Micro in Cerulean Gym

(GiantessUniverse and Cubed Cinder)

Chapter 1, written by GiantessUniverse

After a long walk from Saffron City, our heros finally arrive at Cerulean City, home of the Cerulean City Gym, where Ash's old friend Misty lives.

"Wow, Cerulean City." Dawn said, staring in awe at the huge town. "so, your friend Misty is the Gym leader here?"

"Yeah," Ash replied, "it's been a while since I last saw her. I can't wait to show her all of my Sinnoh badges!"

Dawn turned to Ash, a puzzled look on her face. "You said she was 10, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Dawn looked astounded. "Wow, she must be one of the youngest Gym leaders in the entire Kanto region! I'm suprised her sisters don't help her out more often!"

"They used to help out at the Gym all the time, but after they got back from that world tour they barely show up at the Gym anymore. I guess they thought Misty didn't need any help."

They had reached the Cerulean City Gym, and they went inside. Dawn gazed in amazement at the gigantic pool that sat in the middle of the Gym. Suddenly the two jumped as a loud yell came from ahead of him.

"ASH!!"

Ash turned, and saw Misty running towards him, and pulled him into a hug so hard that almost squeezed all the air out of his lungs.

"Um...hi Misty." Ash spluttered, turning blue. "Can you let go of me? I think I can't breathe!"

Misty released Ash, blushing furiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just so nice to see you again!"

"It's nice to see you too, Misty, but I don't think you need to squeeze my lungs out!"

Misty's smile was instantly replaced with her familiar irritated look. "Well, forgive me if I'm happy to see you again!" she yelled at Ash, who cowered under her rage.

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Ash said quickly. "Just don't hug me so hard!"

Misty turned away from Ash, still looking a little upset. Luckily the slightly uncomfortable silence was broken by a cry of delight.

"Pika!" Pikachu yelled happy at the sight of Misty, running up to her.

Misty looks down at Pikachu and smiles, and she bends down to pick him up.

"Hi, Pikachu!" Misty said happily, picking up the Pokemon and petting it.

Misty then turned to Dawn, who was supressing a giggle at the sight of Misty's and Ash's bickering.

"You must be Dawn." She said, holding out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you!"

"You, too!" Dawn said, shaking hands with the Gym leader."I've never been to Kanto before...this gym is very interesting! You specialize in water-type Pokemon, don't you?"

"Mainly water-types, yes." Misty replied. "But I don't always use water-type Pokemon. In fact, I just got a Mime Jr. a few days ago! That's actually what I wanted to show you, Ash. We'll do it later, though."

Dawn smiled at Ash and Misty. "I assume you two have a lot of catching up to do! I think I'll go sightseeing, maybe try to catch a few Pokemon...well, see you later!"

Dawn then left. Misty turned back to Ash, smiling.

"So, Ash, how have you been?" she asked. "We haven't talked in a while!"

"I've been doing great!" Ash replied happily. "I finally got all of the Sinnoh Gym Badges, too!"

He took out the case where he kept his Sinnoh Gym Badges and showed them to Misty. She looked very impressed.

"Wow," she said in awe, gazing at the Gym Badges, "so you finally got all of the Gym Badges from Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn. Suddenly she smirked. "I just hope you earned them in a Pokemon battle like you should have."

Ash stared at Misty in shock. "W-what? That's ridiculous! Of course I earned them in a Pokemon battle! How else would I have gotten them?"

She looked up at Ash, still smirking. "Well, when you and I battled, we didn't finish and you got the badge anyway. Did the Gym Leaders decide to go easy on you, Ashy-boy?"

Ash glared angrily at Misty. "I won those badges fair and square! I would've beaten you, anyway, if Team Rocket hadn't ruined the match!"

"Oh, really?" Misty said, rounding on Ash once again. "Well, maybe while you're here, we should battle again to see who's the better trainer!"

A very pompous look was now on Ash's face. "Listen, Misty, I've been out catching new Pokemon and beating other Pokemon trainers and you've been stuck at this Gym! It wouldn't be fair to battle you when I've grown so much as a Pokemon Trainer."

"You may have grown, but it sounds to me like your brain's still the same size!" Misty said coolly.

"Very funny, Misty." Ash said glumly.

"I'm just kidding around, Ash. By the way, have you visited your mother yet?"

"Well, not yet." Ash said. "I was going to visit her after I visited you."

"Well, I assume she'll want to hear all about your adventures in Sinnoh." Misty said. "You should call her!"

"I already did when I got back to Kanto. She can't wait to see me! Anyway, do you want to go grab some lunch and catch up? The journey from Saffron City to here made me pretty hungry."

"Sure!" Misty said, smiling.

As it was a very nice day, the two decided to have a picnic on Route 9. Misty watched with a slightly disgusted look as Ash constantly chowed down on everything he could fit into his mouth.

"I see your appetite hasn't changed too much." she said, sighing.

Ash gulped, then looked up at Misty. "Sorry." He said. "It's been a long journey from Saffron City to here. I haven't eaten in a while!"

"That's okay." Misty said, smiling. "So, tell me, Ash, what was it like in Sinnoh?"

Ash then began discussing all of his adventures with Misty, who was quite impressed.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, after Ash finished. "That sounds like it was pretty exciting! I wish I could travel with you again. It would be just like old times, except without Brock going nuts over every Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny he sees!"

"Well, why don't you come with me and Dawn? I mean, your sisters are back at the Gym, you don't necessarily need to be the Gym leader."

At Ash's words Misty thought for a moment. Then, she sighed.

"I don't know if my sisters would be willing to look after the Gym, though. Daisy is the only one who spends more than an hour there."

"Well, it was just a suggestion." Ash said. "I guess you're right, though. So, how are your Pokemon doing?"

"Oh, they're all doing great! You know my Pysduck and my Azurill evolved?"

After that, they began talking about all of the new Pokemon that they caught. It turned out that Misty had only caught four new Pokemon since their last encounter; a Gyarados, a Ditto(which was impersonating a Squirtle when she attempted to catch it), a Tentacruel, and the Mime Jr., her most recently acquired Pokemon which she obtained through a trade. Unsuprisingly she had caught all of the other three via fishing. After a while it began to get dark, and the two decided to head back to the Gym, where they found Dawn, looking very happy.

"I just caught two new Pokemon!" she said, happily showing them her two new Pokemon, a Seaking and a Golduck. Misty was astounded.

"Both of those Pokemon aren't very common around here." she said, staring at the two Pokemon. "You must be a very skilled Trainer to catch both in one day!"

"Thanks! That means a lot coming from a Gym leader."

"Hey, Misty," Ash interrupted, "didn't you want to show us that Mime Jr. that you caught? You said there was something strange about it?"

"Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me!"

She sent out her Mime Jr. Both Ash and Dawn carefully observed it with interest.

"It looks completely normal to me." Dawn said, frowning. "What's so special about it?"

"Well, it has this weird power to make objects shrink and grow." Misty said. "It's really cool! Look-"

She took out one of her Poke Balls, set it on the floor, and turned to the Mime Jr.

"Mime Jr., use "Shrink"!"

The Mime Jr. nodded, and stared at the Poke Ball. A second later, it began and the Poke Ball began to glow blue, and the Poke Ball instantly shrunk to such tiny sizes that neither Ash, Dawn nor Misty could see the Poke Ball at all!

"Wow, that's incredible!" Dawn said, staring at the spot where the Poke Ball had been. "Do you have any idea how this Pokemon is doing this?"

"Not really." Misty said. "I think it might be a TM or something. The guy who traded it to me really seemed to want to get rid of it. I wonder if he knew that it could do this?"

"I've never heard of a TM or an HM that could teach anything like this to a Pokemon!" Ash said in amazement. "Maybe because it's Physic-type, it can shrink stuff like Sabrina did to us."

"Don't talk about that!" Misty said, shuddering. "It was horrible being a doll!"

Dawn looked puzzed. "Wait-what?"

"Never mind." Ash said quickly. "It's getting late, we should probably get to bed. Misty, is it okay if we spend the night here?"

"Sure! Ash, you can sleep in my room. You brought your sleeping bag, right? Um..." she turned to Dawn, "you don't mind sleeping in the main Gym, do you? We don't have any spare rooms."

"Not really. I'm used to not sleeping in very comfortable places. You get used to it when you travel as much as me and Ash do."

"Great!" Misty said happily.

That night, while asleep, one of Misty's Poke Balls started shaking violently, and the Mime Jr. realeased itself from it's Poke Ball. As Misty's bag of Poke Balls sat right on the floor next to Ash, the noise caused him to wake with a start, although Misty remained fast asleep. Spotting the Mime Jr., Ash picked up the Poke Ball from Misty's bag and quietly tried to send it back into the Poke Ball. The Mime Jr., however, backed into a corner of the room, scared(presumably it was under the impression that Ash was trying to catch it). Ash crept up to the Pokemon.

"Hey, Mime Jr., you shouldn't be running around loose!" Ash whispered to the Pokemon. "Go back in your Poke Ball, okay?"

The Mime Jr. shook it's head violently. It was clear that it didn't want to go back in the Poke Ball.

"Come on, Mime Jr., you have to get back in the Poke Ball! Here, you'll be safe in there-"

He stopped suddenly, noticing that the Mime Jr. was glowing blue. This seemed familiar to him.

"Hey, Mime Jr., are you okay?" Ash asked the Pokemon nervously. Suddenly, he noticed that HE was also glowing blue. He gulped.

"What's happening?" He said loudly. "Cut it out, Mime Jr.!"

Then, suddenly, he realized what was happening, and panicked.

"Wait, Mime Jr.!" Ash said quickly. "You don't need to-!"

But in a split second, Ash found all of his surroundings to be MUCH bigger. It was like seeing the world from an ant's perspective. Oh no...could it be?

Slowly, he turned to the bed, and saw a gigantic Misty sleeping peacefully in it. He screamed.

"Oh, no!" Ash shouted. "Not again!"

And then it hit him. The very thing he had been dreading...the Mime Jr. had shrunk him. And as that cold, hard fact hit Ash, it was too much for him. He fainted.

Chapter 2, written by Cubed Cinder

Meanwhile, morning has arrived for Misty. She could tell from the alarm clock ringing near her ears. Misty reached over and shut the clock off, yawning as she rose up from her bed. She threw the covers away from herself and brushed the wrinkles off her pajamas.
"(sigh) Must've been tossing and turning again. At least my sisters aren't around to poke me around for that." Misty said. As she looked on the floor where Ash had his sleeping bag, she noticed that Ash wasn't in it.
"Hmmm? Ash not in his sleeping bag? Is he awake already? He didn't leave already, did he!?" Misty said, startling herself at that last thought. But that was quickly erased when she noticed Pikachu still sleeping alongside the bag.
"Ah, Pikachu's still here. Good. Ash is never without his Pikachu. He's probably around the gym somewhere... probably admiring my aquarium of water Pokemon. I better go see..." Misty said. Before she could get up, however, she noticed one of her Poke Balls sitting out near Ash's sleeping bag. Normally she keeps every one of them in her nearby backpack, but what was this ball doing out in the open?
"Huh? What's this Poke Ball doing out here? Whatever. I better go find Ash first." Misty said. That's when she stepped out of the room, luckily avoiding the general area that the shrunken Ash was currently in. Shortly thereafter, Pikachu opened its eyes and just noticed Misty leaving the room, so it got up to follow her.

Not too long after Misty left her personal quarters, she was suddenly jumped by a very excited Mime Jr, who clutched onto Misty's stomach and the female gym trainer quickly wrapped her arms around the creature.
"Oh my goodness! Mime Jr!" Misty said. She could see the bright smile on Mime Jr's face, like a lost child finding its mother. That's what it felt like to Misty... it almost reminded her of the Togepi she spent many days caring for. But soon, Misty quickly realized something.
"Huh... wait a minute. What are you doing outside your Poke Ball? Are you the one that escaped?" Misty said. Mime Jr didn't show much reaction, like it didn't understand what Misty was talking about.
"It's okay, little Mimey." Misty said, unaware she gave the Mime Jr the same exact nickname that Delia Ketchum's Mr. Mime had. But she couldn't help herself. A face that cute deserved to hold a nickname like the one Misty just uttered.
"But you really should stay inside your Poke Ball for your protection!" Misty said. She then carefully put the young Pokemon on the ground and pulled out the loose Poke Ball she found earlier.
"Okay, in you go." Misty said, firing the red laser that soon surrounded Mime Jr and trapped it back inside the Poke Ball. At that moment, Misty heard a familiar call.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted.
"Oh, good morning, Pikachu!" Misty said. She knelt down and allowed Pikachu to run into her open arms, picking it up as she stood back to full height.
"Alright, how about we both look for Ash?" Misty asked.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu said, nodding happily as it acknowledged. Pikachu then rested comfortably on Misty's right shoulder as she continued her walk around the gym.

Now we turn our attention to Ash. He slowly opened his eyes after fainting last night. And he had good reason to faint. Ash had been shrunken in previous adventures... but he never could've imagined being this incredibly tiny. Unknown to him, he was exactly one-fifth of an inch tall, qualifiying him for microscopic status. He looked around, first of all to realize he wasn't dreaming, he really had been shrunken smaller than ever before. He may not have known precisely how small he was, but all it took was a quick look around to see how immense everything looked in Misty's room.
"Oh man... I feel like an ant, all of a sudden. Maybe I'm even smaller than one!" Ash said, gulping nervously at that thought. Even worse was the fact there was nobody else in the room. Mime Jr, the one responsible for shrinking him, wasn't there. Misty was not in her bed, and Pikachu wasn't sleeping along side his sleeping bag, which looked like a vast mountain range at his current size.
"Huh? Where did everyone go? Maybe they're looking for me... that's gonna be tough given my size right now." Ash said. Just then, he heard another familiar voice calling out from outside the room. He recognized it to be Dawn.
"Hey! Good morning everyone!" Dawn shouted.
"Oh, I almost forgot about Dawn." Ash said. He thought maybe he can get her attention... but those thoughts were quickly trounced when Ash saw Dawn walk in the room. She was impossibly huge.
"*gasp* Oh man... now I really feel like a cookie crumb..." Ash said. Looking up at Dawn as she was walking into the room, already dressed up for the day (including her long pink shoes), Ash thought that if Dawn had grown instead of him shrinking, she'd probably be big enough to crush an entire city with one stomp... and maybe not even realize it! Already Dawn was closing in... there was almost no time to get away from the insanely huge shoes that were approaching, so he just begged for mercy.
"Dawn! Stop! Please stop!!!" Ash said. He covered himself, bracing for a most crushing death, but as luck would have it, Dawn stopped walking a few yards away from where he was standing. Ash looked to see how close Dawn came to stepping on him... all he could see looking forward was the white outline at the bottom of Dawn's pink shoes.
"Hmmm... that's strange. Nobody's in here." Dawn said. She could've turned around right away to go look for everyone else, but instead, Dawn decided to stay where she was and admire Misty's room. After all, she was not really in a hurry to do much else in the gym.

Ash, meanwhile, tried hard to get Dawn's attention, from yelling and screaming as loud as he could to pounding at the whites of her shoes.
"Dawn! DAWN!!! It's me, Ash!! I'm down here!!" Ash shouted. But as he suspected, he was much too small. A pin drop was probably louder than his own voice right now.
But as he looked down in disgust from not being able to get Dawn's attention, he suddenly looked at the Poke Balls on his belt. He thanked himself that one of the few times he keeps his Pokemon armed with him (he normally takes them off and stores them in his backpack) could actually help him.
"Wait a minute, if my Pokemon have shrunk with me... I got an idea!" Ash said. He pulled out the ball he had in mind and threw it in the air.
"Staraptor! I choose you!" Ash shouted. The ball opened up, landing back in Ash's hand, and Staraptor came out. As Ash predicted, Staraptor had shrunken along with him. Despite looking around its surroundings and seeing the vastly oversized Dawn, Staraptor stayed strong and focused on Ash for orders. After all, Staraptor were high in confidence and not afraid to take on objects far bigger than itself.
"Staraptor... don't be scared. There was a little accident last night that caused us to shrink like this. I'm gonna need your help... can you fly me up in front of Dawn's face so we can get her attention?" Ash said.
"Staraptor!" Staraptor shouted in confirmation.
"Alright, let's go!" Ash said. He stood in place and allowed Staraptor to use its feet to grab him by the shoulders. Staraptor then flew upwards into the air, with Ash watching as he rose up higher and higher along Dawn's body. Her pink shoes, black socks, legs, the bottom of her pink skirt, the black color of her dress... all taking up the entirety of Ash's view.
"Keep it up, Staraptor. We're almost there." Ash said. But trouble soon brewed for the micro-sized hero and his flying Pokemon...
"Well, I better go see where Ash is. And for that matter, Misty too." Dawn said. As she said that, she turned her whole body around. Ash looked behind to see her arm heading right for him as she was swinging it around.
"Ack! Staraptor, hurry! We're gonna crash into her arm!!!" Ash shouted. Staraptor tried picking it up its pace, but it was no good as both it and Ash felt themselves getting caught onto Dawn's arm.

But luckily for Ash, he did not go flying through the air. Instead, he and Staraptor were clinging on for dear life against the smooth skin of Dawn's arm.
"Ugh... I feel like I'm climbing Mt. Dawn..." Ash said. He looked up to see Staraptor resting against her arm. It didn't appear to be in serious pain.
"It's okay, Staraptor... you did good. Return now!" Ash said as he picked up Staraptor's Poke Ball with one hand, being very careful not to drop it. He fired the return laser and Staraptor was back inside its ball. As Ash put the ball away, he started climbing up Dawn's arm, trying to reach the top of her shoulder.
"(huff puff) If I can just (huff) get to her shoulder, she should be able to hear me from there." Ash said.

Meanwhile, Dawn was walking her way out of Misty's room and was about to leave it, when she almost bumped into Misty who was trying to walk back inside. She was out of her pajamas and in her regular outfit of a yellow crop top and short jean shorts held up with red suspenders, but she was still in her bare feet.
"Oh, excuse me!" Dawn said.
"No, no, I should've watched where I was going. Oh, hello, Dawn!" Misty said.
"Hey, Misty, I was just about to look for you. Sorry for stepping in your room..." Dawn said with a smile.
"Well, consider your mission complete. And don't worry, any friend of Ash is welcome to browse around my room." Misty said, smiling right back at her.
"Speaking of, have you seen Ash this morning?" Dawn said. Misty wiped the smile off her face.
"Actually, no. I've looked in the aquarium, the pool... even our backstage area. I didn't see him. I was hoping maybe you would've found him." Misty said.
"Nope. No trace of him." Dawn said.
"Hmmm.... that's very strange. Pikachu's here, so he has to be in this gym somewhere." Misty said.

As the conversation before you was taking place, Ash had made it to the top of Dawn's shoulder. He had to stand on the edge of it, away from the black straps of Dawn's dress, if he was going to have his voice reach Dawn's ear very high above him.
"Dawn! Dawn!! DAWN!!! On your shoulder! It's me, Ash!!!" Ash shouted with all his might, waiting to shout when Dawn wasn't talking. But even that didn't work. No response at all from Dawn. Ash's voice was weary by now.
"Not even from here... come on, Dawn... please..." Ash said.

Pikachu, meanwhile, was focusing its sharp eyesight on the top of Dawn's left shoulder. Once Pikachu was clearly focused on the little spot that was crawling its way up Dawn's arm and then on the top of her shoulder, it noticed that little spot to be the most miniscule Ash ever seen. Pikachu starts to shout out words to get the attention of both Misty and Dawn.
"Pika! Pika! Pikachu! Pika pikachu!!" Pikachu shouted, pointing over towards Dawn's shoulder.
"Huh? What is it, Pikachu?" Misty asked.
"Pika! Pika! Pikachu! Pika pikachu!!" Pikachu continued shouting. Eventually, Dawn realized it was pointing at something on her shoulder. Dawn turned her head and looked down on her left shoulder. Ash quickly realized that Pikachu was able to recognize him.
"Alright, Pikachu! That's the spirit! It's me, Dawn!!! I'm down here!!!" Ash said, jumping up and down frantically now that Dawn had at least an eye on him. Or so he thought.
"Ewww... what is this? A dust mite?" Dawn asked. She then raised her hand from her other arm and moved it towards her shoulder.
"Huh? A dust... ACK!!" Ash said. He was overcome with shock that even with Dawn having one eye on him, he was still too small to be instantly recognizable. Not only that, but Dawn's other hand was coming fast, and he was looking right at the back of her fingers! Ash tried to duck out of the way, but he got bumped off the fingers and lost his footing. He was now falling all the way down to the floor below.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Ash screamed as he fell down, watching as Dawn seemingly rose higher in the air the closer he got to the ground.

But as he looked down, he quickly recognized he was falling not towards the floor, but towards the insides of Misty's red and white sneakers. Ash felt like he was falling for a long time as he watched the sneakers get closer and closer.
"Too bad I won't get any bonus points for the landing!" Ash shouted. Finally, Ash fell inside the sneaker and landed hard on the sole. Although he was sore from the hard landing, no bones were injured. Of course, being more into Pokemon than body physics, he didn't realize his micro size actually served as a blessing. Let's just say the bigger they are, the harder they fall, so since bigger was nowhere in Ash's size description right now, he was able to survive the fall. But he still sweated it out seeing where he was at right now, on top of having to soak in the smell of human feet that made up the entire area.
"But I sure hope this is one day Misty doesn't wear her shoes in the gym. Phew... what a smell!" Ash said. He then looked up to see Pikachu pointing inside the very shoe he was trapped in.

Pikachu, having watched in horror as Ash was easily swept off Dawn's shoulder, was able to spot him falling into Misty's left shoe. Pikachu jumped off Misty's shoulder and frantically tried to tell her this. But of course, not able to understand what Pikachu was saying, Misty was brushing it off as she walked over to a nearby dresser.
"Pikachu, please! You're just frantic because we haven't found Ash yet." Misty said. Pikachu lowered its ears in sadness, knowing it wasn't getting the message across to Misty, who was slipping on a pair of socks.
"Don't worry, Pikachu. We'll find Ash. He's somewhere around this gym, I just know it." Misty said. After putting on her socks, she walked over to slip her feet in her sneakers. Pikachu tried pushing Misty's left foot away, which only angered Misty slightly.
"Pikachu, stop it!" Misty said, gently pushing aside Pikachu as she slipped the foot inside. Pikachu watches hopelessly as Misty puts the shoe on, trapping the microscopic Ash inside.

After watching Pikachu try hard to get the faux mile high Misty's attention, he suddenly had to scamper backwards when he saw an unbelievably large socked foot coming right for him!
"Yikes!!" Ash shouted as he ran away from the foot. Luckily he was able to make it to the other side and avoid being crushed by the mighty toes. But Ash knew he was in serious trouble. He was trapped inside the shoe, running out of space and, more importantly, running out of air.

Chapter 3, written by GiantessUniverse

Dawn paced the Gym worriedly. She had looked all over the Gym, and Ash was nowhere to be found. Where could he be? Looking up, Dawn saw Misty entering the Gym. She, too, looked quite worried.

“Hey, Misty.” Dawn said glumly. “Any luck finding Ash?”

Misty looked up at Dawn. “No, and I haven’t been able to find him anywhere! I’ve looked everywhere...the Pokémon Market, the Pokémon Center, even Cerulean Cave!”

Dawn sighed. “I haven’t been able to find him either…you don’t think something’s happened to him, do you?!”

“I’m not sure. Maybe he went to visit his mother.”

“I already called her. She hasn’t seen him, either.”

Misty’s worried look was suddenly replaced with a look of pure anger. 

“This is just like him!” she yelled, stomping on the floor in anger. “He always runs off without even bothering to explain where he’s going! Well, I’m done looking for him!”

She then stomped out of the room. Despite Misty’s belief, Ash was closer than she thought…in fact, our young hero was still trapped inside Misty’s right sneaker, struggling to breathe. From inside the shoe he had heard Misty and Dawn’s entire conversation.                                           

“Oh, man, they’re-cough-pretty worried about me. It seems like the only one who can help me now is Pikachu, but Misty can’t understand what he’s saying. I guess I’m-cough- going to have to-cough-find a way to get their attention myself. That is-cough- if I ever get out of here before I run out of air!”

He found it very difficult to breathe inside of the sneaker. Also, the shoe kept going up and down, and it made Ash feel as though he was going to vomit. It was like riding a very small boat through a very violent storm. Next to that, he was forced to take in the horrible smell of Misty’s feet with every breath he took. He HAD to get out of here!

Suddenly, the shoe stopped moving. Looking up, Ash saw Misty’s toes slowly slipping out of the shoe, and light shined into it. Misty had finally taken off her shoes. Then, he heard Misty saying something.

“Forget Ash, I need to relax! I think I’ll go swimming for a little while!”

She still sounded a little worried, but Ash didn’t pay any attention. He was running up to the back part of Misty’s shoe, and he began to climb up the wall. Eventually he managed to jump out of the shoe. Coughing, Ash looked around. Misty was still in the room, but luckily she had already changed into her swimwear.

“Wow, it feels good to be able to breathe again!” Ash said to himself.

As Misty turned to leave, she found herself face-to-face with her sister, Daisy, who was also in her swimwear.

“Misty, were you, like, sleepwalking last night or something?” Daisy asked. “I heard someone moving around last night.”

“Oh, that was my Mime Jr.” Misty said casually. “He escaped from his Poke Ball last night.”

“No, that, like, couldn’t be it!” Daisy said, waving her hand. “I heard a scream last night! You didn’t hear it?”

“No, I didn’t.” Misty said. Again, she looked worried. “What if it was Ash?!”

“I don’t care, like, what it was, just, like, make sure it doesn’t happen again, okay?”

Misty’s face turned red. “ME?! What am I supposed to do about it?!”

“Cool it, little sister. I mean, like, if you hear someone scream again, like, let me know.”

“Fine, I will. I’m going to go swimming.”

Misty then left the room. Suddenly Daisy looked around, and spotted Ash.

“Ew, a bug! Gross!”

Suddenly she raised her gigantic foot right above Ash, who yelled and ran, narrowly missing Daisy’s foot (in fact he wound up between two of Daisy's toes). Once again he quickly dived out of the way as Daisy aimed another stomp at him. Panicking, Ash quickly dived for the air vent on the lower part of the wall, and managed to pull himself inside. He could hear Daisy talking to herself.

“Great, it got away! Stupid bugs…maybe I should have left it alone and let Misty find it….that would’ve been fun to watch.”

As Daisy giggled at the thought of Misty’s reaction upon seeing a “bug” in her room, Ash looked around inside of the air vent.

“I’d better not go back out there.” He said to himself. “I guess I should look around for another way out of here. I just hope I get out of this nightmare before I wind up getting crushed!”

And he began walking further into the air vent, hoping against hope that he would find a way out…

Chapter 4, written by Cubed Cinder

Ash spent the next hour running or climbing around the dimly lit corridors of the air vent. On top of being tired from all the athletic activity he found himself doing, he also tried hard to keep himself warm from the cold air that swirled around the vent from when it was last on.
"*huff puff* I need to find a way out of here before I become a popsicle!" Ash said. Eventually, though, his luck would appear to turn out for the better, when he finally came across another opening in the vent. He looked through the opening and saw what appeared to be the kitchen room of the gym. Ash figured this was not exactly a good place to be trying to convince the girls, especially when he could be easily mistaken for that one extra topping on a sundae. Still, all that running and climbing through the air vent, so he decided to take a rest.
"I better rest. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long way to the next opening." Ash said to himself.

Back in the swimming pool room, Daisy watched as Misty swam laps around the gigantic pool. As the sister who cared the most for Misty's well being, Daisy was a little concerned watching Misty swim around with a little more aggression. Usually she's pretty calm when in the water.
"Misty, like are you sure everything is okay? I'm sure your boyfriend will turn up sooner or later." Daisy said.
"First of all, he's not a boyfriend, and second, it's been hours! How am I supposed to be calm when he's not even calling!?" Misty said. Daisy just sighed. There was no point in arguing with her. She then wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"It's kinda warm in here. I better turn the air on." Daisy said to herself. She walked over to the thermostat and pressed a couple buttons.
Right then and there, Ash could feel a huge gust of wind blowing behind him. It took him by surprise and he didn't have a chance to fight it off, not that he could given his microscopic size.
"What the... aaaaaahhhhh!!!" Ash said as he went flying out the grated opening. As small as he was, he was able to pass through easily, but once again, Ash was falling down through the air.

But this time, instead of a rough landing inside a shoe, Ash instead fell head first into a bowl of rice. At his size, the bowl was almost as big as, if not bigger than, Misty's swimming pool. Ash quickly realized where he had fallen.
"A bowl of rice? Well, I suppose it's better than landing inside Misty's shoe..." Ash said to himself. As he is wondering what he can do next, he suddenly hears booming footsteps as well as a female voice humming in the background, meaning that someone was coming towards his position. Ash looked up to see Dawn towering over the rice bowl.
"Ah, good. The rice finally cooled down. I'm sure Ash won't mind if I eat before him." Dawn said as she picked up the rice bowl. Ash already knew the kind of trouble he had gotten himself into.
"Yikes! I'm gonna be Dawn food if I don't warn her!!" Ash shouted. As Ash is swimming around the rice, frantically trying to get Dawn's attention, Dawn sits down at the nearby table and starts eating the rice with the nearby spoon right away. After taking a couple bites, Dawn smiled.
"Mmmmm... so good!" Dawn said.

Meanwhile, Ash was fighting tooth and nail against the oversized rice, trying to avoid getting scooped up by the humongous spoon. While he was able to avoid the first couple scoops, the next two came very close, grazing the little Ash and sending him flying towards another piece of rice. And this piece of rice just happened to be a part of Dawn's next scoop.
"No! Dawn, don't eat me!!!" Ash shouted as he waved his arms around trying to get Dawn's attention, but when all he could see was Dawn's lips, there was no way she was going to hear him. And even then, Dawn was deep in thought about Ash.
While all this was going on, Pikachu jumped up onto the table that Dawn was eating at. It glanced up at the spoon, after hearing the tiny screams of his trainer, and saw Ash panicking for his very life. Pikachu quickly tried to think of how it could get Dawn to stop herself from inadvertently eating Ash. Shock her? No... its voltage might kill Ash at that size.
"Oh, Ash, I wonder where you are. I'll just have to keep my eyes open." Dawn said as she moved the spoon towards her mouth. Ash saw the blackness of Dawn's open mouth and screamed for his life.
"Noooooooooooo!!!" Ash screamed, thinking it was all over and he'd spend the rest of his life living inside Dawn's stomach.

Finally, Pikachu thinks of a way to stop Dawn in her tracks. Pikachu spins itself around, swinging its tail and whacking the rice bowl, causing rice to go flying in different directions!
"Hey!!" Dawn shouted, obviously taken by surprise from the rice going everywhere. She was taken so much by surprise that she first stood up from her chair, and then dropped the spoon. Obviously, the spoon with its much heavier weight than the shrunken Ash hit the floor first. Ash, meanwhile, was falling again, and he landed on top of a piece of rice, breaking his fall. Once he hopped down to the floor, close to the spoon that he was a part of earlier, Ash breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"*huff puff huff puff* Thank you, Pikachu. I owe you one... again." Ash said.

Dawn, on the other hand, was quite mad, throwing her arms up in disgust as she looked down on Pikachu.
"Pikachu! Look at the mess you made me cause!" Dawn said.
"Chu..." Pikachu said as it was pointing down at the spoon on the floor.
"Sigh... look, if you were hungry and wanted some rice, all you had to do was ask! Man..." Dawn said. She then looked around the rest of the kitchen and saw a brush and dustpan sitting on one of the counters. It was like it was predetermined that this kind of incident would happen and the two items were just waiting for Dawn to use them. So she walked over towards the two items and picked them up. Dawn then pushed the chair further away from the table and got down on her knees, sweeping up the rice onto the dustpan.

Ash couldn't breathe easy for long, especially as he watched the mega-sized Dawn walk back towards a counter and pick up a brush and dustpan. When Dawn returned and got down on her knees, with her chest directly above him, Ash watched as the brush made contact with the floor and swept up the rice. He looked as the bristles, catching the rice in its path, slowly made its way towards him.
"*gulp* What the?" Ash said. He started to fear for his life once again, but as he turned around wondering if he should run for the dustpan and take his chances there, he suddenly noticed a rather ordinary looking fly (ordinary in that it wasn't a Pokemon but rather a regular creature, something that is rarely seen nowadays, and Ash knew this too) that landed not too far from the dustpan. At his size, the fly was a little bit bigger than him, but Ash quickly put two and two together.
"There's my escape rope! Er, I mean, route!" Ash said as he sprinted towards this fly with the brush coming up rapidly behind him. Ash made a jump onto the back of this fly and successfully made it, just as the fly started flapping its wings to get away from the brush itself.
"Yes, fly! Fly away, fly!" Ash shouted, holding on tight as the fly flew around in the kitchen. He looked down as Dawn continued to clean up the mess, with Pikachu thinking he was still down there and trying to examine the rice, only to get pushed away by Dawn.
"I think I better not try and get Dawn's attention from now on... hopefully Misty will better recognize me." Ash said. As luck would have it, the fly decided to take a trip into the swimming pool room.

In the swimming pool room, Misty felt she had gotten enough water into herself to calm her nerves on the missing Ash Ketchum. Using one of the ladders, she climbed her way out of the pool, grabbing a nearby towel and using it to wipe herself off.
"Sigh... oh, Ash... where could you have gone?" Misty said.
Meanwhile, the fly was flying around the swimming pool room, and from the back of this fly, Ash could see the bikini-clad Misty drying herself off from her swim.
"Alright! Hopefully this fly is attracted to Misty and it'll fly me towards her." Ash said. Seemingly as if it was listening to Ash, the fly made a turn and flew downwards, right towards Misty. Ash tried frantically to get the fly to stop from flying so close, and so fast, to the giantess.
"Ack! Wait, not that close! Not that close!" Ash said, but it was too late as the fly was about arm's length away from Misty. She looked and saw the fly heading towards her, and given her 'appreciation' of any kind of bugs...
"EEEEEK! BUG!!" Misty said as she threw a hand towards the fly. Ash knew he had to abandon ship or face 100% certainty of being swatted to death.
"Thanks, fly! You've been a huge help!!!" Ash said as he made a bold leap off the fly, avoiding Misty's hand just as the fly got swatted to death and fell to the ground.

One would think this was a deathly move on Ash's part, but the fly's momentum allowed him to gain a brief amount of flight right towards Misty's head. Ash grabbed the hair that was resting against the very front of Misty's head, but because she had been in the water for so long, the hair was very slippery and Ash was losing his grip on the hair.
"No, wait!!! Come on, please!" Ash said, begging with the hair to hold onto him, but he ended up slipping and falling. Fortunately, he didn't travel far, landing instead on top of Misty's nose. Once again, he had to hold on tight to keep from falling further, but at the same time, it seemed Misty had finally noticed him as she looked between her eyes... but in the wrong fashion.
"What!? Another bug!? I gotta talk with my sisters about keeping this place clean. As for you, stupid little bug..." Misty said. She was about to take another swing with her hands. Ash knew if this didn't get Misty's attention, he might as well be swatted to death like the insect he was.
"MISTY!!! STOP!!!!!!" Ash shouted as loud as he could.

Amazingly enough, Misty stopped her swing, for she was able to hear that squeaky little voice. Eventually, as Ash climbed a little lower on Misty's nose to try and make himself more visible, she focused her eyes on her nose. It took a few extra seconds, but Misty's eyes widened. She was definitely not expecting this.
"A... Ash? Is that you?" Misty said. Ash gasped. He couldn't believe it. Someone finally called his name out for the first time since being shrunken.
"Misty! W... whoa!!!" Ash shouted. He was so overcome with emotion that he forgot he was holding on for dear life on Misty's nose, and he lost his grip and started to fall. But he didn't fall far, for he landed on top of one of Misty's short fingernails as the girl held it up to catch him. She then very carefully moved her nail right against her left eye, where Ash saw nothing but a massive green eye looking right at him.
"Ash? Is that really you?" Misty said. Ash kept his voice at a high volume so that the mega-sized Misty could hear him.
"Yeah... what little there is of me." Ash said, finally showing a sense of humor now that someone had found him.
"What happened? Why are you so incredibly small?" Misty asked.
"Mime Jr. Last night, I saw it wandering around and I tried to catch it, but it ended up shrinking me." Ash said.
"So that's why Mime Jr was out of its Poke Ball..." Misty said.
"Yeah... then the Mime Jr ran off. Looks like I'm gonna be stuck like this the rest of my life." Ash said.
"Oh, no... I managed to catch the Mime Jr this morning after I saw it running around. I think all we have to do is convince the Mime Jr to grow you back to normal." Misty said.
"Heh... normal never sounded so better to me!" Ash said. Misty smiled hearing him say that, even though Ash couldn't see that smile as close as he was to her eye.
"Okay, hold on tight. I'll go tell Dawn that I found you." Misty said.

Keeping her finger close to her head and walking very slowly knowing that sudden movements would put the micro Ash in danger, Misty walked away from the swimming pool, looking for Dawn who was no doubt searching for Ash. And as for Ash, he breathed the biggest sigh of relief all day. It would seem that very soon, he would be back to his normal size...

Chapter 5, written by GiantessUniverse

After 15 minutes of searching the Gym, Misty and the tiny Ash returned to the main Gym. Misty sighed.

"I can't believe she's not around here...I was so sure she'd want to enjoy a nice look at my aquarium!"

"I guess Dawn left the Gym again to try and catch more Pokemon." Ash said. "Or she might be down at the police station talking to Officer Jenny."

Suddenly, a loud SPLASH! came from behind them, echoing around the walls of the silent Gym. Misty turned around, and Ash immediately saw Dawn's Piplup swimming in the pool.

"Hey, Dawn's Piplup is still here!" Ash said.

"That's Dawn's Pokemon?" Misty said, staring adoringly at the Penguin-like Pokemon. "Wow, it's a real cutie!"

Ash then realized something. "Wait, if Dawn's Piplup is still here, then-"

"Misty, were you looking for me?" A familiar voice cut in from behind them. Misty jumped. Turning, she and the shrunken Ash came face to face Dawn. Apparently, she had been standing right behind him!

"Um, yeah, I was." Misty said, blushing and scratching the back of her head with the hand that was not holding Ash. "Listen, Dawn, I found out what happened to Ash."

Dawn wasn't paying attention, however. She had just noticed that Misty was holding something.

"What's that in your hand?" She asked, pointing to it.

"Well, actually, I'm HOLDING Ash." Misty said, knowing how insane that statement had sounded. "My Mime Jr. shrunk him last night. I just found him a couple of minutes ago."

Puzzled, Dawn stared carefully at the speck in her hand. Ash was slightly intimidated at the sight of Dawn's gigantic face peering down at him, but he managed to work up a nervous smile, and waved up at the towering Dawn.

"Hey, Dawn!" He shouted up at her. "As you can see, I've got a little problem!"

"Bad joke, Ash." Misty said, scowling down at him. Dawn was speechless.

"Wow, this is amazing! I can't believe it! So this whole time, Ash was shrunk? Wait-" A look of realization split onto Dawn's face. "That's why Pikachu's been acting so weird!"

"Hey, you're right!" Misty said, looking up. "Pikachu was acting really strange when it pointed to your shoulder- I bet it was Ash, trying to get your attention!"

"Oh my gosh!" Dawn said, gasping in horror. "That means I didn't brush a dustmite off of my shoulder, I brushed Ash off of my shoulder! Oh, Ash, I'm really sorry!"

Ash smiled up at Dawn. "It's okay, Dawn. You didn't know it was me. And it wasn't Misty's fault that she put on the shoe that I landed in, either."

Misty looked horrified. "You were in my shoe, too? While I was wearing it?! I can't believe this!" She, too, looked down at Ash apologetically. "I hope you didn't suffer too much in there, Ash!"

"Well, it smelled horrible, but I didn't actually get hurt. You may want to wash your feet, though, Misty!"

Misty glared angrily at Ash. "My feet don't smell bad! And if you hated it so much, what were you doing in my shoe in the first place?"

"That's where I landed when Dawn brushed me off of her shoulder." Ash said. "I tried to get out, but you put the shoe on before I had the chance."

Misty sighed. "Never mind that. Look, Dawn, I've got to take a shower. Can you keep an eye on Ash for me?"

"Sure," Dawn said, "but I should probably get Nurse Joy first. She may be able to help."

Misty looked down at Ash. "Ash, do you think you'll be okay alone for a few minutes?"

"Sure, I'll be fine!" Ash said. "I may be small, but I still have my Pokemon! Besides, there's hardly anyone here to accidentally step on me. And if I do get into trouble, I'll just call for Pikachu! He saved me from winding up in your stomach, Dawn. As long as I've got Pikachu, I'll be fine."

Dawn stared at Ash. "What do you mean, I almost ate you?! You weren't in my rice, were you?"

"You're lucky he didn't get eaten, Dawn." Misty said, giggling. "It probably would have made the food taste horrible!"

"Very funny," Ash snapped, as Misty set him down on the floor.

"I'd better go get Nurse Joy." Dawn said quickly, and she left. Carefully stepping over the tiny Ash, Misty left the room as well. Ash looked around, and he began to get nervous.

"It'll be fine." He assured himself. "I'd better get Pikachu, though. He's probably worried about me. PIKACHU!!!"

Ash's Pikachu scurried into the room, and stared down at it's tiny Trainer. With a sense of foreboding, Ash remembered being in that dollhouse and Sabrina tearing off the roof and looking down at him. But he knew he was safe this time- Pikachu would never hurt him!

"Pikachu, it's me, Ash. Misty's Mime Jr. shrunk me. I know it may seem kind of weird to be looking down at me for a change. Anyway, thanks for saving me when I almost got eaten by Dawn. But everything's fine, now. Misty and Dawn know everything, and Dawn's going to get help at the Pokemon Center. I'll be back to normal in no time now!"

Suddenly, Ash heard footsteps from behind him. Turning around, he felt his stomach plummet. Daisy, Violet, and Lily were entering the room, all three of them in their swimwear. They were carelessly chatting away, completely oblivious to the microscopic Ash that stood, horrified, on the floor below them.

"I think that had to be, like, the best time of our lives!" Daisy said happily as they stopped in front of Ash.

"Yeah, like, scaring Misty when we were kids was soooo much fun!" Violet agreed.

"No doubt about it!" Lily added. "I loved that time when we, like, hid a Caterpie under her pillow while she was asleep. She, like, totally freaked out!"

"Hey, speaking of bugs, what's, like, this thing?" Daisy said, peering down at Ash.

Ash gulped."Oh no...not again!"

The three women carefully stared at the tiny Ash curiously.

"It must be, like, a bug or something." Violet said.

"Well, whatever it is, let's, like, crush it!" Lily said, lifting her gigantic, bare foot right above the microscopic Ash.

"NOOOO! DON'T!" Ash yelled, but he knew it was no good. He quickly dodged Lily's stomp and fled for his life. But, unfortunately for our tiny hero, Misty's sisters didn't give up. He was forced to jump, dash, and dive out of the way several times as Daisy, violet, and Lily attempted to crush him under their bare feet. Suddenly, Ash found himself in a corner of the Gym. Turning around, he saw, to his horror, that an irritated-looking Daisy was bending over him, the gigantic soles of her bare feet hovering right above him.

"PIKACHUUUU! HELP ME!" Ash cried out in desperation. Suddenly, a powerful bolt of lightning struck Daisy, shocking her badly. violet and Lily quickly ran over to her.

"Pikachu?! What was, like, that for?" Violet yelled at the mouse Pokemon, aiming a kick at it. "Are you okay, Daisy?"

She didn't respond at all. She stood, staring down at Ash, her foot still raised right above him.

"It's-it's, like, Ash." She said, shocked. "Misty's friend. That's what this thing is."

Her sisters walked over, and stared down at the speck that was our tiny hero. Violet nearly fainted.

"It really is him!" Lily said in shock. "But-how?"

Suddenly, a demonic grin lit Daisy's face.

"Do you know what this means, girls? We just found ourselves our very own shrunken slave!"

Ash gulped. "What-what did you say? I'm not your slave! Misty knows about me, too! So does Dawn! You can't treat me like a slave!"

Violet giggled. "He's kind of cute when he's angry, isn't he? I kind of see why Misty has a crush on him!"

"So, Misty knows about this, does she, little guy?" Daisy said. "Well, I don't see Misty anywhere! Do you? From now on, you're going to do what we say!"

She reached out to grab Ash, who desperately tried to escape. But, he was trapped. Cornered. And, with a jolt of horror, he turned and saw Daisy's gigantic hand coming down on him and grabbing him. Holding him in the palm of her hand, she, Violet, and Lily walked away, giggling with delight at their newfound slave.

Ash couldn't see a thing. He had to do something, and fast. But what could he do? Misty was in the bathroom showering, and Dawn was out getting Nurse Joy. Nobody would be able to hear him except for Misty's sisters, not even Pikachu. But he HAD to find a way to get out of this.

Suddenly, Daisy's hand started turning over, and Ash fell onto the soft bed. Looking around, he saw that he was in Misty's sisters room. He was too late. Suddenly, the bed shook violently, and a gigantic shadow was cast over Ash. Turning around, he gulped.

Before him were the gigantic, bare soles of Daisy, Violet, and Lily. It was like looking up at a skyscraper. Their soles towered over him, wiggling their toes tauntingly down at the microscopic Ash. He had a feeling he knew what was coming as Daisy sat up from the queen-sized bed and looked down at Ash, a demonic twinkle in her eyes.

"Alright, little guy, we've been talking, and we think the first thing you can do is clean off the soles of our feet. Make sure you get in between our toes, too. Got it?"

Ash couldn't believe this.

"You're insane!" he exploded at her. "You think you can treat me like your personal slave just because I'm smaller than you?! Misty's going to know I'm missing when she gets out of the shower, and I'll bet the first place she'll look for me is in here! You won't get away with this!"

At this point, all three sisters sat up, giggling fiendishly and staring down at Ash.

"If you don't want to, like, do what say, that's fine!" Daisy said smiling coldly down at Ash. "But that, like, wouldn't be a very smart decision, you know!"

"Think about it, bug." Lily said, also smiling down at Ash. "Misty may know that you've shrunk, but she'll never be able to find you at your size!"

"That's right!" Violet said happily. "And even if she does find out that we've got you, what, like, can she do about it? She's outnumbered!"

Daisy grinned down at Ash. "Understand, little guy? Nobody can help you now, not even our little shorty sister. And if you don't want to do what we say, we'll crush you just like a little bug. Now, get to work on cleaning our feet! I'm getting sick of arguing with you!"

Ash sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but they had a point. And right now, his only hope of staying alive was to do what they said. He began to climb up the soles of Daisy's feet, wiping them off with his jacket. The smell was disgusting, but he had to keep going. He continued to clean off Daisy's soles, then began cleaning in between her toes. Suddenly, he had an idea. He pulled out one of his Poke Balls.

"Go! Donphan!" he shouted, throwing the Poke Ball. As the Donphan came out of the Poke Ball, Ash jumped down onto it's back.

"Donphan, I know we're shrunk, and I know I usually don't ride on your back, but I need you to get me out of here, fast! Go!"

The Pokemon let out a roar, and jumped off of the bed, landing roughly on the ground and dashing for the crack between the floor and the door. Looking back, Ash saw Daisy, Violet, and Lily sitting up.

"Hey, like, where'd our little pet go?" Violet asked curiously.

"Over there! On the floor!" Lily yelled, pointing at Ash and Donphan. "He's escaping!"

"Donphan, go faster!" Ash shouted. "We can't let them catch up to us!"

Donphan roared in reply, and sped out of the room. Ash could hardly hold on to the Elephant Pokemon.

"Whoa, slow it down a little, Donphan! I didn't mean that fast!" Ash shouted quickly. He looked around, and saw, to his horror, that Daisy, Violet and Lily were looking around for the microscopic Ash.

"Where is he?" Daisy shouted angrily.

"Quick, Donphan, we've gotta find somewhere to hide! Through that crack over there!" He shouted, pointing to a crack between the door and the floor of a nearby room. He was extremely nervous, as he wasn't sure that he and Donphan could fit through the crack. But they made it. Ash climbed off of Donphan, and turned to the exhausted Pokemon.

"You were great, Donphan. You deserve a good rest. Return now!" He shouted, bringing the Pokemon back into it's Poke Ball and reattaching it to his belt. He then turned to see where he was, and his stomach dropped. He was in the bathroom that Misty had been showering in, except luckily the Water-type Pokemon Trainer was fully dressed. she was bending over, clipping her toenails on her right foot. Ash quickly ran up to her big toe. He hesitated, and began to climb, pulling himself onto her big toe. He yelled up at her, waving furiously.

"Misty! MISTY! DOWN HERE! IT'S ME, ASH! YOUR SISTERS ARE AFTER ME! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

Suddenly there was a loud BANG! on the bathroom door. Misty looked up, and her toe twitched. Ash fell off of her toe and landed in between them. He quickly held his nose. Her feet REALLY did smell bad, even after she showered.

"Huh? Who is it?" Misty called.

"Misty, like, open up right now!" Daisy yelled through the door. "Give us back Ash! You've played with him enough already! We want our slave back!"

Misty stood up, and as she did so her gigantic soles rested right on top of the tiny Ash, who struggled to push them off of him.

"What did you do with Ash?" She yelled angrily through the door. "Where is he?"

Suddenly, there was a loud SLAM!, and the door burst open. Misty's sisters quickly entered the bathroom. All three of them looked very angry.

"Quit, like, playing dumb, shorty. You know perfectly well where he is. He's in this bathroom, and we want him back!"

At that moment, Dawn and Nurse Joy dashed into the bathroom.

"What in the world is going on here?" Nurse Joy asked in confusion.

"Yeah, what's all this yelling about?" Dawn said sternly. "And what happened to Ash? Why isn't he in the main Gym? Is he okay, Misty?"

Nurse Joy turned to Dawn. "I must say, young lady, I'm starting to find it hard to take you seriously. Do you really expect me to believe that a perfectly normal Pokemon somehow shrunk your friend? You and I both know that's ridiculous! Misty, what's going on here?"

As Misty lived in Cerulean City, she knew the Nurse Joy that lived here quite well. She turned to her.

"Dawn's not lying, Nurse Joy. I SAW Ash just a few minutes ago, and he was barely a centimeter big! The only reason you two can't find him is because my sisters got hold of him." She turned to her sisters, wearing a very angry look. "Now, what did you do with Ash? What happened to him?"

Misty's sisters were so red that their faces would have blended in perfectly with a brick wall.

"You know what's, like, happened, Misty! Ash is in here! We saw him ride into this room on a Donphan!"

Misty realized something. How did her sisters know that Ash had had a Donphan? That must have meant their story was true...but if Ash WAS in this bathroom, why couldn't she see him?

"Ash?" She called. "Are you in here!"

"Down here!" a faint, muffled shout replied. Suddenly, Misty felt something moving under her foot. Slowly, she lifted it off of the ground, revealing the tiny Ash, who was purple-faced. Misty gasped.

"Oh, Ash! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were there!"

"That's....okay," Ash breathed. He felt as though all of the air had been forced out of his lungs. Misty bent down, picked him up, and turned to face her sisters.

"I don't know how you got hold of Ash, but I'm not letting you have him! He's not some toy, you know!"

Daisy's face turned even redder. "Misty, we aren't going to hurt him, we just want to have some fun with him! What's the big deal?"

"You've had your fun!" Misty shouted. "Now leave Ash alone! You could have really hurt him!" She looked down worridly at Ash. "Are you okay, Ash?"

Ash sat up. "Yeah, I think so."

Lily stepped forward, and held out her hand. "Misty, give him back, or else!"

"What's wrong with you?" Misty exploded. "You're treating him like he's not even a human being! I'll never give him to you! NEVER! TRY AND GET HIM FROM ME!"

Once again, she looked down at Ash, tears in her eyes.

"Poor Ash...don't worry, I'll keep you safe! We'll get you back to normal size really soon, okay?"

Violet started angrily at Misty. "Oh, no you won't! We're not done with him yet!"

"GET THIS THROUGH YOUR THICK HEADS! YOU CAN'T H-"

"Now, hold on!" Dawn cut in. "This has gone on long enough! Look, Misty, you and your sisters need to work out a solution, and there's only one way to do it. We'll have a battle. Misty and me versus Misty's sisters. The winner gets to decide Ash's fate. If me and Misty win, Ash gets returned to normal size. If we lose, you three get to have him."

"Now, hold on! I'm not some trophy prize to compete for!" Ash yelled angrily.

"You got that right." Misty muttered irritably.

"So," Dawn said apprehensively, "do we have a deal?"

The was a moment of silence. Then, Daisy spoke.

"We can't battle you guys. The only Pokemon that we have is Dewgong."

"I'll lend you some of my Pokemon for the match." Misty spoke up. "But I'll only agree to battle under one condition. If I win, you three have to take over as the Gym Leaders again so that I can travel with Ash. Deal?"

"Fine." Daisy said. "Lily can sit out and coach the match. And to keep it fair, we'll leave Ash with Nurse Joy until the match is over."

"Sounds good to me." Misty said, handing the shrunken Ash to Nurse Joy, who smiled warmly down at him. However, Ash was feeling nervous...very nervous.

Chapter 6, written by Cubed Cinder

From outside the swimming pool, Ash sat nervously in Nurse Joy's lap, who had taken her seat in the bleachers. Despite his miniscule size, Nurse Joy could see the sweat running down Ash's forehead. She gently tapped the tiny trainer with one of her fingers.
"Have faith. I'm sure your friends will win the battle." Nurse Joy said. Ash could only nod as he turned his attention back to the battle.

On the left platform of the swimming pool, Daisy and Violet stared intensely at Misty and Dawn standing on the right platform. Lily stood in the center, agreeing to be the referee of this Pokemon battle.
"This is a two-on-two, best two out of three, battle. The losers will be forced to change Pokemon and the first to three victories will be declared the winner!" Lily said.
"You're gonna wish you three never laid a finger on my Ash!" Misty shouted.
"Pffft... oh sure. Let's just battle already!" Daisy said.
"Ready, go!" Lily shouted.
"Alright, Gyarados! I choose you!" Misty shouted as she threw her Poke Ball into the water. Eventually coming out was the monstrous Gyarados.
"Piplup, you're on!" Dawn shouted as she threw her Poke Ball into the water as well. Piplup took its place on one of the nearby platforms. Now it was time for the two sisters to draw their starting Pokemon.
"Dewgong, I choose you!" Daisy said. Dewgong appeared, swimming in the water.
"Alright, Starmie! Show us what you got!" Violet shouted, and Starmie appeared, this time floating above the water's surface.

It was a fierce battle. While Gyarados had an obvious advantage in size and strength, Dewgong and Starmie both had the speed to dodge many of the attacks that came their way. Piplup wasn't having much better luck at first, considering the two Pokemon had been trained for a far longer period of time. Despite that, Gyarados was able to pin down where Dewgong and Starmie would attack from, and it, combined with Piplup's attacks, was able to take down both Dewgong and Starmie.
"Dewgong and Starmie are both unable to continue... Round 1 goes to Misty and Dawn." Lily said, clearly sounding unhappy that her sisters weren't able to take the all important first round. Misty and Dawn high-fived each other in the victory.
"Nice going, Dawn!" Misty said.
"Thanks... even though your Gyarados was much stronger than my Piplup." Dawn said.
"Ah, don't be silly. Teamwork is the key in these double battles." Misty said. While the two were talking, Dewgong and Starmie were returned to their Poke Balls.
"Alright, don't get comfortable, Misty! We've got two more good Pokemon with us! Go Marill!" Daisy said, summoning the Pikachu-looking water Pokemon, Marill.
"And I choose Golduck!" Violet shouted, calling out one of the tougher water Pokemon in Golduck.

"Round 2, start!" Lily said.
"Gyarados, use Hydro Pump!" Misty shouted. Gyarados charged itself up and then unleashed a powerful torrent of water towards Golduck.
"Dodge it, Golduck!" Violet shouted. Golduck indeed made a huge jump into the air, and while it was up there, Violet issued the next command.
"Now use Hyper Beam!" Violet shouted. Golduck then shot a huge blast of energy right directly into the face of Gyarados. The hit knocked Gyarados out cold as it fainted down into the pool.
"No, Gyarados!" Misty said, sad that her tougest Pokemon was taken down just like that.
And in the meantime, Marill was about to take down Piplup with just as much ease.
"Marill, use Aqua Tail!" Daisy said as Marill raced towards its opponent by running along the water. Marill was going so fast that Piplup didn't have time to defend itself, and it got hammered by the large blue tail that came swinging in. Piplup was cross-eyed and not moving.
"Yay!!! Yahoo!!! Um... I mean... Piplup and Gyarados have been defeated. Round 2 goes to Daisy and Violet!" Lily said as she held up an arm towards Daisy and Violet, signifying their victory. Daisy and Violet hugged each other in delight.
"Yeah, alright!" Violet said.
"One more and we'll have ourselves a little slave." Daisy said with a smile.

As Misty and Dawn both called their Pokemon back, Dawn felt bad that they had to go to a third and deciding round.
"I'm sorry, Misty." Dawn said.
"Don't worry, Dawn... that round was their mulligan. We will win this one for sure." Misty said.
"Yes, we have to... for Ash's sake." Dawn said as she looked over at Nurse Joy sitting in the stands. Of course, she couldn't see the micro-sized Ash from that far away, but she knew he had to be sitting nervously in her lap. She shook it off and summoned her last Pokemon.
"Alright! For this round, I put the spotlight on... Mamoswine!" Dawn shouted.
"And I choose Staryu!" Misty said. Staryu and Mamoswine both came flying out of their respective Poke Balls, with Staryu landing in the water and Mamoswine resting on one of the platforms.
"The third and deciding round... start!" Lily shouted.
"Golduck, Hydro Pump!" Violet shouted. As the water went flying towards the two Pokemon, Dawn was worried it would be another quick knockout, Misty was quick to react.
"Rapid Spin, Staryu!" Misty shouted. Staryu started spinning itself around like a top, deflecting the water away from itself and Mamoswine. Dawn quickly ordered an attack from her Mamoswine.
"Ice Shard, Mamoswine!" Dawn shouted. Mamoswine fired several shards of ice at Golduck, injuring it slightly. Like the first battle, the third battle was a very intense one, lasting the longest of the three. All four Pokemon were exhausted.

But in the end, both Golduck and Marill fell and couldn't get back up.

"Golduck and Marill are unable to continue battling! The battle and match go to... (sigh) Misty and Dawn." Lily said. Of course, she was bummed that she and the other two sisters lost their chance to claim the micro Ash, but Misty and Dawn were simply elated.
"Yeah! We did it!" Dawn said.
"All thanks to you, Dawn. I can see why Ash considers you a great trainer and coordinator." Misty said.
"Awww... it was nothing, really." Dawn said. As all the Pokemon were returned and the platforms took everyone back away from the swimming pool, Daisy and Violet acknowledged their defeat.
"Well, you did it again, Misty. No surprise there." Daisy said with a smile.
"You did fight well, Daisy. You shouldn't feel too bad." Misty said.
"You're right, I don't. I guess we're gonna be busy handing out Cascade Badges for a while." Daisy said with a smile.
"Just make sure they EARN it, rather than just giving them away like you did last time I was away!" Misty said.
"Chill out, little sis! We'll be great gym leaders, promise!" Violet said.
"I hope so." Misty said with a smile. Nurse Joy then approached everyone, with the tiny Ash in hand.
"Well now, I believe it's time we returned this young boy to his normal size." Joy said.
"Yes indeed, wait here everyone. I'll go get Mime Jr." Misty said.

A short while later, Misty returned holding another Poke Ball.
"Okay, Mime Jr, come out!" Misty said as she opened up the Poke Ball. Coming out was the cheerful Mime Jr that started this whole mess to begin with.
"Mime Jr, there's something I need you to make bigger for me. Understand?" Misty asked.
"Mime Mime!" the Mime Jr shouted happily.
"Good. Nurse Joy, please place Ash on the ground now." Misty said. Joy nodded and gently placed Ash down on the ground. Ash looked around at all the giantesses that were somewhat surrounding him, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad this will all be over soon." Ash said.
"Okay, Mime Jr, you see that little speck over there?" Misty said as she pointed over to the microscopic Ash, "I need you to use Growth on him now."
"Mime!" Mime Jr looked down at the tiny Ash and acknowledged the command by shouting its name. Soon, just like it did with the shrink spell earlier, Mime Jr began to concentrate. Soon, Ash found himself glowing blue, just like Mime Jr, and he watched as he began to grow back to his normal size.
"Alright, it's working!" Ash shouted.

In a short time, Ash was back to his normal size. When the blue glow disappeared, Ash found himself wrapped up in Dawn's arms as she hugged him in happiness, with Pikachu jumping up on top of Ash's head at the same time.
"Oh, Ash! I'm so glad you're back to normal!" Dawn said.
"Pika pika!!" Pikachu shouted in happiness.
"Yeah, me too!" Ash said.
"Welcome back, Ash." Misty said with a smile.
"Ha! Thanks!" Ash said.

A short while later, after everyone (except for Nurse Joy who was already on her way back to the Pokemon Center) had a lunch break, Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, and Misty were on their way out of the gym.
"Are you sure you can run the Cerulean Gym? Maybe I should stay behind and help out..." Misty said.
"No way! A deal is a deal, Misty! You, like, just go on like you promised your boyfriend." Violet said.
"Er... right, right." Misty said, a sweatdrop running down her head.
"Don't you worry, Misty. The gym is in good hands." Daisy said.
"Alright then. Thanks for everything... you sisters... you really are great." Misty said.
"Yeah! We don't know what we'd do without you either!" Lily said.
"Well, take care everyone." Misty said.
"See you next time!" Ash said.
"Goodbye! And good luck everyone!" Daisy said as the aforementioned heroes started walking away from the gym.

"So, where to, Ash?" Dawn asked.
"Where else? To Pallet Town. My Mom is probably worried sick about me." Ash said.
"Maybe I can show her Mime Jr just like I did you." Misty said.
"Okay... just as long as it doesn't shrink her!" Ash said, prompting a laugh from everyone in the group.

END