Part 8! Shadow smiles triumphantly before falling over, clutching her head as the days without food and sleep catch up to her. What can I say? School…

Disclaimer: Lance speaks. “Shadow does not own pokemon. If she did, she would probably have me making out with Ash, Misty would probably be dead, and I don’t know what else would happen, but she’s really freaking me out. Oh, and the episodes would be chock-full of yaoi. Why me?”

Notes: <> indicates telepathic communication, ** indicates thoughts of people or pokemon, and italics indicates pokemon speech.

Akiko Koishii – I know Butterfree left to stay with his mate, but what about the others? *Sniff* that’s why I wish series ended right after Ash won orange.

Dragi – heh

Hacker-g – k, k

Link Masters – k, k, you still here? All of my readers seem to have vanished over the summer…

Honou Kazoku-kaga – thank you! ^-^

Part 8: I really don’t like mountain climbing…

Ash blinked at the mountain. “The Navel gym is here?” Delphinis looked confused as it fired off a burst of echolocation waves in annoyance.

“No, no, it’s not your fault.” Ash reassured the distraught dolphin pokemon. “You were just following the directions that that wild Staryu gave you.”

Delphinis nodded and flipped its tail in annoyance.

“Don’t worry about it. I guess I’ll just wait for someone to come along who can explain this.” Ash said as he soothed the dolphin pokemon.

Soon, Delphinis was recalled. Ash sat on the beach with Pichu and Sunny, and waited for someone to arrive.

After a while, a brown-haired man on a boat arrived. Ash quickly brushed the sand off his black jeans and ran over.

“Hi! Do you know where the Navel gym is?” Ash asked.

“Well, you have to follow this path to get to the gym.” The man said. “Hi, my name’s Danny.”

“I’m Ash.” Ash said, shaking his hand. “Okay, cool!” He followed Danny up the trail until they reached a set of metal doors.

Ash tried to open them, but they were locked. He blinked in confusion, before Sunny shocked him, directing his attention to a wooden sign nearby.

“Oh! Thanks, Sunny.” Ash said, patting her on the head. “Now what does it say?”

Danny blinked. * He can’t read English? *

This time, Pichu was the one who shocked Ash. < Ash, you can’t read English? When did that happen? >

Ash blinked. “Oh. Okay.” He peered at the sign for a few moments, before shrugging. “So we have to climb a mountain to find the gym leader?”

“Looks like it.” Danny said calmly.

“Well, you’re dressed for climbing, at least.” Ash said. He rummaged through his backpack until he found what he was looking for. Ash put on his special hiking boots and grinned.

“Okay, I’m ready!”

“Remember, you can’t use your pokémon to help you.” Danny said as they walked towards the mountain.

“I know!”

Twenty-five minutes later…

Ash gritted his teeth. Those rocks were slippery! “Pichu, are you okay?” Ash asked. “You didn’t hurt when I fell, did you?”

< No, why? > Pichu asked as it scampered ahead.

“I wish I were as light as you. Then, it might be a bit easier.” Ash said as he pulled himself up over another rock.

< Maybe you should have brought equipment. > Sunny suggested as she loped along beside him.

Ash sighed.

Danny watched as Ash struggled up the mountain. * Well, he’s certainly trying hard. *

Just then, Ash slipped on a patch of ice and fell all the way back down to the base of the mountain. Danny winced. That hadn’t sounded good at all. But that was a fairly large distance! Perhaps he had better make sure that the young trainer was all right. Danny leaned over to take a look. Ash lay on the stony ground in a curled up position, and there were traces of blood seeping out from somewhere.

Danny immediately sent his Scyther down to see if Ash was seriously injured or not.

Ash winced as he felt his wounds sting. “Darn… I know I shouldn’t have turned around so quickly.”

A poke ball popped open and his Chansey appeared. < Master! Are you all right? Oh, you’re injured! Here, let me take a look at you. >

Ash sat still as Chansey checked him over.

“Well, how bad is it, Chansey?”

< Not too bad. Well, you’re bleeding internally, but I’m sure you can fix that quickly. You didn’t break any major limbs, except one of your ribs, but two of your fingers on the left hand are sort of cracked… >

“Great.” Ash muttered. He closed his eyes and a pale silver glow surrounded him for a few seconds. The fingers were still pretty bad though. Ash winced and pulled out some bandages.

When Danny’s Scyther landed a few seconds later, Ash was finishing up his left hand. There were also a few scratches on his arms, but they weren’t that bad.

Danny watched, surprised, as Ash began climbing again.

“Scyther, you’re telling me that he broke his hand and he’s still trying? That takes courage and determination.”

I know. I wouldn’t have done it. Scyther said. They watched for a while as Ash continued to climb, occasionally slipping, but usually managing to get up again, without too much trouble.

Finally, three grueling hours later, Ash reached the top of the mountain.

< Yay! We’re finally here! > Pichu cheered.

“Now where’s the gym leader?” Ash asked as he looked around in confusion. “I don’t see anyone…”

Danny cleared his throat.

Ash didn’t seem to notice, as he looked around frantically.

< I think Danny is trying to tell you something. > Sunny said as she nudged Ash’s leg.

Ash turned to Danny. “Yes?”

“Ash, I am the gym leader.”

Ash’s jaw dropped. Literally. Well, anime always makes everything look exaggerated. But anyways, it was enough.

“No way!”

“But its true.” Danny said. “Now, to gain the Sea Ruby badge, you must complete two of the three challenges. The first is to create a pillar of ice from these two geysers.” As if on cue, two geysers sprouted out of the snowy plain.

Ash smiled. “Well, that I can do, at least. I choose Poli! Use Ice Beam!” Ash’s loyal Poliwrath immediately began freezing the geyser. Danny chose his Nidoking and the competition commenced.

Ash and Poli won the first competition. Danny smiled.

“Okay, next we have to create an iceboat using your pokemon.” Danny called out his Magmar, which engulfed the pillar of ice in seconds and was done before Ash even called out his pokemon yet. Ash blinked in disbelief.

“No way! Sunny, use Flaming Thunder!” Sunny nodded as she spat fire mixed with electricity at the pillar of ice. In a few minutes, Ash’s boat was also done.

“The third competition determines if you receive the badge.” Danny said. “Pick three pokemon to help you steer, and we’ll race down to the mountain. The first person to get there is the winner.”

Ash pulled out three poke balls. “Okay, I’ll use Star, Starlight, and Sunny!” Ash said. Eevee, Espeon, and Jolteon took their places in the boat with him.

“On your marks, get set, go!” Danny said, as the lights went off. They began sliding down the mountain furiously.

“Psybeam!” Ash called. Starlight nodded and blasted the rock out of their way. A few minutes later, Danny shot by.

< He’s going faster because there’s more weight in his iceboat, so gravity is working harder. > Sunny said.

“Oh? Well, I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about that.” Ash said. “Psychic!” Starlight nodded and blasted a tree out of their way.

Star kept a lookout for other obstacles. When she saw a stream, she simply temporarily froze it with ice beam so they could pass. A boulder was reduced to bits by her hyper beam. Some unfortunate bushes were quickly cut through. The mountain was getting a new look.

Danny looked back. “Geodude, left!” He called. * Wow, the boy is really trying hard. *

“Static wave!” Ash called. Sunny nodded and from her paws grew a net of electricity that smoothed the ground out.

“Now, I want all of you to turn around and fire a hyper beam.” Ash said. The three pokemon blinked, but did as told. The resulting explosion blew their iceboat into the air, where they quickly crashed into the goalposts and then into the surf.

Danny looked shocked. “No way.”

When a sopping wet Ash and team climbed out of the water, Danny presented them with a Sea Ruby badge.

Ash hugged his pokemon. “Great job, guys!” All of the pokemon looked proud as Ash ruffled their fur affectionately.

Then, they surfed off for the next island.

End part 8! *Smiles* did you like it? Drop me a review!

11/8/02 to 10/13/03

And… I’ll put up the next chapter too…