"Alright, Cyllage City Gym…" Ash muttered to himself as he fiddled with his phone. He and his friends had been traveling down Route 11 for an hour or so, and after relating the embarrassing tale of how he and Pikachu had accidentally destroyed Misty's bicycle, he had taken advantage of a lull in the conversation to do some research. He had no intention of being caught off-guard again, as he had been in Shalour City.

"Here it is," he announced as he found the information he was looking for. "It looks like… good, Grant is still the Gym Leader. And he's still using Rock-type Pokémon."

"That's good to know," Serena commented, glancing over at him. "Do you know what your strategy is going to be?"

"Not yet," he responded absentmindedly, continuing to look over the information his phone was showing him.

"You should start thinking about it now," Iris recommended. "Snivy's your only real type-advantage Pokémon. Both Skorupi and Pikachu are going to have some trouble." Pikachu glanced back at her from Ash's shoulder, trying to appear indignant even as his ears lowered in shame, knowing she was right.

"Yeah… might have to catch something new… s'been a while…" Ash muttered in response, as he continued to read, before something on the page caught his eye. "Wait, what's this? 'Aspiring Kalos League trainers should check in at the Cyllage City Pokémon Center for their Gym Battle.' What's that mean?"

"The Pokémon Center?" Brock wondered aloud. "Why would you check in there? You should be able to just do that at the gym when you arrive. That's how it always works."

Ash scrolled frantically through the page for more information, to no avail. "It doesn't say." He sighed as he put his phone away, already feeling a bit nervous about what they might find when they arrived. "Why can't these Gym Battles just go normally for me?"

"Well, at least you know what kind of battle you're going to have," Iris offered. "Just do the best you can to prepare, and we'll figure out what's going on when we get there."

"Yeah…" Ash took in a breath and exhaled it slowly, trying to clear the doubt from his mind. "Yeah, you're right. So long as I can get that badge, there's nothing to worry about, right?"

"That's right." Serena smiled at him and nodded, before taking a quick look around at her surroundings, not having been on Route 11 in a few years. After taking in the sight of a small, grassy hill, her eyebrows raised as she suddenly realized where they were, and she took a step off the path, to the left.

"Hey, guys!" She turned around, glancing back at her companions. "Follow me for a second! You'll want to see this!"

Ash, Iris and Brock all turned and followed her, curious as to what she was going to show them, as she led them all up the hill she had spotted. Once they reached the top, their eyes nearly bugged out as they took in the sight of a long, enormous depression in the earth, a giant, grass-covered canyon that stretched out as far as their eyes could see in either direction.

"What the… what on Earth is that?!" Ash asked, surprise and wonder in his voice.

"This is the Vein," Serena answered. "This is what collapsed three years ago. This entire thing."

"You're kidding me!" Brock exclaimed, leaning forward for a slightly better look. "This is enormous! I can barely even see the bottom, let alone the ends!"

"How was this even possible?" Iris wondered, in awe of the sheer size of it in all directions; the vein was hundreds of feet deep, in addition to being hundreds of feet across and miles long. "Was this really just one enormous mine? Who even made this?"

"That's our best guess, and we don't really know." Serena took in the sight herself for a moment, not having seen it in ages, before pointing to one part of the canyon. "Over there, look. You can see some old wooden structures from before it collapsed. I have no idea how they didn't break…"

"Amazing…" Ash muttered quietly, trying to imagine what it must have been like when this whole thing came down. He could imagine the incredible sound, and the Earth shaking under his feet. "No wonder they haven't been able to fix it yet. I can't imagine them ever fixing something like this."

"Me neither," Brock added.

"Yeah… they probably never will, honestly." Serena frowned. "They might try to fix up Route 13 so people can travel on it again, but that's probably it. This is just going to be the newest part of the Kalos landscape, I guess."

The four of them continued to look on for a while, before deciding they needed to move on. They turned and started walking back down the hill toward Route 11, with Ash giving the vein one last look back. As he took in the sight, he did a double-take and turned around, something strange catching his eye.

"What is it, Ash?" Iris asked, stopping and turning back toward him.

"I thought I saw something…" He looked carefully over the canyon again, trying to get another glimpse of what he thought had been a mysterious figure in white. After a quick but fruitless search, he shrugged his shoulders. "Might have just been my eyes playing tricks on me." He turned back and walked with the others down to Route 11, as they resumed their journey.


Hours later, the foursome found themselves in front of the mountains that cut through the middle of Route 11, just as the sun was starting to set. They stood at the entrance to the Reflection Cave, which ran through the mountain and connected the two halves of Route 11; looking inside, they were able to see the numerous crystals and mirror-polished surfaces that reflected the light of the setting sun.

"So this is the cave that's in a bad mood, huh?" Brock wondered aloud, still not sure what such a comment was supposed to mean. "Is it going to eat us alive if we make it mad or something?"

"Hopefully not," Serena replied, stepping inside. "It doesn't take very long to get through, but we should probably hurry anyway. It wouldn't be good for us to get lost in here when it gets really dark."

"Well, it can't get too dark in here, can it?" Iris asked as she followed Serena into the cave. She pointed near the ceiling, where a rudimentary set of lights could be seen shining weakly.

"Oh!" Serena followed her finger upward, surprised to see the lights. "Well, that's a bit of a relief. Those weren't here when Ash and I traveled through the cave."

Ash and Brock followed the girls in, as everyone took a minute to look around, admiring the natural beauty of the cave. The crystals hanging from the ceiling and jutting out from the floor shined with the refracted light of the sun, and the walls were as smooth and reflective as any mirror; the travelers could clearly see their own reflections in them.

"This is incredible," Iris spoke in awe as she looked around. "It's beautiful in here. Is this all natural?"

"Yes, I think so," Serena confirmed, leading the way deeper into the cave.

"That's amazing. I don't know how the walls get so smooth on their own." Iris walked up toward one particularly reflective wall, curiously reaching out to touch it. Ash turned to see her walking over, hand outstretched, and his eyes went wide.

"No, don't!" He raced over to her as quickly as he could, grabbing her wrist and pulling it away, causing her to yelp. "Be careful! Don't touch the walls!"

"Why not?" She pulled her wrist out of his grasp, noticing the panic in his expression. "What's the problem?"

"It's…" He tried to think of some way to explain what had happened to him on his first trip through the Reflection Cave, five years ago. In the end, he didn't know how to explain his strange trip into a mirror dimension without sounding crazy. "Just… trust me. You don't want to get too close."

Iris looked back at him, concerned and confused, before looking toward Serena for some sort of confirmation that he was right, or that he was completely out of his mind. She nodded back at her. "He's right. This cave is… it's a strange place. It's not what it seems."

"Al… alright, if you're sure…" She stepped warily away from the wall, walking backward for a few paces and jumping when she backed into a crystal. She quickly started following Serena, nervous, not sure she wanted to know what made the cave so strange.

The group walked through the cave in relative silence, following the string of lights overhead, in order to keep themselves from traveling down the wrong path and getting lost. Iris and Brock ended up hanging back a bit, walking more slowly as they took in the sights of the cave, still somewhat mesmerized by its beauty. Pikachu eventually hopped off Ash's shoulder and started traveling on foot, looking a bit more closely at the reflective walls, wondering if he was going to see anything strange but familiar on the other side.

With nobody else in the cave, and many of the local Pokémon having gone to sleep, the only sounds to be heard were the echoes of their footsteps, ringing out through the cave as if they were coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Eventually, Brock broke the silence, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer.

"What's gotten you two so nervous?" he asked, causing both Ash and Serena to turn around. "You both look like you expect the boogeyman to jump out at any minute. What do you know about this cave that we don't?"

Ash and Serena glanced at each other, biting their lips, not sure where to start explaining. Before either of them had a chance, however, the lights above them started to flicker, before they all went out at once, stranding everyone in near-complete darkness.

Serena bit off a shriek as everything went black in front of her. "What happened?! Why did the lights go out?!"

"I don't know!" Iris exclaimed, her words echoing around the walls of the cave, the sound surrounding all of them. "I can't see a thing! I can't even see my hand in front of my face!"

"Me neither." Ash reached into his pocket for his phone, trying to power it on to get some light, but the device wouldn't respond to him pressing the power button. He groaned as he slid it back into his pocket; with all of the research he was doing earlier in the day, he must have drained the battery. Iris started to reach for her phone, before Serena's voice stopped her.

"Hold on, guys. I think I can see a tiny bit of light in this direction. It might be the way out." The sound of her footsteps started to echo through the cave once again. "Follow me, guys. I think I can lead us out of here."

Ash nodded and began following her as best he could, walking forward through the cave, trying not to run into any crystals on his way. He listened carefully to the sound of Serena's footsteps, trying to pick them out among all the others and walking determinedly forward after them. After several minutes, his eyes started to just barely adjust to the lack of light, and he was able to make out where the walls of the cave were, at least. He sighed in relief.

"Finally, I can see where I'm going," he muttered to himself, just loud enough for anyone around him to hear. He waited for someone else to respond to him, but after ten seconds, nobody else had said anything.

He stopped walking for a moment. "Guys?" His voice traveled along the cave, echoing back to him over and over, but no other voices came with it. He quickly realized that the sounds of footsteps had stopped as well. His eyes widened as he looked around in the darkness, trying to make out the figures of his friends, or even his Pikachu. All he could see was the incredibly dim outline of himself, reflected in the cave walls; he couldn't even see the frustrated expression on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me…" He held his face in his hand for a moment, realizing what had happened. With no way to see Serena in front of him, he had tried to follow the sounds of her footsteps, but the echoes had ultimately led him down the wrong path. He stood quietly for a moment, berating himself in his mind, before sighing and continuing forward, not having any other recourse. If he tried to turn around and find where he had gotten lost, he was fairly certain he'd never find his way out.

After trudging forward bitterly for several more minutes, he was able to see a light ahead of him, which started illuminating the cave a little better. He sighed in relief and started walking faster, hoping that the light would lead him out of the cave. As he turned around one corner, he nearly gasped in surprise as he saw Serena walking ahead of him. He started running after her, immensely relieved.

"Serena! Thank goodness I found you!" he called out. "Do you know where the others are?" She jumped a bit at the sudden sound of his voice, turning around to face him. As her eyes met his, he could see her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

"Ugh, seriously?" she groused. "I was hoping we'd lost you back there."

Ash blinked and stopped running, not sure he had heard her correctly. "Lost me? What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?" she shot back, venom clear in her voice. "I was hoping you'd stay lost in the cave, and we could keep going without you."

"W… what?" He kept his eyes locked on hers, seeing a disdain in them that he'd never seen before. He could feel his stomach starting to turn, confused and a bit scared. "Serena, what are you saying…?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Ash… do you have any idea how much I thought about you over the past five years? Every time I was lonely or sad, I wished you were there by my side to make me feel better. Even when I was happy, I wanted you there to share it with me." She looked downward, the memories making her wistful. "You had been so strong and so brave during our journey, and every time I felt weak or afraid, I wanted you to be there for me. I missed you more than anything."

She looked back up at him, the wistfulness gone. "And now, five years later, I get to see who you've become, and I hate it. You're overconfident, pathetic and weak. You can't even get a simple Gym Badge without needing your friends to come and bail you out. You can't even begin to imagine how disappointed I was." Looking into her eyes, the disappointment and regret was so clear and so strong that it looked almost painful. "If I had known you would be here, I would have waited to come back to Kalos until you were gone. Anything to avoid seeing you like this."

Ash's mouth was agape as he listened to her words, each one feeling like a knife in his heart. He could almost feel his skin going cold as she started to turn away. "Don't follow me out of here, Ash. I don't need your dead weight holding me back when I'm trying to become Kalos Queen. We're through. Just go home."

"Se… Serena…" he finally managed as she started walking away, barely able to articulate his thoughts. "Why… would you… how could you…"

"Oh, come on!" He jumped as he heard another familiar voice behind him; he quickly whirled around, seeing Iris glaring at him angrily, with Brock standing beside her. "We finally got away from you, and here you are again. Just our luck."

"I guess he just can't take a hint," Brock added, wearing the disgusted expression of someone who had just stepped in something unpleasant. "I'm not surprised. He still can't figure out he's wasting his time trying to be a Pokémon Master. No wonder he can't figure out when other people don't want him around."

"Guys…" The sick feeling in Ash's stomach started to grow, and he felt his legs start to shake. Somehow he found the indignation and the wherewithal to say something in response. "Why are you saying this?! Why are you all acting like this?! I don't understand!"

Iris rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't understand. Clearly it takes a lot to get something through that thick skull of yours." She focused back on him, gesturing toward him with both hands. "Look at yourself, Ash. You've been trying and trying for five years, doing nothing but working on becoming a Pokémon Master, and are you any better off than when you started?" She folded her arms. "I sure don't see a Pokémon Master in training. All I see is a little kid, chasing a dream that he should have given up years ago."

"I hate to say it, but she's right. All this time since we first journeyed through Kanto, and you haven't grown at all, as a trainer or as a person." Brock looked more upset than outright angry, but no more sympathetic. "Really, it's your Pokémon I feel bad for. Imagine having to be shackled to someone like you. They all deserve better."

"I'd be more than happy to take Snivy off his hands," Serena suggested from behind him. "She's a natural performer. She'd be much happier traveling with me, I bet."

"Good idea," Brock responded, nodding. "Skorupi… maybe he should just be released back into the wild. I don't think any of us could really use him. And what about Pikachu?"

"Eh, let Ash keep Pikachu, I guess." Iris shrugged. "You'll never be able to separate those two. And Pikachu deserves a friend, at least. Even if it's him." She walked past Ash toward Serena, taking a wide arc around him, as if she might catch a disease if she got too close. "I'm pretty sure he's on the other side of the cave, if you can even find your way out."

Brock started following her, similarly staying away from Ash. "Let's just get going, guys. It's getting late. We don't have time to waste on him."

Ash watched the three of them as they walked away, trying to call out after them, to persuade them to stay and give him another chance. The words wouldn't form in his throat, however, no matter how hard he tried. It took all of his internal strength just to continue standing, as he watched his friends leave him behind, possibly forever. He watched their retreating backs, listening to their echoing footsteps as they gradually grew more and more faint.

"Don't tell me you're surprised, Ash." He whirled around again, eyes widening in shock as he saw Misty standing behind him, wearing her trademark glare. "After what I had to come in and do, who would want to keep traveling with you? I can't imagine how embarrassing that must be, to be seen with you after that. It's no wonder Serena left you behind. Why would she still want to be with you?"

"Wha… Misty? Why are you here…?" He stared in outright confusion, her presence entirely inexplicable. The only way she could have been here was if she had followed them all the way from Shalour City, and one of them would have definitely noticed her trailing behind them.

"Hah! Figures you'd end up abandoned like this, once people figured out what your deal is." Ash turned his head to see Gary Oak walk up next to Misty, smirking and looking quite pleased with this turn of events. "Once a loser, always a loser."

"You've got that right." He turned again, to see an irritated and impatient Dawn to his left. "After you got fourth in the Lily of the Valley Conference, I thought you'd be well on your way to masterhood by now. And instead, you're here. It's no wonder they all left you, especially Serena. She deserves better."

Ash didn't even have time to wonder why all these people were here before more of them began to show up. As he turned around, he saw countless faces of people he knew standing around him: May, Max, Paul, Ricky, Lillie, Tracey, Bianca and more. Almost everyone he had come to know over the course of his journeys was here, and all of them were talking about him, the disgust evident in her voices as they shared stories about how Ash had failed and disappointed them. The noise grew and gew, until he eventually had to cover his ears to shut it out.

The numbness that he had experienced was starting to fade, as he quickly realized that something was very wrong. These people couldn't all be here; it was completely impossible. He forced himself to look away, tilting his head downward and closing his eyes, as he tried to shut out the din that was growing louder and louder.

"This… this can't be happening… this isn't really happening…" he spoke quietly, trying weakly to reassure himself. This couldn't be anything more than the strange powers of the Reflection Cave, torturing him for reasons he didn't understand.

"You can't block us out, Ash," Misty taunted, her voice somehow carrying over all the others. "We're in your head. You can't make us go away."

"Shut… shut up…" He closed his eyes tighter, pressing his hands hard against his ears, trying to muffle the sound that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried. "You aren't real… none of this is real…"

"So what if we're not real? That doesn't mean what we're saying isn't true." The voice of Iris cut through the rest, as if she was speaking directly into his ears. "You know Serena's going to leave you for real, eventually. Deep down, you know that you don't deserve her. You don't deserve anyone."

"I said shut up!" he shouted, with all the strength he could muster. "All of you, just leave me alone!"

It took him another moment of covering his ears before he realized that all the talking had abruptly stopped. He opened his eyes again and looked around, seeing the shocked and hurt expressions on the faces of everyone around him. A couple of seconds later, they started to turn and walk away, one by one, disappearing into the darkness of the cave.

"Wait… wait!" Ash began to panic, starting to chase after them as they vanished, the pit in his stomach returning as he saw himself being abandoned. "Don't go! Don't leave me, please!" He continued to plead with them as they all turned and left without a word, the numbers thinning out quickly. He stood in the center of the circle, turning about quickly to see everyone as they disappeared into the mirrors from which they had come, looking stung by his words.

Before long, there were only three people left that he could see, staring at him with a mix of pain and pity on their faces. The first to turn away was Professor Oak, who sighed and shook his head as he walked off and vanished. The next was Serena, who looked as if she was holding back tears as she pivoted on her heel and walked away. Finally, his mother turned to leave, holding Pikachu in her arms, and was quickly swallowed by the darkness.

Ash felt weak as he looked around himself again, praying that there was anyone else still there, anyone that he hadn't driven away. He stopped in his tracks as he came face-to-face with a tall figure that appeared to be made entirely of shadows, standing a foot and a half over him with a masculine build. Ash stared, taking in the sight, trying to place who this mysterious figure could be, when the shadows started to turn to dust and blow away. He watched as the figure slowly disintegrated, disappearing atom by atom into the darkness of the cave, until there was nothing left. Finally, the light faded, and he was alone.

Ash's breathing was ragged as he looked down, shaken and overwhelmed, feeling like his body was made of cold lead. He couldn't think; he couldn't speak. All he could do was feel the reaction of his body, feeling sick and terrified, surrounded by the consuming darkness and unbearable silence.

"Ash?" His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle, worried voice, and the area around him was suddenly illuminated, the darkness chased away. He glanced toward the source, wincing and covering his eyes as a small but powerful light nearly blinded him, his pupils immediately shrinking. He looked back again after a moment, seeing Serena standing there, lowering the phone that she was using like a flashlight. As her eyes met his, he could see relief cross her face, her body relaxing.

"Thank goodness," she spoke quietly. "I was worried we'd lost you back there."

He paused for a moment, studying her carefully, not yet ready to trust that she was real, as she stepped closer. "It looks like all of us got separated from each other, but everyone else is back outside, at the exit. The way out is pretty straightforward, so we can just-" Her speech was interrupted as he started walking toward her, then running, then finally reaching her and wrapping his arms around her, as tightly as he could.

"Ash?!" she exclaimed, taken aback by the intensity of his reaction. "Ash, are you okay?!"

"I…" He tried to bring himself under control as he held her tight, needing a moment to reassure himself that this was reality, that the words he had heard before weren't the real truth of how she felt. After a few moments, he relaxed his grip on her, his breathing starting to come back to normal. "I'm fine. Sorry. I'm fine."

She wrapped his arms around him as well, trying to be as comforting as she could. "What did you see?" she asked knowingly.

He hesitated, not sure how to answer. Part of him wanted to open up completely about everything he had just seen and heard. He wanted to tell her all about the crippling self-doubt that he kept inside, the imposter syndrome that haunted him regularly, and his constant fear that he would one day lose her - a fear that had caused him to nearly throw away his shot at the Kalos League just days before, in a desperate bid to try and convince her to stay with him a little longer.

"…nothing," he finally answered. "Nothing important." He paused for a moment, not yet ready to let her go. "What about you?"

Serena hesitated as well, her mind immediately recalling the visions that had confronted her minutes ago. She saw her mother holding an empty keyring, devoid of any of the Princess Keys that it was supposed to hold, looking almost angry at the time and expense she had wasted on her failure of a daughter. Beside her was an upset Shauna, a smug Miette, and a number of others who had supported her on her past journeys, none of them interested in supporting her now. At her mother's other side was Ash, whose look of pure, devastated disappointment had nearly reduced her to tears.

"Same as you," she replied. "Nothing important."

They finally let each other go a few seconds later, turning to leave. Serena led the way toward the cave exit, using her phone light to illuminate the path forward, his hand tightly clasped in hers to ensure they didn't get separated again.


A few minutes later, the two of them finally emerged from the Reflection Cave, stepping out into the night air to find the others waiting nervously for them. Pikachu ran up and leaped into Ash's arms, nuzzling his cheek, more than relieved to see his trainer again. Iris and Brock ran forward to greet them, visibly relieved, but also clearly shaken from what they had just experienced.

After reassuring each other that they were all fine, they continued walking, wanting to cover a bit more distance before setting up camp. None of them ever talked about what they saw in the cave.