Ash read the piece of paper again, taking in the seven translated lines of temple writing on it for like the hundredth time that morning. Ash, Brock and Misty arrived in Callidus City the night before, but the professor wasn't available to meet with them and instead set up a meeting with them for in less than twenty minutes time. Ash, Brock and Misty spent the night in a pokemon center five minutes from the university; Steven had called ahead and booked it since they had decided they would properly be staying the night even if they did get to meet the professor last night.
Ash journey to the region hadn't been a bad one; the plane that the champions had supplied him with was amazing, it could have sat another ten maybe twelve people more. There was also three presents sat on the seats of the plane with a name on each of them. Inside Ash's was a new state of the art communicator watch that has every function Ash could think off including phone and hologram technology, state of the art map capabilities, a complete collection of pokedex entries and that can like everything else on the watch be accessed by voice access or by searching manually. It came with instructions of how to use and by the end of the journey Ash knew where everything was including the homing beacon that placed it in to be used if Ash is in serious trouble and needs help, it will alert all the other champions and then they'll come and help or send someone else to help.
Brock and Misty had been supplied with new watches as well, but they aren't as high tech as Ash, they don't have the pokedex entries plus a few other things. They managed to programme each others numbers into each watch and the pilot informed them that each of Ash's friends will also be getting a watch each in due time when they get back to the champion's island and Ash was glad it means that no matter how far apart them are during this journey they can always be in contact at a moments notice.
Ash didn't get a wink of sleep last night because his mind was working overtime thinking about the Immortals and what they are going to learn today from the meeting with the professor. After failing to fall asleep for a couple of hours Ash slipped out of the bed and moved to the roof of the pokemon center calling out Lucario starting a training session with him. The session was productive and Ash managed to summon balls of aura in both hands and then have each hand do a different type of aura manipulation to the other, he grabbed Lucario with his left while holding a shield with his right to block the attacks Lucario was firing at him to try and stop Ash from completing the grab.
Ash also managed to learn something new that even Lucario hadn't thought of, he clapped his hands together with the aura still covering them to congratulate himself on having a good session and it caused a sort of aura sonic wave that blasted out all around him knocking Lucario off his feet and slightly damaging anything within eight feet of Ash. Once Lucario had got up they agreed it be very helpful, but they shouldn't try it again till they're somewhere open so not to damage anything useful that may be around them.
"Ash are you ready to go meet the professor", Misty asked placing her hand on his shoulder lightly so not to startle him, she must of known he was in his own world.
"Yeah let's go", Ash replied placing the writing translation back into his backpack zipping it up standing up placing it onto his shoulder letting Pikachu jump onto his shoulder before slipping his hand into Misty walking with her to join Brock who was waiting for them by the door.
Ash's trio moved through the pokemon center moving through the door and onto the streets of Callidus City moving down the pavement heading towards the huge university building that even from their position they can see clearly. "Ash i heard you get up during the night, couldn't you sleep?" Brock inquired.
"No too much going on in my mind last night, so i thought i get out the room so not to wake you or Misty with my toss and turning. I did some training on the roof with Lucario, it was really productive so i don't mind missing one nights sleep", Ash replied.
"We were already awake Ash, i couldn't sleep either and Brock was only in a light sleep ", Misty admitted.
"Oh right sorry, well i guess there's no harm done then if you were both already awake. I'm glad you both agreed to come with me, there's no one else i rather have with my right now, my girlfriend and my best friend", Ash replied and both Brock and Misty smiled at him.
"We're glad to be here, it's nice hanging out with you two again. I love the others, but i don't know we've got something special", Brock answered and Ash returned the smile Brock and Misty were giving him.
"Same", Ash and Misty replied together as the trio reached the door to the university. Brock pushed the door open and Misty and Ash moved in after him following him towards the reception desk.
The receptionist looked up smiling at them, "Hello, i don't think i've seen you three before, are you new students? How may i be of help?"
"No we're not students. But we're here to meet a professor who i believe works here, he specialises in ancient writing", Ash replied and the receptionist nodded at him.
"Ah yes he's expecting you, please take a seat and i'll just alert him that you've arrived so that he can come down and meet you and take you back to his office", the receptionist replied and Ash nodded leading the other two to a set of seats a few feet away from the desk watching as the receptionist picked up the phone dialling a number exchanging a few sentences with the person on the other end before placing the phone back down smiling at Ash. "He's on his way down; he shouldn't be more than a minute."
"Thanks", Ash replied and she nodded at him turning her attention to her computer typing away on it.
Ash heard the footsteps a few seconds before a guy who Ash assumed was the professor moved into view smiling at Ash, Misty and Brock. All three of the rose as he stopped in front of them, "Hi i'm Professor Alan Jackson, but you can call me Alan. It's nice to meet all three of you, um can I ask which one of you two is Ash", professor Jackson said looking between Ash and Brock.
"I'm Ash, this is Misty and this is Brock", Ash replied and the professor extended his hand out to Ash and Ash took it shaking it before watching as the professor shook both Misty's and Brock's hands as well.
"Let's head to my office and we can discuss more about why you're here, I would really love to hear about you visit to the temple as well. I'm most excited to hear about the secret room you found as well", Alan suggested and Ash nodded at him.
"Sounds good, time is of the essence", Ash replied following after the professor as he moved back towards the way he came. Misty moved to stand next to Ash taking his hand in her. Brock up the rear following the others into the lift the professor had called.
Ash watched the lift numbers flash past until it stopped on level eight and the doors opened and the professor stepped out not waiting for them before heading down the corridor. Ash, Misty and Brock rushed down the corridor after him watching as the professor stopped at a door nearly all the way down the corridor opening it holding it open for them as they stepped through. The professor let the door close before moving round Ash's trio taking a seat behind the desk that is taking up sixty percent of the room motioning for Ash's trio to take a seat in the three chairs that he had set up on the opposite side of the desk to him. Pikachu slide down of Ash's shoulder sitting down on Ash's legs focusing on the professor as well.
"Right down to business, i'm sure you're wondering what the rest of the writing said and to learn more about the Immortals that it mentions, that's what professor Oak said in his reply to me", Alan said and Ash nodded.
"Yes please, anything you can tell us will be a great help", Ash replied.
"Right that's fine, the translation programme i've wrote is still translating the last of it, so far there is twenty pages and i'm sure you'll agree with me, it'll probably be easier for you to read them yourself than for me to read everything that is on in those pages. You can read them on your way to your next location, Alan answered and Ash nodded.
"Sure, Alan I met with the champions of the Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos region yesterday and we were wondering if you be able to come back with us and explain everything you're going to tell me to a group of people that we are summoning to this island the champions own. If this adds incentive you could bring your family the island is actually a holiday resort they could be sunning themselves while you're in the meeting", Ash asked hoping that the champions will agree to put his family up, they did ask him to get Alan to the meeting.
"Um I don't see why not Ash, i've got a few days of leave owed to me and i'm sure my wife and daughter would love to have a small holiday, when do we need to leave?"
"Um not till tonight really, so you can go home and talk to your family in person once we've finished", Ash replied and Alan nodded.
"Yeah that's a good idea, right down to business, the Immortals. Before i tell you the history of the Immortals first let me explain what the Immortals actually are. The Immortals are the ancestors the pokemon or at least Lucida is, she created the first pokemon, but they were a lot different to the ones we see now."
"Lucida who's that?" Ash asked.
"You don't know who Lucida is, that can't be. Okay no worries let me explain something quickly it's to do with some of the writing in the temple. Ash you said you found a secret room right", Alan asked and Ash nodded, "Well on that wall there was writing a picture of a wolf type creature with wings right?" Alan added.
"Yeah i pressed the wolf and the room opened for me", Ash answered.
"Well the writing on the wall reads like this, the final room shall only show itself to Lucida's chosen champion when the time for her to rise again arrives, they must be a hero of the pokemon and a have a pure heart."
"Ash the voice we heard, it must of been Lucida", Lucario's voice echoed inside Ash's head.
"Yeah it must have been", Ash replied before speaking to Alan again, "Is that wolf type creature one of the Immortals", Ash thought back to what Lucida had said about it being her daughter.
"Well it's not one of the ones i'm about to explain in a minute, but there is a legend of a seventh immortal, but nobody knows anything about her", Alan answered.
"Oh right i see, right let's get back to the five Immortals we do know about then", Ash replied and Alan nodded.
"Right the first immortal is called Umbra. He's the father of the Immortals, plus the husband of Lucida. Umbra is a huge demonic looking creatures, he has a thin muscled body with a devil like face and huge bat like wings that come out his back and extended nearly twice a far as his whole body. He also has long sharp claws connected to his muscled arms and he has powerful legs that he uses to jump fifty metres into the air before flying off to get an aerial advantage against others."
"He was the huge shadow looking over a village I saw in the temple wasn't he?" Ash asked Alan.
"Yeah he was, he's the most powerful of the five Immortals, legend says he is the master of the darkness and death. The next immortal is called Tempest and he is the eldest child of Lucida and Umbra. He's a mix of a dragon and a bird, his body and head are dragon like, while his wings are huge and bird like with feathers covering them, his legs are huge bird talons and his arms end with dragon claws, he's the master of the sky.", Alan answered before continuing onto explain the next immortal.
"He was another picture from the temple that you saw Ash", Brock said and Ash nodded looking at him confused, "Oh Max showed is all the pictures on the way back", Brock added understanding why he was looking confused.
"Right now for the remaining three Immortals, "The third one is called Fissura. He is the second son of Lucida and Umbra, Fissura has the appearance of a Minotaur made of earth that can fight on both its hind legs or on all fours depending on if it's on the defence or attack he's the master of the earth. The fourth Immortals is called Hydris, she is the only female member of the Immortals that attacked the world. Hydris can battle both on land and water, but battles best in a water source. Hydris is a huge coral armoured newt that can stand up right on land and has a fin going from her head to all the way down her back and along her tail she's the master of the water. The final immortal is Flareo the youngest son and the master of fire immortal. Flareo is a huge hydra with green flames running down each head and neck joining together where they meet continuing down its back and tail." Alan said and Ash's thoughts went back to the green fire he found in the temple back in the Miracle Islands, it must be from Flareo, they must have collected some from him sometime in the past.
"Do you know what Lucida looks like?" Ash asked.
"Yes I do, it's said that she's a dragon, but she's no ordinary dragon. She has scales of every colouring covering her body in a pattern and it's said that the suns glistens off them causing a beautiful pattern on the ground beneath her as well", Alan answered and Ash nodded, she sounds amazing Ash thought to himself.
"She must be an amazing sight to behold", Ash replied and Alan nodded.
"Okay now that you understand a bit about the Immortals I want to talk to you about a small section of the writing in the temple. It tells the story about how the Immortals first appeared and how they lived peacefully with the human race until one day changed everything. Guys what i'm about to tell you will change everything you know about the pokemon world, some of the stuff you've heard did happen, but not in the way that you believe. The world was created long before Arcues, Dilaga, Palkia and Giratina came to be, but it was a different world and it faced a battle that scarred it."
"What happened to start the war?" Misty enquired.
"Well i don't know the exact details because they've been lost through time, but i do know that there was an accident that started the first great battle this world has ever seen. The Immortals minus Lucida the wife of Umbra and the mother of the rest attacked a village that a tribe of humans lived vowing revenge for the wrong that they had done to them. It was a massacre and only a few people survived and it was because of those few survivors that word of the attack got to not just the rest of the humans, but to Lucida. She faced her family and asked why they did what they did and they were only resetting the scales of the world. Lucida looked at her family and saw the truth her family was mad and they needed to be stopped. Lucida met with a tribe of humans who called themselves the guardians of the light. She shared with them secrets that only the Immortals were supposed to know and created the very first pokemon to go to battle with her and the humans against the Immortals. The war raged on and the casualties were massive, nearly the whole tribe was wiped away and all the pokemon were wiped out, before Lucida rose up to the sky and calmed her family entombing the Immortals plus herself in six stones each of a different colour reflecting their powers", Alan said and Ash couldn't help, but think of the stone Celebi had seen the group of humans find six months ago, he's now even more sure that the men Celebi saw found one of the Immortals.
"Lucida turned herself to stone to save the world what a hero, what happened next", Brock asked.
"That had been her plan all along and she asked the humans that the stones be placed somewhere no one could find them again this was before they thought up the idea of the temples. Just encase someone did find them, Lucida wanted that there be something to show the humans the way forward again and a way to wake her again and so she created a staff that was given to elder of the village before the final battle that was to be passed down to someone new each generation so that battle against the Immortals could continue if needed and with her last bit of energy she created the first pokemon egg giving it powers close to the Immortals. The egg would hatch into Arcues who would go onto create Dialga, Palkia and Giratina who would then change the world to what we know today healing the damage that had been done during the battle. The true beginning of the world was lost as the years went by till the only reference was the walls of the temples like the one you've visited in the Miracle Islands", Alan replied and Ash nodded at him as did Misty and Brock.
"And they did rise again didn't they", Ash asked thinking about how the battle just described must of happened more than two thousand years ago.
"Yes they did, a few times over the years, but the last one was nearly two thousand years ago and it was during that battle that the staff that was first created to wake her was broken into pieces, one of them which i believe you've got now", Alan answered and Ash nodded unzipping his bag pulling out the piece of the staff placing it on the desk in front of them all. "Wow I never dreamt i live to see the day that a piece of the staff would be right in front of me, but i know what it means and it frightens me."
"The Immortals are returning", Ash said and Alan nodded.
"Yeah they are and it seems Lucida has chosen you to go into battle with her this time. Ash this battle is going to be like nothing you've ever faced in your time and i'm sure you've faced some hard battles in your time and i've got a part to play in this battle by helping you to find the stones and staff pieces", Alan continued.
"Sounds good, we don't think we've got long before the Immortals show up and i need to find those staff pieces and then find Lucida and wake her" Ash replied.
"Indeed and i know where she is", Alan answered.
"Where?" Ash screeched.
"Well if you follow me i'll show you", Alan replied getting up form his chair moving towards the door. Ash let Pikachu move back to his shoulder before jumping up out of his seat placing the piece of the staff back into his bag for safe keeping while moving towards the door with Misty and Brock behind them.
Alan lead them back to the lift pressing the call button stepping as soon as it opened waiting for Ash's trio to step in before pressing the basement floor key on the lift. The doors closed and the lift stated to move down till it reached the basement floor, the doors opened and everyone moved out. Alan led them over to a door with a key card entry and he pulled a card out of his pocket swiping it and Ash watched the machine flash green before he heard the door unlock. "This is sort of the reason i work here, it's actually the reason the university was built here, so that it could be explored to gain any knowledge on the past", Alan said as he moved through the door flicking on a switch next to the door.
Ash watched as the light started to flicker on and he realised that he was looking a temple similar to the one Max, Tracey and he had explored less than a week ago, but it was a lot smaller than the other one. The light continued to flicker on as they moved through the first room, Ash looked around at the writing and could see it was slightly different to the stuff he seen at the other temple. "Alan the writing here is different to the writing i found in the other temple", Ash stated and Alan nodded.
"Yeah it is, this temple seems to be dedicated to one thing, Lucida. Ash i've added the translations from here to the one you've sent me so you can read that later as well. What i want to show you is on the next floor, this temple is a lot smaller than the one you were in and all the others ones you're probably going to visit on this journey", Alan answered as they reached a set of stairs, the lights came on as they reached the bottom of the stairs and Ash couldn't help but let out a gasp as he looked at the wall in front of him.
There was a huge picture of Lucida the way Alan had described her earlier with a few lines of writing below her picture, but it was what was around her and the writing in a circle pattern that most interested Ash, there was eight groves in the walls very similar to the shape of the keystone that he had found in the secret room of the temple. "This is Lucida's resting place, the groves in the wall they're for the keystones", Ash said and Alan nodded at him.
"Ash take the keystone out of your bag and hold it in front of you", Alan suggested and Ash did as he asked taking the stone out of his bag holding it in front of him, it started to glow and and so did the top most grove as the same writing on the stone appeared in the grove.
"Ash that bit of writing on the stone is just one word, its trust. The writing below her reads like this, My chosen hero, summon the qualities that the stones hold dear and place them in the groves awaken me, together we shall bring peace back to the world and set right the wrongs that my family has committed", Alan informed Ash.
Ash looked down at the stone and smiled, trust seems the writing word really, he had to trust Lucida's voice back in the temple when she told him to send his friends away and he did and he discovered the secret that the room held. "Ash you've come", Lucida's voice said inside Ash's head.
"Lucida is that you?"
"It is Ash; I see you've discovered who I am. I wanted to tell you back at the temple, but we didn't have much time and we still don't Ash. Ash right this second I feel my family rising, you need to hurry and find the rest of the stones and staff pieces. I need to awake and help you stop my family from doing anything that we can't come back from", Lucida answered.
"Don't worry i'll find them, i'm not alone i've got friends who are going to help me", Ash replied.
"Good, Ash i don't want to keep this connection going for to long it's stronger now that you're here, but i want to save my energy just encase you need my help in the other regions. Ash when you wake me i'll explain everything i promise. Ash good luck i know i made the right choice making you my champion i've been keeping an eye on you since the day you first started your pokemon trainer journey and you've impressed me time and again."
"I'll be as fast as i can Lucida, speak to you again soon", Ash replied as the connection ended.
"You just spoke to Lucida didn't you?" Misty asked and Ash nodded.
"She spoke to you, what did she sound like?" Alan asked.
"Loving, Powerful and trustworthy", Ash replied.
"Amazing, i wish i could speak to her just once, alright let's head back to my office and we'll discuss the locations of not just the keystone and staff pieces, but the possible locations of the Immortals, maybe your champion friends can use that information to slow down their awakening", Alan answered and Ash nodded at him following Alan with Misty and Brock either side of him.