The first sequel to 'The Seed Within the Loss' though the events of this story are only tangentially related to the first story. This chapter has been edited and a portion of chapter 2 was transferred to the end of this chapter for structural and obsessive-compulsive reasons. (see chapter 2). Also a minor change to the setting has been made for continuity and reasons of logic.

Uncharted Waters

Beauty and the Beast

Ash, Misty and Pikachu had been travelling together across Hoenn from the green haven known as Fortree City, where both Ash and Misty had fought Winona, the Fortree Gym Leader. Ash had once again acquired his Feather Badge from her and Misty gave a solid performance in their unofficial match the following day; after they allowed Winona to get her Pokémon to the Pokémon Centre for some needed attention after the match with Ash. In an unexpected twist of events, Misty and Winona had to be satisfied with a draw after their final Pokémon, Skarmory and Milotic managed to execute a rare double K.O. on each other.

Having long left Fortree City behind them, the three friends and their Pokémon were travelling towards Lilycove City, then onto Mossdeep City for Ash and Misty's next battle with Tate and his twin sister Liza. However, Ash had decided to test out one of his famous and often dreaded 'short-cuts'. This short cut turned out be less of a short cut and more a trek across an undisturbed portion of forest. Misty was particularly tense during this misadventure because she knew all too well that where there were trees, there were bugs not far behind. Her fears were initially well founded as they encountered all manner of Pokémon in these woods, both of the bug variety and others. Misty was particularly on edge for Beedrill nests and she made sure to tell Ash that if they encountered one whilst out here she was going to 'punish' him, which was said in as open a manner as possible, thus making Ash a little on edge.

Contrary to what they would have expected, their situation did not get worse the deeper they went into the forest, in fact it steadily improved to the point that after nearly half a mile or so of walking, they didn't see hide nor hair of any Pokémon and the forest itself had become totally serene, not a tweet or buzz to be heard, it was almost eerie.

Shortly after this realisation dawned on them Ash and Misty noticed the trees ahead of them coming to a sudden stop and as they drew closer, their eyes perceived between the trees, the glistening blue surface of what could only be a large body of water.

"Hey Misty, check it out, is that a lake?" pointed out Ash.

"Yeah, it looks like it, lets have a closer look!" suggested Misty, the pair of them picking up their pace.

As they breached the edge of the trees, golden sunlight, luscious grassy banks and a beautiful, circular, turquoise lake, some one hundred and fifty meters across greeted their eyes. It was not a large lake, by any means, but what it lacked in stature it made up for in eloquent perfection. The colour of the lake was particularly striking, the pair having never seen water such a colour before.

"Look at this place, it's amazing!" sighed Misty in rapture. "I take it all back Ash, the... detour... was definitely worth it for this. This is a perfect spot for a rest from all that cross country tramping and have some lunch. Maybe even go for a swim!"

"Hold on a second Ash, you see that sign post there?" Misty pointed to a sign nearby that had the words 'No Swimming in the lake' in bold red letters.

Ash let out an irritated sigh. "Well, we can still have luch here and sunbathe, it doesn't say anything about that."

Misty agreed with him there so Ash proceeded to set up a temporary camp and a spot to cook on the grassy knolls of the lake shore, whilst Misty got out their desired food items. As they had travelled together again one thing that had become apparent, even to the normally oblivious Ash, was that the dynamic between the two friends had changed. The old childish seriousness and awkwardness that had often characterised and indeed punctured their relationship in the past, particularly during moments of anxiety was almost nowhere to be seen, much to their unspoken relief. They were also more willing to show physical affection, particularly after battles against other trainers and the times when they trained with each other; a hug here, a tousle of the hair there. When Ash had defeated Winona, Misty had even let him get away with giving her a peck on the cheek during a victory embrace, which was more than they'd ever done with each other in the past, that was for sure. It didn't feel wrong though to either of them though, which was reassuring.

The changes between them were all part of the extra years they had accumulated under their belts; they had matured mentally as much as they had physically and the simple fact was that they felt more comfortable in each other's presence and of course more comfortable with themselves and who they had grown up to become.

Perhaps their comfort in each other's presence had also improved because of the premise of their travels; no longer was Misty's journey with Ash underlined by the fact that he owed her a bike, she was travelling with him again largely because she wanted to and this would naturally put Ash at ease.

Whatever the cause, their improved dynamic meant they were much more eager and willing to have some fun in their travels and both felt that this change in attitude was rubbing off onto their Pokémon, who had become noticeably more at ease with each other, particularly during mealtimes, when they were usually very protective of their bowls of Pokémon food.

All in all, the good vibes were thoroughly appreciated by all and Ash made a mental note about this change in behaviour in his Pokémon. After all, a better disposition could only translate into improved performance in battle.

After cooking up a pleasant noodle and vegetable stir-fry, the pair decided to do a spot of sun-bathing to let their lunch go down before going for a swim. This required they change into something they wouldn't mind getting wet, which they both had in their possession on this occasion and proceeded to dart behind different trees out of each other's views. After they had both changed they walked out a little slowly, Misty was wearing a dark pink skirtini, which stopped a few inches above her knees, with matching bikini top. Ash had a trusty pair of dark blue surf shorts. What was obvious at this moment was their comfort in each other's presence being tested a little, now they were not fully clothed. Oddly enough it was Misty who broke the ice.

"So Ash, is it still weird to see me looking like a girl?" giving Ash a knowing smile.

It took Ash several seconds to understand Misty's reference, at which point he gave an utterly staggered and slightly impressed look. "You still remember that after all this time?" he said, exasperated, remembering what he had said to Misty the first time he had ever seen her in swimwear; a time at the beach during Ash's first attempt on the Indigo League, just prior to the two of them and Brock organising a 'Bikini Competition' to help out an old man fulfil his dream.

"Girls never forget moments like that Ash, ever," she said wagging her finger. Ash merely shook his head blinking. After a brief pause Ash gave a cheesy looking smile and crossed his arms.

"Well, I'm afraid you're not looking much like a girl these days Misty," he said, with mock disappointment. The comment produced a flash of anger on Misty, who was waiting to see how he would dig himself out of this little hole, which he duly did with all the smoothness and subtlety of a particularly moody Primeape. "Cause where I'm standing, you're looking all woman! Ha ha!"

Misty merely let out a gust of air from her lungs and shook her head. "You're damn right I am, boy," she said with mock aggression, stepping forward and laying out her towel on the grass, with Ash quickly following suit.

"By the way," said Misty, once they were both lying down to catch the mid-day sun. "That was a terrible line."

"I know," said Ash, stoically. They lay there for a few moments saying nothing, it was a spotless day, not a cloud in the sky, and no breeze either.

After an hour of lying on the ground, occasionally turning over to sun the other side of their bodies, the two stirred and looked out upon the tranquil waters for a few moments before either of them spoke.

"Everything is so quiet here," said Ash, breaking the silence. "Feels like there isn't another person for miles around."

"Maybe there isn't," replied Misty. "It feels like there aren't any Pokémon for miles around either, except our own of course."

"Yeah, doesn't that seem a little weird to you? There aren't many places where there aren't any Pokémon around and when we were walking through the forest we stopped seeing Pokémon shortly before we got here. Huh, maybe we should call this place Ghost Lake." suggested Ash.

"Hey, maybe this lake already has a name, get your Pokénav and have a look!" urged Misty.

"Yeah let's see," he said, getting out his Pokénav and determining their location. "Well there's a surprise, this lake isn't shown on the map at all.

"How romantic, since no one's decided to mark it up and name it, it could be our very own Lake! Forget Ghost Lake, we should call it Misty Lake! That's a proper name for a place like this."

"Hey I saw this place first, I get to name it!" defied Ash.

"Nuh-uh," said Misty wagging her finger. "You know how it always works with exploration it's always whoever sets foot on or in newly discovered places that gets to claim the discovery!"

"True, but the sign says we aren't to enter, so I guess we will never get to claim it." retorted Ash.

"And when was the last time you did everything you were told Ash?" Misty asked with a smirk.

"It has been a while hasn't it? I don't see any reason why we can't go in the lake, look around, there's no sign of any settlements, not even a dirt road. Who's to stop us?"

Even as he finished speaking he and Ash both knew what each other was thinking and both had that expression of 'I know what you're thinking' plastered on their faces. They both darted their eyes towards the lake and back at each other, measuring up who would get their first in a dash.

They moved at the same time, hurtling themselves towards the water, the lighter framed Misty getting off the mark quicker than Ash. As they both reached the water's edge Ash jumped with all the power he could muster in his legs into the water, bringing himself marginally ahead of Misty and impacting the water a fraction of a second before she did.

"I did it, I got in here first!" he shouted victoriously.

"Not this time Ash Ketchum, this place is mine!" Misty retorted splashing him with water.

"You wish," came the reply, followed by a wave of water.

Misty turned to their Pokémon on the shore. "Hey everyone come on in the water's great!"

Their Pokémon needed no further prompting and jumped into the water and played around as did Ash and Misty, splashing and dunking each other, having a jolly old time.

After calming down for a moment, Ash turned to Misty.

"I wonder how deep this lake is?"

"Given it's not very wide, I wouldn't have thought particularly deep."

"Well, I'm going to find out," said Ash, swimming out some way further from where they had already drifted out to during their play. He took a deep breath and dived under the surface of the water, swimming down to the bottom. Misty had been right, for he didn't need to dive far. From where he was, some forty meters or more out from the edge of the lake, he found the bottom, around six meters down. He touched the bottom of the lake, it's texture silty with bits of rock amongst it. There were sparse patches of lake weed around here too, but nothing of noticeable interest, not that he could see very far in this coloured water.

Ash wasn't sure if he was hearing right, but he suddenly heard a deep booming noise, like a giant drum... or an explosion heard from under water. Whatever caused it, he most certainly felt it from where he was. He decided to go up to find out what was going on and also to get some air.

Whether he was in too much of a rush to get to the surface or whether the cloudy water obscured his vision was not certain, but had he lingered down there for a moment longer he would have noticed a large muddy and rocky object with four segmented, finger-like attachments move out from under the surface of the lake bottom and slowly follow Ash.

Breaking the surface of the water, Ash looked at Misty who looked a little worried.

"Hey Misty, did something explode up here? I heard this deep echoing noise from under the water."

"I don't know Ash, I heard it too, but there was no explosion and in fact it sounded more like it was coming from the lake itself, because it was deep and booming from up here too."

Suddenly their Pokémon, who had been happily frolicking in the water up to this point, made a mad dash for land as if fleeing and hurled themselves ashore and started screaming and shouting at Misty and Ash, furthering the concern of the two friends.

"Uh, Ash, I'm getting worried here. I think our Pokémon know something about this lake that we don't."

"Yeah, let's get..."

Ash was suddenly cut off and sharply disappeared under the water without so much as a yelp. Misty promptly turned around to find him gone.

"Ash? Ash!" she screamed desperately, before making the snap decision to take a deep breath and dive underwater, the only place Ash could be. Swimming deeper she caught site of Ash, struggling with something on his feet. As she swam closer, she could finally make out to her horror that Ash was being held onto by what she could best equate to being a three fingered, one thumbed hand. Only this hand was grim, covered in silt and weeds, it also looked like it was made from a combination of rock and corroded metal.

Misty tried to help Ash free himself from the grasp, but it was too strong, the palm of the monstrous hand being the same size as Ash himself. Ash suddenly gestured to his mouth and clutched his chest; he hadn't had a chance to take a proper breath when he was grabbed and his panic and struggling had made him desperate for air sooner than he normally would have been. Misty knew he needed freeing and fast, or he was going to drown, but the vice grip of the hand was impossible to break. Thinking quick, Misty knew she was not in desperate need of oxygen, so grabbing a surprised Ash by the face, she placed her lips on his and gave him the kiss of life, the air in her lungs still containing enough oxygen to buy Ash time and her an opportunity to call for help on the surface. Ash took all the air she could give, then let her go to the surface.

Breaking the still water Misty shouted out to her Pokemon.

"Corsola, get over here, now, we need you!"

She didn't hear a response but she did see her brave little Corsola jump into the water and race towards Misty, reaching her in seconds.

"Corsola, something grabbed hold of Ash I need you to use spike cannon on it to help him break free, follow me!" Misty ordered, taking another deep breath and going under.

Ash was not in the same place as he was before, being slowly dragged further to away, to the centre of the lake, Misty realised. She raced after and caught up with him. Once again she gave Ash the kiss of life, only this time he didn't so much let her breath air into him as he did forcefully take the air from her, so desperate for oxygen were his lungs.

Once he had taken what she could give, Misty signalled Corsola to fire on the hand, which she duly did, the spikes hitting their mark. There was a pained roar from within the water and the hand let go, freeing Ash who ploughed his way to the surface with Misty. As they rose, Corsola caught sight of a second hand moving out of the gloom heading for her master and fired again, forcing the hand to withdraw.

Misty and Ash didn't speak, they just swam as fast as their limbs would allow them, they were shortly followed by Corsola, who occasionally stopped and fired her spike cannon into the water at the unseen hands that must have been pursuing them.

Finally reaching the grassy land, Ash and Misty scrambled well away from the water's edge, followed by Corsola who hopped out of the water and also retreated to what she felt was a safe distance.

Before they could say or do anything their thoughts were interrupted by an echoing, trumpeting, inhuman bellow, like the sound of large rusty metal hinges being forced to move, only this noise was greatly amplified from the lake.

Ash and Misty, still breathing heavily, leapt to their feet and took another step backwards, as did their Pokémon, the icy grip of fear chilling them to their cores. They had never heard such a horrific and more threatening din in their lives.

As the noise subsided the still waters of the lake were shattered by the appearance of a relatively large, very turbulent and persistent emission of air, creating a frothing, churning mound close to the centre of the lake.

With their eyes rooted to the disturbance, Ash, Misty and their Pokémon watched as a dark grey, nobly mass broke the surface within the the erupting water and that same terrible noise sounded out, directly from the extrusion, which stopped rising any further. It stayed there for several moments, gently swaying slightly from side to side, not rising any further.

As promptly as it had risen it began to retreat under the water and the bubbles that had preceded its appearance died down as quickly as they had begun. The lake returned to it's calm beauty, the serenity only punctured by a higher pitched wail from the water, the noise sounding like it was coming from far away, it was the noise of a creature that was disappointed it had let it's quarry get away.

For five minutes Ash and Misty did nothing, just stared out at the water, not sure if the monster was bluffing or had genuinely returned to the depths from whence it came. Eventually Ash breathed out slowly, relieved beyond measure and sank to the soft grassy ground onto his back, the trauma of having nearly drowned at the hands of some savage beast getting the better of his strength. He just lay there with his eyes closed, slowly shaking his head.

He opened his eyes to see Misty standing over him with a concerned look on her face.

"Ash, are you OK?" she asked.

Ash made no reply, but instead, to Misty's surprise he lurched up and threw his arms around her, dragging her down to ground level on top of him, in a tight hug, which she affectionately returned.

"With you around to save my life when I need you to, I'll always be OK," he assured her, which put a small smile on her face.

For a short while they just stayed as they were; chins on each others shoulders, saying nothing, just listening and feeling each other breathe, Ash toying with a damp clump of Misty's hair. The warm sun starting to dry off their wet glistening bodies. They had come close, so close to losing each other, were it not for Misty's quick thinking.

In Ash's mind there was no way he was going to be able to make up for that, not unless he had to save Misty's life in the future and he could never wish for her to be in a situation where her life was in danger to begin with. No, this would simply be something he would always have to remember and thank her for.

It was Misty who eventually broke the long silence.

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Think we should get up?" she asked.

"Don't want to," he admitted. "But yeah, I think we've lingered here too long. I feel like that thing is watching us."

They stood up, looking back across the water.

"What in the world was that thing?" asked Ash, quietly.

"I have no idea, if it was a water Pokémon, it was like none I've ever seen before. An undocumented species perhaps?" she pondered.

"Maybe. Do you get the feeling there's a reason this lake isn't showing on my Pokénav? And that thing out there is that reason?"

Misty merely nodded. "I think we should leave. Now."

They packed up their belongings and returned their Pokémon to their balls and were starting to walk away when Ash stopped. He had a thoughtful expression for a moment, then that expression changed to one of determination. It was one Misty had seen before and on seeing it, had a sinking feeling she knew what Ash was going to say next.

"No Ash, don't even think about it!" she ordered.

"Think about what? Don't you want to know what that thing was?" he asked.

Misty looked at him incredulously. "Ash a few minutes ago you said we'd lingered here too long and before that, that thing tried to kill you. There are some things in this world that should simply be left alone and I believe this is one of them."

Ash looked disappointed at Misty's response, but no less determined. "I know it tried to drown me, but I'm here on dry land now and it doesn't seem interested in coming onto land. Come on Misty, we've got a chance to see a Pokémon never seen before, I've certainly never seen anything like it and frankly, I want to see the face of my attacker."

"There's no way I'm letting you back in that lake Ash, I'll break your legs first if that's what it takes to stop you," said Misty, her words quite serious.

"Are you crazy, there's no way I'm getting back in the water, I was going to get Feraligatr to bring it up to the surface again and battle me!" Ash said, making a fist.

"There's no way I'm letting you send Feraligatr down there alone," responded Misty. "I know I can't stop you, so I might as well help you, but I tell you this: if something happens to our Pokémon, there'll be no one to help you from me."

"Alright, Misty," said Ash, confidently grabbing Feraligatr's Pokéball. "Let's do it Feraligatr!" he cried.

"Gyarados, Kingdra, I choose you!" called Misty, unleashing her own powerful Pokémon.

"Whoa," mumbled Ash. "How long have you had a Kingdra?"

"My Seadra evolved whilst I was training with Lorelai. You like?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm impressed. Whatever that thing in the lake is, it has no chance against all three of these guys!" he said with a smile.

"Alright, everyone, there's a creature at the bottom of this lake and we want you to coax it to the surface for battle, we're counting on you, do whatever it takes!" Ash commanded.

"Be careful though,"advised Misty. "That creature is big and it has two very big hands, that could get a strong hold on you, so watch yourselves."

The Pokémon gave their own battle roars and swam out into the lake and dived beneath the green-blue surface.

"That monster isn't going to know what hit it." said Ash assuredly. Misty remained silent.

A few moments went past when suddenly the peace and serenity was shattered by the familiar spine tingling roar from the deep, only this one sounded more aggressive and angry. A few seconds later, Ash and Misty were astonished to see Kingdra, Gyarados and Feraligatr break the surface of the lake and tear their way across the water, each had a desperate and petrified look on their faces. Right behind them the same two hands that had attacked Ash and Misty chased after the fleeing Pokémon.

They reached the end of the lake but didn't even slow down, using their speed and momentum to hurtle themselves a good distance out of the water, close to the surrounding trees. The pursuing hands stopped at the lake's edge and fumbled around the damp shores. They were even more ghastly to look at when out of the water; their colour had turned from the light grey silt colour when they were underwater and had turned as dark as their purpose of finding their lost prey. Ash and Misty could clearly make out patches of metal amongst the rocky, almost coralline skin of the hands and the arms they were attached to.

The hands gave up their search and slowly retreated from the shore, singing back into the murky depths to the sounds of a low rumbling growl from the lake. Ash and Misty rushed to their Pokémon; they were trembling with fear, their pupils fiercely dilated, their gazes, directed out to the centre of the lake, were unwavering. It took several attempts to rouse them out of their trance, at which point their trainers comforted them and returned them to the safety of their Pokéballs.

A forlorn Ash turned to Misty, who was looking at him with an 'I told you so' expression, which Ash did pick up on. "I'm sorry Misty, you were right, we should have just left. I'm done here, let's go and get these three to a Pokémon centre; make sure they're OK."

The disappointment in his face caused Misty to soften her expression. She knew Ash had a strong sense of inquisitiveness and knew he would have really wanted to see the creature they had discovered. This time though, it was not to be.

Picking up their belongings and changing back to their walking clothes amongst the trees, they left the beast behind them, the identity of the lake's fell resident once again remaining a mystery.

Ash and Misty decided to carry on in the direction they had been going. It meant they would cut out a large portion of their journey and they didn't see the point in retracing their steps.

The mood was rather downcast, the entity who refused to show it's face simply would not be coaxed to the surface and instead managed to terrify the living daylights out of three powerful Pokémon, even Gyarados and Misty had always been under the impression that Gyarados' couldn't feel fear.

Ash had been unable to put a face to the creature that had tried to drown him, which was a point of frustration, it was like an itch he couldn't scratch, though there was not much he could do right now; he needed to get Feraligatr to a Pokémon centre to make sure he was OK.

After a short walk from the lake they happened upon what they thought were the tell tale signs of a pathway, weaving it's way through the trees.

The pair decided to follow the path and see where it led them, they certainly had nothing to lose at this point and maybe they would get lucky and find someone who knew where the nearest Pokémon centre was. Even better if they knew what that beast in the lake was.

They must have walked for nearly half an hour when they noticed the trees start to thin out once again, only this time to their relief they started to see timber clad houses through the trees.

Curious as to the name of this village, Ash took out his Pokénav. "We're about to go into the village of Okham. I wonder if there's a Pokémon centre here?"

"Well, even if there isn't one, someone is bound to know what that lake monster is, this pathway has been used recently and it looks like it leads to the lake." said Misty.

Clearing the trees and their dark canopy they emerged into a quiet street and there was not a soul in sight. From where they had come from it looked like they had wandered onto a back street of the town. Heading along the street and deeper into town, the friends happened upon a town square, which was almost equally deserted, only a few people ambling about from one place to another. The area was obviously the business hub of the town, as all the buildings here were shops of various trades.

Spying a café, called 'Angie's' a few houses away, Ash and Misty decided to get a quick drink whilst they made their enquiries. They walked into the establishment, which already contained several clientèle here for a late lunch and found a table for themselves. They were greeted by a cheerful looking woman in her early forties with shoulder length dark brown hair.

"Well, well, new faces about town! Lovely to meet you, I'm Angie, co-proprietor of Angie's café," she said proudly.

"Nice to meet you Angie. I'm Misty and this is my friend Ash, we're Pokémon trainers travelling across Hoenn," said Misty.

"A pleasure. Now, before I get too deep into conversation I'm sure you folks came here for some refreshments, is there anything I can get you?" she asked.

"Uh, sure, I'll have a strawberry milkshake please!" said Misty.

"I'll have a chocolate one, thank you Angie," said Ash. "Oh and I'll have two straws in mine please, I should imagine Pikachu would like to have a sip," he added, motioning to Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" cooed Angie, scratching Pikachu under his chin, to his delight. "Anyway, I'll get my husband right on those shakes," she said leaving the table.

"Weird," said Ash, looking furtively around him. "Everything seems pretty normal for a town that's so close to a lake with a monster living in it," he said in a hushed tone, not wanting to attract too much attention.

"I guess we'll see just how calm they are when we bring it up." replied Misty.

Angie shortly returned after having placed their order and took a moment to sit with them.

"So, you're travelling Hoenn are you? If you're trainers I'm guessing you'll be competing in the Hoenn League later this year?"

That's right. Well, I am at any rate," replied Ash. "Misty's out here with me for other reasons."

"Oh, I see. Well, say no more, say no more. I'm not going to pry on that one," said Angie, giving a knowing smile.

A moment of confusion swept Ash and Misty, then simultaneously twigging what Angie was implying.

"Whoa, it's not what you think, Angie," stammered Misty, now going red in the face, as was Ash, who was looking away from both of them, as embarrassed as he was amused. "I'm here to train for the Gym Leader's Championship."

"Oh I see, you're a gym leader, eh? Impressive stuff, my apologies. I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that," said Angie hastily.

"No matter," reassured Ash. "You're not the first person to make that mistake and I have a feeling you won't be the last," his tone a little awkward.

"Say, Angie, I have a question for you," said Misty, trying to change the conversation. "Ash and I found a lake about half an hour that way," she said, indicating the general direction. "It's not noted in our Pokénav. What can you tell us about it?"

Ash noticed Misty seemed to be deliberately leaving out the monster they tried to fight, so he decided to play along and not mention it either.

The pair of them gauged Angie for a reaction, but Ash didn't notice her even flinch. More surprising was her response.

"Lake you say? I don't know of any lake around these parts, Misty, sorry!" she said calmly.

"Really? Are you sure?" persisted Ash. "Because there's definitely one there, I can assure you."

Misty noticed a couple of other patrons taking peeks over their shoulders in their direction.

"Well, if there is one then I haven't seen it. Running this place doesn't give me much of a chance to get out and about. Sorry I can't be much help."

As she finished speaking they heard a bell go 'ding' in the background, from the kitchen.

"Oops, sorry, someone's meal is ready. No rest for a hostess I'm afraid, back to work. I should imagine your milkshakes will be ready soon too, nice meeting you both!" she said getting up and walking away without giving them a chance to respond.

"Well, she didn't seem to know anything and she sounded genuine," said Ash.

"She knew something," replied Misty.

"How can you tell?" asked Ash, to which Misty rolled her eyes.

"You're still terrible at reading women's body language aren't you?" asked Misty.

"Yup, why?" asked Ash, stoically.

"Well if you weren't so rubbish at that you would have noticed that, despite sounding and acting completely normal, there were two things she couldn't cover- first, the colour briefly drained away from her face when you first mentioned the lake, it came back quite quickly, but it was still a dead give-away. Secondly of course, when you mentioned the lake I noticed a few people around us had suddenly taken an interest in the conversation," she said, crossing her arms and looking rather smug.

"So she was lying," said Ash. "If that's the case, how are we going to get people to talk?"

"You don't," muttered a gruff voice adjacent to them.

Ash and Misty turned to see an old man, who looked to be in his seventies. His thin, grey hair, inverted horseshoe moustache and bushy, dark grey eyebrows gave him a striking look, as did his icy blue eyes.

"No-one here will talk of that place, not in public anyway, it's pretty much forbidden. However, since you have unfortunately found that... area, have your drinks and meet me at my house, it's the bungalow down the third street from the left of this café, you won't miss it," he informed them, then lifting himself out of his chair to leave. "By the way, the name's Julius, no need to introduce yourselves to me, I caught your conversation with Angie. I will see you shortly," he said, picking up a small brown trilby from his table and bidding them farewell for the time being.

Turning back to each other the two sat in silence for a moment before Ash spoke.

"Whatever is in that lake, this town must have a pretty serious history with it."

"Yeah, if it's got the whole town spooked, it must be a serious threat," pondered Misty.

Their milkshakes arrived shortly, which they took the time to enjoy and they were very good milkshakes. Misty's actually had blended strawberries and cream in the mix, whilst Ash could tell his had proper cocoa beans ground into it along with cream. Supping it from the straw, it was like drinking liquid dark chocolate and was sinfully good, having a wonderful bitter-sweet flavour.

After they had eventually polished off their milkshakes, with some assistance from Pikachu, who definitely approved, they bade farewell to a slightly nervous looking Angie, who had noticed Julius talking to them.