thing he'd do!

But slowly, he realised, as he tired, that he was not doing any damage at
all. Brock wasn't moved even slightly at each hit, didn't even
acknowledge them. It was like he didn't even feel it.

Then strong hands, as tight as steel vices, grabbed him by the
upper-arms, pinning them to his sides and hoisted him up high in the air.
Anthony couldn't move, he was too strong. His legs kicked uselessly
underneath him as Brock lifted him up even higher.

"Tell me where Ash and Misty are." Brock's voice was soft and deadly as
he looked up at him.

"Go to hell, you bastard!" Anthony spat in his face. Then he screamed as
the hands grasping him by the upper-arms began to pull apart, pull *him*
apart! His bones creaked from the pressure. Agony exploded in his joints.

"Very well, do not tell me." Brock snapped his fingers. "Onix!"

The wall next to them exploded as the immense head of the huge stone
snake broke through. A screaming came from its mouth and Anthony saw that
it was one of the men that had been carried away. He had both legs ripped
off at the knees and he was shouting deliriously, trapped in the jaws of
the massive onix.

"If you do not tell me, I will crush your good friend here." He indicated
the poor soldier.

He had to tell him. He was responsible for the lives of the men; he
couldn't let the soldier die. "O-On sub-level thirteen, the last floor,
Ashura should be in one of the laboratories, while-while Mistress
Mistaria is confined to her rooms on sub-level eight."

Brock nodded, his slitted eyes glowing brown. "Thank you." He turned to
the onix, whose red gleaming eyes set high on the huge rocky head,
swivelled to regard him. "Kill him."

Anthony gasped. "But you said-"

He was cut off as the huge jaws of the onix just clamped down shut on the
unfortunate soldier with the snapping of bones and a scream. Blood
sprayed out of its mouth in all directions. Some of it landed on
Anthony's cheek, making him shudder.

More crunching sounds followed as the onix continued to chew its morsel.

"Tell Rebecca I sent you," Brock said in a voice full of pity as he
wrenched his arms apart.

The screaming in the tunnel was loud and long.


<><><>


Koga ran along the tunnel all alone, purple cloak flapping behind him,
with katana in one hand and communicator in the other. "Anthony? Anthony!
What happened?" he shouted into the receiver. He had just been cut off.
Quickly, he switched frequencies. "Bill? I'm on sub-level thirteen
approaching Laboratory Three. What's the status on the Pokemon Field
Generator?"

"Still operational, Sir," Bill's voice came in, with a bit of static.

"So you think Ashura is still secure if he survived that blast?"

"It's more than likely."

"Excellent. But any word from Doctor Giselle?"

"No, Sir. We have lost all communication from that sector."

"Well I will investigate, I am almost at the lab now. Carry on." He
switched off the communicator and replaced it within his cloak. As he
turned the corner he stumbled on something lying on the floor. Smoothly,
he dived forward in a roll with exceptional agility and leaped back on
his feet. He whipped around, sword at the ready. It was a body.

Cloak floating behind him, Koga ran back and checked if the man was still
alive. The chest slowly rose up and down. He was, but just barely. The
strange thing was that the soldier's eyes were still open as he lay
deeply unconscious.

Koga rose up again, alert now, and noticed more bodies strewn about the
tunnel in front of him. There were at least more than a dozen in front of
him, Trainers and soldiers alike. All of them looked to be in the same
condition as the man he had tripped over, eyes wide open in their
unconsciousness.

Is this some kind of work of the devil? Koga thought as he continued on
his way, leaping over the fallen bodies. Had Ashura escaped after all?
Had he done this?

Then something flashed white in front of him, and Koga skidded to a stop,
lifting his katana to the ready. The whiteness materialised into a
human-shaped figure, then slowly grew colour until a tall slim woman
appeared, covered in a cloak the colour of twilight. Her head was
uncovered, long black hair waving behind her even though there was no
wind inside the underground passageway. Under the light, a long thin
strand of green in her long bangs rested over one dark-blue eye. A coldly
unemotional, but beautiful face stared at him, a cold gaze looking as if
she saw right through him.

"Hello, Koga." her voice was as unemotional as her face. She stood
at apparent ease, hands behind her back. The cloak rustled sinuously
around her slim form.

"Sabrina," Koga stated in a voice just as unemotional. "So this is your
doing?" He waved his sword indicating the unconscious bodies with their
eyes open.

She ignored his question. "You may not pass." Her left hand lifted to the
side from behind her back. She clenched her fist, and from her knuckles,
seeming to shimmer with yellow psychic energy, a bright point grew which
then grew outward into a triangular blade about half a foot long. The
blade seemed transparent, wavering in the air.

"So you want to fight then?" Koga asked, whipping the right fold of his
cloak over his left side to free his sword-arm. She wouldn't be so cocky
once the poison edge of his blade scored through her flesh.

"No." Her form blinked and disappeared.

"Huh?" His danger sense flashed and he spun around sword blocking
the strike with her psychic knife as she materialised behind him. But the
katana failed to stop it as the psychic blade travelled right through the
cold steel as if it was insubstantial as air. It cut across his wrist and
Koga immediately lost all feeling in his arm as if she had chopped it
off. The katana fell from unresponsive fingers, clattering on the ground.
Following up smoothly, Sabrina spun around and stabbed her psychic knife
right into his face. Intense pain shattered his mind and everything went
black.

Sabrina ripped her psychic knife from his face with a jerk and let Koga's
unconscious body drop to the ground like a rag-doll. His eyes were still
open in shock as he lay sprawled on the ground.

"No," she whispered in a dead tone. She let her knife of yellow energy
disappear from her fist and placed her hands behind her back again. Her
form shimmered as she teleported away and a disembodied voice floated in
the air in the wake of her exit. "Not a fight."


<><><>


Ash coughed from the smoke as he forced the tangled plates of sheet metal
from his back with a strong shove. He pushed himself on to his knees and
let out Pikachu from underneath him. He waved the dust away from his face
with a hand.

"Ugh," he grunted, "Pikachu, you okay?"

"Pikapi." Pikachu gave him a thumbs up with a small black paw, the other
also waving away the smoke from his button nose.

"It sure looks like the lab isn't."

He looked around. The lab was in smoky ruins, twisted bits of metal
scattered everywhere among sparking wires and other assorted laboratory
debris. Where the graveller had exploded, was nothing but a crater, the
explosion blasting through the metal floor and right into the rock
underneath. Apparently, it seemed like they were on the bottommost level
of the underground complex. Some of the walls had caved in, some showing
the passageway outside, and some just plain rocks falling through.
Everything was destroyed, yet ironically, somehow, some way, the energy
field generator was still running and they were still trapped within.

"Pika pika," Pikachu said in a dead-pan voice as he noticed the barrier
was still up.

Ash groaned as he pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his bare
chest with his hands. Checking himself for injury, he found none. In
fact, pulling off the bandage, it seemed his arrow wound was nothing but
a memory now, not even leaving a mark on the healed skin. Even the
scratch on his back was gone. He had gotten better. About time.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Ash said, facing the barrier. He narrowed
his eyes and searched along the red shimmering face of the wall. "There!"
he shouted as he thrust his right hand into a precise point, index finger
outstretched. Then he stepped away as the barrier sparked once, then
seemed to shatter like a glass bowl shot by a bullet. Shards of red
energy floated around in the air then dissipated to nothingness. The
world was full-colour again, no longer different shades of red seen
through the walls of confining energy.

As they stepped out with Pikachu following by his heels, Ash wondered if
Giselle was alright. He noticed that where she had jumped was piled up
high with destroyed junk. Quickly, he began to root through the pile of
broken steel and electric circuits, tossing heavy steel pieces of
machinery to the side with both hands.

Finally he got to the bottom and found Giselle unconscious underneath,
her body sprawled on her side. Her lab-coat was in disarray, no more a
shimmering shade of pure white, but looking like a car mechanic had used
it when changing the oil of a dozen leaky cars. He crouched down and
checked her quickly. He realised that she had been protected somewhat
from the weight of the debris by a nearby foot-stool, although she did
have a nasty-looking lump on her head.

"Hey, she saved my backpack," Ash said wonderingly as he found it by her
side. He opened it and pulled out a spare cut-off black t-shirt from
within and quickly put it on.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu said happily as he also reached within and took out
his pack of Pokemon cards. "Chu!" he said in a relieved tone, placing
them back in carefully.

"Let's see," Ash said as he looked in the bag again. Noticing the small
black electronic notebook, he smiled. "Good, my pokedex is still here."
He stood up and concentrated. Dark shadows gathered by his bare feet and
rose up along covering his body like mist. Black boots formed on his feet
and when the mist rose to the top of his shoulders it hardened into his
thick, black hooded cloak.

"Okay, we're all set," he said, pulling the hood over his head casting
his face in shadow. "Now we just have to find Misty and get the hell out
of here." He picked up his backpack and shrugged the straps over his
shoulders and cloak.

"Pika pika," Pikachu said, pointing a paw at Giselle.

Ash sighed a breath of air. "You always were a sucker for pretty girls,
Pikachu." He bent over and hoisted her unconscious body over his right
shoulder. He was careful not to touch her bare legs and ignored the
softness of her body. "We'll find the nearest medic bay and dump her in."

And then the lights went out and the softly humming of the machinery cut
off. Ash blinked once as his night-vision kicked in. "Looks like the
power's been cut." He seemed to remember another explosion after the one
that had turned the lab into ruins. "I don't like this."

"Pika-chu," Pikachu said as he scampered away on all fours to the exit.

Ash followed after him, carefully making sure he didn't knock Giselle
into any of the sharp bits of metal sticking out everywhere.


<><><>


Misty forced the elevator doors open with a grunt of breath and stepped
through into the hallway, rubbing her palms. The power had just suddenly
gone out just as the elevator reached sub-level thirteen. Someone must
have cut the power, but that seemed impossible since didn't South
Lavender have several back-up generators?

The passageway was dark and unnaturally silent as she slipped through
quietly, keeping flat to the walls. It was strange since this level was
usually filled with more than a few scientists and soldiers. Yet there
was no one to be seen.

Then she noticed several shadows interspaced along the floor in front of
her. She squinted, ran over to one and crouched. It was an unconscious
doctor, his white lab-coat marking him as one. "Doctor Proctor," she read
out on his name tag. She remembered him. He was the lecher who had always
tried to hit on her. The strange thing though, was that his eyes were
wide open.

She stood up and ran on silently to the lab where Ash was being held,
ignoring the other bodies. They were probably just like Doctor Proctor
and she didn't want to meet up with whoever had done it. She wondered if
Ash had escaped since when the power cut off, the barrier would have
disappeared. She hurried faster, hoping to catch him.

After a while of running, as she passed a closed door, it suddenly slid
open and something grabbed her, pulling her into the room. Before she
could scream a hand covered her mouth and held her tight against them,
arms feeling like bands of steel as they wrapped around her front.
Against her back she could feel a hard muscled chest.

"Erika, don't move," a soft but deep voice whispered from behind her
head.

She shivered, feeling his breath brush against her ear where her hood had
come half off. Then she recognised the voice. It was Ash! She began to
feel warm. Her skin tingled where he was touching her.

"Tell me where I can find Misty," his voice whispered again.

"Mmph memph!" Misty said against his palm. Then she bit down hard on the
fleshy part of his hand where the thumb joined.

"Ow!" he yelled, instantly lifting his hand away from her mouth, but
holding her tighter if that was possible.

"It's me, you idiot!" Misty said as soon as her mouth was free. She
struggled, but he held her too tight.

"What?" His voice was shocked. "Why are you trying to sound like Misty?"
He loosened his arms and spun her around. Then he ripped her hood off.

"Damn it!" Misty exclaimed as a strand of her hair was caught in it and
it felt like he had pulled it off. She looked angrily up at his confused
but cute face studying her features as he threw his black hood back.

"Erika, what are you playing at?" he asked, blinking his large
honey-brown eyes. "And how did you grow your hair so long, so quick?"

"It's me, Misty, I said!"

He waved his hand in front of her face. "Erika, are you feeling alright?"

Then Pikachu stuck his head out from Ash's backpack. "Pikachu," he said
in a long suffering tone. Then he sent a surge of electricity into Ash's
head.

Ash yelled in shock then he blinked at her again, his black hair sticking
up a bit and smoking. "Oh, it's you Misty," he said a bit dizzily.

Misty looked up at the ceiling and sighed. If anything she knew he was
still Ash underneath that hard exterior. She looked back down at him.
"Look, I had to pretend to be Erika so that they wouldn't lock me up. I
was supposed to be freeing you."

Ash shook his head to clear it then looked more closely at her.
"Amazing," he said, his eyes wide. "You really look like her. Erika's a
genius."

She looked at him, eyes narrowed. "Hey, why do you automatically assume
it was Erika who did it?" 

"Well ... only an expert could do that make-up, and well-"

"Oh, shut up," Misty said, annoyed. Then she noticed something. She
grabbed his face and pulled it close to hers.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"There's something wrong here. I can't feel my poison in you any more."

"What?"

And then the ground shook like another earthquake and they heard a
distant rumbling above them like another explosion.

"We'll talk about it later!" Misty said, letting go of him. "Right now, I
think the base is under attack. We better get Erika and go." She pulled
her green hood over her head again.

"It's the Pokemon League, right? There was a graveller that someone
smuggled in my backpack. Maybe that's how they were able to track us."

Misty's eyes widened at the mention of the rock pokemon. "It must be
Brock!"

"Brock again?"

"No time for arguing," she said as she spun away. Then she saw something
at the corner of her eye. It was Giselle lying on one of the medical
beds. They were inside a medic bay.

Ash noticed what she was looking at. "She should be safe here. After all,
if it is the Pokemon League, they'll be after me, and if we go, they'll
leave everyone else alone."

"I'll feel better if I leave a pokemon here to guard her," Misty said,
removing a blue poke-ball from within her cloak and throwing it. "Togepi,
go! Guard Giselle alright?"

The ball split open and the small egg pokemon came out. "Priiii!"

Ash looked dubious. "What's that going to do?"

"Don't underestimate him. Togepi's a powerful pokemon." And then she
turned around to open the door and slip out.

"Whatever you say," Ash said casting one more doubtful look at the
ridiculously cute tiny walking egg, before following her out the door on
silent feet.


<><><>


A line of fires crackled up ahead below the horizon where the trees of
the dark forest began to grow thinner and the east coast of the continent
began. The hot breeze blowing west carried the smell and taste of the
ocean mixed with ashes and smoke.

Butch chuckled atop his trotting rapidash. "Looks like the party's
already started."

"What are you so happy about?" Cassidy asked with a grimace on her lips.
"We're late." She jerked the reigns of her own rapidash fire-horse.
"Let's see if we haven't missed out-"

But then the floor just seemed to give way from underneath their horses.
Their mounts neighed in surprise as dried leaves and apparent dirt seemed
to sink into the earth rapidly like a trapdoor.

"What in blazes?" Butch yelled as he fell down.

"A stinking trap!" Cassidy cursed.

They grunted as they fell to the bottom of the pit and their horses
overbalanced as they crashed, dumping them unceremoniously on to the
ground.

"Halt army!" one of the guards who had been behind them said from outside
the hole. "Who goes there-"

A sound of blow-pipes being blown. Thumps of unconscious bodies striking
the ground.

And then two familiar faces and one familiar cat looked down into the
hole briefly.

"Not you again!" Butch and Cassidy simultaneously yelled in anger as
they tried to stand up within the pit but failed miserably, tripping over
a horse's limb and falling on their backsides in a clatter of armour and
swords.

James grinned from underneath his mask. "Prepare for annihilation."

Jessie's pale-blue eyes gleamed from her eye-slit. "And make that
double."

Persian was content with a fearsome growl.


<><><>


Duplica almost stumbled when the army train jerked to a halt, first the
company of soldiers and trainers at the front, then slowly everyone else
at the back in a large-scale domino effect.

Horses neighed and people were shouting everywhere in confusion. Men and
women in armour began rushing to the front to investigate the reason for
stopping. The lead wagon behind her thumped and jerked to a halt. The
driver cursed as he was almost thrown out of his seat and on to the back
of the pair of fire horses who were pulling it.

The perfect chance, Duplica thought, as she took advantage of the
confusion of whatever it was, and slipped back to the side of the wagon
holding Captain Jenny and Nurse Joy. And she had to get out of here soon
since she had been in Tyra's form for quite a while now and already she
was feeling the strain of keeping the metamorphosis steady.

Lifting the side-flap she leaped inside onto the wooden floor and rolled
once.

"Duplica, is that you?"

She looked up and was surprised to see Laselle kneeling next to Nurse 
Joy, while Captain Jenny was half standing up within the enclosed space, 
free from her chains. Her green forest cloak was splayed around her as 
she picked the lock on Joylene's chains. Junior was there also, at the 
back of the wagon and peeking out from the exit slit of the canvas, 
holding on to the front of his maroon cap.

Duplica tiredly shifted herself back to normal form, making sure to
remember to form clothes over herself; a short black dress to blend in
better with the night, knee-high black leather boots and without her
cloak. She wouldn't want to give young Junior a heart-attack. "Yup, it's
me alright." She grinned as she noticed the chains come off Joylene's
wrists with a snap as Laselle opened them. "Naughty, naughty. A
lock-picker huh?"

Laselle seemed to blush. "Something I learned when I was a kid." She 
Turned to Junior. "But Junior here is the pickpocket. He managed to swipe
Captain Jenny's and Nurse Joy's pokemon back."

"Oh shut up," Junior muttered.

Duplica gave them a mock disbelieving look. Then she looked around. 
"Seems like the gang's all here. But where's Bruno?"

Junior turned from his study of what was happening outside. "We've found
help," he said, sea-green eyes shining underneath his cap. "Bruno,
Laselle and I made it to the coast a while ago. But the Rebel base was
already under attack. So we looped around to the south, and we found the
coolest ship floating close to the shore." His face turned red. "And the
captains of that ship! They're three of the most beautiful women I've
ever seen! They looked a lot like Mistress Misty come to think of it. But
they looked as daring as you."

Duplica glared at him.

"Okay, you're more daring," Junior said hurriedly. "Anyway, Bruno and
those three ship captains are waiting for us at the coast. The top of the
South Lavender base is like a massive battlefield, flames everywhere, so
we can't go through there. But Bruno says that using the ship we can go
the back way and land at the dock."

"What did you do with the woman I left at the tree?" Duplica asked,
turning to Laselle.

"Oh, that woman," Laselle said, with a disgusted look.

Junior's face turned red again and he swallowed as he aired out his
shirt underneath his vest. "Uh, that woman is with Bruno at the ship. Um,
she's been a bit of a problem."

"Yes, I thought that would be the case." Duplica worried about Bruno.
Judging from what she'd heard, she wouldn't be surprised if Tyra ate him
alive. Then again, maybe having a bit of fun with that woman would soften
his hard edges and force a little more fun in his life.

Captain Jenny walked stooped over to the back where Junior was and took a
peek through the slit. "It's still excited like a kicked anthill
outside. Now's the best chance to get away undetected."

"I was just about to suggest that," Duplica said turning to the flap at
her back. "It would be best if we all come out this way at the side since
at the back, the driver of the wagon behind would be able to see us. We
go single-file, me first, then Junior, Nurse Joy and Captain Jenny, and
Laselle can bring up the rear." She lifted the flap a little and took a
look. "Coast is clear. We'll run off the trail into the forest at the
sides and head to the coast. Now, go, go, go!" She slipped outside and
landed on the dirt floor of the trail and quickly ran into the forest.
She turned and watched as Junior and the rest followed her.

"Prisoners escaping!" someone yelled.

Shit, Duplica thought as she stopped, her boots skidding in the dust as
she turned around. She handed the lamp to Junior who was behind her.
"Junior, you and the rest fall back like I told you to, I'll slow them
down and follow up later."

Junior nodded and ran past her and off the trail with Captain Jenny and
Joylene following.

But Duplica noticed that Laselle wasn't behind her. She looked back at
the wagon and noticed some shapes struggling through the canvas wall.

"Halt, woman!" A pair of soldiers ran toward her. She noticed that these
two were the two of the most insistent suitors for Tyra's company. 

She grinned as she shifted her body into a naked and running Tyra. "Oh,
hi, big boys!" she said throatily.

The two men's eyes widened and looked like they would pop out of their
sockets. "Tyra?"

When she reached them, she lifted her arms and formed her hands into big
steel mallets. She bonked them both on the head, knocking them out, then
ran past, letting her body return to what it was before, and jumped into
the wagon.

The man wrestling with Laselle inside was in the crimson-coloured livery
of a Fire Trainer. "You little bitch, you freed the prisoners!" he was
snarling, blond and tangled hair flopping around on his head as he forced
Laselle on to the ground.

Duplica kicked him in the stomach and the Fire Trainer exclaimed a breath
in pain as he rolled off the young girl. "Bitch! Ninetails-"

"Caterpie, String Shot!" Laselle called as she scrabbled backward.

The small caterpillar pokemon stuck its head out of Laselle's backpack.
"Ernh?" Silky streams of white thread shot out of its mouth and wrapped
around the Fire Trainer who was about to throw a poke-ball. The man spun
around once and then flopped over, a white cocoon with a head sticking
out of the top.

"Mmpht!" the man said, his mouth covered.

"Fore!" Duplica ran up and kicked him again, propelling him through the
canvas wall of the wagon where he fell with a thump and rolled away like
a log.

Laselle blinked. "Fore?"

Duplica shrugged. "I get my sports mixed up."

More soldiers appeared at both ends of the wagon, effectively
trapping them. "You two, halt in the name of the Pokemon League!"

However at that precise moment, the ground began to shake, the trees all
around them rustling. The wagon creaked and shook, knocking Duplica over
to land on her hands and knees. The soldiers outside were knocked over as
well, armour clattering as they fell over, swearing curses. But then
shrill screams pervaded the air, screams of pain and fright. The ground
continued to shake and vibrate and the wheels of the wagon they were
inside of, seemed to snap under the intense movement of the earth.
Duplica's teeth snapped together at the impact of the wagon meeting the
floor after the wheels broke all the way through.

"The ground, they're coming from the ground!" someone yelled.

"What?" one of the soldiers outside said. "What's coming from the-
arghhhh!" His head disappeared under the edge of the wagon.

"Hey, what happened to Todd? Argh!" More soldiers seemed to get sucked
under and more yelling and screaming exploded around them. One, two,
three, then all of the soldiers surrounding the wagon were sucked under.

"What the hell?" Duplica exclaimed as she crawled over to the side and
looked through the ripped canvas wall of the wagon. Where the soldiers
stood looked like small tunnels in the ground, tunnels like they were
created by some sort of animal.

Duplica leaned out further and looked to the side. There was running
soldiers everywhere and getting pulled into the ground by small black
shapes. One soldier screamed as he sunk waist-deep into the ground and
tried to pull himself out with his arms. But then his body seemed to jerk
like something was viscously chewing his legs off and blood flew up out
of the hole he was stuck in. The soldier was pulled in easily after that,
head disappearing into the hole.

Something hissed from the burrow closest to her and Duplica jerked back
as something scaly-black with glowing red eyes stuck its head out. It
looked like a sandshrew, except, not like one either. It had the same
squat rodent body with scaly skin and small triangular ears, except it
had darker skin and seemed to emit an aura of menace.

"Forbidden Pokemon!" Duplica yelled in alarm as the sandshrew-thing
leaped out its hole and jumped for her face. Throwing herself backward,
it hissed as it missed her and fell back on to the ground. More and more
sandshrew-things began popping out of the ground and started climbing on
to the wagon. Laselle screamed as she got her first glimpse of them. The
both of them backed into the middle of the wagon.

"What are we going to do?" Laselle gasped.

Duplica fought to focus her mind, body warming to her metamorphosis. In
short order, a huge, elegant brown and white hunting-bird prepared to
flap its large feathery wings to take off. 

"Climb aboard!" Duplica-Pidgeot said.

When they took off, Laselle tightly clutching to Duplica's back, they
were just in time as the whole wagon was pulled underground by countless
demons from the earth.


<><><>


It was almost pitch-black as Ash followed Misty along the dark hallway,
keeping close to the walls. Carefully, they stepped over the fallen
bodies, their soft footsteps seeming to be amplified in comparison to the
sheer silence pervading throughout the tunnel.

"Erika's on sub-level eight, five floors above us," Misty whispered from
in front of him. "The power's out, so we'll have to go up through the
elevator shaft."

"If there's people guarding her, what are we going to do?"

"There should be minimum security due to the League attack, so it
shouldn't be too hard to subdue the token resistance." She stopped,
reaching the elevator doors and began to pry them open with her hands.
"After that, we'll rise up to sub-level three at the boat docks. I have a
ship ready and waiting to go." She grunted as she began to force the
steel doors open.

Ash ran up and forced them open for her with one hand. "So we're just
going to leave the rest of the Rebellion behind to take care of the
League?"

"We have more important matters to take care of, like closing the gate,"
Misty said as she stepped into the elevator, with Ash following.
"Besides, they don't deserve our help. They were planning to use you,
Ash! Somehow gain control over you just kind of like the League had done.
Or drain your energy in some sort of super weapon. They figured that
killing Gary would make everything alright." Misty lifted her hand at the
roof and began to glow an artic blue as a beam of ice shot from her fist,
blowing a hole through it. She jumped up through the hole and there was a
thump as she landed on top of the elevator.

Ash leaped up after her into the darkness of the shaft above, and landed
next to her. "But I said I don't know how to close the gate to the Astral
Plane." Then he pieced out something else she had said. "What did you
mean that the League somehow controlled-"

"We'll figure something out," she said cutting him off as she grabbed on
to the steel cable of the elevator and began climbing quickly. "I know we
will. Maybe we can find clues in the prophecy."

"Clues in the prophecy. Maybe," Ash breathed. Then he jumped up after her
and began climbing up too. "But now you sound just like me."

The shaft was dark and narrow above them as they climbed the cables hand
over hand. Ash tried not to look up Misty's short-skirt above him. He
kind of wished that Erika dressed more conservatively so that he wouldn't
be going through this torture now. Her long slim legs encased by the
thigh-high boots dangled just above his head, driving him crazy. He
didn't quite know how he felt about her any more, but he knew that his
body was still heavily attracted to her. He was afraid that maybe he even
loved her again. After all, why did he always risk himself for her? The
only thing he knew for certain was that if he was back in love with her,
he was even more of a fool than last time. If he fell back in love and
she left him again, he didn't think he could bear it.

And Misty, how did she feel about him? She seemed to care, always staying
by his side whenever he acted the fool hero. Maybe she even still liked
him, as evidenced by when they had woken up in the cave. Thinking about
the cave he also wondered if Duplica and the rest were okay as well. The
last time he had seen them was back at the castle town west of Cerulean.

Duplica deserved a happy life, a woman like that needed joy around her so
that her bubbly nature wouldn't disappear forever. She was an orphan,
with her only family being the ditto she had. Then she had lost even that
in the Dark Wars. It was a wonder she still acted about the same as she
always had when they had hung out like buddies after he and Misty had
come back from exploring. Duplica had been one of his closest friends in
the past. One of his only friends.

And Bruno, he didn't know much about him. Only that he was as hard as
they came. The massive Master of Power, of fighting and strength pokemon,
ex-member of the Elite Four, had lost all pity with the Pokemon League.
Something had to have happened to make him act that way. It was probably
something personal and Ash had never tried to pry it out of them. Bruno
afforded him the same privacy.

As for Laselle and Junior, he hoped they lived long and got all the
happiness in life. He knew Laselle had some sort of crush on him and he
hoped she'd give it up as he was not the sort of person for her. And
Junior reminded him of himself when he was younger, carefree and
innocent.

Then his danger sense picked up something and he leaned back on the cable
to see past Misty's body above him. There was a bright orange dot up
above in the shadows up the upper shaft and approaching fast. "Misty, you
see that?"

Misty looked up. "It's a Fire Blast! We've got to get out of here!"

"What level are we on?"

"Sub-level nine, we have one more floor to go!"

"Damn!" He lifted out his arm horizontally and held on the cable with
only one hand. Pikachu jumped out of his backpack and ran along his arm
and on to his hand. "Pikachu..." He threw Pikachu up into the darkness of
the upper shaft past Misty. "Electric Shield!"

"PIKA!" Pikachu flashed darkly in mid-air then generated a shield of
black electrical energy up above him, fully blocking the shaft. The Fire
Blast hit the shield and was stopped by crackling electricity.

But then the wall of the shaft next to him erupted with the huge sound of
a thunderclap and thick jagged beams of yellow lightning shot into him,
knocking him sideways off the cable. His back struck the metal wall of
the elevator shaft on the other side and gave way from the force of the
blast. He exploded out through the wall and into a dark passageway,
falling on his front and sliding away feet-first, body smoking and
sparking with left over electricity.

As he slid away, a long thin strand of lightning flashed down through the
roof and wrapped around his neck in a hangman's knot. Ash choked as it
jerked his slide to an abrupt stop and then tightened, hoisting him up
high in the air, swinging from side to side. His legs kicked uselessly
underneath him as he desperately held on to the loop with his hands and
tried to keep the lightning from breaking his neck.

Then the roof in front of him seemed to collapse as the biggest man Ash
had ever seen fell through, thick folds of his yellow cloak trailing
above him. The floor seemed shook violently as the giant landed on both
feet with an immense crash creating twin craters in the floor. Looped
around his large hands, was the other end of the rope of electricity that
was choking him, the thin thunderbolt snaking up to the roof where it was
hooked upon something so it could lift Ash up by the neck like an
executioner's rope. The giant's head was uncovered revealing rugged
square features and spiky blond hair. Malevolent eyes glowed an electric
amber. 

Lieutenant Surge.

"So we meet again, little baby," Surge laughed, his loud voice echoing
around the dark tunnel. "I'll show you that the Pokemon League doesn't
suffer traitors!" He wrenched the end of the electric whip viciously.

Ash couldn't breathe as the loop of lightning around his neck tightened
even more and lifted him up several more feet. Black spots danced around
in his vision. Only one chance. His eyes glowed golden as he tightened
his grip on the whip of pure electricity and forced his own black
lightning up along it. The power cracked off his hands like a snapping
whip and travelled along the thunderbolt to the source.

Surge roared in surprise and pain as his electric rope sparked and
spitted in black thunder, electrocuting his hands. The loop around
Ash's neck abruptly broke and he fell down, landing hard on his shoulder.
Surge was blown backward by the recoil, his huge body smashing half
through the wall.

For a moment, Ash could only gulp in air with huge breaths as he lay on
his back, clutching his inflamed throat. Then regaining his senses, he
rolled horizontally away and flipped backward on to his feet, crouching
with one hand for balance on the floor. His black cloak around his
shoulders rose up and down as he breathed hard, heart beating so
violently, it felt like it would beat right out of his chest.

Surge pushed himself from the half-destroyed wall and stood up straight.
His dark-blond spiky hair crackled with left over electricity. "Nice
trick, little baby," he growled, rubbing his smoking hands. "But tricks
won't save you! Raichu, Thunder Destroy!"

>From the hole in the wall that Ash had burst out from, Surge's Raichu
leaped out; the naturally evolved form of Pikachu, with longer pointed
ears, extended thunderbolt tail and round black eyes. Except it looked
even bigger, about four feet tall, its orange and yellow body cracking
with lightning.

"RAI!" it cried as a thick column of pure electrical energy discharged
from its mouth. Ash thrust himself from the ground in a smooth high jump,
leaping over it, his boots just clearing the powerful attack. Then
flipping upside down in midair, he struck his feet against the roof to
propel himself down at Surge. 

"What?" Surge exclaimed in shock as Ash grasped him about the shoulders
in a perfect handstand over his head. Then he flipped around to Surge's
rear rotating in a half twist. Grasping him about the sides and
taking the giant man's immense weight in his arms, he bent over backward
in a massive suplex, smashing Surge head-first into the ground. The
ground gave way beneath the powerful slam and it crumbled through sending
Ash and Surge crumbling down into the next level.


<><><>


"Ash!" Misty cried as she helplessly watched him get blown back through
the wall by a huge column of lightning below her.

"Pika!" Pikachu also watched helplessly, hanging on the cable above her.

"Pikachu, help him!" Misty said desperately. "I can take care of myself!"

The little black electric mouse looked up at the shield he was still
maintaining, at the powerful flames still trying to get through, then
looked down at her and shook his head. "Pika pika!"

"Get going!" Misty cried as she suddenly wrenched herself powerfully
upward with her arms. As she rose up past Pikachu, she lifted one arm up
and concentrated, eyes glowing as blue as the ocean as she formed a
shield of pure ice around her fist. It spread out in a circular shape
over her hand, fogging the air with its extreme coldness.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu said shocked at what she was doing. Quickly, he stopped
generating the shield of black electricity to let her pass. The flames
broke through but was stopped harmlessly by Misty's shield of ice.

"Now go to Ash, he needs you!" Misty ordered firmly as she grasped the
cable again, sweating behind her shield as the intense flames threatened
to break through.

"PIKA!" Pikachu cried, little body glowing black before he leaped and
melted through the wall to follow after Ash.


<><><>


"Rai!" Raichu said, shocked as she watched the evil one backdrop her
master down through the floor. She was about to leap over to the hole and
follow them down when the wall behind her exploded in a shower of molten
steel and she ducked as a tiny black form shot over her head and landed
on all fours in front of her, pointed ears twitching and jagged tail in
the air.

"Pika-chu!" It was the evil one's pikachu staring at her with its glowing
cobalt-blue eyes. It stood in front of the hole, guarding it from her.

"Rai-chu!" Raichu shouted back. She remembered once being friends with
this pikachu, but now everything had changed. The evil one had evolved
this pikachu wrong. It was unnatural. She was afraid of it. But she had
to save master.

"PIKA!" The little black pikachu warned her from coming any closer.

"RAI!" Raichu screamed as she crackled with power and attacked.


<><><>


Her shield of ice was beginning to melt underneath the intense Fire Blast
and Misty was starting to feel alarmed. She looked behind her and
noticed the closed elevator doors to sub-level eight. She was on Erika's
level!

"I didn't know ya had power over ice and water!" a voice suddenly called
above her and the breath was knocked out of her as something kicked her
in the stomach and off the cable. Her back smashed into the closed
elevator doors and she managed to see a red-cloaked figure swing down
again and kick her even harder. The doors behind her ripped open and she
was knocked through to land on her back, the ice shield disappearing as
she lost control over it and slid away for several feet.

The red-cloaked figure swung in after her and landed in a crouch, the
folds of her flaming-red mantle settling around her. Blue hair in a bun
and flame-red eyes identified her as Lara Laramie. Again.

"So, Erika darlin, where'd ya learn to do that?" she said as she smoothly
stood up, hands smoking with tongues of hot fire at her fingertips.

Misty pushed herself up to her knees, breathing hard. For a moment she
didn't understand what Lara was saying, but as the green of her hood
flickered in her peripheral vision, she remembered that she was still
dressed like Erika. She grinned slowly. "And why should I tell you?" she
asked in a voice she hoped sounded like Erika's.

"Well, I reckon that havin a bit 'o skill with water would come mighty
handy to a Fire gal like myself." She chuckled. "But it's not life
threatenin. Anyways..." She reached within her cloak and removed three
small red poke-balls held in between her outstretched fingers. "It seems
so unfair since fire burns grass so easily. Go Arcanines! Mangle her to
death!" She threw the three balls into the air where they spread out,
enlarged and exploded open with bursts of flame. In short order, three
huge red and black striped dogs of fire stood in front of her, growling
fiercely, fangs dripping with boiling saliva as they leaped to the
attack.

Misty rose up to her feet and took a step backwards, turning slightly to
the side as she also took out three pokemon, two in blue poke-balls and
one a small black badge, all held in between her out-stretched fingers.
"If three are allowed ... go Seadra, Vaporeon and Starmos!" She threw the
two balls in to the air where they burst open in icy energy, while the
small black badge expanded to full size. "Seadra, Hydro Pump! Vaporeon,
Water Gun! And Starmos, Ice Slice!"

Her large floating sea-horse pokemon with razor-sharp long fins shouted,
"SEADRA!" as it pumped a column of hard water at the first leaping
arcanine. The fire dog yelped in pain as the cold liquid smashed it back
painfully into the wall, putting out its fire and squashing it into pulpy
bits of red slime.

The second arcanine was shot in the face with a bullet of water blowing
off its nose and upper-jaw and was knocked unconscious from the grievous
wound. Misty's four-legged spiny marine pokemon stood victorious. "VEE!"

Then the last arcanine was chopped cleanly in two by Misty's starmos, the
super-sharp limbs of the black starfish pokemon spinning around with icy
energy like an oversized shuriken. The two halves of the large dog of
fire exploded to ashes.

"What?" Lara yelled in confusion. "How can ya have water pokemon? Aren't
ya supposed to be the Grass Master?"

"The world's just full of surprises," Misty said, still imitating Erika,
as she advanced.

"Bitch!" Lara yelled. "This ain't over yet!" She threw another poke-ball
and then shot a bolt of fire from her hands at the roof melting, the
intense liquid flame bursting right through. "Arcanine, Explode!" Then
she leaped up through the hole, red cloak streaming after her as she
escaped through it.

"Oh no you don't!" Misty cried as she dived forward catching the
arcanine's forelegs in her hands in mid-air. The fire dog began to
squeak, signalling that it was about to self destruct, but Misty sent a
surge of artic-cold energy through her hands and into the burning dog.
It yelped as it began to freeze, first its forelegs where she held it,
and then along its entire body. A light fog arose around its length as it
cracked and froze solid. Then swinging around with her forward momentum,
Misty threw it into the wall where it shattered into thousands of tiny
bits of ice and water.

"Now to help Ash," she said as she recalled her three pokemon back into
their balls and replaced them back within her cloak.

But then the floor erupted in front of her sending rocks, steel and
debris everywhere. She gasped as she saw a black-cloaked figure explode
through the cloud of destruction and land brokenly on the ground in front
of her, flat on his back, bouncing once before laying still. His body was
still sparking from left-over yellow electricity and his cloak was
tattered and smoking.

She ran over, heart beating hard in her chest and crouched next to him.
"Ash!"


<><><>


He thought he heard Misty distantly speaking his name and he slowly
opened his eyes to see her panicked face above him. Her make-up
was smudged and now she looked more like herself than Erika.

The sound of thunder interrupted his thoughts and a column of lightning
exploded through the ground several feet in front of him. Surge jumped
through, his gigantic body crackling with power, yellow cloak floating
around him unnaturally. All the massive hits Ash had struck had seemed
more to anger him than to hurt him. He had gotten as tough as nails. He
was just too big.

Surge rubbed his square chin, amber eyes glowing in the dark. "The
Assassin, they called you. Well, baby, I shall assassinate the Assassin!
Lord Garick will be pleased!" He roared a battle cry, beginning to stomp
forward in a run, the ground shaking at his approach. He lifted his huge
arms up and along his sparking palms formed a long-handled battleaxe of
pure yellow electricity.

"I won't let you!" Misty shouted fiercely as she jumped in front of him
arms outstretched.

Surge grunted, lifting the immense axe above his head in preparation to
swing. "The you shall share his fate!"

A haze of darkness descended into Ash's vision. "No! Stay out of this!"
he yelled as he exploded to his feet and leaped high in the air over her.
Midair, his black cloak spread out like a bird's wings, glowing darkly as
it trailed behind him.

Surge thrusted himself into the air to meet him, his huge boots cracking
the ground as he shot upward, swinging his huge axe. "After this, I'm
gonna find Mistaria and kill her too! If it hasn't already been done
that is!"

Ash twisted in midair, stopping the blade of the axe with his fingers
and thumb around the edge, and kicked him in the face, making sure he
sent a surge of black lightning into his boot. Surge cried in pain at
the massive strike and lost balance in the air, letting Ash spin around
with another powerful black lightning-charge kick into his stomach,
forcibly propelling the huge man backward in the air.

Ash landed with a thump and continued to chase after Surge in a rapid run
as the huge man continued to fly backward, headfirst in the air, along
the long hallway, sparking darkly with black electricity. There was a
small explosion and a crumpling of metal and rock as Surge crashed
through the wall at the end of the tunnel, bits of the wall flying
everywhere.

Angrily, uncaringly, Ash sped up and leaped into the air through the
explosion, following relentlessly. His aura of dark energy dissolved any
debris he came in contact with as he passed through the hole.


<><><>


Erika lay down on the waterbed staring up at the shadows on the ceiling
as the candle on the bedside table flickered. Bored, she thought. Bored,
bored, bored. "Next time, brain," she said aloud, "remind me never to
listen to one of Misty's hare-brained schemes." 

They hadn't even let her out when she heard the two explosions. Said it
was strict orders that she be kept here. She would have liked to show
them who she really was, but then that would have blown Misty's cover. So
she was stuck here, locked in Misty's rooms, with the power out and
nothing to see with but a crummy candle.

And the worst thing was that she had given Misty her favourite hair-band.
Ugh, and she was a redhead, at least until the dye washed out in a day or
so.

To amuse herself, she had been painting her fingernails a deep emerald
green colour. She spread the fingers of one hand and waved it about a bit
to let it dry faster. Pretty, she conceded. But the stroke on the tip of
her index finger looked a tad uneven. She supposed she could excuse
herself because of the bad light though. Then as she leaned to the side
for her bottle of nail polish to continue to do the other hand, her
searching fingers knocked over a picture frame. Blowing a breath out of
her mouth in annoyance she twisted around to flip it back up. 

As she set it back neatly, she thoughtfully regarded it. It was a picture
of Misty when she was younger with Ash behind her, hugging her neck. Both
wore ridiculously happy smiles on their faces as they seemed to pose for
the camera, both of their free arms extending a hand in the 'V' sign of
victory. Misty still wore a ponytail in this one, although it was a
more conventional style worn at the back of her head. And Ash had that
old Pokemon League red and white cap worn at a jaunty angle letting his
spiky black bangs cover one eye.

Erika studied Misty's smile in the photo. Silly girl, she thought. Misty
may have made all this fuss about hating Ash, but deep down, Erika knew
that she was still probably crazy about him. She hoped it all turned out
for them and that they managed to escape. For one thing, she firmly
believed that the two of them would somehow stop the Pokemon League. They
just had an uncanny knack for solving problems and succeeding despite all
odds when they were younger. It was a true pity that they weren't able to
do the same thing to their relationship.

As she leaned back on the bed again, she distinctly heard two thumps
outside the door as if someone had dropped a pair of heavy wet sacks. The
guards? Instantly she vaulted behind the bed, covering her hair with the
hood of Misty's blue cloak. Her hair may be red but it was still too
short to pass for Misty's waist-length, straight red hair. The cowl would
serve to hide its inadequate length in the cover of its shadows.

A further thumping came from outside the closed steel doors as if whoever
wanted in could not figure out how to open them. Then Erika gasped as a
large booted foot kicked through the door with the creaky sound of
tearing metal. The boot retreated and hard fingers replaced it, slipping
through to tear the hole even wider until the hole was as tall as the
door. A tall, thickly built man in a brown cloak ducked and stepped
through, dusting his hands against his thighs. He lifted his head of
spiky dark-brown hair to stare at her with slitted eyes so narrow, it was
impossible to see his pupils. His skin-complexion was darker than most,
over a ruggedly handsome face.

No, it couldn't be. Had Misty been right? "Brock?" Erika asked in dread,
forgetting to mask her voice.

But he was silent as he turned his head slowly to survey the room.
Pointedly looking at the cosmetics bag Erika had left on the table, he
frowned as if puzzled. "Something is wrong."

And at that moment the east wall of the chamber seemed to erupt in an
explosion of broken steel, rocks and dust. An unconscious giant of a man
in a yellow cloak flew out of the cloud of destruction to fly past Brock
and slide away on the ground. There was a muted thump as the body was
stopped abruptly by the wall at the other side of the chamber. Something
flew off the bedside table to shatter at Brock's feet.

"What?" Brock roared in surprise.

Then something else emerged from the destroyed wall. A night-black shadow
with glowing golden eyes. A night-black shadow streaking directly at the
dumbfounded and confused Brock.


<><><>


Another League Pokemon Master! Ash flew forward angrily, his fist
streaking toward the tall cloaked figure inside the dark room. They
hadn't seen him go all-out yet, but by darkness, if they wanted a fight,
if they dared threaten Misty again, then they'd remember just how he'd
inherited his reputation in the Dark Wars.

But as he streaked toward the enemy Pokemon Master, his hyper-accelerated
senses picked out the brown of the cloak. The familiar face with slitted
eyes. Spiky brown hair. Time seemed to slow down.

Brock!

Desperately, he summoned shadows to slow his forward momentum. He landed
on the ground of the room, twisting sideways as his boots skidded along
the hard floor for several feet. Finally he managed to stop just in front
of the man he had been proud to call friend during his training days. His
second true friend after Misty. Whom he had just been about to land an
incapacitating blow to the face in his berserk frenzy. For a moment he
just couldn't say anything as he stood there, gaping in surprise. His
tongue felt as if it were tied up in knots. He didn't know if he were
more embarrassed at the near-hit, then hopelessly happy at the confirmed
knowledge that one of his oldest friends was alive.

Brock seemed to be staring at something on the floor in front of him. Ash
looked down and spotted a broken picture frame amid shards of shattered
glass. Although from this angle, he couldn't really make out what the
picture inside the frame was.

Dimly, he heard footsteps behind him, stepping through the opening left
by Surge's body. A sharp intake of breath. Misty.

Brock slowly lifted his gaze from the broken picture-frame and stared
hard at him with those enigmatic eyes. "Ash." His voice sounded dead.
Like a man who had been told that the one he loved most was forever out
of his reach.

Ash could only blink in surprise. Why was Brock angry with him? "Brock,
what's wrong?"

"You are wrong." An aura of ugly brown began to arise around his body.
"You were always what was wrong in my life."

Ash unwittingly took a step backward, as he wiped a thin line of sweat
from his brow. "I-I don't understand." At the look of abject hatred on
Brock's face, Ash's stomach felt shrivelled and tight. "I thought we were
friends."

"Always the ignorant fool," Brock said softly. "Why don't you ask,
Misty?" He pointedly turned his gaze to the person behind Ash. "That is
you, isn't it? A clever trick, but only a fool would be deceived."

Ash turned slightly to see Misty's pained face. "Brock, I-I, have nothing
more to say to you," she whispered softly.

Brock turned back to Ash with an ugly grin twisting his lips. "Did you
know for instance, that for a short while, when you were off playing with
the League, that I and Misty were a couple?"

A haze of deepest black began to slide down into Ash's vision. His
control was suddenly taxed to near-breaking point. His mouth and throat
felt as dry as cardboard. He felt betrayed. He felt like he wanted to
die. "I ... I didn't know."

Misty sobbed from behind him. "I didn't know you felt that way about me!
It wasn't supposed to happen like that!"

Yet she didn't speak against Brock's word. Had she left him only to run
straight into Brock's arms? The thought was unthinkable. It was just too
painful even to consider. He didn't know if hearts could break twice, but
it sure felt like it. He felt like he would throw up.

"Wasn't it?" Brock went on, not looking at her, but keeping his gaze full
of hatred directly at Ash. "After she saw what a faithless bastard you
are, it was only natural that she turned to me, one of yours and her
closest friends." He shook his head, chuckling, although Ash didn't know
if he was laughing at him or at himself.

Ash closed his eyes, arms by his sides. "Fine then. If you wish to kill
me, do it now."

"Gladly," Brock said in a tone of finality, the sound of his cracking
knuckles loud in the air.

"NO!" Misty screamed as he heard her begin to rush forward.

Lightning crackled as a thin bolt of electricity looped around her in a
lasso, securing her arms around her sides.

"Not a sound little girl," Surge said, the giant Thunder Master awake and
standing now as he held her tight with his whip of yellow lightning.
Misty cried in pain as the lightning constricted around her, the
electricity searing through her cloak and into her skin.

Erika then spoke up, finally reminding them of her presence. She had
thrown the hood of the blue cloak she wore to reveal herself fully. Her
arms were lifted as if she meant to attack. "This is insane! This has
gone far enough-"

But then, a red column of molten flame shot from the ground behind her
and a red-cloaked woman jumped through from below to grab Erika from the
rear in an arm and shoulder-lock, arms flaming to secure her. Erika
screamed, her element weak against fire.

"No interference, darlin," Lara Laramie stated, tightening her hold on
her.

"Now, it's just you and me, Ash," Brock stated. "And soon, it will be
just me."

Pain burst in Ash's stomach as the hardest fist he had ever felt crunched
into his chest thrusting him backward to knock into the wall of the
chamber.

"Die," Brock spat following up with a shattering side-kick, smashing him
through it.


<><><>


"We have heavy activity on level eight, Mistress Aya. And I mean heavy!"

"I'll send people to investigate immediately," Aya replied to Bill on her
communicator as she walked quickly with her small group of Poison
Trainers. "Any word from my brother?"

"None, Mistress. At last contact he was on sub-level thirteen about to
investigate Ashura. Colonies three till seven are also unresponsive, as
well as sub-levels thirteen till seven. I have a bad feeling about this.
Maybe we should evacuate."

"I'll decide as soon as we find out what's going on. We're literally in
the dark here! I should have known Ashura would bring trouble."

"It's your decision. But any escape will have to be through the
underwater docks at level three. All above-ground exits are inaccessible
due to fire."

"I will let you know as soon as possible. That will be all." She clicked
off her communicator. She turned to her men. "Level eight, and quickly!
We'll have to drop through the elevator shafts! I'm going to the bottom
floor to find my brother!"


<><><>


"Let me go!" Misty cried as she struggled in the loop of the crackling
electric whip, unheeding of the incredible pain it caused as she moved.

"Now, now, little lady." Surge chuckled with his deep voice. "I now know
you're really Mistaria and that dame over there is Erika. My electricity
can easily tear you apart."

"A fine trick, Darlin," Lara said as she held a weakened Erika. "So
*that's* how a 'Grass Master' has command over water pokemon." She jerked
Erika's arms tighter in her flame-hot grip causing her to shout out in
pain.

Surge let go of his whip, snapping it and causing it to fully wrap around
Misty's whole body, forcing her to the ground. He looked at Lara. "You
stay here, woman. I'll see if Brock needs a little help. That little baby
is stronger than he looks." He stomped after them, following through the
hole in the wall where Brock had kicked Ash through.

"Okay, but hurry back now, ya hear?" the Fire Master said as arms flared
up in flames again to better secure her prisoner.


<><><>


Ash lay on his side, a gash somewhere on his head heavily leaking blood
to drip through his hair and on to the floor. His breaths came in short
gasps. He had stopped counting how many walls Brock had smashed him
through. Boots stomped towards him, rising and falling out of his field
of vision low to the ground.

"Still alive? We'll soon fix that."

Bone-crushing pain as he was thrown through yet another wall. He fell on
smooth tiles, cool under his boiling skin, slipping away until he crashed
into a hard wall underneath some sort of sink. Shards of mirror showered
over him, some sharp fragments tearing his cloak to cut him underneath.
He was in a restroom.

Brock relentlessly followed, smashing through the hole he left in the
wall and widening it with his thick body. It didn't even slow him down,
brown cloak floating behind him in his rapid steps. "Pervert in the
women's room," he said in a disgusted tone.

Smash. This time his thrown body flew through a toilet cubicle shattering
the ceramic seat before breaking through another wall. Now he lay in
another dark passageway, but this one having a glass wall all along its
eastern side. The black waters of the eastern ocean was still through the
other side of the glass. Maybe Brock would throw him through it. Drowning
seemed an ironic way to die.

Brock followed him into the tunnel. "Why don't you fight back?"

Ash coughed up blood as he lay facedown on the ground. "I-I can't. I
can't fight you Brock. I'm sorry."

Brock just seemed to get even angrier. "Pathetic. To think I wasted all
my time plotting when all along you'd go without a fight. Well, now
you-argh!"

He was cut off as bright light flared to throw him back violently. Ash
tiredly lifted his head to see ... Misty? He spotted blonde hair. No it
was Valdera. She looked absolutely furious as she walked towards them
from the other side of the tunnel. Her brilliant blue eyes were glowing
and her cloak of purest white seemed to light up the darkness of the
passageway. Sun-bright hair floated unnaturally in the air behind her
unhooded head.

"Touch him again and you die." Her husky voice was dreadful in its sheer
menace.

Brock lifted himself to his knees from where he was blown backward by the
light. His slitted eyes gleamed a malevolent brown. "You whore, Lord
Garick himself has already ordered his death! Don't stop me!"

"No one will be killing Ashura unless I say so," Valdera said dangerously
as she stood next to Ash's fallen body.

"Are you turning traitor?" Brock asked softly, standing to his full
height of six and a half feet. "Will you follow Ash's footsteps and turn
against the Pokemon League?"

Valdera tilted her head to the side and folded her arms. "No, but I am
doing this in my own way. And that method does not involve Ashura's
death."

"Well, my way certainly does involve his death. And I suggest you stay
out of it."

"Are you challenging me, Master of Rock?" Her white cloak seemed to flare
as bright as day for a short instant. "Will you go up against the Light
Master? Unlike Ashura, I have no compunctions about fighting back." She
stepped past Ash and began to approach him, hands behind her back.

Brock stood his ground. "You're just like your faithless sister. Nothing
but a whore!"

But at the mention of Misty, Valdera's eyes had flared impossibly blue.
"You dare to compare me to Mistaria? You should have known better by
now!"

"Stupid bitch, I've gained some forbidden powers of my own since the
opening of the gate! Onix, subdue her! I'll give you the pleasure of
raping you before I kill you!" From the ground in front of him, the head
of the immense black snake of rock erupted, jaws wide open showing
hideously sharp stony teeth.

Valdera began to run, cloak spreading out behind her. "Pathetic wretch,
that is the only way you can have women and you will fail even at that.
Pikachu, Thunder Melt!" From her outstretched palm, purest white light
flared, forming into her ivory-coloured pikachu, green eyes radiating a
bright emerald light.

Further conversation and sound was then blurred into an incomprehensible
buzz as Ash began to fall unconscious. Tired, he was so tired. 


<><><>


Lieutenant Surge chuckled as he followed the trail of destruction Brock
had left in his punishment of the traitor-assassin, Ash. Brock seemed to
enjoy throwing him through walls, he decided, after stepping through the
yet another one. His boots splashed as he stepped in something wet. He
frowned as he noticed overflowing water under his feet. It was a
restroom, although he could hardly see in the darkness of the room. He
stepped through another hole in the wall behind a smashed toilet stall
and stepped into another tunnel, one with a glass wall showing the ocean
through the other side.

There. He noticed the crumpled heap on the floor in a tangle of black
material. Ash, the little baby. But Brock was nowhere to be seen as he
turned his head from side-to-side to look down both sides of the tunnel.

He stomped toward the fallen body, enjoying the loud thumps his boots
made on the floor due to his size and wrenched up the baby in one hand.
His hand was so big, his fingers could wrap more than half-way around the
baby's chest. He hoisted the worthless trash up with his arm slightly
above his head, tattered black cloak hanging limply around the
unconscious body.

A weak pretty boy, Surge decided as he studied the baby's unconscious
face, matted black hair lying half in front of his closed eyes. Almost as
pretty as a girl if it weren't for the masculine tilt of his eye-brows
and hard lips. Not a hint of a whisker either. It was hard to believe
that this one could fight like the demon's of hell.

Flexing his fingers wrapped around the baby's chest with his hand, Surge
thought about crushing it. It would save Brock the trouble when he came
back from wherever he was. He began to squeeze.

Eyelids abruptly flicked open and eyes glowing red as blood stared down
at him. Surge gasped as his muscles all locked up, suddenly paralysed. He
couldn't move!

As silent as death, black shadows fogged up around the black tattered
cloak and when they dissipated, the holes and tears were gone as if they
had never been.

An ugly smile formed underneath gleaming crimson eyes.


<><><>


The ninth floor was riddled with destruction as the two electric pokemon
battled to the death. Walls looked as punctured as swiss-cheese as
streaks of black and yellow collided and crashed with powerful sparks of
thunder and lightning.

"RAI!" Raichu screamed as she managed to Mega Punch the fast-moving black
blur, knocking it into the ground.

"PIKA!" The black blur rebounded from the floor to smash her in the
chest, forcing her back.

No matter what she did, the evil one's pikachu just seemed to shrug it
off and continue to fight. In fact, she guessed that it was holding back
on her, that it was just fighting her to stop her from attacking the evil
one. It didn't really make sense since she was much larger than the other
electric mouse and should have overpowered it easily. The evolvement to
shadow frightened her.

But at that moment, the black pikachu stopped moving as if paralysed. It
stood on all fours on the ground, jagged tail in the air with a
distracted look on its face.

Had she finally managed to hurt it? had it tired? Who cared, this was her
chance! Raichu cried a battle cry as she powered up considerable 
lightning for a Thunder Punch and streaked forward for direct collision.

The pikachu's blue eyes blinked once and turned red.

It was the last thing Raichu saw before everything turned black.


<><><>


Tears of pain watered Misty's eyes as she tried yet again to break free
of the lightning holding her captive. She let out a breath as the
boiling-hot barbed wire just seemed to constrict further into her arms.

"It's no use, Mistaria, darlin," Lara said in her country accent. Then
she let out a quick laugh. "Ain't this rich? I have two of my husband's
murderers right here at my mercy. How would yas both like to die?" She
jerked her arms, still holding Erika captive, who was too weak by the
flames to resist, slumped back against Lara's chest.

"You were married to Blaine?" Erika asked tiredly. But she still managed
an incredulous tone.

Lara's voice instantly grew menacing. "You find somethin shockin 'bout
that?"

"But, uh, wasn't he a bit old?"

Lara gave a contemptuous snort. "Age don't matter with true love. Our
union was as hot as the flames that borne us. You were always so shallow,
Erika, thinkin that physical appearance was the most important thing."

Erika was silent for a few moments. "You may be right, but we didn't
murder him. It was self-defence."

Lara shook her head. "Then ya shouldn't have interfered in League
business! Anyways, I figure I'll be a-breakin your necks. After all,
that's how ya went and offed my husband. I hope his shade is cheerin
along with me!"

Misty struggled again, "No, kill me and leave Erika alone!" she pleaded.
"It was me who dealt the killing blow." Ash probably hated her now after
what Brock had told him, she thought bleakly. She had turned to Brock for
comfort back in those days. But she never felt the same way with Brock
that she felt with Ash. She never even knew how Brock felt about her; she
felt that he was just being friendly. It was all a misunderstanding. But
she still felt like dying; she still had the tight feeling in her stomach
that she had felt ever since Ash had looked at her with those eyes full
of betrayal.

"Nah," Lara said, rejecting her offer. "My sources told me that it was
Erika who gave ya the opening to do what ya did. And so she's gonna
die as well. Starting right-"

Misty closed her eyes.

A flash of golden yellow. Then a short silence.

"Misty?"

"Erika?" Misty dared to open her eyes and turn around on the floor to her
friend. Erika was standing tiredly, the blue cloak she was wearing,
smoking with the fire that had scorched it. Lara Laramie lay on the
ground, eyes closed.

"What happened?"

Erika walked over to Misty and ripped the lightning rope from her with
her hands. "I don't know. She was just about to break my neck and I was
preparing to meet my maker, but then, she just suddenly fell over."

Misty stood up, staggering a bit at her injuries. "I-Is she dead?"

"I think I heard her snore. She's sleeping."

"You didn't-" Misty waved her hands.

"No, you know how fire weakens me, I couldn't have shot sleep powder if
my life depended on it - which it did." She frowned. "I don't sense this
is a poison-induced sleep anyway. It's probably psychic."

"Psychic," Misty repeated thoughtfully. "Anyway." She walked over to
Lara's sleeping body and held her hands over her. Her eyes flared a
bright blue and a white fog descended from her hands. The fog slowly
turned to ice and a minute later, Lara was securely covered by a prison
of ice. "That will hold her," she stated. Then she turned back to Erika.
"I have to go after Ash now." She wiped a tear out of her eye.

Erika gave her an encouraging smile. "I knew you would say that." Her
eyebrows drew together. "But I have a feeling that this place is going to
hell soon, so I'm going to find my Grass Trainers and other people and
split this place as soon as possible. I'll meet you at sub-level three at
the underwater docks. But, we won't leave without you, of course. Now,
find your boyfriend and get out of here!"

Misty gave her a fierce hug. "Thanks, Erika, but he's not my-"

"Skip it," Erika cut her off. "You can stop the useless denials, just
give me my cloak back."

Misty laughed, feeling a little better. "Sure thing."

Soon with the two of them back in their own cloaks and regenerating the
broken material with elemental energies, although still in each other's
underclothes, Misty followed the trail of destruction to find Ash. 


<><><>


They were in the soldier's quarters, the large dark hall filled with
single bunk-beds. At least it was filled with them; now most lay
destroyed in the course of the battle. The only source of light was the
woman in white trapped in the huge coils of the immense snake of dark
rock in the centre of the hall.

Brock grinned in exultation as his huge onix bound the bitch up tight.
"That's it, Onix, squeeze the whore!" He stood crouched on one knee,
bleeding from numerous cuts underneath his brown cloak. Onix was alos
marked, his black rocky skin melted in several places. The bitch was
and her pikachu were vicious. He couldn't wait to have her, especially
since she looked so much like Misty. Maybe it would be like having Misty
herself. Then he could compare with her later. Now he would really find
out whether blondes or redheads had more fun.

Valdera was breathing hard as she was lifted up high, suspended and
trapped in the thick curls of the giant snake. Her exquisite face was
calm despite that. "I see you have gotten more powerful."

"Electricity cannot stand up to rock," Brock gloated. "Especially when
that rock has elements of the Forbidden. And now you shall-"

A huge explosion to the side cut his speech off. Rocks and mangled steel
of the wall showered over them in hot shrapnel. Brock grunted in pain as
he shielded his face with his arm, sharp bits of debris piercing him
until he moulded his body from the neck-down to hard rock to deflect 
them.

"Who?" Brock growled as searched the source of the explosion with his
eyes. Two disembodied glowing red eyes floated in the darkness of the
shadows. Then it stepped forward into the slight light given off by
Valdera's bright body. A figure in a black cloak, sinuously waving about
in motion around its body even though the air was still. The head was
uncovered, revealing darkest hair, also waving about as if in a breeze.

"Ash," Brock uttered in a hate-filled tone. Then he wondered about the
red eyes and put two and two together. He looked around. "Sabrina? Are
you here? Good work for bringing him back under control!"

Silence.

Then, "Sabrina is not here." The voice was soft.

Brock looked back with confused eyes. "What?"

The figure lifted its hand into the light, revealing that it was carrying
something. A massive, thickly-set arm wrapped in a few tatters of yellow
cloth, lay in his grip. Blood dripped off the severed end in slow red
splashes. Then shockingly, without warning, the arm just suddenly turned
black and powdered to ashes in the figure's grip. Then, swinging its hand
slightly, palm opening, it scattered the ashes in front of it like thrown
rice at a wedding. The shadow underneath the glowing red eyes that was
its mouth smiled a smile of malevolence.

Then a small explosion from the floor in front of him as a small shadow
leaped out to land on his shoulder. Smaller red eyes flared. Pikachu.

"So, Ash, you killed Surge," Brock said slowly. "Will you kill every one
of your old allies in the Pokemon League?"

The figure shook its head. "I am Ashura, and I will kill everyone." 

The ground trembled at his words. Everything seemed to shake and yet not
shake; a hard impact to the air, like deepest bass shaking the bones, but
silent, without sound.


<><><>


South Lavender Rebellion Base was a marvel of underground engineering.
Designed by Bill himself, thirteen levels of sophisticated technology
ensured a comfortable and secret sanctuary for the Rebels of the Pokemon
League. It was the largest place that the Rebels could call home.

A part of its beauty was how every lower-most eastern-most tunnel was
half-made of clear glass to show off the wonders of the underwater ocean.

But now the beauty of the complex would also be its death.

Simultaneously, every glass tunnel of the base shattered like glass shot
with a gun. Instantly, black water poured in like a tidal wave through
each breach in every tunnel. Hundreds of millions of tons of liquid
rushed into the empty spaces with the force of a mountain falling.

Within the waters, uncountable scaly horrors snapped huge jaws dripping
with venom.


<><><>


Doctor Proctor groaned as he blinked his dry eyes, rubbing his aching
forehead. The last thing he could remember was something yellow stabbing
into his face and mind-numbing pain. He thought for sure that he was
dead, but here he was, suddenly awake, alive and well.

All around him, other unconscious people began to awaken also.

But it was short-lived. The ground began to vibrate madly as if the base
were sitting on a giant jack-hammer. The sound of thunder seemed to echo
all around them even though it was impossible for the weather to turn so
bad that it would reach so far underground.

And then the rushing waters reached them. It smashed them from both sides
like a man clapping insects between his hands. Those who were more
unfortunate and weren't killed instantly by the impact were instead torn
apart by the vicious water dragons with black scaly skin and glowing red
eyes. Forbidden Gyarados.

Doctor Proctor was one of the unfortunate ones.


<><><>


"Priiiii! Toge, toge!" Something was slapping her face. Giselle woke up
with a snap. Something egg-like was sitting on her chest. It blinked at
her.

She screamed as she brushed it off and rolled over, falling off the bed.
"Stay away!" she shouted in panic.

The egg-thing looked at her with an anxious look on its frightening face.
"Priii, toge, priii!"

Giselle groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "Shut up, you're giving me a
headache."

And then the door was forced open. Giselle quickly turned to see who it
was. It was Joe, his plain face with the look of absolute fear on it.
"Giselle! Thank the gods I found you! I've been tracking your wrist-band
with my scanner for a while now. We've got to get out of here!"

"What's wrong?" Giselle knew Joe was kind of a scatterbrain and not a
good pokemon trainer at all, but she knew when he got scared this bad,
something was majorly wrong.

"Don't you notice the floor vibrating?" Joe yelled. "The glass tunnels
have been shattered! And if that's not enough, the water that's flooding
the base is packed with Forbidden Pokemon! The water will be here any
second!"

Giselle turned to the open door. Sure enough she could hear the familiar
sound of rushing waters, but at the same time, alien roars that
frightened her even more than the egg-thing. "What are we going to do?"
Giselle panicked. "I think the power's out, there's no way we can get out
of here in time even if we could reach the elevators!" She couldn't
believe it. She was about to die. She was too beautiful to die. 'Live
fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse', was what the saying said, but
even that would be denied her after the Forbidden Pokemon were through
with her.

She was startled by the egg-thing screaming again. "Toge priiii!"

"What does it want?" Joe asked, crouching down.

The egg-thing started to wiggle its fingers. Giselle's eyesight wavered
as if the air was moving like in a heatwave. 

Flash.

A second later, a tidal wave of black water smashed through the doorway
flooding the room instantly. The gyarados were puzzled. They had sensed
food in this room only an instant ago. But now they were gone.


<><><>


"I am Ashura, and I will kill everyone."

Misty was shocked as she heard the words and felt the hard impact to the
air just after following the trail into the soldier's hall. What was
going on?

White light shimmered and she spotted her twin sister slipping out
of the binded coils of an onix as easily as sunlight through clear
glass. "What is wrong with you?" Even Valdera sounded worried.

"Kill everyone?" Brock said in a mocking voice. "You say that like you're
a different person."

Ash stared at him with those frightening red eyes. "Yes. And your soul I
shall save for last."

Blink. Misty gasped as the light suddenly cut out to total and
complete darkness. Her night-vision was good, but even she couldn't see
anything in this horrible absence of all light. 

Then came the loud sound of a hard impact. And the sound of a body
falling.

Simultaneous with the body falling, light returned with the same
suddenness of the abrupt dark.

Misty blinked again as she saw Brock laying on the ground unconscious
with hundreds of marks upon his body; each hit, having apparently hit a
vital spot. The attack must have been so fast, that the one single impact
that was heard must have been all the sounds of the hits joined together.
Even more shocking was that the onix that had stood behind Valdera
earlier was now no more than a pile of dust, scattering where it lay.

Ash remained where he was standing as if he had not even moved. But the
tell-tale marks on his fists showed that indeed he had.

Ash let out a hard laugh as he lifted his hand. A ball of shadow
materialised along his open palm which he threw at Brock's fallen body.
The body seemed to invert into dark energy and get inhaled by the
ball. Then it floated back to Ash's open hand. "Alright," he said
sarcastically, "I got Brock." He shrunk the ball of shadow to marble-size
and placed it within his black cloak.

"I do not understand this," Valdera said softly. "Until I find the
answers, sayanara." Her body flashed white and was gone. Instantly the
room fell dark again, though not so dark Misty could not see like
earlier.

Then the doors bust open and a group of six men dressed in the purple
clothes and armour that marked them as Poison Trainers rushed inside.
"Ashura!" the lead man yelled. He had dark-brown hair and a whip in one
hand. "You are charged with the wilful attack against Master Koga!"

They began to surround him.

"No!" Misty yelled desperately. "Run away! You'll get killed!"

"Mistress Mistaria, you are also charged with the aiding and abetting of
a known criminal!" the lead trainer ordered. "Now stay-"

Ash's body began to glow black, an aura of pure shadow. Horrible darkness
began to descend in the room. Eyes red as blood flared as bright as
like a last sunset of the sun.

Misty started to step forward, when a tall slender form materialised in
front of her. A form in a cloak, the dark blue-purple of twilight.
Knowing dark-blue eyes stared at her from underneath black longish bangs,
one strand of it tinged with green.

"Misty. Go now." The voice was calm, with no emotion.

"Sabrina?" Misty took a step backward, unnerved by the sudden appearance
of the strongest psychic in the world. "B-But, Ash-"

"It is preordained. You cannot do anything here except die, and that is
not your purpose."

Misty hardened herself. "I am not leaving without Ash! Somehow I have to
snap him out of ... of whatever trance he's in, and, and-"

"Have no fear of him. It is not his time to die either. You will see him
again. Soon. But leave. I will take you."

Misty was about to argue again, but stopped as Sabrina's eyes flared
golden. 

The air wavered and the world seemed to blur. She blinked. The next time
she opened her eyes she was at the underwater docks up in sub-level
three. In front of her was the submerging bay, a semi-circular body of
water enclosed by rocky walls all around on the curved end. Only ships
that had submarine capability were able to get here, having to dive under
the rocks to get to and from the sea. 

A slight breeze created by the water blew against her hot face and
brushed her hair from her eyes. She stood at the square end of the docks
on the cement wharf directly in front of a sleek-looking ship, shaped
like a speed-boat except much larger and more curved, about fifty feet
long and about twenty at its widest point. The cabin on the deck was
slanted for speed also, the windows tinted black. The hull was a gleaming
white and on the side, the name of the boat was painted, 'The
Waterflower'. Her eyes fixed on that name like glue.

"Oh, like wow! It's our little sister!" a high bubbly voice said. "And
she really did dye her hair black!"

That voice! Misty immediately turned around to see three beautiful women
in skimpy sailor outfits walking toward her, one in red, one in green and
one in yellow. Her older sisters! There was Daisy, with long wavy blonde
hair reaching past her waist, the tallest of the three although Misty was
now taller than her by about an inch, Violet with her navy-blue hair
reaching to her upper-waist, and an inch shorter than Daisy, and finally,
Lily, with her shoulder-length pink hair and also the shortest of her
sisters. Lily was the one who had called out to her first.

"Like, long time, no see, Misty," Violet said in a more reserved voice,
but still obviously happy.

"Thank goodness you're here." Daisy smiled, relieved.

Misty ran up and hugged them all, tears streaming down her face. "Daisy,
Violet, Lily, I-I can't believe it! I thought you all died in the Dark
Wars! What are you doing here?"

Daisy hugged her back, then was the first to step away from the
group-hug. "Now, now, Misty, like we're in a little hurry now." She
indicated all the people rushing aboard the boat. "I think we should be
getting out of here while the getting's good. We can answer questions
later."

Duplica's voice called from behind her. "Yeah, Misty! Hurry up and get
in, so we can go! Erika and her trainers and everyone else are already
inside! Even Giselle and Joe if you can believe it!" A pause. "You look
so weird with dark hair," she then said in a laughing tone.

"Erika said it would wash out in a day." Misty turned to see Duplica
standing in the boat wearing a black dress of flimsy nothing, as usual.
Her long blue hair was waving slightly in the breeze created by the
water.

Lily started pushing her from behind on to the gang-plank. "Like, let's
go already!" she cried excitedly.

"Where's Ash?" Duplica asked, suddenly sounding worried. "I don't see him
with you."

Her sudden good-humour fell to earth like it had never been. "We-We have
to leave without him," Misty said, suddenly feeling her eyes water.
"Sabrina said that he would be alright."

Duplica looked shocked. "Sabrina?"

"Like I said," Daisy ordered firmly, "We'll have plenty of time to talk
once we're safely out of here. Now girls, move, move, move!"

Soon, the sleek Waterflower was moving away from the docks and submerging
into the black waters, starting to gain speed to dodge any gyrados that
tried to attack. They left the flooding Rebel base rapidly behind them.
And just in time as the very planet seemed to heave on its hinges.


<><><>


The blue-black clouds high above South Lavender were sparking with
unnatural black lightning as they swirled in a circular motion. It forked
across the sky like a drowning river to the sound of roaring
thunderclaps. Sharp and violent winds blew, throwing the waters of the
black eastern ocean around like a bucket of water in an earthquake. Huge
thirty-foot tidal waves smashed the sharp rocks of the coast to crumbled
black sand. The smell of ozone was overpowering in the air.

Soon, all too abruptly, the thunderstorm up above grew to a resounding
crescendo, a howling cacophony of sheer noise as a veritable expanse of
pure black thunder, jagged electricity, bolts and energy gathered in a
complete climax of elemental power.

>From deep within the earth, within the flooding base, a lone voice
shouted, "DARK LIGHTNING APOCALYPSE."

Simultaneous with the shout, the wind screamed and the earth trembled as
the gathered lightning of shadow struck all at once deep into the centre
of the Rebel base, driving deep into the very earth until it struck the
person, and its pokemon, who had summoned the power. A chain-reaction
ensued outward in a rapidly growing sphere of darkness from the point of
contact; from the person himself into an explosion-implosions as had
never been seen before or ever been conceived.

Anything in a one mile radius simply ceased to exist.


<><><>


The morning that was not a morning was a dreary and dark affair. Swirling
blue-black clouds, the same as always ever since the opening of the gate,
blew around unnaturally, still affected by the extreme destruction caused
yesterday. The repercussions of the disaster was still overlapping into
nature, the very shape of the earth around the affected area knocked
into completely different land formations. Mountains where there was
water, water where there was land. Most of the ruins of Lavender Town was
destroyed, half-submerged by the sea, but strangely, Pokemon Tower lay
unaffected, still rising up above into the sky, demonic designs carved on
the curved black stone walls.

Three miles south-east, within the ocean, dark waters that reflected the
sky lapped up and down in rippling waves. There wasn't as much debris
floating the waves as could be expected; mostly anything in the
'explosion' was simply obliterated.

Upon a floating plank of wood, a figure in a sodden black cloak and
wearing a backpack clutched, unconscious, draped over it with his arms,
face laying upon crossed wrists. The lone survivor within the radius
of destruction. But also the instigator of the destruction.

Nearby, a sleek pointed white ship rose out of the water slowly. A
spotlight shone from the boat, lighting upon the figure floating in the
ocean. A red-haired woman in a blue cloak emerged from the cabin and
dived off the side into the water. The dive was graceful and smooth, a
perfect slicing of the dark waves. The woman swam free-style towards the
unconscious man, grabbed him about the upper-waist and pulled him back to
the boat, pulling herself along the lapping sea with her free arm and
powerful kicks of her feet.

A rope-ladder was thrown off the side of the ship to pull the woman and
the man up.

"Is he okay?" Duplica asked, while Misty sat down, resting from her swim.

Bruno examined the unconscious Ash. Pikachu, also unconscious, lay next
to him, his black fur sopping wet. The electric mouse had been inside the
backpack, which had also been completely wet although the interior was
dryer than would be expected, the brown material being waterproof.
"He seems okay. He hasn't taken in any water at least."

Misty crawled over to Ash's side. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I told you he would survive."

Misty looked up to see Sabrina standing at the front of the ship, hands
behind her back, her twilight cloak and long hair unmoving despite the
ocean breeze. "Why are you helping us?" she asked softly. "Aren't you one
of the Pokemon League?"

Sabrina shook her head. "I owe allegiance to no one, save to the
allegiance of fate."

"And just what is our fate?"

"That is yours to discover. But know this." She stared unblinkingly at
them with her dark-blue eyes, sinister but hauntingly beautiful. "To
defeat the prophecy, this must you do. Destroy the souls who sought.
Destroy the Elite Four and Master Garick with them." 

She looked pointedly at the small poke-ball of shadow that had rolled out
of Ash's sodden black cloak and on to the deck of the ship. "You already
hold one of them."


*** End of Part 9

To be continued...

Next Episode: Journey to the Viridian Gulf. Battle on the high seas! The
second barrier falls. Attacked by the sixth Master Pokemon! Cinnabar
Island, the island of fire? Lorelei VS Misty, who is the supreme queen of
ice? And what is Bruno's terrifying secret?

_________________________________________________________________________

                                POKEDEX
_________________________________________________________________________

SHADOW PIKACHU
Type 1 - Shadow
Type 2 - Electricity

Attack : Shadow Demon
Type   : Shadow

The very light is absorbed. The true nature of this attack is unknown.

_________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

This is a first edition draft. Any spelling/grammar mistakes is the fault
of this damn fic getting so long and my brain going dead as I'm trying to
proof-read it =P.

Now why did this part take so long? Well just look at the length of it! I
had certain ideas that all had to fit in this chapter. Yes, they all
absolutely positively had to fit in!

Oh and I did not create any new characters for this part. See if you can
recognise where all the named characters come from =).

*Sigh* Now maybe all the nagging will stop =P. Please understand people,
that I'm a busy guy and that I only do this in my spare time. Capice?

Three more parts to go! I hope they're all not as long as this one =P

Comments and stuff welcome of course.

Ace Sanchez
Email: jsa@fl.net.au
WWW: http://jsa.users.fl.net.au