Chapter 8 – Old Friends, A New Enemy?
“Misty!” a few members of the crowd nearest to her called out.
She beamed at the people she recognised and blushed as a handsome red-haired boy who was taller than her, approached her.
“Misty!” he said as he stood before her. “It’s great to see you again!”
“Hi, Rudy!” she replied. “How are you?”
The teenager wore black trousers with a long-sleeved shirt. On top, he wore a white, sleeveless jacket. He was the gym leader of Trovita Island in the Orange Archlopelogo and had met Misty on her travels with Ash. He had instantly fallen in love with the beautiful trainer and had tried to persuade her to remain at his gym, though she had chosen to be with Ash.
He looked at the scowling trainer behind Misty and remembered him as the challenger who had been Misty’s travelling companion.
“Hiya, Ash! Figured out why you’re a lucky guy yet?” Rudy teased.
“Huh?” Ash was in such a bad-tempered mood about Rudy’s arrival that he hadn’t quite acknowledged what Rudy had said.
Rudy chuckled to himself as Misty blushed.
“Guess that day hasn’t come yet!” he bowed to Misty. “There may not be any music to accompany us but your beauty radiates a harmonious melody that has echoed in my ears from the day I met you. Would you like to dance?”
Misty accepted his proposal and they both began dancing around the room. Misty laughed and her cheeks tinted a darker red as she watched Ash’s unhappy face as they danced.
They stopped dancing and laughed as a young man tapped Misty on the shoulder. It was Dorien, a young gym leader whom Ash, Misty and Brock had met before his gym had been approved by the Pokemon League. He had started off as a private gym in the Johto area and knew Misty’s sisters well.
“Hi, Misty!” he said cheerfully to her. “How’ve you been? I spoke to your sisters earlier and they’re a bit worried about you because you haven’t been in contact with them so I said I’d keep an eye out for you. Maybe you should call them before the demonstration starts.”
Misty gasped. “Oh, I forgot!” she replied alarmed. “Wallace is there a phone around where I could call my sisters quickly?” she asked the gym leader without thinking.
Ash looked at her surprised. Her reaction to him was as if they hadn’t even witnessed the strange painting in Wallace’s bedroom and he suspected that it hadn’t crossed her mind as she was so busy socialising with friends she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Wallace smiled at Misty. “Of course, please follow me. I would also like to ask you something in private.” He said while glaring at Ash.
Ash narrowed his eyes at him, and then looked alarmed at what he had just said to Misty.
“Misty, you can’t go alone!” he shouted at her without realising what he’d said.
Brock, Max, and May, who were talking to Rudy, looked at him suspiciously.
Misty looked at Ash with a confused expression.
“Why not?” she asked slyly.
“Because… because of that thing with thingy.” Ash replied awkwardly as Wallace watched him.
Misty couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.
“What?” she asked perplexed.
“The incident earlier with the thing in the room.” Ash replied frustrated through gritted teeth.
Misty shook her head and sighed.
“Wallace can you show me the phone please?”
Wallace led her behind a curtain to their left and they both disappeared behind it. Ash looked extremely nervous. He went over to his friends and reminded them about the painting with Misty in Wallace’s bedroom. They shouted at Ash for letting Misty go off with Wallace on her own and made their way quietly over to the curtain as not to attract anyone’s attention. Ash went to pull back the curtain when Wallace appeared in front of him.
“I’m sorry but I cannot let you enter in there.” He said firmly.
“Why not?” Ash sounded agitated.
“Because behind that curtain is off limits to all guests and I can not let you progress any further.”
“Well, what about Misty? She’s behind there!” Ash yelled.
A few members in the crowd started looking towards the arguing pair. Wallace looked at Ash sternly. He called to one of his guards standing by the front doors.
“Please make sure that no one goes through this curtain.” Wallace commanded the bulky guard as he stood in front of the door.
“Attention guests!” Wallace shouted loudly as the crowd faced him.
He was wearing the same light blue swim shorts that he was wearing earlier and stepped towards the crowd. The crowd moved out of his way to reveal a large pool area with a waterfall cascading water down into it. Suspended above the flowing water was a diving board and two platforms where presumably the trainer and gym leader stood while battling. Ash glared at Wallace and then the guard before walking away to the centre of the hall. The others followed.
“We have to get Misty out of there.” Ash whispered to the gang firmly.
“But how?” May questioned. “We’re not gonna get past that guard are we.”
Ash looked at his yellow buddy who was sitting on his shoulder and nodded to it.
“May, I need you to let out Skitty and Beautifly. I’m gonna need them for a distraction.”
He whispered his plan to the others and they nodded their agreement. May released Skitty and Beautifly and explained to them what she wanted them to do. Skitty ran at the guard and weaved in and out of its legs. Beautifly danced around his head as the man tried to shoo them away. The crowd was distracted by Wallace making a speech on one of the platforms. The man hopped backwards and forwards, attempting to catch the two Pokemon as Ash slipped past him and behind the curtain.
It was dark and there were no lights around. Ash felt for the wall and followed it down a small corridor. He could hear Wallace’s voice progressively getting louder as he walked further down the corridor.
“And I would like to introduce my beautiful assistant for this evening, Misty from Cerulean City!”
“Huh?” Ash said and walked faster down the corridor.
He heard the crowd applaud and cheer loudly. Light was becoming visible at a turning on the right and he looked out of it to see the back of Misty in a pink and purple bikini standing on one of the platforms. On the one opposing her stood Wallace. She held a pokeball in her hand and had two others by her feet. Wallace was also holding a pokeball with two spares by the side of him.
“Now, Misty and I will have a proper Pokemon battle, 3 on 3, and then I will go through some of my specialised techniques. We will not go easy on each other and will both be fighting to win. I will also record this battle so that I can point out some of my techniques that I use in this battle and go into further detail later.”
He indicated to a cameraman standing by the side of the pool who waved to the crowd as he adjusted his lens.
“Let’s begin!” the referee shouted and held up two flags.
Misty kissed her pokeball for luck and released her Gyarados. Wallace allowed his Milotic to come out of its pokeball and land gracefully in the water. The ground shook beneath them and Misty fell backwards on to her platform. Wallace managed to keep his balance as the crowd screamed. The roof of the gym caved in and a hot air balloon shaped as a Meowth descended from the air and hovered above the broken roof.
“To protect the world from devastation.” A dark red haired woman recited.
She was leaning casually against her partner who continued their poem.
“To unite all people within our nation.” A blue haired man grinned as he watched the crowd panic.
“To denounce the evils of truth and love.”
“To extend our reach to the stars above.”
“Jesse!” The girl shouted and hung off the side of the balloon.
“James!” The boy imitated her on the other side.
They both screamed as they realised that they were about to fall and hauled themselves back into the balloon and recovered. Jesse cleared her throat.
“Team Rocket, blasts off at the speed of light.”
“Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight.” James finished as a Meowth hopped up in front of him.
“Meowth, that’s right!” The Pokemon chanted.
It allowed a gigantic hose to fall down into the water and started sucking up the Pokemon and the water.
“No! Gyarados!” Misty shouted desperately as she tried to recall her Pokemon.
It disappeared up the hose. The two pokeballs beside her fell into the water as the waves brushed against the platform and Misty dove in frantically after them. Under water she grabbed them and held on to them tightly as she was whirled around in circles, moving closer and closer to the pipe. A few of the members in the crowd were attempting to dive in after Misty, including Rudy, Dorien and Wallace but a young man beat them to it. Ash yelled out Misty’s name and dove into the water after her – still fully clothed. He caught sight of her underwater and began swimming towards her. He was dragged closer to her by the current of the water moving nearer to the hosepipe but got caught up in the swirling water. Misty opened her eyes and saw Ash. They began spinning around each other – trying to grab the other’s hand. Ash managed to grab hold of Misty’s wrist, as they were both sucked up the drainpipe.
End Chapter 8
Well, as promised Chapter 8 is now up for you to hopefully enjoy and review. Personally, I don't think this Chapter is that great. I will make a better attempt on Chapter 9 to make up for this poor attempt.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed Chapter 7, your opinions are always appreciated.
Originally posted by my lovely pair up buddy
roodude15
Well since you still have school for about another 3 weeks you should maybe try to focus on your school first then on your spare time with your story. We dont want Water Spirit to fail. Just take your time and write only when you can that way you can catch up on your work.
Thanks for understanding. The only problem is that I'm going on holiday for a month and won't have access to the Internet. But I will TRY and take a laptop with me and try and get a connection but if not I will post up a lot of Chapters for you to read when I come back. Sorry everyone.
Originally posted by
Shawn1036902
And as for the PM notification for new chapters, add me to that... uh, list.
This gets better and better, and actually inspires me for a future AAML story I have in mind.
You are on my PM list, now.
And make sure to tell me when you post up your story so I can read and review it! 
Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I'd be interested in knowing where to make improvements and what you generally think of it.
Thanks
Water Spirit
XxX