Ash slowly awoke to the sound of dust and debris crumbling from above, raining down onto the cold floor he was lying on. Once his vision returned to normal, Ash looked up at the giant gap in the stairs and his thoughts came back to him as quickly as he had fallen. Ash instantly rushed up to his feet, realising that the safety of town could still be in jeopardy, but was relieved to hear voices in the house, ones of worry as the people came to help Ash get out. Ash knew that the girl he had helped must have said something once everyone had woken up, maybe Professor Oak was back.
"He fell down here" a little girl's voice came closer and closer, the steps creaking as someone slowly made their way to the middle, before peeking down through the large crack in the stairs, an expression of puzzlement on the man's face.
"But, there is no one down here from the looks of it" the man got up and turned to the girl. "Have you been 'seeing' things again?"
"No, Daddy" the girl called back, her face bewildered.
"I am right here!" Ash called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. Howevwd, no one answered back. Ash wasn't sure what was going on in that moment, he tried to call out again and again but the people in the house continued to talk.
"Let's go speak to Professor Oak, he might be able to help us" the girl's Father spoke before the door shut suddenly.
Suddenly, there was a shift in time and Ash could feel time moving, he watched as the crack in the stairs slowly disappeared, the house becoming what it used to be but with Ash stuck inside. Ash lurched violently and put his hands on his knees, keeping his balance.
"I miss you Ash" Serena called from the stairs and Ash could even hear her crying, tears streaming like a waterfall against the stairs.
"But I am right here" Ash could barely speak, he croaked out the words as he couldn't help but cry too.
Serena laid down flowers on the corner of the stairs and Ash listened to her walk away. He collapsed into a sitting position, feeling completely exhausted and uncontrollably emotional. Then, another shift occurred. However, this time, Ash didn't feel sick. It wasn't a shift in time and the feeling made Ash rise to his feet.
"You wish to escape?" a voice echoed throughout the darkness of the enclosed space Ash was trapped in. Ash instantly pinpointed the voice as Team Shadow's boss, the one they only knew as 'The Boss'.
"What's going on? Am I dreaming?" Ash asked, constantly spinning around to keep his guard up.
"Let's just say you have been a valuable part of our experiments. Just remember how dangerous we can be, that's the only thing you can learn" The Boss said to Ash, his voice echoing and then fading away.
"Maybe this has something to do with Darkrai..." Ash murmured to himself before another voice echoed.
"Ash, wake up! Please wake up!" it was Serena calling out.
"Huh?" Ash looked up, as the world around him changed once more. He felt everything suddenly changed shape completely, eyes closed once more. Ash instantly sat up from the position he was in at the beginning, lurching once more, putting his hands on the floor to keep himself up.
"Finally, you're awake" Serena sighed with relief, peering over the crack.
"Is this real?" Ash asked, looking up at Serena.
"Of course, it's real, silly" Serena smiled, her eyes red. Ash could see she had been crying and he couldn't help but smile a little.
"Well, how can I get out?" Ash looked around the barren room he was in, completely isolated from the outside world, besides the crack in the stairs, of course.
Without another word, a rope came flying down the hole, towards Ash.
"Grab it!" Professor Oak's voice shouted, filling Ash with relief. He grabbed onto the rope and felt how tight it was as he scaled up to the crack, Professor Oak and Serena holding onto it so it was climbable.
Ash eventually hauled himself up onto the stairs once more, instantly being tackled into a hug by Serena, who buried her face into his chest.
"I'm fine" Ash put his arms around her and felt her nod.
"I know, I was just really worried" Serena whispered softly, tightening her grip around Ash.
"Shall we go home? I have a lot to talk about" Ash's words made Serena look up with intrigue. She could only muster up a nod, wiping away the forming tears of joy. They headed home and went to Ash's room. On the way back, Ash noticed that everything around him was being restored to its former glory, the fires caused just a distant memory.
"Woah, are you okay Ash?" Serena asked, stopping Ash. Ash turned his head, noticing she was looking at his arms.
"I feel...fine?" Ash wasn't sure how to reply, so Serena poked his arms. Nothing.
"You have loads of scratches up both of your arms, probably your legs too I bet" Serena continued to walk on beside Ash, heading to his room.
As soon as they both sat down, Ash explained the 'dream' he had and everything that had happened leading up to him falling through the stairs. Serena knew what had happened beforehand and confirmed Ash's story.
"One moment, everything was normal and then I suddenly woke up on the floor" Serena explained once Ash had finished. "It was really strange"
"Before I came back, Parker and I had a little dispute with Team Shadow. I bet they are just keeping us distracted from the real danger, making us worry and defend ourselves" Ash frowned with anger, clenching his fists.
"We still have the things with Lance and Parker himself. What is going on?" Serena wondered, also frowning.
"Parker said he is going off on his own, presumably working on this from a rogue point of view, at least for now. We should try and alert everyone of the situation" Ash said, a thought popping into his head. He realised that they still didn't know what the actual situation was. All they knew was that Team Shadow was ready to cause trouble once more and they all needed to stop them.
Night came and everyone fell asleep almost instantly, Ash snoring away his exhaustion. However, Serena was still awake, thinking about the possibilities and the situations that could occur, when two things happened simultaneously.
"I think it's about time I stopped sleeping," Serena said to herself, her eyes flashing red. Her eyes began to widen, the original colour returning. "W-w-what?"
Serena stepped up to the mirror, looking at her perfectly normal self when her eyes flashed a deep red colour once more.
"You think you could escape me?" Serena watched as her own mouth moved like it was natural, but it wasn't something she wanted to say at all.
"What is this?!" Serena began to continuously change personalities, her eyes changing to a red colour each time the other Serena spoke.
"You don't remember me? What a shame" red-eyed Serena frowned at herself in the mirror and then slapped herself.
"I'm only dreaming," she said as she slapped herself.
"One year ago and a little more after that, I was born inside of you, Serena" the red-eyes Serena could see stared hard at herself in the mirror.
"It can't be..." Serena started to shake, trembling with fear. "We got rid of you long ago. Ash got rid of you"
"Oh, but that's where you are wrong, dear old Serena. I have only been asleep this whole time, but it's time" Serena continued to speak to herself, the red eyes signifying her shift in personality.
"Time for what?" Serena wondered silently, fearing for the worst.
"The Boss requires our assistance, so we shall assist him as necessary" the red-eyed Serena's lips curled into an evil smile, but everything seemed to fade when Ash called out.
"Serena, you okay?" Ash called out with a faint whisper through the door.
"I'm fine" Serena suddenly felt like she was herself again. Like it was natural for the shift in personality to occur. It felt weird to her, but she could tell that it was gone, for now. She didn't want to tell Ash, because he was one of the main people to reverse the experiment Team Shadow had done on Serena, turning her into someone that helped their cause, someone who was devoid of emotions for the people she loved and cared for. Her Pokemon also became stronger when in that state.
"Try and get to sleep, okay?" Ash said to Serena, his footsteps fading into his own room.
The second occurrence came from Ash. As he slowly returned to his slumber, he felt the world spin around him, suddenly appearing back into the hole in the stairs, exactly like it was in his dream.
"Huh?" Ash got up and looked around, silence greeting him as a cold breeze wafted through the tiny room he was trapped in. However, this time, Pikachu was down in the hole with him.
"Pika..." Pikachu stared at Ash from the shadows, looking afraid.
"Pikachu, it's okay, I am here" Ash stepped forward, but Pikachu, with his expression still intact, backed off from Ash.
"Why did you abandon them, Ash?" Pikachu was speaking and this sent Ash onto the floor in shock. He knew he was dreaming, but it still shocked him.
"I would never abandon my best friends" Ash stared into the shadow, Pikachu's yellow body barely visible in the darkness.
"But you did. You said you loved them all, but you hate them. Every single one of them, you left them all behind and started a new journey, alone, with me" Pikachu used the words 'them', Ash knowing he was describing the other Pokemon he had.
"It was part of our journey, Pikachu. I wanted to catch as many Pokemon as possible and use the new Pokemon I had never met to battle opponents throughout every region" Ash explained, but Pikachu turned away with disgust.
"No. The only reason you left them was because you felt like they were weak. Too weak to face the new region you would travel to" Pikachu's words hurt Ash, although it was only a dream, a trick of the mind.
"You're all strong. Strong enough to defeat even the biggest, strongest Pokemon. As a team, we can be-"
"No. No, we can not. You betrayed the trust of your Pokemon and must pay the price" as Pikachu finished speaking, various Pokemon of Ash's came rising from the shadows. Greninja, Buizel and many others started to head towards Ash, surrounding him. By the time they was so close they was touching him, Ash felt himself getting smaller and smaller, trapped by his own Pokemon.
"Help!" Ash yelled as Pokemon after Pokemon clambered onto him.
"No one can help you. This is your penance, Ash Ketchum" Pikachu's words echoed, a plethora of repeated words from beginning to end, in a complete cycle in Ash's head. With each word spoken, they got louder and louder until there was a sudden silence, Ash rising up from his bed and back to reality, sweat dripping down his head, nervously panting. Ash looked to the end of his bed, where Pikachu slept soundly, before slowly dropping off back to sleep.
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Q&A Time
Q1 - GeorgeD117 - What County do you live in? I live in Lancashire, close to the coast of the Irish Sea. The closest city is Blackpool and also Preston.
Q2 - amour_7 - How much more chapters of this fantastic book? Oh, I can't answer that. If I told you how many more were left you would know when it ends and expect it to end. Let's just say a lot more is to come :]
Q3 - Evo_Leafeon - Are you going to do anything with Pikachu? Like a type of mega evolution? I won't say yes or no. All I can say for now is that there will be plenty of experiments involving the characters and Pokemon like we have seen now with Ash's 'real' dreams.
Q4 - Kawaii_Link - What football team(s) do you support? My main team is Liverpool (YNWA), I also support my local team AFC Fylde and the team I support out of the country is Barcelona.
Q5 - TheEggDog - How do you drag on chapters? Is this supposed to be a complement? I somehow find it insulting, the word 'drag' suggests that my chapters are too long. I don't know if I understand this, so I'll just answer it as if you want to know how I write what I consider the minimum at the moment. I just write. That's the simple answer. I find the story in the chapter and constantly look at the past chapters to connect them all to the current chapter and write based on my thoughts for the future of the story.
Anyway, they were the questions you asked me. If you have any more, just drop them in the comments and I will answer them. This chapter was pretty mysterious, wasn't it? xD
Have a nice day all:D