Cresselia arrived at the Kalos region. It flew over the region trying to find Ash. It would be searching for awhile. It was determined to help guide Ash in the right direction. Cresselia continued its search.
Ash and Serena walked into school only to find Calem waiting for them. Serena and Ash were surprised. Calem walked up and said, "Hey Ash! Hey Serena! Good to see you!" Ash and Serena replied in unison, "Hi Calem!" Serena asked, "So what are you doing here?" Calem answered, "I transferred back to this school so I could see how my friends were doing. By the way, Gary told me about Scarlet. Ash I'm so sorry that happened. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know." Ash responded, "I will and thanks Calem." Calem, Ash, and Serena walked towards the building and met up with the rest of their friends. Then when school got out for winter break, Calem pulled Serena aside and said, "Serena I know that you've moved on and I want to tell you that I think Ash is the perfect guy for you. While I still have feelings for you, I know that we just aren't meant to be. I'll use my feelings to find someone better for me." Serena replied, "Thank you Calem. I'll see you tomorrow."
Scarlet returned from her mission with another weapon and she went straight to her room after giving the weapon to Robert. She opened the door once and checked to make sure no one was watching. After she closed the door, Scarlet contacted Ash. She said, "Ash are you there?" Ash replied, "Yeah I'm here. What's up?" Scarlet continued, "I found out what Robert's final plan is." Ash inquired, "What's his plan?" Scarlet answered, "He plans on seizing control of the defense mechanism and luring you away from it." Ash questioned, "Um, doesn't he need me if he wants to control the defense mechanism?" Scarlet disconnected with Ash when Robert came into her room.
Robert said, "Alright it's time you learned my final plan Scarlet. I plan on taking control of the defense mechanism." Scarlet questioned, "Don't you need my brother for that?" Robert answered, "Under normal circumstances yes, I would need him. But I have the 'pendant of the aura guardian'." Scarlet thought in her head, Has this guy done any research on artifacts? The 'pendant of the aura guardian' can't help him control the defense mechanism. All it does is increase my brother's powers. Well that makes it all the better to send Ash to the valley near the defense mechanism. Scarlet pretended to be shocked and frightened. Robert continued, "With this I'll be able to seize control of the greatest weapons ever built. I'll be sending Ash to this valley not far from where you live and while he's doing that I'll take control of the defense mechanism. Then when he comes to stop me, I'll use the weapons you brought me and strip him of his powers." Scarlet now was no longer pretending to be shocked and frightened. She was literally feeling the emotions and became worried for her brother. She knew the consequences of what happens when an aura guardian is stripped of their aura. It was the same thing as taking life away from someone. Out of fear she cried, "You can't! He'll die if you take his powers!" Robert responded with an evil grin, "Exactly, with him out of the way you'll remain my apprentice forever and no one will come to save you. Also you'll be joining me on the mission and you'll watch the death of your brother weather you like it or not." Scarlet trembled in fear and she fell to her knees. Tears fell from her eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of anger and fear. Robert exited her room and locked the door from the outside. Scarlet tried to dry her tears, but she couldn't.
Ash sensed his sister's emotions and contacted her. He questioned, "Scarlet what's wrong? Why did you disconnect?" Scarlet answered, "Robert entered my room and revealed everything. And to answer your question from earlier, yes he does need you. He thinks he can use a certain artifact to activate it, but it's obvious that he hasn't done any research on it." Ash responded, "Wow this guy sounds like he's completely insane." Scarlet commented, "He is insane. He plans to send you to a valley not far from where you are. But while he's going there, he'll attempt to take control of the defense mechanism." Ash recapped, "So to put it simply don't follow his clues?" Scarlet chuckled, "Pretty much." Ash replied, "Okay so where to you want us to go?" Scarlet instructed, "There's a valley nearby the defense mechanism and it has the flowers you're looking for. Once you're there, you better have an empty vile on you because you'll need to mix up the potion. To make the potion, you'll need water, nectar of the dream catcher, and pollen from that same flower. But there's a problem, you need essence from Cresselia to complete the potion and I don't know how to extract it from the flower. My book didn't say how to extract the essence. I'm sorry about that." Ash commented, "It's okay sis. We'll figure something out." Scarlet just remained silent. Ash questioned, "Is there something bothering you?" Scarlet contended, "Yeah.." Scarlet's voice trailed and Ash didn't like the tone in her voice. Ash inquired, "Do you want to talk about it?" Scarlet continued, "Ash, Robert told me that he had built a weapon from the small weapons I stole for him. The weapon's purpose is to strip you of your powers." Ash gasped in shock when Scarlet had said this. Ash grew determined and he said, "Scarlet, I won't let him get away with this. I won't let him break our bond between us. I promise I will save you from him. Please don't give up until it's over little sister." Scarlet smiled and replied, "I won't give up. I'll be waiting for you, but get to the defense mechanism before we do otherwise he'll find out the hard way that only you can break the seal." Ash laughed, "Yeah that would kinda ruin the drama of his entrance."
Ash and Scarlet disconnected with each other. Ash went to the video phone and called Serena's mother. Serena and Delia were out shopping, so he was home alone. Pikachu was with him and keeping an eye on him. Grace answered the call and said, "Hello Ash." Ash replied, "Hi Grace, I just got an update from my sister. She and I have been communicating with telepathy for a while now." Grace responded, "What did she tell you?" Ash continued, "She told me that Robert plans to take control of the defense mechanism. He has an artifact that, he thinks, will help him. In reality, it won't help him. But he is luring me away from it by attempting to send my to a valley near by the house. There's one near by the defense mechanism and she said to go to that one. She also said that all the weapons he forced her to gather are to strip me of my powers." Grace gasped in shock when Ash said this. She questioned, "Is that bad?" Ash answered, "Yeah it is. If an aura guardian is stripped of their aura, they'll die. Stripping an aura guardian of their aura is the same thing as taking a life." Grace then grew very concerned. She inquired, "So what do you want to do about it?" Ash contended, "I have a plan, but I need help to pull it off. What I want to do is get to the valley and get the antidote. Then head straight to the defense mechanism and hide among the terrain. Once Robert arrives, We'll come out of hiding and stop Robert from going any further with his insane plan." Grace stated, "We're with you Ash. Just let us know when to leave." Ash nodded and hung up.
Serena and Delia came home and Ash told them everything that Scarlet told him and about the plan he discussed with Grace. Delia gasped, "This man is going too far!" Serena nodded her head in agreement and said, "Well it sounds like this plan of yours will work and I'm with you all the way." Ash smiled, "Thanks Serena." Later, Ash and Serena filled their friends in on the plan. Everyone, including Harrison, joined them to pull off the plan. After they talked to their friends, Ash had another hallucination. Pain was inflicted onto him as the hallucination had attacked suddenly. Serena shook him to snap him out of the hallucination. Ash finally snapped out, but he couldn't take much more of the hallucinations and nightmares he was having. They just kept getting worse day by day. Serena wrapped her arms around him and Ash returned the embrace. Serena was trying her hardest to help Ash maintain his sanity, but she knew that even she wouldn't be able to help much longer. Serena whispered, "This will be all over soon Ash." Ash replied, "I know and it'll be a relief too." Ash and Serena walked out of the room getting ready to launch the plan. They were willing to risk everything they had to make sure Scarlet was saved. As for Scarlet she was ready to release all of her bent up emotions that had been bottled up for weeks. Everyone was ready for the big battle ahead.
