Okay, I heard about this game from my friend TaiKetch'em. I tried it... and stopped as soon as I reached the third level. Then I watched a walkthrough of the game cause fuck puzzles man... then discovered the skip puzzles button in the pause and I... nearly lost it.
Enjoy.
Ash Ketchum was a 17-year-old boy on his way home after another adventure. It wasn't anything too much different than the last few times. He lost the league again and was going back home not to stew, but he had heard that it was possible to battle in the Kanto League tournament, so he wanted to try it again.
At his side was his best pal Pikachu, a Pokemon that had stuck by him throughout every journey thus far. Now that they were on their way home, they hadn't expected anything to... happen... you know what's about to happen.
"Hurry! He's coming!" Jessie yells as she watched the boy with binoculars.
"We're going as fast as we can!" James yelled from the whole he and the cat Pokemon were digging.
"Why don't you help us?!" Meowth yelled up.
"You really don't expect me to do all the work do you?" The redhead says before looking back.
"Alright!" James says as he and Meowth got out of the hole and then quickly covered it. "It's done. Now hide!"
The trio quickly jumped into bushes before they could get caught. Speaking of, the boyfriend was still walking happily oblivious to his surroundings before his foot suddenly sunk ankle-deep into the ground. He and his Pokemon looked puzzled for a moment... then the ground broke below them as they fell in, yelling while crashing into the pit.
"Ugh, what the heck?" Ash says as his Pokemon shook his head. "What's this all-?" He started to say before he heard laughter. "Of course." He says in an annoyed tone.
"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie says.
"Make it double!" James continued.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"Are you serious right now?" Ash says as he stopped listening to the jokers' motto he's heard thousands of times. "Ya know what, I'm not gonna waste my time with this. Come on, Pikachu." He says as said Pokemon jumped on his shoulder and they started to climb out.
Then suddenly the ground below them shook causing them to look down. They saw a strange symbol before it glew red and they were suddenly lifted into the air. They started to freak out before they were enveloped in a bright red light.
"-at the speed of light!" Jessie finishes off.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James finishes as well.
"Meowth that's... right?" Meowth suddenly becomes confused as he looks into the hole. "Where's the twerp?" He says.
"W-What?!" Jessie says in shock.
"He's not there!"
The three looked in the hole in disbelief, finding it was empty.
"Wha-How did-?" James starts to say before looking around. "Did he get out?"
"That can't be! This hole is way too deep for him to get out in time." Meowth says.
"Well, where could he be?" Jessie says.
Then James noticed something. "Wait a second."
He then grabbed a shovel and started digging around the walls of the hole until it revealed what appeared to be a cracked stone floor with a symbol chiseled into it. He looked shocked but his other two members watched from above, confused.
"Oh boy. Guys... do you know what this is?" James called up to them.
"What, James? What is that?" Jessie asked, annoyed.
"Guys, this is a pentagram!"
"A penta-what now?" Meowth asked, puzzled.
"It's ugh..." James quickly climbed out. "It's a pentagram. It's a demonic symbol." He says before they gave him a stare. "Ya know, the thing they use to summon demons and stuff?" He asked as they continued staring. "Oh for the love-You don't know what this means, do you?"
"What? What does it mean for us?" Jessie asked.
"Well, it must've done something to that twerp! Where'd he go?!" Meowth screamed.
Then they heard some whistling before they turned around and saw a tall and buff looking man man wearing shades walking in their direction with a shovel. He slowly stopped both walking and whistling and stood in the middle of the road. They stared for a few seconds... a few more seconds... and a few more seconds... then he gasped, dropping his shovel.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" He yelled as he ran over to the hole in a panic, getting on his hands and knees looking down it. "NO! You bastards! Goddamn you! Damn you all to hell!" He yelled while slamming his fist on the ground.
"Uh... so... were you the one who did this?" James asked.
"Yes! I did! I was coming back to dig it up now that the I had my house prepared." The man tells them.
"What? What were you planning on summoning a demon for?" Meowth asked.
"I wasn't planning on summoning any. I was planning on going to Hell." The man explained.
"What were you going to Hell for exactly?" Jessie asked.
"Ah you wouldn't get it." The man says before sighing, turning around and leaving. "Forget it. I'll try again some other time."
"Geez. That guy was weird." Meowth says.
"Forget that guy! Did you not hear what he just said? That means the twerp is in Hell and so is Pikachu." Jessie says as the boy remembered.
"Oh, no that's right. What are we gonna do?"
"Well, the twerp and his friends usually get into situations like this all the time, right?" James says. "Who knows? Maybe he'll be able to get back no problem."
"Yeah, like that one time when we were trapped in that... what was it, mirror world?" Meowth mentioned.
"Well, hopefully it turns out that way. I wouldn't know what I'd do if they don't." Jessie says before a thought came to mind. "Wait, was that guy just planning to go Hell with just a shovel?"
The three looked at each other.
"Well, maybe he had some Pokemon he was gonna go with." Meowth says.
"I don't recall seeing him with any Pokeballs." James says.
While he trio of rockets continued to talk between each other about what the man might've been doing, our hero and his Pokemon were falling to their presumed doom screaming out for dear life hoping for some kind of miracle. As they fell they passed through a cloud, shaking their heads before looking around.
Before they could see where they were, they hit into the cliff of a mountain, crashed into another cliff, cries of pain came from them as they hit the side of the mountain before they started rolling down it. The boy came to a stop, laying on his back before his partner rolled around him once before falling into the same position.
Ash groaned in pain as he sat up while rubbing his head before looking around. The environment looked like some kind rock terrain, mountains and boulders everywhere, mostly bare and flatland if anything. He would've thought it was normal if not for several things. Everything seemed to have a red tint, the land, the sky, and there was even some lava pools nearby.
Seeing all this, Pikachu handed his trainer his hat back before jumping on his shoulder as he stood up.
"Where are we?" He says.
Taking another look around, Ash looked up towards the sky. Despite falling from it, there didn't seem to be anything that would've dropped him and his partner into this strange place.
"I don't think we're in Kanto anymore." He says as Pikachu nodded in agreement. "Well, this wouldn't be the first time we've been in a situation like this. Remember when we went to the mirror world." He says before taking another look around. "Though... this is way different."
He ran to one of the boulders and climbed up it, standing atop it as he took another look around.
"Well, if we're gonna be stuck here, we should find at least somewhere to stay." He says before Pikachu chimed in and pointed in one direction. "Hmm?" He looked and saw what looked like a small building just up ahead. "Okay, that's a good start. Let's head over and see if we can find some answers."
With that said, the boy jumped off the boulder and began running in the direction of the building. The path was clear for a minute before he came into contact several boulders in his way. He tried to jump like he normally did, but it was taller than the first one he came across so jumping over it wasn't gonna cut it.
"Okay, Pikachu, think you can use Iron Tail?" Ash asked his partner.
Pikachu nodded before his tail glowed and he bounced off his shoulder. "Pikachu!" And just like that, he obliterated the boulder into mere chunks before landing on his trainer's shoulder.
"Awesome job, bud." The boy says before he stepped over the chunks. "Now we can-" He stopped when he saw yet another boulder blocking the way. "Are you kinding me?" He sighed. "Okay, can't keep using Pikachu for these."
He put a finger to his chin and started to think. Looking at the boulder and then the wall he calculated a plan in his head that he figured would work. Moving a foot back, then crouching, placing his hands on the ground, before he sprinted at the wall, jumping at it, planting his foot against it, then bounced off of it. Doing a flip in the air, he landed on top of the boulder, almost losing balance before he hopped off it, landing on the ground.
"Alright!" He says while pumping a fist before turning and- "GAH!" He yelled and stumbled back.
Standing before him was a tall skeletal looking figure with horns that looked down at him with an unreadable face... well, it didn't necessairly have a face, but its gaze was intimidating. Both boy and his Pokemon stared back at it with wide eyes, expecting it to do something. But it didn't do anything. Seeing it wasn't acting hostel, the boy took a step forward.
"H-hello?" He asked before it just rose a boney hand and waved. The trainer and Pokemon looked at each other. "Do you know what this place is?" He asked as it tilted its head at his question. "Okay, well, we're just gonna..." He side stepped around the skeleton then started backing away. "Yeah."
He kept walking back until the skeleton was out of sight and he bumped into something before turning around, finding himself in front of the building he was going to. He opened the glass door and made his way inside. To his surprise, there didn't seem to be anyone there. Well, except for one person. A single woman behind the front desk working on a laptop, eyes practically glued to it.
The boy and his Pokemon looked at each other before approaching the desk. The woman behind it had silvery-white curly hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a red button up shirt with a black suit and glasses. When getting closer, he was able to see that she appeared to have small horns and a long pointed tail. It made him wonder if she was wearing a costume or something but he brushed it off as he didn't think it was important.
She looked exhausted more than anything. Bags under her eyes, which were half closed, begging to close and rest. He immediately felt bad for her, seemed like she hadn't had a break in forever.
"Uh, hello." He asked.
"Welcome to Hell's Customer Service. My name is Pandemonica. How may I be of service to you?" She says in a tired tone not looking up at him.
"Well-" The boy started to say before he stopped and he and his Pokemon's eyes widened. "I'm sorry?"
"I said welcome to Hell's Customer Service. Now what do you need?" She asked, still not looking away from her laptop screen.
"... H-Hell's Customer Service?" He asked. "I-is that... t-t-this, place is Hell?" He asked.
"Uh-huh. Let me guess, you just died. I know this is hard to take in, but you'll get used to it."
Hearing that, Ash and Pikachu looked at each other as the news began to sync in. The trainer put a hand on his head before looking down at his arm. He pinched it as hard as he could, but despite how painful it was, he didn't seem to be waking up.
"Me... Pikachu... in Hell? T-that can't be right! There's gotta be some kind of mistake." He says.
"Well, I'm sorry to say. Everyone dies eventually. A lot of people don't believe they deserve to be here, but... well, they are here." The woman behind the desk tells him.
'Wait, if that's the case then...' The boy thinks before looking back at her horns and tail. 'Are those real? Is she a demon?' He thought before he saw the tail moved a bit in a natural way and he knew she was one. 'Well, guess that answers my question.'
Pandemonica snuck a glance at him before she did a double take and looked at him. Her tired state seemed to deteriorate and her blood red eyes widened upon seeing him. She got up from her chair and left to the other side of the desk.
"Woah, woah-" Ash started to say as she got in front of him, then grabbed his cheeks before her face was inches away from his.
Her eyes piercing his own as she stared into them before she turned his head to the side. She seemed to inspect it for a second before taking off his hat, then feeling around the sides of his head.
"No horns." She says before she leaned over his shoulder and looked down. "No tail." She then backed up and took another look at him. "Oh shit... you're a human!" She says in shock.
"Wha?" Ash says as he puts his hat back on before she suddenly picked Pikachu off his shoulder. "Hey!"
"Nothing, nothing..." She says while checking every bit of the yellow mouse. "Nothing." She says before the trainer took his Pokemon back. "A mortal human and Pokemon duo here? That's impossible."
"Wait, wait, so we're not dead?"
"No, it doesn't look like it at all." Pandemonica then rose a brow. "How did you get down here?"
"I don't know." Ash says before thinking. "I mean, me and Pikachu fell into a hole and then this weird symbol glowed on the ground before I suddenly fell into this place."
"Hmm..." The woman then took a piece of paper and pen then drew the symbol. "Did it look like this?"
"Yeah, exactly like that."
"A pentagram. Of course." She says before taking a deep breath. "If you wanna get out of here and back to your world, you'd best be going to Lucifer for help."
"Wait, Lucifer? T-the devil?" He questioned her.
"The one and only. It's really the only way to get back home." She tells him before putting a hand to her mouth and yawning. "I would take you there."
"Please, do."
"If you give me something in return."
"Of course." Ash sighed before he started to think. "Anything specific?"
Pandemonica stared at him for a moment before moving her glasses to rub her eyes. "Maybe if you could get me some coffee when I take you back to the living world. I'm not myself without it."
"Deal!" He says before realizing something. "Wait..."
"Awesome. Come on, I'll take you to Lucifer." The woman says while closing and picking up her laptop.
"Wait, hold on are you saying you wanna come with me back home?"
"Eh, maybe for just a little bit. Anywho, you ready to go or what?"
"Uh... l-lead the way."
"Alright, come on then."
Pandemonica waved for him to follow before walking to the doors. Ash looked at Pikachu, then they shared a sigh before they started following the demon woman. As much as he had encountered some weird things on his journeys, he hadn't thought he'd be going through traveling in Hell of all places.
Thankfully though, he seemed to have met the right person who was willing to help him out of this place. Hopefully she would help him deal with some trouble along the way as well. That wouldn't change the fact that he wasn't gonna let it get to him. Knowing that there was a way for him to get out of Hell, he held onto hope that he would.
Even still, the thought of meeting Lucifer, the devil himself... will he be able to even face him?
To be continued...
Fuck it, I'm doing this.