Ash groaned and opened his eyes. He had a throbbing headache and he didn't know why. He sat up and held his head. "Ow, what happened?" He looked around and saw there was no one there. "What the..? Hello?" He called looking around, but there was no answer. He groaned and rubbed his head. "What the heck happened?" The last thing he remembered was going down some sort of slide and then, a huge rock stuck out of the ceiling. "Well guess I know were I got the headache"

He stood up and looked around. A fire rail also lighted this corridor, but even though the flames were brighter, the area felt colder.

Pikachu bit onto the chain as hard as he could, but he was rewarded with a sore tooth. He growled at the Ditto, who still looked like Ash and was standing in front of them grinning.

"Try all you want" The Ditto Ash said. "You'll never get free"

Pikachu sighed and looked up at the giant orb in which he could see his trainers actions. "Pikapi..."

Ash sighed and looked around. "Where'd they all go?" He frowned and looked at the corridor ahead of him. "Well, no were else to go but straight ahead" He began to walk down the corridor, still holding his head. "How am I going to find them in a place like this?" He thought as he turned a corner and came to a dead end.

Ash had a strange feeling, like someone was watching him in some form or another, but that couldn't be. Could it?

He shook of the feeling and continued down the second passage beside him. He felt as though something bad was going to happen, and from what he'd learned this place had pretty dangerous and sneaky traps.

No sooner had that thought come to mind, than there was a loud rumbling sound. Ash looked around for the source and soon found it. There was a large hole across the roof, and out of it came large rocks, pelting straight towards him.

"Totodile go!" Ash threw a Pokéball and the tiny crocodile appeared in front of him, dancing happily as usual. "Totodile, water gun!"

Totodile stopped dancing and used water gun on each rock, as if it was target practise.

Totodile was doing well, knocking away every rock, until more rocks began to come down.

Totodile began to shoot the rocks with water gun faster and faster, but he missed one of them.

The rock pelted past the water gun and hit Ash right in the forehead, knocking him back. Totodile glanced back at his trainer and took a deep breath, firing off a powerful Hydro Pump. The Hydro Pump shot right into the hole and must have somehow blocked it up, because no more rocks came down.

Totodile ran over to Ash's side and tilted his head. "Totodile?" He asked, worried.

Ash pushed himself up and held his head. "Good job Totodile. Take a rest" He returned the small water Pokémon back into his Pokéball. He lowered his hand over his face and felt something damp. He pulled his hand away and looked at it. It was covered in blood, the rock must have cut him. He sighed and stood up, continuing down the corridor.

Pikachu cringed when he saw the rock hit Ash straight in the forehead. He sighed when Ash got up but frowned when he saw his trainers blood-covered face. [Please, leave him alone] Pikachu said to the Ditto.

'Ash' shook his head. "But I'm only getting started" He grinned and turned back to the giant glowing ball in the air.

Ash turned and headed down another path. He kept a sharp eye for anything unusual. There was a strange sound that came from behind him and he turned to see a wall of what looked like dagger blades farther back. He looked at it for a second before one of the daggers shot out. "What the...?!" He jumped out of the way of the dagger but just barely dodged it. He looked back and saw that four more daggers were heading towards him. He did the only thing he could think of, he turned and ran.

Soon a fury of daggers were chasing him, some flying past him. He winced as one of the daggers cut the side of his face as he ran. He looked ahead and noticed that there was a turn. If he could get there before the daggers got to him he should be ok. He ran as fast as he could towards the turn, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He tried to ignore it but it was so sore, he was practically limping.

He reached the corner and fell out of the path of the daggers, breathing heavily. He heard the daggers driving into the walls. The pain in his leg was killing him now so he pushed himself up into a sitting position, and noticed the dagger handle sticking out of the back of his leg between his knee and his ankle. He reached down and gasped as he pulled it out. He looked at the blood-covered dagger for a second then threw it aside. He pushed himself up and winced as the pain retuned, though not as bad this time. "Well there's no point in stopping, I've got to find the others" He began to walk down the corridor, leaving the sound of the daggers driving into the wall behind and limping slightly.

It was pretty quiet for a while. There were no traps, which suited Ash perfectly, but no sign of his friends, which didn't suit Ash at all.

Why was he the one to get stuck in all the traps? Was there someone trying to kill him? Even since the beginning of this journey he was always the one to fall into the traps. Maybe it was because he was always the one leading but he didn't know for sure.

He stopped after a while for a rest. His leg was no longer bleeding but it hurt, and he still had blood all over his face. He had some bandages and other stuff in his bag, but after what happened last time he didn't want to try using them.

He sat down in a corridor and leaned against the wall. This really wasn't his day.

"Come on, give the kid a break" Rick said as he watched Ash sit down. "He can't handle this by himself, and he doesn't deserve this"

"I don't think he's going through enough" the Ditto Ash said. "I think I'll call on the Dark Rapidash next"

"Dark Rapidash?" Misty asked, not liking the sound of it.

"Yes, didn't you know there is a Dark type of every Pokémon? From Dark Ho-oh, to Dark Caterpie" 'Ash' explained. "Now lets see how he handle's Rapidash.

Ash heard a strange noise around him, like hooves on stone. He looked up, but the corridor was empty. He didn't like the way the sounds started getting louder, so he stood up and walked quietly down the corridor in the direction of the sounds. "What's going on?" He looked around a corner and thought he saw something move. He stopped for a second. Should he go check it out? In a place like this he'd be better off not to, but curiosity got the better of him so he walked down the corridor.

Suddenly, he saw a flame ahead of him, it seemed to be hanging in the middle of the dark corridor. But when he had a closer look, he noticed they were connected to something. A Rapidash. But this Rapidash was different, it's fur was pitch black instead of the normal creamy-white, and it's red eyes seemed to be filled with evil.

Ash suddenly had the feeling that he wanted to be back with the daggers. And before he knew it, the Rapidash had ran up to him and reared up, thrash it's diamond hard hooves out.

Ash couldn't move much in the small area, and soon he felt one of those hooves strike his shoulder. He fell back and looked up, just in time to see the Rapidash bring it's hooves down on his right leg. The was a horrible surge of pain and a sickening crack as he felt the bone in his leg snap. He yelled and, before he knew what he was doing, raised his hands and shot a red beam at the Rapidash.

The Rapidash let out a neigh of pain, which soon subsided as the Rapidash was reduced to dust.

Ash fell back and lay there, breathing heavily and staring at the ceiling. His leg hurt worse than ever now and he couldn't move because it hurt too much.

Pikachu grinned as the Dark Rapidash was destroyed and looked down at the Ditto Ash. [You see? How do you expect to defeat that kind of power? When Ash gets here your going to turn out like that Rapidash]

The Ditto Ash glared up at Pikachu, but then he laughed. "You think he stands a chance? Just take a look at him" He glanced up to the image of Ash. "He is weak and in attacking the Rapidash, he subconsciously used up more power than expected. He's exhausted his power, he's injured and…oh would you believe it? He's on a direct path to this room"

Raichu and Pikachu instantly started trying to use their attacks to escape, but the chains absorbed the electricity. Pikachu growled and struggled to get free, but it was no use.

"Don't worry little Pikachu" The Ditto Ash said. "As soon as I've finished with your trainer, I'll deal with all of you"

Ash lay still for a while. What was going on? The traps around this place seemed to follow him and he kept feeling like he was being watched.

He sat up and cringed as he felt a pain in his leg. Now he had the feeling that his friends were in trouble, or else going to be. He looked ahead and noticed a large door. He sighed and stood up of his left leg. He walked, or more likely hopped, to the door and placed his hand on it. He pushed it open and looked in.

There in the centre of the room he saw...himself?

"Pikapi!"

Ash looked around and saw Pikachu and the others. "What the heck? What are you doing up there?"

"Having a tea party" Rick said sarcastically. "What does it look like were doing?"

Ash looked back to the centre of the room. "Who are you?"

"World's greatest Ditto at your service" Ditto Ash said.

"Ditto?" It took a while for it to click. He frowned and looked at the others then back to Ditto. "Let them go"

"Well, I might" Ditto Ash said. "If...you fight me and win. No Pokémon"

Ash gave the Ditto a strange look. "Fight you?" He looked himself over. How was he supposed to fight in this condition?

"If you don't, then I'll just finish off your friends and then get you" Ditto Ash said.

Ash looked at the other and closed his eyes. "Alright then" He looked at the Ditto and walked forward, or so to speak.

Ditto Ash's eyes glowed and the narrow path to the center of the room got wider, so it was now just big enough for them to stand on.

"Ash, no!" Misty yelled. "Get out of here!"

Ash shook his head but didn't say anything. He walked onto the path and stopped in the centre.

Ditto Ash stepped forwards. "Ready to fight Ketchum?"

Ash found this very strange because it was like talking to his reflection, but he nodded.

The Ditto Ash grinned and stood in a fighting stance. "Prepare to lose more than your life"