Disclaimer: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya; you killed my father… Oh, woops, wrong script. I’m afraid I still do not own Pokemon, although my sister owns quite a lot of the videos…

"Ha! Found another one!" Misty held the stick she had just lifted off the ground aloft, then added it to the growing pile in her arms. Pikachu and Togepi watched her curiously. The fiery red head didn't usually get excited about gathering firewood. In fact, she usually objected to it strongly. The two pokemon were rather confused by this, and were seriously hoping that this good mood wouldn't vanish as suddenly as it had come up.

For her part, Misty really didn't know why she was having such a good time doing the chore she usually detested. She could think of no real reason she should be so happy right now, and quite a few reasons why she shouldn't. Oh well.

As if in answer to her thoughts, a few drops of rain splattered on her upturned face and the bundle of wood in her arms. She glanced up at the clouded sky. "We'd better get back," she said to the pokemon. "I think we have enough for one night."

"Pika," agreed Pikachu. Misty knelt to let Togepi climb up on top of the pile of wood, then, leaning over to shield both from the drizzling rain, set off back towards the cave at a brisk walk with Pikachu scampering at her heels.

As they came closer to the cave, the rain came down harder. Misty hoped she could get inside before the wood was completely soaked. If it was, she could make Ash go get some more. No, that wouldn't do any good. All the wood he brought back would be wet as well. Plus, she didn't particularly want to make him go out in the rain looking for wood while she and Brock waited dry in the cave. That would be mean.

Thunder crashed. She increased her pace to a jog, and as she came closer saw Brock dashing around from the other side of the mound, bag of fruit held over his head. The rain came down harder. The two dashed into the shelter of the cave, narrowly avoiding a collision.

"Ash, we're back, wake up!" Misty called, allowing Togepi to hop down off the wood before she dropped it in heap on the floor. Receiving no response, she added, "Food!"

Pikachu gazed around the nearly empty cave. "Pikapi? Pi pi, pikachu?"

Brock set down the bag of fruit. "Ash?" Then to Misty and Pikachu, "I don't think he's in here."

"That's ridiculous! He was asleep, right over there!" She pointed to where the boy's hat lay on the ground, then gasped. "Brock, look!"

Pikachu and the older boy both turned to look where she was pointing.

"Pika!"

"Oh no!"

All ran to the edge of the gaping hole that had opened in the ground and peered down. A steep, gravely slope ran down for a ways, then disappeared into darkness. All of them had probably spent more time at the bottom of pits than the average person, but something about this one struck Misty as ominous.

"Ash!" she called. "Ash? Are you down there?"

"Pikapi? Chu, pi pikachu?"

Only silence answered them. The three exchanged worried glances.

"Well, come on!" shouted Misty, grabbing her own flashlight and lowering herself into the hole.

"Hey, be careful," cried Brock. He hastily lashed a coil of rope around a jutting stone near the hole's gaping mouth. "Here," he said, handing the other end to the girl. "Tie this around your waist."

Misty firmly wedged her shoulder firmly against the gritty roof of the steep tunnel, wincing slightly as the cold stone came in contact with her bare skin. As best as she could with one hand, she took the rope Brock offered her and knotted it about her waist.

"Try going down backwards," the older boy suggested. Misty nodded, and gripping the rope firmly turned around and began backing down slowly and carefully. As soon as she was out of the opening and fully into the tunnel, Brock also gripped the rope and began backing down, Pikachu on his shoulder.

At first, they traveled in silence. Most of the gravel had slid down when Ash fell, and now the rock was firm beneath their feet. Every so often, one of the two would stumble and slip, but manage to catch themselves on the rope. Then the pit, or tunnel, took a turn and the opening above them vanished, plunging them into complete darkness. Misty froze and Brock backed into her.

"Misty?"

"Pikachupi?"

The red head said nothing. She hated this. She hated this dark, clammy tunnel, which was really more of a pit, with who knows what lurking in it. Don't think of bugs, she told herself. Whatever you do, don't think of bugs. Oh great. She tried to force her feet to move. She hated this. Her feet wouldn't budge and her hands seemed frozen in place on the rope.

She forced herself to remember why she was doing this. She was doing it for Ash, stuck at the bottom, maybe hurt or unconscious. He would do the same thing for her in a moment. Then she smiled as she realized how true that was. He would risk, and had risked, anything and everything before to help his friends. She began moving again. This couldn't go on forever. Could it?

At last they reached the point where the tunnel dropped off. Misty tried to set a foot down behind her, but found nothing to set it on. Again she froze.

"Ash?" she called tentatively.

"What is it, Misty?" asked Brock.

"The ground just disappears…"

"Hmm…" The older boy thought for a minute. "Pikachu, how about a little light down there?"

"Pika!" The electric mouse jumped from Brock's shoulder to Misty's and carefully aimed a small bolt of electricity down the opening. For a split second, the tunnel was brightly illuminated, then darkness descended over them again.

"Misty, what did you see?"

"It doesn't go down far. We can jump."

"All right. We're almost out of rope, so untie it from your waist and drop it down. It should be enough to reach the bottom so we can climb back up. Then jump."

Misty nodded and did as he instructed her, then steeling herself for impact, she jumped. She fell, and just when she worried she had badly misjudged the distance, her feet hit the ground. She fell to her knees on a pile of dirt and gravel. "Owww…"

"Pi, pikachu," Pikachu complained.

"Misty? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just let me move out of the way and you can come." She scrambled to her feet and shuffled off to the side, slipping and sliding on the loose earth. "Okay."

There were some scrabbling noises and a thud as Brock jumped. "Oof. How about some light?"

"Oh, right." Misty took her flashlight from her belt and swept its beam in the direction Brock's voice had come from.

"Ow, not in my eyes."

"Sorry."

Brock also took out his flashlight and clicked it on. "Ash?" he called.

Pikachu began sniffing about on the ground. "Chu, Pikapi, pi pi pikachu!" He began digging.

"Was he here?" asked Misty, her heart pounding. Pikachu nodded and kept digging. "Pika!" he cried triumphantly, holding something aloft.

"That's Ash's poke-belt, and all his poke-balls! He must be around here somewhere. Ash!"

"Quiet, Misty. You don't want to shout too loud. This place might not be very stable."

"Where's Ash?" she demanded.

Brock swept his flashlight around the chamber that enclosed them. "If I know Ash, he wouldn't have wanted to just sit around and wait to be rescued. If he could have moved at all, he would have tried to find a way out on his own. There."

He pointed the flashlight down a wide passage that opened up off the side of the chamber. "And look." In the dirt on the floor of the passage, a single row of footprints could be seen heading off into the darkness.

The walk down the passage seemed interminable. For Misty, it felt like one long nightmare. The footprints disappeared all too soon as the floor of the passage turned from dirt to hard, uneven stone. They noticed other passages branching off to the sides, but Brock firmly ordered that they stick to the main passage, saying that that was the logical thing to do, and was what Ash would have done.

Misty would have liked to argue that Ash didn't always do what other people would consider "logical," but the silence of the tunnel seemed to resent being broken by even the tinniest whisper. It was a tangible sort of silence, and it mingled with the shadows around them, forming a net that pulled them onward. Misty began to dread what they would find at the end of the tunnel, though she told herself she was being silly, that they hadn’t yet seen anything to really be afraid of. But when she glanced down at Pikachu she saw that the fur on the pokemon’s back was standing on end.

"What’s that?"

Brock’s voice, coming to her suddenly out of the darkness, made her jump.

"What’s what?" she asked nervously.

"That, up ahead." He spoke in nothing more than a harsh whisper, but it grated jarringly against the oppressive silence.

Misty squinted her eyes and peered ahead. At her feet, Pikachu did the same. She could see what Brock was referring to, or maybe couldn’t see was a better way of putting it. The tunnel before them seemed to be crawling with shadows, strands of nothing twisting and weaving and winding and twining across their path. An eerie blue light seeped through the cracks.

Pikachu’s cheeks sparked ominously, the flashlight in Brock’s hand flickered and went out. Misty stood frozen in her tracks. Something long and strong and black that wasn’t really there, couldn’t really be there, lashed out and struck the useless flashlight still clutched in Brock’s hand. It fell to the ground and smashed. Brock jumped back as if stung.

The word hissed through the darkness. Misty, Brock, and Pikachu shrank closer to each other.

"What have you done with Ash?"

Misty couldn’t help but notice the slightly panicked note in Brock’s voice, and she knew it would be in her own as well, if she tried to speak. But she couldn’t speak. If something had happened to Ash… The though made a lump rise in her throat that she couldn’t talk over even if she had wanted to.

There was a rustling noise, almost like laughter, and then the soft, echoing voice spoke again. "Or perhaps they are an unexpected gift, sent to reward us for our patience. Very well," the voice (or was it many voices?) hissed at them. "You wish to see what has become of the one known as Ash whom you call friend? Than enter and behold!"

The web of shadows blocking their path slithered apart. Misty suddenly wasn’t so sure she wanted to see what lay beyond them. But see she did. Before her lay a cave, a great cavern lit by an eerie blue light that emanated from a softly pulsating lake that filled the cave’s center. Every ripple sent hordes of shadows scurrying and flickering about the walls and ceiling. And barely visible, suspended over the center of the glowing lake by misty ropes of midnight-

"Ash!"

"Pikapi!"

Misty rushed forward, only vaguely aware of Picachu and Brock sprinting after her. Ash…

Halt, commanded the rushing voice, and the shadows about them writhed. Pikachu’s cheeks sparked ominously. Do not try to approach the lake or he and we and all of you will fade to our realm, at the bottom of nowhere in the middle of nothing.

"Let him go!" cried Misty, unable to take her eyes off of Ash, hanging limply over the eerie lake.

Brock stepped forward to stand beside Misty. "What do you want with him?"

"Pika chuuuuu!" Pikachu released an angry thunderbolt. It struck the ceiling and walls of the cavern, but found no other tangible target. Hissing laughter surrounded them.

Misty felt helpless tears brimming in her eyes. "You have to let him go! He’s our friend. If you don’t-"

Something for nothing… A flicker of hope sparked in the back of Misty’s heart. She took a step forward. "Does… Does that mean that there’s some bargain or trade we could make?"

A sigh echoed around the chamber that Misty took to be an affirmative.

"Be careful, Misty," whispered Brock from behind her. She nodded silently.

"What do you want?"

Misty had a strange feeling that this question had been directed at her alone, and sure enough, as she glanced back at Brock he gave no sign that he had heard. She looked up at Ash. His eyes were closed and his head lolled forward onto his chest. His clothes were torn, and she could just see that his arms were scraped and bruised from the fall. Strands of messy black hair fell over his familiar face. She lowered her gaze to her toes.

"Anything," she whispered.

"What is it you want? Would you take me instead?" She ignored Brock’s and Pikachu’s shocked gasps.

We would never ask for anything so crude. This is no fairy tale, child. There is something we want that would serve us as well as he would. The shadows around Ash seemed to tighten their grip around him.

"What is it?"

"How can I give you something when I don’t even know what you want?"

A hundred reasons why she should not agree to any such thing flashed through Misty’s mind. One reason why she should hovered before her.

"What will happen to Ash while I’m looking for… whatever it is?"

Misty wasn’t sure what all that meant, and wasn’t sure she wanted to know. The important thing was that they would let Ash go. She could feel herself trembling. If you fail, however, both you and he will be taken. If you succeed, both will be free to go. If you accept this bargain, that is the chance you take. If you refuse, we will depart now with your friend, our prize. On this, you have our word, and our word is never false. These are your choices. Now choose.

Misty felt a silence descend around her and envelop her like a dark cloak. She felt as if she were isolated from every one and every thing, a single breath of life in a vast and empty void. In her mind’s eye was Ash, bound by shadow over the flickering lake.

"I accept your bargain."

The world suddenly flashed back into view, and she could hear Brock’s and Pikachu’s astonished exclamations. The surface of the lake trembled, growing brighter, the shadows about them seethed and danced. So be it! cried the voice.

The shadows holding Ash twisted and flung him hard away, then vanished. Misty saw Brock leap to brake his friend’s fall before he struck the hard cavern floor, and then everything went dark.

Notes: Shadows of Time lives! It’s been what, a year? Two? Ach, I doubt if anyone even remembers this ficcy of mine, but it’s back up and running. I didn’t stop writing because I had lost interest in Pokemon, or because I had lost interest in the fic. I don’t have any good excuse at all; this chapter just took a very, very long time to be finished. My most sincere apologies to anyone who had been reading this before.

I don’t know exactly when chapter four will be up, but it will undoubtedly be a shorter wait than it was for chapter three. Then we should start getting into the actual plot. Reviews are wonderful things, and are always welcome. :) Oh, and I still haven’t quite decided on which pokemon everyone has with them at the moment. Any suggestions? Requests?