Chapter 14: Meloetta and the Sky Cult
After leaving the cave, Ash and his friends have been trying to avoid the crowd as they finally arrive at Koril Town. After they are resting in the Pokemon Center, Ash is limping on the sofa and he groans, "Man...they are really annoying..."
"I know. But I am not complaining since I have another new Pokemon to train with." Lillie says with the same tiredness as Ash.
"So where are we? It is kind of sandy here." Gladion asks after looking outside the window.
"This is Koril Town, to the west of the town is the Rezzai Desert." Nora says.
"So what are we going to do here?" Emily asks after getting their Pokemon healed from Nurse Joy.
"Well, we might as well go training." Lillie says.
Just then, Ash hears a tune inside of his mind, he finds it familiar and he asks, "Hey guys, did you hear some music?"
"What music? I didn't hear anything." Alice says as the others also agree with Alice.
Ash closes his eyes and then follows the music, and he is going outside of the Pokemon Center, much to the others' shock. "Brother! Where are you going?" Nora asks in worry, but Ash just ignores her and then rushes to the Koril Cave, he yells, "You are there, right?"
"Ash, why do you rush off?" Lillie asks as they all chase him. But then, they see a man walking towards them.
"I see you get the message, I must say that I am impressed." The man walks towards them. Ash is surprised as he knows who this man is, the man in front of them is actually a person that he has met back in the Undella Town.
"Ridley?" Ash says in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Before Ridley can answer, Lillie cuts in the conversation and she asks, "Ash, who is he?"
"This is Ridley, we met in Unova, he is a descendant of an ancient civilization, which lived on the Abyssal Ruins." Ash says, much to the group's awe.
"Indeed. And the reason I am here is because of our mistress." Ridley says to Ash.
"Mistress?" Lillie asks as they are all confused. Ridley says, "My mistress is the Chosen of Meloetta, and she is your mother."
"What? My Mom is Meloetta's Chosen partner?" Ash says in surprise. Nora is also sharing the same shock as she didn't hear it from her father.
"Yes. Right now she has gone missing, but Meloetta still can sense her nearby. Which is why she needs your help." Riley says as Meloetta appears out of nowhere, Ash realizes that she must be invisible this whole time until she decides to show up.
"Meloetta." Ash says as he hugs the Pokemon. Meloetta hugs back and then she nods. "So you want me to take care of her from the time being until we found our mom?"
"That is what Meloetta wants." Ridley says. "And I am sure that Mistress Delia will also want you to help her keep it for now."
"Okay, Meloetta." Ash then captures the Pokemon. Ridley says, "And Ash, I want you to have this." He takes out the scroll, Ash asks, "What is this?"
"This is a mysterious Scroll. There are 8 of them in this region and once you gather all of them, Meloetta can fully achieve its height of her voice."
"Okay." Ash says as he takes the scroll. "I'll look out for the scrolls. Thanks for everything."
"No problem, Ash. And I hope you find Mistress very soon." Ridley says as he leaves.
After stunning for a while, Emily asks, "So does that mean..."
"Yes, Meloetta is Mom's partner, we must help her find mom." Nora says as they leave the cave.
In the dessert, Ash and his friends meet the reporters in the Suntouched Broadcast Tower again, this time they want to see a Delta Muk which is rumored to be lurking around the desert, so Ash decides to show his own Delta Muk and they are satisfied with the work.
After walking in the desert, they finally reach the Rezzai Cavern. But as they continue, they see a group of six people wearing green outfits. Alice and Emily pale after seeing them and they quickly drag the others behind a wall.
"Who are they?" Lillie asks. "Why are you two in a panic?"
"They are the Sky Cult..." Alice says. "Trust me, they are also dangerous as their goal is to summon Rayquaza!"
"What? Are you serious? First there is a cult for Kyogre, and now there is a cult for Rayquaza? So does that mean there is also a cult for Groudon?" Gladion asks.
"Do you remember the Infernal Cult?" Ash says, as Gladion realizes that the cult must be for Groudon. "But just as bad as our luck...first we have met Perfection in the Suntouched City and their boss in the Tenlor Town, then the Darkrai Cult in their base, the Abyssal Cult in bot Telnor and Ancient Ruins, and Infernal Cult in Telnor as well. That makes the fifth cult that we have encountered."
"And there was a total of five Cults, right? That means we have encountered every one of the cults...just great, we have been enemies with all 5 of the cults..." Lillie says.
"It is just the matter of time they make us enemies, after all, we are the children of the first Augur." Nora says.
"What should we do now? Should we act?" Alice asks.
"We watch it first." Emily says as they decide to follow them with the help of Marshadow's ability.
"Who...who are you people, where did you come from?" As they follow the cult, they see a Hiker being surrounded by them. One of the member says, "Now now, there is no need to panic. We're friends here, nothing to be worried about."
"Aren't you guys cultists, what do you want?" The Hiker says in fear.
"Well, I hear that you two found something very interesting while mining. How lovely! I was just thinking about how we were such great friends, you wouldn't have a problem of letting me borrow it!" The second one says.
"And by borrowing it, we mean...give it to us." The third one says.
"If you're talking about the scroll that we unearthed, we can't just hand it to you!" The Hiker yells while holding the scroll tighter. "My children found that! It belongs to them! You can't just take what's not yours!"
"I understand, don't worry." The fourth member says. "A-hem. Tell me, which do you value more? The scroll? Or your children's lives?"
"There are several explosives around the ladder behind you." The fifth member says causing the Hiker to gasp. Ash and the group are also surprised that the Cult would be so ruthless that they will try to kill innocents for the scroll.
"If you don't give us the scroll, it's going to be hard for your family to exit."
The Hiker then asks, "What do you need the scroll for?"
"We're cultists, the Sky Cultists. That scroll contains the details of the ritual that summons Rayquaza. You have three guesses...and the first two don't count."
"You are going to summon Rayquaza?" The hiker asks.
"Yes, well done, you detective you. Now have you made your decision?" The first one asks.
The Hiker sees that their gazes are terrifying, eventually he gives in and he yells, "Please take the scroll, don't hurt my family!" Then he rushes to find his family by going down the ladder.
"Sir, what are we going to do next?" The second one asks the first one.
"Now we have the scroll, we are going to Helios City. We'll use the Augur's energy to summon Rayquaza for us."
"Jaern is going to help us?" The third one asks, "Why would he do that?"
"Let's just say..." The first one smirks as he thinks that someone might be nearby listening. "Oh trust me, I can be quite convincing. He has a few very good reasons why he should. Oh I nearly forgot!" He presses the button, and the explosives explode, much to the shock of Ash's group.
"Did you just..." The fourth one asks with a little horror.
"Dead man tell no tales, grunt. Our plans are secret and must always remain so. Let's go, Helios City awaits." The first grunt says as they leave the cave, and Ash and the others quickly become visible again with the help of Marshadow.
Nora is a little panicked and she asks, "Did you hear that?"
Ash says, "Loud and clear. They are going to use Augur to summon Rayquaza for them. This is quite serious, as we heard from the rumors that Jaern has become a powerful man as he is able to sway people's hearts."
"But how are they going to do it?" Lillie asks. "I mean...how are they going to blackmail him into doing such thing? Being an Augur, why would he agree to help them out as it will danger the people in Torren?"
Emily says, "Let just say that they don't need to threat him."
Alice says, "Indeed. Having Jaern to help them out will be as easy as drinking a cup full of water."
This causes the group turn to Alice and Emily, Nora asks, "Alice? Emily? What do you mean?"
"Let's just say..." Alice says. "Jaern is not what you think he is."
"What do you mean by that?" Gladion asks, and Emily thinks for a second before asking, "Ash, you have been to Kalos, right? Do you know about Team Flare's boss, Lysandre?"
"Yes, he was a scientist that creates the Holo Caster, which makes him famous...but in the end, he shows his true colors and his goal is to end the world..." Ash says. Nora asks, "How did you know about that?"
"Let's say that he tried to control me for my powers as a Pokemon Trainer. But in the end, we are able to stop him and he is dead thanks to Zygarde." Ash says, "But why mentioning him?"
Alice says, "Jearn is acting the same way as Lysandre if you ask me. In the disguise, he is a great man who has been helping out people in need. But under that disguise...he is the leader of the Sky Cult." This causes them to gasp.
"Are you sure? You mean...he is actually the boss of the Sky Cult?" Lillie asks. "And how do you know about that?"
Emily says, "Let's say he is more obsessed with Rayquaza than his children, we have been ignored by him for so long." Emily says in disgust.
Nora says, "Hold on a second, does that mean you two are Jaern's daughters?"
"Yeah, but what he is doing right now, we won't treat him as a father." Alice says. "Looking at what he did, no wonder our mother left him to Kalos years ago."
Ash then starts to have a picture in his mind. He sees Persephone and a blur besides her, and the blur starts to become the form of Jaern. Ash gasps and he says, "He was there..."
"Ash?" Lillie asks.
"He was with Persephone...back at the Darkrai Base..." Ash says. "Maybe he did something to Mom and Dad along with Persephone!"
Nora gasps and says, "It makes sense, why would he become the second Augur so sudden...then we have to stop him and force him to spit the beans."
"You are right." Emily says as they go towards the exit of the cave.
I made a mistake, it was chapter 9 not chapter 10, there you can see that Red is actually speaking to Taen, who is said to be a traitor to the Timeless. But whatever. Here is a new chapter and this time I reveal Emily and Alice's father and a little hint of their mother. Now the next chapter will be seeing Damien again.
