Sprites, Fairies, and… Love?

Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu and Togepi ran down route 1, being chased by a herd of reporters.

"Mr. Ketchum, how does it feel to become a pokemon master?!" shouted one.

"Ash, what will you do now?!" shouted another.

"What will I do?!" shot back Ash, "I’ll try escaping you reporters!"

They ran faster from the crowd of men and women with pens, papers, and video cameras.

"I guess… this… is what… you get after… becoming… a pokemon master," said Misty, panting in between her words.

"When will they… stop?" asked Brock, getting tired along with his companions.

"Probably not… until I… answer each… of their questions," Ash panted.

"Piiikaaaa!" Pikachu jumped up and clung onto Ash’s hat right before one of the people grabbed his tail.

"Wait, Mr. Ketchum!"

"We still have more questions!" they continually shouted at Ash.

"You can’t escape the press!" shouted on weirdo.

"Just watch me!" he sped up ahead of Misty, Brock, and all the reporters.

Brock and Misty sidetracked and hid behind some bushes, while Ash still ran for his life.

"Will he survive?" wondered Misty.

"I doubt it," said Brock.

"Tokie! Tokie! Briiiiiiiii!" chirped Togepi.

**

Meanwhile, Ash quickly turned around and hid behind a tree as the herd of reporters ran past.

"*Pant…pant…gasp…pant*" He and Pikachu slid down the tree trunk, breathing heavily.

"Let’s hope we don’t go through that again," sighed Ash.

"Pika pika…" agreed Pikachu.

Then suddenly smoke spurred out around him and he and Pikachu started coughing.

"Prepare for trouble!" they heard.

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!" the smoke cleared and they saw Jessie.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" the smoke cleared and they saw James.

"Awe! No! Not you three again!" shouted Ash and he and Pikachu ran back the way they came from.

"Grrr… he won’t get away until we finish our motto!" growled Jessie.

The three jumped out from the trees and chased after him. Soon the reporters were back and started chasing him too.

"Aaaaa! Get me out of here!!" shouted Ash.

He heard the jumbled questions and statements from the reporters, and in the background he heard Jessie and James starting their motto over again.

"Ash why doesn’t your pikachu go into his pokeball?"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"Mr. Ketchum, is Misty your girlfriend?"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"Wasn’t Brock the Pewter City gym leader?"

"Do you have his badge, or do you have a different badge to replace it?"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

All the words surrounded him, and the only thing he could think of was "Run! Run! Run!"

Then he heard the only two possible voices that could relieve him.

"Ash! Over here!"

"Hide behind here!" he heard Misty and Brock yelling.

He turned to his left and jumped over the shrubs.

"That seemed a little too close for comfort!" said Misty.

Unfortunately the reporters and Team Rocket found him and they were surrounded… except for one gap that they could squeeze through.

"Meowth! That’s right!" they could hear the annoying voice of Meowth standing out from the crowd once they started running among the reporters.

Unknown to any of them, a giant portal of some sort opened up in front of them on the ground. It swirled with blues, greens, reds, yellows, and other colors inside.

They ran and without seeing it, they fell into the portal.

Their eyes were shut from the pressure when they first fell in, but then they opened their eyes and found them spinning around in circles.

"AAAA!" screamed Misty and she wrapped her arms around Ash, who was too busy being scared and confused to notice Misty.

Togepi curled up into his shell and hid deep inside Misty’s backpack. Pikachu dug his nails into Ash’s jacket, hoping not to be pried off by the pressure around them.

"What is this place?!" shouted Brock, starting to get dizzy.

Though before anybody could answer a hole split open from under their floating bodies and sucked them outside. With Brock not holding onto anybody, he was sent off, flying to the left. Misty was still holding on tight to Ash, and so they both flew out to the right with Pikachu and Togepi.

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" yelled Brock and he landed conveniently into some bushes.

"Where… am I?" he wondered out loud and looked around.

He noticed he was in some sort of a forest, but there was something else nearby besides vegetation. A small fairy with butterfly wings fluttered out and before him. She had a small flower for a hat and wore what looked like a strip of silk cloth wrapped around her small body. She ranged of about seven years in age.

**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" screamed Ash and Misty, who had let go and was twenty feet above him.

Ash landed into a treetop. But it was no ordinary tree, it was a palm tree, which meant he must have been in a beach. Ash heard the faint screaming of Misty. It became louder as she neared toward the same spot as he was in. Misty fell onto him and they both fell out through the giant leafs and landed onto the ground below them.

"Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!" Pikachu fell into the tree, then fell through the leafs and onto Ash’s hat.

Although Misty enjoyed the warmth of Ash, she got off of him.

"Tokie! Tokie! Waaaaaaaaaah!" Togepi started to cry as he popped out of Misty’s backpack.

"Oh, don’t cry, Togepi. I’m here," she said, cuddling Togepi. "Ash, where are we?" asked Misty once Togepi settled down.

"Aauuuuuhhhhh," Ash rubbed his head, "Did somebody get the license plate number on that snorlax?" said Ash wearily.

"Ash? Ash, snap out of it!" said Misty, shaking his shoulders.

He shook his head and returned to reality.

"Ash, are you okay?" he heard Misty’s worried voice.

"Yeah, I’m okay… I think. Where are we?" he asked.

"I don’t know. Looks like some sort of beach."

"No, I mean- what’s this place called? This isn’t Viridian City, you know."

"How should I know? Maybe you can send Pidgeotto out and take a quick look-around," suggested Misty.

"Umm… Okay," Ash fumbled for his pokeball but it wasn’t there. "What?!" he saw that none of his pokeballs were on his belt, "All of my pokeballs are gone!"

**

Meanwhile, back at the top, the reporters and Team Rocket were wondering where they went.

"Hey, where are those little pests?!" scowled Jessie as she looked around.

The reporters just ran off, thinking they sidetracked to the right, leaving Team Rocket still looking around.

"They aren’t anywhere!" said James.

"They just disappeared into thin air!" said Meowth.

"Hey, what’s this?" wondered Jessie, for she found the mysterious portal.

James and Meowth came over and looked, but once they just took a glance, it closed up, only leaving a patch of grass and dirt.

"I- I think we need a vacation," said James.

"Yeah… let’s make a run for it!" screamed Jessie and they ran off in fright.

Nurse Joy came riding up on a bicycle, also looking for Ash, Misty, and Brock.

"I promised them I’d come so I could heal their pokemon after the battle, but now they’re gone," Nurse Joy said to herself, "It must have been all those reporters that scared them off."

Then she spotted something shining by a bush. She set down her bike and saw they were pokeballs. Joy read the back of the pokeballs, and they were labeled with a certain name.

"Property of… oh my. Something’s happened to Ash!"

**

"Who are you?" asked the small fairy.

"I was about to ask the same thing," said Brock.

"Has the queen sent you here?"

"Who? No… I guess not," said Brock.

"Then you must come with me," she said.

"But… where is this place?"

"You don’t know of this island?" she said, still fluttering in front of Brock.

"No, I don’t."

"Well," she said in her small voice, "You will at least know soon, why this island is called by that name."

Brock continually followed the seven-year old, still in shock that fairies actually exist.

**

Misty sat down cross-legged with a worried face.

"What do we do now? This is getting kind of scary. What’s with the portal back there?" asked Misty in a sad tone of voice.

"I don’t know, but I do know that I would rather get back to Viridian then stay at a place like this. Hey, where’s Brock?" asked Ash.

"I think he was thrown off the other way," said Misty, still in a sad tone.

"Pika pika!" shouted Pikachu.

"Not now, Pikachu. We have to think of how to get off of this place," said Ash, sitting down on the sand cross-legged.

"Pikapi! Pikapi!" shouted Pikachu.

"Not now, Pikachu," said Ash, shooing him off.

"But Ash! Look behind you!" screamed Misty.

"Huh?" wondered Ash and he looked behind him.

A giant title wave neared them.

"Waaaauauuuuauuuaaauuu!" yelled Ash and he started running with Misty and Pikachu.

Though it was too late. The title wave swept them off their feet and into the water. They were thrown unconscious as the wave carried them to wherever.

**

Nurse Joy placed the tray of Ash’s pokemon into a rejuvenation machine to get healed. She waited a while, hoping Ash wasn’t really missing and the pokeballs were just accidentally dropped. She kept an eye on the front door, but neither Ash, Misty, or Brock walked in as she hoped one might suddenly.

"*Sigh…*" Nurse Joy slowly took the tray of pokeballs out. "I hope this works," she said worriedly, "If the police can’t find them, then it’s all up to you."

Nurse Joy held a specific pokeball that belonged to Ash.

**

As Brock neared some sort of a small throne, he stared all the fairies surrounding him. Some of them whispered or made strange gestures. All of the male fairies seemed to have pointed ears, small horns on their heads, and dull moth wings. All of the female fairies had pointed ears too, but their wings looked like they belonged to a butterfly and their clothes were all made of some strange silk.

He saw the fairy that was supposedly "the queen". She didn’t look too aged. Her long red-brown hair lay below her shoulders and instead of any insects’ wings, she had very tiny blue and pink tinted birds’ wings. She had a small purple flower that matched her long dress that had white satin underneath and a very thin purple fabric that surrounded it. The dress flowed down past her slender legs and covered half of her small feet.

As pretty as she was, Brock didn’t blush, for he was at the moment, scared, hence the fact he was practically in paradise.

"Suune?" said the queen.

"Yes, Queen Tiln’re?" answered the small fairy that led Brock through.

"Who is this man, you bring?"

"He appears to be some common stranger who’s gotten lost. Do you think he is the One?"

"Perhaps. We’ll see as time goes- but for now, get him freshened up, he seems to have had a tiring day," said Queen Tiln’re.

"Yes, your majesty," replied Suune.

**

Ash cracked open his eyes. He felt damp and the cold dirt below him made a chill run down his spine as he first dug his fingers into the soil. The last thing he remembered was being hit by that giant title wave with Misty.

He propped himself up and looked around. He saw Pikachu and Togepi were already awake, but not looking to swell.

"Pikachu, Togepi, are you okay?" he asked Pikachu.

"Pi," Pikachu slowly nodded.

"Toke," Togepi nodded as well.

"Where’s Misty?"

"Pika," Pikachu pointed to her, still unconscious.

Her ponytail was wet and drooped over across the soil and she coughed out a little bit of water. The expression on her face made it look like she was about to pass away.

‘Misty! Don’t die out on me… literally,’ Ash thought to himself and darted over to her.

"Misty! Misty, wake up!" he pulled her upwards so that she sat up over his arms, hoping that would help the water in her throat go the right way.

She only coughed up a few spurts at a time and her head hung low and limp.

"Come on, Misty," he urged on and let her hang over his shoulder.

He gave her a small squeeze (that was meant to be a hug), and that did it. He sensed warm blood circulate through her body and she coughed out the rest of the water she breathed in.

Misty’s fingers cringed slightly and she took hold of Ash’s clothes to use part of her own strength but still hang on to him.

Her eyes sea-blue eyes slowly pealed open and glimmered once again. She rested her chin on Ash’s shoulder before fully returning to reality.

"Misty, you okay?" she heard his kind voice.

"Yeah," she said in a soft, horsed voice.

Misty didn’t want to let her arms off of him, but she thought he would think it was weird that’s she’s hugging him like that, so she stood up.

Although a good guess by opinion, he didn’t mind her there. He even wished she’d have stayed on, but yes, it would strike him weird as to have her cling onto him like that.

Misty picked up Togepi, who was glad to see her awake.

"So now where are we?" asked Misty. It looked like it was night with the black clouds streaked across the red sky. The forest ahead of them was dark and looked wilted. As the black clouds moved on in the chilled wind, a full moon showed, along with nearby planets, but they could barely tell the planets were there because of the darkness.

"This just keeps getting weirder," said Ash.

"We should take a look around first. Who knows what kind of place we landed on. I’d prefer it on Earth," said Misty. Her drooping ponytail matched the look on her face- long and gloomy.

Pikachu jumped onto Ash’s shoulders as they started walking along side what was left of a beach. Instead of the occasional driftwood that washed up on shore, there was an occasional dead fish corpse washed up on the dark soil.

This made Misty more sad. She hated to see all the marine life end up like this. If any seaweed, it was covered in some black, slimy substance.

"I’d hate to live here," said Ash.

"Who or what did all this?" wondered Misty.

All of a sudden, they saw a giant sea serpent poke its head and long neck up, out of the dark ocean. It roared as loud as a cannon firing right next to your ear.

Misty screamed and clung onto Ash.

"That doesn’t look like any pokemon to me," he said with his eyes widened, but he pulled out his pokedex anyway.

"Pokemonzzzz notck-ck-ck found- zzzzzzzzt-t- zzzzzzzzzt-t-t- zzzzzzzzzzt… ck-ck-ck- zzzzzzt-t-t-ck ck-" Dexter (the pokedex) sounded like it broke or something. It gave a last "ck" before all the small lights shut down and crashed along with the screen that used to be fuzzy and now blank.

"Auuuaauuu! What happened to Dexter?!" said Ash worriedly.

"This place might have an affect on mechanical objects… I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some sort of giant magnet under us. It’d fit this place perfectly," said Misty.

The sea serpent lunged at them and they shut their eyes closed, but they didn’t hear one another’s bones crunching, or even the roaring of the monster.

A swift, blue streak of something zipped past and Ash, Misty, Togepi, and Pikachu weren’t there. The serpent, instead of taking a bite out of the kids, took in a gulp of sand and dead fish corpses.

"Wha- what?" wondered Ash and they opened their eyes, finding themselves being carried by a woman, who was… flying.

The young woman was translucent, and the part that they did see was her blue skin and dress. She had translucent dark blue, but gentle eyes with no pupils or iris, it was just plain blue. Her hair was a little lighter, and streaked across her back. The end of her dress and feet didn’t show, it was as if she was made of a gas… and she was.

"Who- who-" Ash stuttered, but was answered before he could finish his obvious question.

"Call me Lila. I’m a wind sprite. It looked like you four needed some help back there," she replied.

Misty and Ash, along with Pikachu and Togepi looked behind them, seeing the angry serpent spitting out a mouthful of sand.

Ash looked at Lila… no, he didn’t exactly see all of her… he saw Misty on the other side, but tinted with blue.

"We’ll go down here," said Lila.

She slowly let them down in the dark and gloomy forest. Lila then had feet and the end of her dress appear so she could walk. Then she became solid and normal flesh and hair color appeared on her. She apparently had blond hair and she had pupils and irises that were dark blue. Her dress was made of satin and sprawled around her. Around her arms was thin silk that was attached to golden bracelets. One was a few inches under her shoulder and the other a few inches above her wrist. The silk puffed out and so it seemed her skin was tinted with light blue.

Ash and Misty spotted one tree that looked healthy and green, but the color was drained out as out of the ground, uprooted another girl, and the tree was wilted and black like the other trees.

"We have visitors?" asked the girl.

The girl that apparently came from the tree had green hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She had dark green eyes and darker skin. A dark green, tough, but stretchable fabric was made into a top with a mid riff. The same stretchable green fabric was made into a short skirt. Unlike the wind sprite, she had shoes made of again, the same fabric as the rest of her outfit. The ends came over her ankle so it was a short, soft boot. Across her torso was a tough vine that looped around her like a purse. Tied to the vine was a wooden box able to fit several items in. Then, around her waist was a belt and a sword was tied onto a loop at the side.

"Yes, Shaharazad," replied Lila, "They encountered a sea serpent."

"Oh, the poor dears," said Shaharazad. "Now how did you get here?"

"We were hit by a title wave after landing on some island, then we came up across here," said Ash.

"Who are you, anyway?" asked Misty.

The girl laughed a little, "Excuse my manners. I’m Shaharazad, a tree sprite. Don’t mind any faces pointing out of the trunks in any of the trees in this neck of the woods.

"Well, we better find you a place to stay. It’s not safe right now."

"It must be just as unsafe in the day," said Misty, clutching Togepi tighter.

"You’d be surprised," Lila said over her shoulder.

They walked through the thick, dark, forest, turning suddenly as if going another way was forbidden.

**

Brock sat down on the ground as a couple fairies gave him a small fruit to eat before being sent away.

"Do you think this will work, Queen Tiln’re?" asked Suune.

"We’ll have to wait for him to leave the kingdom. We’ll have some follow incase he’s not Him," replied Queen Tiln’re.

"I thought He was just a small baby," said Suune.

"Don’t be so stupid," said Queen Tiln’re. "He has aged. He should be about fifteen thousand years old, and that’s what it seems on the young man who came. We can tell, just as anybody can tell you’re about seven thousand."

"I can’t wait until I’m older," said Suune.

"Patience, young apprentice, patience," said Queen Tiln’re.

Brock seemed to have lost his appetite, so he set the strange fruit in his backpack.

‘I’ve got to wake up from this dream,’ Brock thought to himself.

**

Nurse Joy looked up at the TV that hung from the ceiling in the lobby of the pokemon center. A reporter showed the spot where Ash and co. mysteriously disappeared.

"We stand where Ash Ketchum, the new pokemon master has just disappeared. Nobody knows if he was kidnapped…"

The droning reporter’s voice trailed off to a mere background noise in Nurse Joy’s point of view.

‘I’m really worried. I hope he was just kidnapped, instead of… of…’ Nurse Joy thought to herself.

Just then, she heard a strange noise, like the sound that a pokeball makes when opening. Joy turned around and saw a figure in front of her.

"It’s you. You might be the only one that can help," said Nurse Joy.

**

"This is the safest spot around here," said Shaharazad as she gestured to a clearing.

All of a sudden, they heard a loud thumping sound.

"What’s that?" wondered Ash.

"Oh no. It can’t be," said Shaharazad, "Is it-?"

"Yes. It’s a full moon out tonight," said Lila.

"I was wondering why this place looked so dark and cold. I should have noticed earlier, especially since all the trees are withered," and Shaharazad slapped herself on the forehead.

"I’m afraid to ask, but… what’s so important about a full moon?" asked Ash.

Lila turned her head, not only to Ash, but to Misty also.

"On this certain island, we have dragons. They’re peaceful creatures, and are no threat what so ever… that is, most of the time. Think of them as Ware-wolfs. Every full moon, they become evil and fiercer. Of course, fortunately for us, a full moon only happens once every five months."

The ground rumbled as the giant dragon stomped towards them. They could already see the dragon in full size. It breathed fire, burning whatever was in its path. It had semi-circled, black scales and fierce blue eyes. It had two massive horns on the sides of the spikes on its head, which lead down to the tip of it’s tail.

"Tokie!" cried Togepi in fright.

"Just hide here," said Misty and widened the opening in her backpack. Togepi quickly scrambled inside, still crying.

‘This MUST be a dream,’ Misty thought to herself.

"Lila, you better get the others to help," said Shaharazad.

"Right," she agreed and became translucent.

Lila flew up into the red sky and bellowed out a shriek. About fifty more wind sprites appeared from the clouds- both male and female of course.

"We’ve got a dragon! Get the clouds!" shouted Lila.

Ash and Misty had no idea what "get the clouds" meant, but Shaharazad looked like she knew.

"What are they doing?" asked Misty.

"They’re going to move the clouds in front of the dragon so it will be blinded temporarily. I should watch," she replied and sank into the tree next to her. The tree bloomed into full growth for a second before Shaharazad seeped out, making the tree wither again. She kneeled on the top and squinted.

Ash and Misty watched, but more in awe.

"This is weird," he said.

"A little… too weird," added Misty.

"Pikachu," said Pikachu.

The wind sprites moved swiftly, creating a breeze so the clouds moved in their requested direction. They were so fast, they appeared only to be blue blurs.

The clouds slowly, but surely, moved in front of the dragon. It looked back and forth, looking for the pesky sprites, but couldn’t once the black clouds (remember they’re still black!) moved in front of its face.

The Dragon squirmed and stomped, shaking the ground and trampling trees that it hasn’t already stepped on. It waved its arms around like a maniac, trying to swat the sprites.

Ash and Misty looked up, worried the plan might face fault.

"Do you think they’ll make it?" asked Misty.

"I… don’t know," replied Ash.

"Okay, let’s scram," they heard a voice.

They turned around and saw Shaharazad.

"What?" asked Ash and Misty.

"They can take care of the dragon, we’ve got to get out of here," replied Shaharazad, "We could get trampled on if the monster starts walking. Misty, you grab onto my waist, and Ash, you grab onto my arm. Got that?"

"Yeah," they replied and did as told.

"Don’t mind me shifting forms," she said and first jumped onto a treetop.

Shaharazad let her feet dig into the branch she landed on. Then she took off and landed on the next tree, where she used her feet to keep her balance, by shifting it’s form into roots.

Pikachu, who at the time didn’t want to be hanging around some stranger, started getting sparks in his cheeks.

"Now’s not the time to thunder shock, Pikachu," said Ash.

"Piiiii…" he said worriedly.

"It’s okay, Pikachu," said Shaharazad and she patted his head.

Pikachu felt a little better, but still got nauseous from the spontaneous jumping.

**

"Well, you have been cared for. If you go east you should find your way back home," said Queen Tiln’re.

"Umm… thanks," said Brock.

Unknown to him, two fairies followed him. They flew behind him, keeping quiet so he doesn’t know he’s being followed.

After an hour of walking in the strange forest, Brock became tired, though he needed to urge on.

"He’s getting tired. If he uses magic, he really is the One!" said one of the fairies.

He flew behind the rock that Brock sat on, waiting to see what he does. The other flew above him, ready to move away if he looked up.

"I know! I’ll use Onix!" said Brock and he reached for his pokeballs, but found that none of them were there.

"Aaaaaaah! Where’s my pokeballs!?" he shouted out.

"Onix?" repeated the fairy behind him.

"Pokeballs?" repeated the fairy above him, and she flew down to the other.

"What’s a pokeball?" she asked.

"I don’t know, what’s an onix?" he asked.

**

Nurse Joy looked up at the TV screen that hung on the ceiling.

"We have discovered these four pokeballs that belong to the former gym leader, Brock Slate, who has disappeared along with the new pokemon master, Ash Ketchum and Misty, the fourth Sensational Sister of Cerulean City. We will give more reports after this break," said the reporter. Nurse Joy sighed. "It’s worse then I thought. I hope we can save them in time," she said sadly.

"We’ll wait here," said Shaharazad.

They could hear from the distance, what sounded like faint grunts from the giant dragon.

Then they heard some lighter thumping from behind.

"Schreeeeeea! Schreea! Schreea!" they heard another, smaller dragon trot over to them.

It was only as big as a dragonite, unlike the giant dragon miles away. It was a golden-yellow color with smoother, triangular scales, and gentle jade green eyes. Instead of the low roars like the other, this dragon made a light shriek. Although it looked quite harmless, Ash and Misty became scared.

"Another dragon!" shrieked Misty and she hid behind Ash and Pikachu.

"No need to be frightened. This is the only type of dragon that isn’t affected by the moon. He’s harmless. His name is Zenni," said Shaharazad.

"‘Zenni?’" repeated Ash.

"Schreeeea! Schreea! Schreea!" it chirped.

"Togep! Briiiiiiiiiiii!" Togepi popped out from Misty’s backpack.

"It’s a good thing that Zenni came here. We can ride him back once the dragon is gone," said Shaharazad.

As if on cue, Lila showed up in a blur.

"The dragon’s gone now. You can come back," she said. She floated in her true sprite form. Her transparent hair covered one of her dark, milky eyes. She smiled, waiting for an answer.

"We’ll catch up to you. We’ll ride Zenni," said Shaharazad.

"Oh! I didn’t realize he was there. Well, I’ll wait for you," she said and took off.

"Okay, Zenni. We’ve got some passengers. Can you carry a full load on your back?" asked Shaharazad to Zenni.

"Schreeea!" it chirped happily.

"Okay. I’ll go up in front to control Zenni. Misty, you can sit behind me. And Ash, you sit last, in back of Misty."

Ash decided not to complain. Even he knew that now was not the time, and definitely not the place to argue over who’s bringing up the rear.

Shaharazad glanced at Pikachu and Togepi.

"Since you two will be too busy holding on something else, you’re little animals will have to stick with me for a while," she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Misty, giving an extra squeeze to Togepi.

Shaharazad took the vine and box off from around her torso and took the lid off the box.

"Pikachu and Togepi can fit in here. I’ll leave the lid off for air. You won’t mind, will you?"

Ash looked to Pikachu, who wasn’t too sure about this.

"Can you, Pikachu? I don’t want you to fall off," said Ash.

"Pi," he nodded and hopped into the wooden box.

"I guess I have no choice," said Misty and she carefully set her egg pokemon into the box with Pikachu.

"Don’t worry. I’ve carried small animals around in this box, and they do fine," assured Shaharazad.

She lifted her left boot onto the top of the base on Zenni’s wing and propped herself up. She let her right leg slide down Zenni’s back and it rested onto the top of Zenni’s right wing.

"Okay, Misty," she said.

Shaharazad held out an hand to help Misty get up and over Zenni. After she slid her other foot over Zenni’s back, she took hold of Shaharazad’s waist so as not to fall off.

"We aren’t going to fly on him, are we?" asked Ash as he stepped forward.

Shaharazad laughed a little before answering, "No. Zenni’s too young to fly like most dragons. Though he can run as fast as an ostrich."

Ash and Misty only knew so much about plain animals, rather than their great knowledge about pokemon, so they were confused with the metaphors and similes Shaharazad gave to them.

"How fast does an ostrich run," Ash muttered to himself in sarcasm.

Ash tried to get over Zenni’s back, but slid off of the smooth surface. Misty giggled a little.

When Ash looked up he saw Misty’s hand outstretched to him.

"Here," she offered with a smile.

"Hm," Ash’s gave a polite grunt of "thanks", and he smiled too.

Ash sat at the base of the tale, strangely a foot away from Misty and Shaharazad.

"No, Ash. You have to move closer to Misty," said Shaharazad, waiting patiently for Ash to get ready.

He scooted up an inch.

"No, Ash. Do you want to fall off? You need to hold onto something. Move up," said Misty.

"What will I be holding onto?"

"Me-!" she tried to answer, but Zenni ran off, top speed, and it was a bumpy ride.

Ash, as surprised as he was, lunged forward in fright, and wrapped his arms around Misty’s waist.

They immediately blushed. They both had all sorts of feelings crawling around inside them: embarrassed, warm, happy, confused, worried, wonder, and nervous. Misty could feel Ash’s arms unwrap her and soon only felt his two hands on her waist (don’t want to make Ashy-boy look like a pervert!). She still blushed, and so did Ash.

**

"I can’t believe I lost them!" shouted out Brock. "And it’s not like I can just… make them magically appear somewhere!"

The two fairies’ eyes widened.

"Then that means," started one.

"He isn’t the One," finished the other.

"We must go back to the queen," said the female fairy.

"Right," agreed the male.

The two flew off as fast as they could, while Brock sat down on a rock.

**

Nurse Joy rushed out into the crowd of people where Ash, Misty, and Brock mysteriously disappeared.

"Out of my way, this is serious!" screamed Joy and she shoved people out of the way. She saw the cameramen, focusing on her, and she instantly smashed the cameras so they were no longer usable.

She jumped over the bushes, where nobody ever thought they could have disappeared. The crowd turned towards her in wonder. Joy knelt down and pressed her hand on the soil and grass. It felt firm and normal. She moved up a foot and felt the ground. It was soft and felt hollow. She pressed her thumb against the unusually soft ground and it broke through. The crowd gathered around her, some pushing and shoving to see what was going on.

Nurse Joy looked up with a serious face.

"Go away! Incase you didn’t know, this is a matter of life or death!" but this just made them more curious and people started chatting.

"Life or death?"

"Ash Ketchum might be dead?"

"Ash is dead?"

"No, but he might be."

"I think Nurse Joy has a screw loose."

"I don’t know, she-"

"Go-away!" she said through gritted teeth. Her voice was filled with coldness and was harsh. The people took a few steps back. Nurse Joy started to slam her fist on the ground. It started to crack, and she continually shot her fist into the grass and soil. Then, through the cracks forming, small rays of light shot through the narrow passages forming. People started gathering around, but she signaled them to keep away.

"You want to disintegrate or let your blood boil?! What part of the fraise ‘go away’ don’t you understand?! Leave! Amscray! I doubt you want to die!"

Everybody backed away, but close enough for them to see. Nurse Joy picked up a large rock and threw it onto the ground for a last hit. The bright light shot up and the rock, which was right in the middle, was disintegrated.

People started gasping.

"Hey! I thought I told you to leave! As in ‘go far, far, away until you can’t see me’!"

The Officer Jenny stepped out.

"Okay, okay! You heard her! If you don’t want to die, then go!" she shouted and moved out the crowd, who was complaining and mumbling on the way.

Officer Jenny turned towards Joy.

"It’s not…"

"Yes," said Nurse Joy, "I think Ash, Misty, and Brock may have fallen in."

"How are we going to get them out? Does any of them have a…?"

"Ash does. But this will be hard. You did see what happened in the middle of the battle, right?"

"Yes, but he’s their only hope. Where is he?" asked Officer Jenny.

"I have him right here," said Nurse Joy and she held out one of Ash’s pokeballs.

Officer Jenny looked at the now dimmed hole in the ground. Colors of the rainbow swirled around inside.

"I hope this works," she said.

**

They arrived at the clearing where Lila stood.

"What took you?" she asked.

"Ash, here couldn’t get onto Zenni correctly," said Misty as Ash slid off Zenni’s back.

"Well I’ve never ridden a dragon before… I never even knew they existed," he mumbled the last part out.

"It’s okay. Not many have ever ridden a dragon before," said Lila. "Shaharazad, would you mind getting a little food for these two? They must be very hungry."

"Sure. Okay, you two. Out of the box," said Shaharazad and she held up her wooden box.

Pikachu hopped out with Togepi on his back and they leapt to Ash and Misty.

"I’ll be right back," she said and pulled out her sword from her belt. The tip shimmered in the dull moonlight.

"With that sword, who knows what’s so tough that they need to be cut with something like that," said Misty.

"Whoever said she’d be cutting anything?" asked Lila.

Shaharazad walked up to a tree filled with fruit, hence the fact that the tree was wilted, and held up her sword that shone, reflecting the red sky. The sword glowed green and the fruit started to shake.

"Hold on. This tree is mine, Shaharazad," hissed a voice.

"Tyra?" wondered the tree sprite.

A woman jumped out from the thick black leaves. She had scarlet hair and red eyes. She wore a short, tight dress made of orange and red satin. She wore high-heeled shoes and slinked as she walked. She had a slight smirk saying "I’m high, while you’re a low-leveled piece of unnecessary bunch of air".

"I was here first. You must go and find some other tree."

"Don’t be so competitive with me. We have visitors," said Shaharazad.

"Oh? Who might they be?"

"Don’t be hard on them. They’re two pokemon trainers from Earth. There must have been another open portal some place. But please don’t be mean, they're just as old as the last visitors, they’re only of age 11."

"You know fire doesn’t mix with pokemon! It’s now against the fire sprite rules that we may not make any contact with them!"

"Just because one had something of the element of water, it doesn’t mean you’ll be hurt by all of them."

"You know, I could beat you any time I wanted!"

"Then try to," said Shaharazad and she got into a fighting position.

"Fire always conquers plant! I could take on all of the tree sprites!"

"Then you can fight me as well," said a deep voice and a man dressed in green jumped out from a healthy tree. The tree then withered and turned black.

"Jay, what are you doing here?" asked Shaharazad.

"Can’t let a lady like you get in a catfight all alone, now can I?" he said with a smirk.

"Jay…"

"Erhem… well, anyway… you want to fight or just dance there?" asked Jay and he turned to Tyra.

"Hm. Well, I have no time for you two. I have work to attend to," she said and leaped back up to the tree, obvious to the tree sprites, that she was reluctant to fight.

"So," said Jay after a while, "We’ve got some unexpected visitors?"

"Yes. Two young pokemon trainers. We haven’t seen any for thirteen years."

"I can’t believe those fire sprites. They’re always so vein," said Jay.

"They’ll learn… They’ll learn," said Shaharazad.

"For so we hope."

Shaharazad laughed a little, "Yeah. Hey, think you could help me find a tree that doesn’t have a fire sprite lurking around?"

"Sure," he said.

**

"What? So he isn’t the One?" asked the queen, "That’s a shame. Well, we might as well return him. Send the magician to find him," ordered Queen Tiln’re.

"Yes," replied the two fairies and they flew off.

Brock got up from the rock, to see a fairy in front of him. He was dressed in a purple robe and carried a small wand.

"Wha- who are you?" asked Brock.

The fairy bowed his head down for a moment, then spoke.

"My name is Icathe, and I am here to send you back to your home land," he said.

"What do you…" but Brock was cut off as the magician quickly said some jumbled words and Brock instantly disappeared.

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny were about to throw one of Ash’s pokeballs when Brock appeared in front of them.

"Huh? Where am I?" he wondered and looked around. He found himself in the general spot where he fell into the portal.

"Brock, you’re back!" he heard a female voice.

Nurse Joy ran up to him, but she still had a worried look on her face, which made it so Brock didn’t become perverted again.

"Brock, where’s Ash and Misty?" she asked.

"I- I don’t know. A minute ago I was facing some fairy and now I’m here," he sputtered.

"You don’t know where Ash and Misty are?" asked Officer Jenny as she came up to him.

Brock shook his head, "No. They fell some place else… I guess. I was too concentrated on where I was falling, rather then looking for where they were falling into."

"Maybe they landed to the sprites’ homeland," said Joy.

"Who can tell, except for this big guy," Officer Jenny held out one of Ash’s pokeballs.

"Hey, isn’t that-" started Brock, but he was cut off.

"Charizard," answered Jenny for him.

**

"Sorry I took so long, we ran into Tyra," said Shaharazad, coming out into the open with Jay.

"Yes, she really is a snotty brat," said Lila coldly.

"Ah, are these the two young pokemon trainers who fell out through a portal?" asked Jay, looking at Ash and Misty with their pokemon. The four were keeping their distance.

"Mhm," replied Shaharazad.

She walked up to them and opened her wooden box, which was filled with strange fruits.

She was about to give some to them, but another fire sprite jumped out from the tree they were under.

"Oh, Christine, it’s only you," said Shaharazad in relief.

Christine dressed like Tyra, but her long brown hair was tied up in a braid in the back, and her face showed gentleness and care.

"Hi, Sharazad, Lila, Jay. We have some guests?" she asked.

They nodded.

Ash and Misty, who were already bewildered, looked up to Christine.

"Oh, a pokemon. What’s this one called?" she asked and she patted Pikachu on the head very lightly.

"I thought fire sprites couldn’t come in contact with pokemon," said Jay.

"I was kicked out of that clan a long time ago for breaking a different rule, remember? I hate being a fire sprite. I wish I were a water sprite or something," she looked down.

"Well, at least it’s a great relief that one of the fire sprites aren’t as vein as most," said Lila.

Christine chuckled a little, then turned her head to Ash and Misty.

Now, Christine was psychic, something that only water sprites could ever have the power of, and even that was rare. She, having the element of fire, also represented love. Christine looked deeply into Ash’s eyes. He didn’t notice, he just glanced everywhere… but mostly Misty. He showed much interest in her.

‘He has tremendous care for the girl,’ Christine thought to herself. ‘Hmm… he has a journal…’ an idea popped into her head.

"Shaharazad?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"You were going to give them some fruit, no?"

"Yes, I was."

"Give the boy this," she pulled out a round, red, exotic fruit.

"But this fruit is barely used! What has happened that would need it? We don’t even know the purpose of this fruit. An occurrence fit for it has never happened before!"

"The boy likes the girl, as she does for him. Follow my orders and you will see how this will work," said Christine, "And give the girl this," she held out a soft, blue fruit.

"Temporary clumsiness and temporary accurate hearing. I don’t know how this will fit, but okay," said Shaharazad.

She turned to Ash and Misty.

"I have special food for you, since you’ve been so patient. Here," she held out the two exotic fruits.

Misty naturally took the blue one, and Ash took the one that was left.

"Thank you," they both chimed.

"Pikachupika, pika pika? (Shaharazad, what do I get?)" Pikachu turned to her.

"Tokie?"

She instinctively knew what they said and gave him a smaller fruit, and gave another to Togepi. She then gave the rest of the food to Zenni.

They were a little cautious of eating the strange looking food, but ate, for they were about to starve.

At the same time they finished their second-to-last bite of the fruit Christine just finished explaining her plan to Lila, Jay, and Shaharazad.

All of a sudden, Misty felt a strange feeling on the inside of her ear, and she started to cup the outside of it with her hand.

Ash was shaking a little, like he could sit up straight.

Lila looked to her right, seeing Misty with her hand on her ear, and Ash, shaking a little.

"Ash, are you okay?" asked Misty.

"Yeah, I just feel kind of… clumsy or something… like I can’t pick something up without dropping it," he sputtered out. Then he murmured something that could barely be heard, "Weird."

"Maybe you’re just nervous with all this stuff going on," said Misty, who seemed to hear in just fine.

"Wha- how did you know I said that?"

"What do you mean? I heard it just fine."

Christine saw this all, and knew it would work.

"It’s very late. We’ll have Shaharazad and Lila make a couple beds and you can rest. Does that sound okay?" said Christine.

"Yes, thank you," they replied.

Shaharazad used her powers to form soft leaves and laid them in two piles next to each other.

Lila used her powers to shift the leaves so they spread out a little more.

"You really are nice. Is there any way we can repay you?" asked Misty.

"Believe me, Misty. We are the ones repaying you. It isn’t often that outsiders come, so we make the most of it," replied Lila. "Now please. Rest. We have a big day tomorrow," and she started to fly up, as the others left too.

"Where are you going?" asked Ash.

"Where each type of us sleep. Wind sprites go into the sky and clouds, tree sprites go into trees, fire sprites… well, most are at the volcano in the middle of this island, and others go where they please," replied Jay.

Jay and Shaharazad leaped up into the trees above Ash and Misty and it instantly turned green and healthy. Lila became translucent and flew up into a dark cloud. Christine walked behind a thick tree. Then, they all poked their heads out, looking at what they would do, hoping they would do what’s expected.

Ash kept tripping over himself as he walked to the pile of leafs. Instead of laying himself down, he just fell down. Misty looked a little worried.

"Ash are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes. Luckily the leafs broke my fall," he said just above a whisper. Misty was ten feet away, but still heard his muffled voice.

"Okay," she said and walked to the other bunch of leaves.

"Pi?" wondered Pikachu, who did not think Misty could ever hear that. Even Pikachu could barely hear him, and he was right next to Ash!

Pikachu, Togepi, and Misty instantly fell asleep, but not Ash.

He shakily put his hand over his jean pocket, and could feel his tiny journal inside, then took his hand off. With his hands being most shaky, his handwriting might have messed up, so he left it.

Ash was going to write more of what he felt of Misty and what happened at the portal, but it would have to wait, though he didn’t have to. He had already written down enough about Misty, for anybody to understand.

He then fell asleep, still squirming around a bit. Then the shakiness was enough for his small journal to fall out and hit Pikachu on the head.

The sprites watched more closely, for this was going perfectly.

"Pika," Pikachu shouted in a whisper and he removed the book.

Pikachu looked at the cover, and saw it was blue. Thinking that if it was blue, it may have belonged to Misty, he put it in her hand, then fell asleep again.

The soft "Pika" was enough to wake Misty up with her accurate hearing senses from the enchanted fruit she ate.

She opened her eyes and sat up, only to find Ash’s journal in her hand. She didn’t know what it was, so she opened it and saw different dates and Ash’s signatures labeled inside. She then knew it was and was about to close it, knowing it wasn’t right to read somebody else’s journal or diary, but a certain word got caught in the corner of her eye and took her conscience away. It was a common word in that journal, and seemed to have been carefully written; that word, was "Misty".

She read the last entry:

Misty stopped at seeing everything in all the parenthesis- Ash spelled everything fine. Although she kept reading the rest since it had been about her, and how she was actually ‘pretty’ in Ash’s opinion.

On the page next to it, she saw a photograph of them. It was taken at the party next to Maiden’s Peak. They were both wearing the formal robes. Misty was wearing pink and Ash was wearing blue. They were both smiling happily. Lanterns in the background made a nice affect, too.

Misty had kept the copy of this exact picture in her diary. Then she remembered a line in Ash’s journal, " to win Misty’s heart".

‘Ash, you knucklehead, you’ve already won my heart ages ago,’ she thought to herself.

The sprites looked tentatively in their places. They only needed to see Misty’s expression on her face to know what she thought.

She slipped the journal back into Ash’s pocket, who didn’t notice, because he was too busy sleeping through his shaking.

Misty put her hand on his shoulder, hoping that would wake him up.

Ash just tossed and turned.

"Ash…" whispered Misty. She paused then repeated his name, "…Ash…"

He didn’t move except for his continues shaking. Misty looked up into the red sky in annoyance from the fact that he wouldn’t wake up. Misty brushed her hand across Ash’s cheek and he flinched.

"W-w- wha…" he mumbled out as he opened his eyes.

"Ash, can you wake up for a second?" asked Misty.

"Misty, what time is it?" he said, looking up at her.

"I don’t know. Can you sit up?"

He sighed, but sat up cleared his eyes. "What is it, Misty?"

She was about to say she loved him, but she temporarily lost her voice. She just lunged forward and kissed him.

At first he was surprised, but then realized what was going on. She was kissing him! He didn’t care why, he just kissed back, wrapping his arms around her. The sprites grinned widely.

Though with the fruit still in their stomachs, Ash began to slip off, then up to keep his place, then down to her chin again.

Ash and Misty started to laugh at this. She lowered herself a bit and let Ash lean over her shoulders, so he could balance himself and not fall down.

"Why haven’t the fruits’ magic worn off yet?" asked Jay.

"I thing it has to be completely… digested," said Shaharazad.

As if on cue, Ash and Misty stopped the "hug".

"Kind of inconvenient to interrupt this romantic scene, but I have to go to the bathroom," said Misty.

"Me too," said Ash. (*Sorry Ash and Misty, you have to go behind a tree. There is no bathroom!*)

**

Nurse Joy tapped the button on Charizard’s rightful pokeball and he came out.

"Chaaaar," he yawned.

"Charizard," said Joy firmly.

Charizard peeled open one eye.

"You have to save Ash."

He reeled his head and spit out a flame in disgust from his name.

"Charizard, there is no point in loafing around! What more can Ash do? He’s already a pokemon Master! How much higher can he get?!"

"Chaaaar. Charrrrrrr chaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr, (He only has eight kinds pokemon including me. If he catches more, then he will prove himself worthy)" he replied.

"He’s in a place where there are no pokemon!" said Jenny.

"Charrrrrrr.(That’s his problem.)"

"If you don’t get him back, then who’s going to feed you, take care of you? You won’t have a trainer, and you’re too used to a pokeball and human to be set out into the wild," said Joy.

"Chaaaaaaaaarrrrrr. Charrrrizaaaaaaard, Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr. (You’ll have to. It’s your duty to take care of sick pokemon, like it’s in your will power, and you have a lot of will power.)"

"Then I’ll go against my will. You either get a good trainer back, or wither away."

He blew out another flame, "Chaaaaaaaarrrrrrr. (Fine. But I’ll regret this)"

**

Misty walked into the clearing and sat down next to Ash, who no longer was shaking and had clumsiness embedded in his soul.

"Why didn’t you tell me before?" asked Misty.

"I don’t know… Just… never built up the courage… so I hid it… but I guess I didn’t do a good job of it if you noticed."

"No, Ash! I didn’t know! I had no idea! I wasn’t sure if you’d say you loved me too when I told you first. But it doesn’t matter, does it?"

He smiled, "No. No, it doesn’t matter at all," and with that he kissed her gently.

"Well, better hit the hay… or umm… leaves," said Misty. "Goodnight, Ash."

"Goodnight, Misty," replied Ash.

They linked each other’s hands as they fell asleep on the two beds of leafs.

Shaharazad and Jay jumped out from the tree, silently. Lila flew out from the cloud above them, smiling. Christine walked out from behind the tree across the clearing, looking impressed with herself.

"You think we should tell them what we did?" asked Shaharazad.

Christine looked at the two kids, paused, then answered, "No. It’ll just be our secret."

"They really look like a nice couple," said Lila softly

"Kind of reminds me of two people I once knew," said Jay and he nudged Shaharazad.

"Jay we were only good friends, and that’s all."

He only needed to utter one word to make her blush deeply, "Roses…"

She looked embarrassed and looked down to hide her face. She remembered that when they were around Ash and Misty’s age, Jay would give her a yellow rose every morning when she woke up. Though she didn’t want to think of it as love, because yellow roses only signify friendship, though Jay gave it to her in a manner of love, which made things confusing. Especially since it looked as if Jay still had some sort of crush on her, which could annoy somebody a lot, but she still stayed near him and they acted like a real couple.

**

Charizard lifted his head up from the portal.

"Chaaaaarrrr, (It’s not working.)" he said.

"I don’t get this. What does Ash’s charizard have to do with bringing him back?" asked Brock.

Officer Jenny turned to him, "It’s said that one of the only ways to bring a person back from this 7^th dimension is with the hidden psychic powers of a charizard. Although the charizard and the person being saved must have a friendship with each other. Unfortunately, it seems this charizard has no liking to Ash."

"Isn’t there any other way?" asked Brock.

"Yes. But only one, and this seems just as impossible," started Jenny, "It’s said that when two people love each other, they create hidden psychic link. If the two of them are both going out through the portal, their psychic link and love will help them go through. But whose down there who will want to come back up, other then both Ash and Misty? With the way those two act, it’s hard to tell weather or not they really do love each other, and if they do, they sure do a good job of hiding it." (*You should know, Officer Jenny!*)

"My cousin in Vermilion City always said that when two people fight, they really care for each other," said Nurse Joy.

"We can only hope," said Jenny.

**

Ash and Misty opened their eyes at the same time. They expected to be in the same, dark, atmosphere as last night, but when they looked around they saw Zenni peacefully sleeping on the tall, green grass. The tree they were under was green and filled with strange, but ripe fruits, the sky was no longer dark red with black clouds streaking the sky. Instead the sky was a gentle, very light, green color. The distant planets showed more clearly. Out of the five was blue planet with aqua rings around it, which caught Misty’s eye.

Bushes and shrubs were fluffy and full of life. They heard birds chirping from a distant tree. A soft fragrant of life filled the air.

Pikachu’s ear flicked a bit before he woke up. Togepi stretched out from his shell and squeaked a little.

"What happened here?" wondered Misty.

"Stuff like this doesn’t just happen over night," said Ash.

"Actually it does," they heard a voice, "Good morning."

They saw Lila flying down from a fluffy white cloud.

"What do you mean?" asked Misty.

"I told you, you’d be surprised. You see, during the night of a full moon, everything turns black, dark, clammy, and cold. Though as the sun rises, the island rises to its natural beauty, both day and night."

"And I always thought full moons represented romance," said Misty.

"Not on here," then she lowered to a very light whisper, "but in some ways… it can."

"Tokie! Tokie! Briiiiiiiiii!" squeaked Togepi.

"Oh, you need some food, Togepi. Here, you can have the leftover of my fruit," said Misty and she pulled out of her pocket, a sixth of the blue fruit.

At this Lila zipped over and grabbed the fruit. ‘If it eats this, who knows what’ll happen,’ she thought to herself.

"No!"

"Huh?"

"I mean- no, you don’t want Togepi to eat this old, half eaten thing… ehh, I’ll give him a new one!"

She picked a fruit off the tree above them.

"Owe!" it sounded as if the tree was talking.

"Pika?" wondered Pikachu.

Jay slipped out from the tree with Shaharazad. This time, the tree stayed healthy.

"Try not to pick the fruit off a tree inhabited by sprites," complained Jay, rubbing the back of his head, where the fruit apparently was.

"Sorry, but it’s hard to tell," said Lila.

"Wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaoooooooooooorrrrrrrrrww…" they heard.

Two small trees parted and a large, purple dragon with long horns, and huge wings walked up.

"It’s a dragon!" exclaimed Ash.

"Rrrrrrrrwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaooooouuuuuuu," it said in a low, gentle voice.

"Remember. The full moon is gone. Hmmm…" Shaharazad studied the dragon for a while. "It’s an Artisan," she said.

"How is it an artisan?" asked Misty.

"Oh- saying that it’s an ‘Artisan’ means it’s common. It’s a regular old dragon, wandering through the forests. Don’t mind him, and he won’t mind you."

"I suppose that seems logical," said Ash.

"But you aren’t, Ashy-boy," said Misty under her breath.

"Now, I think I know a way to get you two back," said Shaharazad.

"You do?" they asked.

She nodded, "But it’s very risky. You could end up in a parallel universe or worse."

Christine walked up, "Hey, what’s up?"

Lila walked to her, "I was wondering… if we do try and get them back, will they be strong enough?"

Christine looked at Ash and Misty for a moment, then thought for a while. Finally, she answered, "No. They have only discovered each other hours ago. We must let their love grow, along with their physical strength, or they’ll perish in the portal. I don't think their concentration will be enough, especially if we tell them."

Lila nodded, "Shaharazad." She gestured to her friend.

Shaharazad walked over, "What is it?"

"They aren’t ready yet," said Christine.

"Okay," said Shaharazad and she walked to the two young ones, "Ash, Misty?"

They looked up to her.

"For now we can’t go. Something… has occurred there."

"What? Is there any way we can help?" asked Ash.

"I can’t tell you, and no, there is no way you can help. We’d let you if you could."

"Then how long to we have to stay here?" asked Misty.

"We’ll see. It’s hard to tell," she said in a sweet voice, "It may take a couple days, maybe more."

Their faces saddened.

"I’m sorry. I know how homesick you two must be. You’ve been moved from a wonderful peaceful life, to a strange area full of magic and sorcery, that may even kill you at some times, but I promise you, we’ll get you back no matter what."

They nodded shortly.

"Then where will we go? Should we stay here?" asked Misty.

Shaharazad looked to Christine, and she read Shaharazad’s mind (literally) and nodded.

"Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Togepi? I know a place where we can really relax for a while. How’s that sound?"

"It sounds great!" said Misty.

"I’m up for it!" said Ash.

"Pika!"

"Tokie! Briiiiiiiii!"

(*No parts for the others, they’re still thinking of how to get Ash and Misty back!*)

Shaharazad lead them through the thick trees. Sparkling spider webs and the strange fruit made an enchanting effect. Sunlight ran through the spaces in between the branches that arched over them like a tunnel.

Thought the small spiders among each web, shook up Misty a little, and she stayed close to Ash.

Ash, though, wondered why he didn’t see any pokemon around.

"Why aren’t there any pokemon around here?" he asked.

Jay looked at him for a while, then to Pikachu.

"Pokemon don’t exist on this island. This is a completely different dimension from yours. So you can’t rely on finding one," said Jay.

Ash sighed and forgetting she was there, leaned over Misty in boredom as he would on a table.

"Ash, are you trying to get a piggy-back ride?" asked Misty.

"No, why?"

Misty blushed before saying so, "Because you’re leaning on my back."

He looked down, then saw a clear view of her backpack, so he shot back up. The sprites tried to look innocent.

"I ehh…" Shaharazad decided to cut him off.

"We’re here!" she pointed in front of them.

In front of them, they saw a large river rushing through. If you had a bird’s eye view, you’d see a large, long clearing going straight through the thick forest.

Strange flowers grew from the bank of the river, trees grew strange fruits, and a very light misty sprang up from the river.

Lila walked to the bank.

"Neia," she called out, "Are you there, Neia?"

They saw a figure start to rise out of the water.

It was a girl with long, shimmering, blue hair, eyes the color of deep blue, and she held a trident in her left hand.

Around her chest, was a light blue cloth, that appeared to withstand water, and she had a mermaid’s tail instead of legs and feet, and that was a blue-green. Her fin was very thin and delicate, and it ruffled at the sides a little like silk blowing in the wind.

"Is she supposed to be a mermaid?" asked Ash.

The girl laughed. Her tail became legs and she stepped out. She now wore a long cloth around her waist and it was cut along her left leg until it reached the knot of the light blue cloth.

"No, I’m a water sprite. You two must be Ash and Misty?"

They gasped, "How did you know our names?!"

"I’m psychic. Some water sprites are. It sort of… runs in the family… or umm- some families."

Ash and Misty started to walk apart at the thought of her being psychic, and if it was true she might know about the little couple-thing going on.

Lila looked to Neia and she looked back with a look on her face.

Lila nodded (*Just to let you know, Neia, being psychic, guessed all of what had happened from beginning to end, and Lila nodded "yes" as in saying "yes, we also have to stay here for a while"*)

Neia looked back to Ash and Misty, "Don’t worry. Your secrets are safe with me," she assured.

They still kept their distance, just to make sure.

"You are welcome to stay here as long as you need. There is plenty of fruit growing from the trees, too."

"For now, you can rest," said Christine.

"We’ll be out doing some… work," said Shaharazad.

Neia dived back into the water, Jay and Shaharazad walked back into the thick forest with Christine, and Lila turned completely inevasible but they sensed her flying upwards.

"Now what do we do?" asked Ash.

"Beats me," said Misty.

Ash let Pikachu down from his arms as did Misty with Togepi. They both sat down, cross-legged as Pikachu and Togepi ran about.

"But I could do this," said Misty and she started kiss Ash.

"Pi?" wondered Pikachu and he stopped when he saw Ash and Misty.

"Tok…" said Togepi who noticed it next.

"Pika," Pikachu walked over.

Ash and Misty continued kissing as Pikachu looked up at them, puzzled. He tapped his paw onto Ash’s leg, hoping he would notice, but his reaction was different.

Ash released the kiss and his eyes widened as he accidentally swatted Pikachu away.

"Pikachu, what are you doing???" asked Ash.

"Pikapi! Pi pikachu pika pi! Pika pika!" he shouted out waving his arms about.

"You mean… when did I-!?!?" Ash had a sweatdrop and his face beat red.

"Ash, what’s Pikachu saying?" asked Misty.

Ash ignored her and zipped to Pikachu, fumbling out words she couldn’t hear.

"Huh?" wondered Misty, staring at Ash.

"Tok. Briiiiiiiiii!" said Togepi.

"It’s absolutely nothing, Pikachu! We’re… still… just… friends!"

"Pikapi, pikachu pika!?"

"Ehh… ‘That kiss?’ It’s umm- uh…"

Pikachu folded his arms.

"Aaaaah! I don’t know how to tell you… I mean, about her, of course!"

One of Pikachu’s ears flattened embarrassment. "Piiiii… ?"

"Okay, we love each other!"

"Piiii!? Pikachu pika!"

Ash shook his head. "I didn’t hate her!"

"Ash? Is everything okay?" he heard a voice from behind.

He looked up and saw Misty.

"Yes! Everything’s fine! Pikachu just… felt sick!"

Pikachu face-faulted.

Misty kneeled down to Pikachu. She pressed her hand onto his forehead.

"He doesn’t have a fever. Maybe it’s the fruit he ate."

Ash and Pikachu had a sweatdrop.

"Hmm… does this mean it grew, or it shrank?" asked Shaharazad to Christine.

She studied them for a while, "It’s exactly the same. It would have grew if Pikachu didn’t interrupt."

"How long before we have to return?" asked Jay.

Shaharazad looked up into the sky and looked at the sun, but still shielded it a little with her hand.

"In about an hour or so," she said.

"…Though we better keep an eye on Pikachu, incase he really is sick…" Misty continued.

"You know?!" Ash cut in before she could say something else, "I think he’s okay now. Right Pikachu?" he asked the last part through gritted teeth.

"Pika!" he nodded and "merrily" skipped around them.

"Okay, then," Misty patted Pikachu’s head, "But you better not eat anything unless we or the sprites say it’s safe."

Pikachu trotted off with a sweatdrop from what Misty went on about.

"You seem to make a good doctor," said Ash finally.

"You think?"

"Yeah, you know a lot about taking care of pokemon. For all I know you could have grown up as a nurse rather than a trainer."

"Oh.. you think so?" she said, thinking of why she’d ever become a nurse at this age.

"Yeah! What? Was it something I said?"

"So you want me to leave you or something to become a nurse at the age of 11?"

"No! I didn’t mean it like that! What I mean was that you, err, maybe when you do get older or something you’d… well, then again…" he stuttered, not sure of what he was trying to say and Misty put her hands on her hips, waiting for the full sentence to finish.

Christine stared at them again, "This… could take a while," she said.

"Hm," was Shaharazad and Jay’s only reply.