There were a few moments of quiet as the sounds of crumbling stones filled the air. Fortunately, the structural integrity of the temple seemed to withstand Team Rocket's forceful exit, and now Goh, Chloe, and Ash were standing in the puzzle chamber with the door already opened.
Chloe stepped over to one of the helmet-like objects that Team Rocket was messing with as they tried to open the door. They had different shapes cut out of them, reminding Goh of the various helmets that he'd see samurai wear in old movies, but as he looked around the room, there weren't any obvious objects that they could be placed on.
"...I wonder..." Chloe said. "Do you think they went over the lights?"
Goh blinked as he churned over the thoughts in his head. "...now that you mention it..." Looking over the shapes on the helmets, they did seem like they would fit together in some way. The glowing stones, powered by the electricity that was being produced by the aeolipile back in the Fire Chamber, were about the same size as the helmets, and it did look like they would fit over them. "Maybe they're like lampshades? And the way to open the door is to make the lights in the room form a certain shape?"
Ash pointed out the obvious. "Well, we don't exactly have to solve it now, right?"
Indeed, the same attack that ejected Team Rocket through the temple shattered the stone door that they would be stymied by into more pieces than Goh could reasonably count.
"Yeah..." he said, nodding.
"Well, I guess all that's left is to go check out this last chamber. Team Rocket mentioned a treasure, right?" Ash said, perking up in his typical positive thinking manner.
Goh nodded. "Yeah. And no matter what, we at least kept it out of their grimy hands."
"Grooki!" his Pokémon agreed.
"Before we move on, though," Chloe said, "I ended up dropping the book we borrowed from Rainer in the maze in the last chamber. Team Rocket didn't seem to think it was important, so they left it there. We should get it."
"Oh!" Ash spoke up. "I remember where it fell! I'll go get it. We'll be right back!"
"Pika!"
Just like that, Ash dashed off with Pikachu on his shoulder.
Once he was out of earshot, Chloe took a step closer to Goh. "Hey..."
"Hmm...?"
"I just..." she started, though the look on her face made Goh think that she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to say.
"You just what?" he asked.
She shrugged, not meeting his eye. There was something demure about the way she was carrying herself. "I... wanted to thank you for saving Eevee and me."
"Thank me?" This was more than a little surprising to him. "And here I thought you'd be the one to tell me that I shouldn't act so high and mighty about doing something like that?" The tone in his voice had a bit of that teasing edge he often tempered his voice with when he spoke to her.
Her gaze narrowed, and an angry flush dusted her cheeks pink in the pale light. "You really know how to kill a mood, don't you?" she pouted.
This made no sense to him. "Kill a mood? What mood?"
"I mean, you were actually pretty cool back there, taking on Team Rocket and coming up with a plan to save us all by yourself," she said. "But you can't be cool for more than a second, I guess because you're right back to acting like you're so high and mighty."
"I am not," he said, jamming his hands into his pockets. "I just... was worried that you guys would be hurt," he said. "Of course I came to your rescue. You and Ash both needed me."
"And that's what I mean," she said. "Now you're being a wet blanket."
The teasing back and forth with Chloe felt like it had a strange rhythm to it. Goh wasn't put out by the two of them needling each other like this, but it felt like there was something that wasn't being said between the two of them. Neither of them had looked the other in the eye since Chloe had even broached the topic of conversation.
It was like they felt afraid, but pretended to be brave despite it.
Ash returned only a few moments later, carrying the rough, worn book in his hands. He handed it back to Chloe and the three of them proceeded through the shattered door.
Goh, with Grookey on his shoulder, was the first one to step through, with Chloe right behind him. Ash, Pikachu, and the walking Eevee took up the rear. Similar to the doorways that connected the chambers together, there were no lights hung in this staircase that illuminated their path. Unlike those doorways, and more similar to the stairs that they descended as they entered, the stairs that lead to the next chamber were long and angled upwards. Also like the entrance way, there was more of the ancient writing system scrawled on the wall. Goh couldn't read it, but he could tell that it was a different sentence repeated all across the walls here.
Chloe frowned, and Eevee hopped onto her shoulder to once again hold onto the phone to let her read both at the same time. "This says... 'Our prayers are carried by something'."
"Another word that you can't translate?"
She nodded to Goh's question. "It's a different word than the first one. I haven't had a chance to look for this, though. I think I remember something like it..."
"Anyway, let's keep climbing."
By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Goh's legs felt like they were on fire. He had fallen behind both Ash AND Chloe as he struggled to climb the stairs further and further up. Even Chloe was looking a bit worn out by the top, but Ash sailed past both of them quite easily.
Once he had a moment to catch his breath, Goh's eyes went wide with wonder.
The room was circular in shape, with the stairs on the south side pointing north. All around them were beautifully etched and painted murals that depicted the ancient people who established this temple in worship. The only thing that marred the beauty of the murals was the giant hole smashed right through them, directly across from the stairs by what Goh could only assume was Team Rocket's departure.
Sitting in the middle of the room, on a small pedestal, was a single feather. The feather looked to be pure white, like freshly fallen snow, and it glowed with an ethereal presence.
Ash and Chloe were drawn to the feather as well.
"It's so beautiful," Chloe said, her emerald eyes going wide.
"Awesome..." whispered Ash.
"Is this... the treasure Team Rocket was here to steal?" Goh asked, even now the reverence seeping into his voice. "It hardly seems like the kind of thing they'd want to grab, doesn't it?"
"Maybe they wanted to steal it and sell it?" Ash offered. "It is pretty cool looking."
Chloe looked around at the mural. "Maybe if we read this, we'll get a better idea of just what it's about," she said.
Looking at the mural itself, there were depictions of the three elements that seemed to be key to the temple itself; fire, lightning and water. Moving around from the stairs, clockwise, it seemed that the fire, lightning, and water swirled around an image depicting the pure white feather. Following that was an image of what Goh could only describe as a rainbow, though the only colors it had were red, yellow, and blue. There was an image of people bowing down before something, but whatever it was happened to be where Team Rocket made their exit, so it was impossible to discern.
The words underneath the mural, of course, were written in the same writing system that was all over that temple. Chloe took her time as she went and made a few notes on the margins of her map as well.
"I think I get it," she said, after a little while. "And I even understand the two words I couldn't before."
"You can?" Goh asked, somewhat shocked.
"That's awesome!" Ash cheered.
"Let me start from the beginning and work my way around," Chloe said. She pointed a finger at the beginning of the mural and began to read.
"The hidden secrets shall be uncovered by trials of Fire, Lightning, and Water.
The treasure within shall be blessed by the powers of Fire, Lightning, and Water and be purified.
It will be called the One who Chases the Rainbow, most beloved by the gods.
Offer your prayers at the foot of the Rainbow,
And God will descend."
There was a thick silence in the air.
"The words I couldn't translate were 'Rainbow' - that was the first one back in the entrance way - and... well, the part that means 'the One who Chases' it. I guess it could be called a 'Rainbow Chaser' but it's a separate word and seemed to indicate an individual. It's really strange."
"The one who chases the rainbow..." Goh said, chewing on the words.
A mysterious feather and a rainbow? Goh's memories and knowledge brought to mind his own experiences chasing the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh, and an old man's Rainbow Wing.
Taking a second glance at it, were it not for the feather's pure-white appearance, it would look remarkably close to the Rainbow Wing that he and Ash saw that day, held by the old man living in Ecruteak City.
He reached his hand out towards it, hesitantly. The air in this chamber was filled with an ethereal power, the glowing lights above only intensifying it. It felt like a... well, Goh could think of no word better than sacrilege to take it. Even the thought of touching the feather filled him with a certain sense of trepidation. But he had come here to investigate the temple, and if there was anything Project Mew would be interested in, it would be this strange, pure white feather.
Goh reached his hand out and picked it up by the thin, white bone protruding from the bottom. Strangely enough, while it felt completely weightless in his hand, the rest of his body felt heavy as he held onto it. He reached his other hand into his backpack and pulled out a glass container, opening it up and putting the feather inside.
He instantly felt better, and let out a long sigh.
"I guess we better tell Rainer and the others about what happened here," Ash said, scratching his head. "Even though we got inside, we kinda made a mess of th' place, huh?"
Looking at the ruined mural, he had to agree.
The trip back to Stone Town from the temple occurred under the setting sun. Once they arrived, they immediately approached the front door of the manor and began knocking.
Faye's blue eyes were widened in pleasant surprise, but she ushered the three of them inside, insisting that they join them for dinner.
Once they were set in front of Rainer and his brothers, Goh explained precisely what happened while they were at the temple, with Ash interrupting occasionally. Goh reasoned that Team Rocket must have been struggling for a while to try to figure out a way to get inside, though why an organization like Team Rocket would rely on those three in particular seemed like a strange choice.
"It's probably because they were at least familiar with the area," Rainer said, leaning back into his chair not unlike how Pyro was doing earlier in the day.
Sparky was excitedly listening to the discoveries. "So the people who used to live here had their own advanced technology...?" he said with a wide grin as Faye refilled his cup with tea. "Then maybe there's hope for changing Stone Town, too."
"I doubt it's gonna become the tech hub you're hoping for," Pyro said, picking a piece of food out from between his teeth. "But it sounds like we could maybe turn this temple into a tourist spot or something! There's definitely potential in an ancient temple filled with traps beneath a mountain, isn't there?"
Goh laughed nervously, not quite sure what the appeal was, but Ash excitedly nodded as he shoved more food into his face. "That's right! This could definitely help you guys out!"
Pikachu raised a fist from the floor where he was shoving food into his own face. Goh supposed that they did deserve it.
There was a question he did need answered, however.
"Is it really okay if I take it?" Goh asked.
Sitting in the middle of the table in its container was that pure white feather they had recovered from the ruins.
Rainer waved his hand. "As acting lord of this land until our parents return, I can't think of anyone else who should have it," he said. "All I ask is that once you uncover the secrets of the feather, to let us know so that we might be able to restore the mural properly."
Goh pushed back the unease he was feeling inside his mind. "Well, if you guys are sure, then..."
"C'mon, Goh!" Ash said, grinning widely. "You saved the whole day, today! You got us into the temple, you got that weird machine working, AND you saved us from Team Rocket! You're the hero, and that's the hero's reward!"
Chloe shrugged and gave Goh a wry smile. "Well, I dunno about calling you a 'hero' but you did work really hard for it. Besides, don't you need it to get that token you were trying to get for Project Mew?"
Goh looked at the feather in the case, but he couldn't shake the strange feeling it gave him to look at it. "I guess," he said. "It is really important that I keep it, isn't it?"
"At least until the Project Mew guys ask for it," she said. "Though honestly..."
He looked at her, seeing her emerald green eyes watch him closely. She smiled.
"You could stand to have a bit more pride in yourself. C'mon! You really did save the day, Goh! Act like it."
Finding some pieces of his pride, he shrugged. "Well, it was just those Team Rocket goons Ash and I beat basically once a week," Goh said, acting self-assured even if he didn't quite feel that way himself just yet. "It's not like I overcame an actually strong opponent, you know?"
Chloe giggled, her eyes sparkling in the dim light.
"Yeah, I thought so," she said.
It had taken two long, boring bus rides, but Goh, Ash, and Chloe had all returned to the Cerise Laboratory after spending the night in Stone Town. Now the container holding the white feather was held by Professor Cerise, with Chrysa and Ren looking on in their own curiosity.
"So you found it in the deepest room in the temple...?" the Professor asked, mostly just to confirm the details of the story they had just finished telling him.
"The legend you all uncovered sounds like it may have something to do with this feather," Chrysa said.
Professor Cerise nodded. "I suppose when we give this to Professor Amaranth, we'll have to make sure that they know everything else you uncovered as well, so that they can pursue the facts of this feather even if we're not able to."
"I wonder what Team Rocket wanted with it, though," Ren asked. "It's not like a feather like this'll give them some great power, will it?"
Professor Cerise rubbed his chin. "Well... the legend on the mural did mention a god, and back in ancient times, many Pokémon were venerated as such. It wouldn't be too far out of the question to assume that Team Rocket wants to capture this Pokémon for their own evil purposes, right?"
Ash clinched his hands into fists. "That means we've gotta make sure to stop 'em!" he said. "I won't let bad guys use Pokémon to do bad things!"
"Pikachu!"
"That's a good thought and all," Chloe said, "but we don't even know who this Pokémon is yet. And the only one who can seem to make it appear is this 'one who chases the rainbow'."
"'It will be called the One who Chases the Rainbow, most beloved by the gods," Goh repeated that part of the legend from memory. "Offer your prayers at the foot of the rainbow and God will descend.'"
"You don't think that's another Pokémon, too, do you?" Ash asked him.
"I wonder..."
"The legend also mentioned trials of fire, lightning, and water, right?" Ren said. "Maybe this feather is the one? I mean, you guys had to go through some trials to get it, didn't you?"
Chrysa chuckled to herself. "That seems a little too convenient, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess," Ren said, laughing as well.
Professor Cerise had a wide grin on his face. "It's mysteries like this that make my job as a researcher all the more exciting, don't you think? This world is filled with mysteries like this surrounding Pokémon, and I can't wait to be able to unravel all of them!"
"Oh, Dad," Chloe sighed sarcastically. "Of course you'd be excited to have more work to do."
Everyone in the lab, even Professor Cerise, all shared a laugh at his excitement, but the laughter was broken by a notification that appeared on the holographic projection the Professor was standing in front of.
As everyone fell silent, Chrysa checked her computer. "Professor, it seems we're getting a call from Professor Amaranth's base."
He turned, as everyone did, towards the holographic projection. "Put it on screen, Chrysa," he said.
A window opened on the holographic display, and staring back at them was a young woman with her somewhat wild and flowing blue hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Professor Cerise," she said with a nod.
Goh took a step towards the hologram. "Danika... I guess you're calling to see how I did on the mission?"
She nodded. "That's right. I figured it had been a few days since you accepted the mission, so I would check in and see how you were doing." She gave the gathered crowd a gentle smile. "I hope you were successful, Goh."
He nodded as he took the glass container from Professor Cerise. "I was. We have a lot of data to send over, and we even found this artifact. Though... we don't exactly have all the information we'd like to send. There are still a lot of mysteries surrounding this feather that we haven't been able to find the answer to. But I'm sure you guys at Project Mew will have no problem uncovering the secret to this."
Danika's eyes went wide, and she frowned at the news she was being given. "Can you transfer all the data you've collected? There should be a button in the Project Mew app to do just that."
Goh nodded and took out his phone. He tapped the screen a few times and finally tapped a button to transfer all the information they had gathered about Stone Town, the Temple, and the legend within it.
The holographic window that displayed Danika's face disappeared for a moment, presumably while she was downloading and looking over the data, but it quickly returned.
"I see," she said. "It turns out that our data was way off what we thought it was going to be."
"It wasn't a temple to Eevee at all," Goh said. "And the locals called it the Evolution Temple... I'm thinking it was named more after the mountain it was on rather than about it's contents."
Danika smiled. "So you think there's more to this, too?"
"There has to be," he said, stepping forward. "Especially with the feather we found, as well as the fact that we don't know who the god they worshiped is. There's so much we haven't discovered yet!"
There was an amused expression on the young woman's face. "It looks like you may have stumbled upon something bigger than even Professor Amaranth originally thought..."
"I guess you guys weren't expecting something like this?" Chloe asked.
Danika shook her head. "We had our reasons to look into it, but this is far beyond even our expectations." She turned her gaze to the young man closest to the display. "As such, Goh, I am prepared to hand down your next Trial Mission."
"My next mission?!" he gasped. "What do you mean?"
She chuckled. "Don't worry, it's nothing you're not already expecting. Your next mission is to unravel the mystery of this feather as well as the legend of the one who chases the rainbow. But since this may be a somewhat longer, more involved mission than this past one, you're free to accept other missions as well while you work on this longer goal."
Goh almost felt himself laughing. "Well... thanks, Danika. I'll make sure to solve this mystery and prove that I belong as one of the chosen Chasers!"
Danika nodded. "I look forward to hearing of your success. Now that we've confirmed you've cleared your current mission, I'll be transmitting you your reward. Good luck on this task, and any other missions you take in the meantime."
With that, Danika's window closed. At almost the same time, Goh's phone began to beep. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and opened his Project Mew dedicated app, and the spinning coin animation that played on the screen indicated that he earned another token.
"Alright, I got another token! And with this token, I take another step towards my future. I'll hold my future in the palm of my hand soon!"
Chloe glanced at him from the side of her eyes. "Whenever you make a big step forward you're always talking big."
He grinned back at her with a confident smirk. "Yeah, but I earned it this time, right?"
The giggling within Chloe seemed to boil over. "That's the exact confidence I like to see," she said.
Ash threw his arm around Goh, grinning. "That's right. We've got big dreams, so we've gotta talk big!"
Goh, likewise, threw his arm around Ash. "Right! And with big dreams come big appetites!"
"I like the way you think! Let's go get some grub!"
"Let's go!"
Goh and Ash began heading to the kitchen to put some food in their stomachs as he left the feather with Professor Cerise. As he walked off, in the back of his mind, he wondered what sorts of mysteries the strange feather was in the middle of. There were many questions that began rising in his mind as he considered the meaning of the legend they uncovered.
The feather offered no answers; it simply shed it's pure and silent light.
Afterword
This is the author of this story, Purim.
I don't often intrude on my own story to speak directly to you, the reader, but given the difference in formatting for this series, I thought it would be fun to talk about my thoughts on writing this story with you as we go.
I want to start by explaining the genesis of the idea for the story, and then explaining more about this book itself.
This is a story where Goh is the hero. He's one of the two protagonists of Pokémon Journeys, but in many ways, it often feels like he's still overshadowed by the other protagonist, Ash. This makes a certain amount of sense, given that Ash has over twenty years of history while Goh has only been around since late 2019. In fan works especially, if he's not being romantically paired with Ash, Goh is usually treated as a side character or written out entirely. As a big fan of Goh, this can be disheartening to see. I think he deserves his time in the spotlight. These are the thoughts I had in the late summer of 2021, while I was still invested in and writing my previous project, Champion's Confidant.
It is, then, ironic that that was a project where Goh is a secondary character. So it goes.
But it was in those days I began planning this project, which I'm calling One Who Chases. It is a story where Goh is the main protagonist, and we see the world through his eyes and his experiences.
As you read in the chapter, this is tied into the legend Goh and his friends just uncovered. It isn't an exaggeration to say that this legend should stay in the back of your mind as you continue to read. And while this book about the exploration of this temple is over, this is only the beginning. I've got plans for many more stories like this one, individual stories that when read as a series build upon each other and unravel a greater mystery.
I wrote this book and the second one as part of a self imposed challenge during November, right after finishing Champion's Confidant. This story was actually conceptualized after the next one, but given the themes, I feel like this one needed to be written first.
Speaking about this book itself, there were two aims in the writing.
The first aim was to write a story where Goh is at his best, in his best element. I wanted a story where Goh took charge and solved the mystery. Where he struggled but ultimately prevailed against an opponent who outmatched him. One where his best traits are emphasized: his intelligence, his keen eye, and his ability to strategize among them.
But since this is also the first book in a series, this story has to establish some basic relationships and characters that will be expanded upon in the weeks to come. Goh is a very lonely person, and part of what helps him ease this loneliness are the presence of his friends Ash and Chloe. And while I do want to make sure it's clear that Ash and Goh do have an important friendship, we can see that each week in Pokémon Journeys and so it does perhaps get a little less focus than Goh's relationship with Chloe. Please just remember the events of the series are also occurring and that should be fine.
On that note, this story as well as the next two full books all take place before the crisis with Dialga and Palkia in Sinnoh, so please keep that in mind as well.
I want to thank my very gracious beta readers Mezamun, Penachu, and Viroro. Thank you all so much for reading the story and giving your feedback.
The next book, "Chaser and the Silver Shadow" will begin in three weeks, on February 26th. But in the meantime, I will post some one shots that are also part of this story, but aren't strictly required reading. If you're only interested in the main story, they're optional. But if you'd like to see the characters in situations that don't occur in the main story, please come back next week for a one shot story.
I hope you all enjoy what's to come.