Ash, Braixen, and Lucario stood quietly, watching Dragonair lying in front of them, who had twisted its tail so that it almost touched its head. It didn't make a single move and it looked very sad while lying in a pool of water.
On top of all that, it seemed to be hurt. There was a cut at its tail end from which dripped blood, which had stained the water of the pond light red. Also, the other wing at its head was warped and its blue color did not look as bright as normal.
"What has happened to it?" Ash thought and Lucario looked at the opening in the roof and said, "I'm not entirely sure where that cut came from, but I think she came here to the cave through that opening in the roof. Maybe that wing twisted in it at the same time."
"Is... is it alive?" Ash asked quietly and trembled at the thought of how Dragonair had suffered here all alone. Lucario nodded gravely. "Yes, I feel her Aura, but it's very weak. If she doesn't get help soon, she'll die."
Ash did not need to be ordered twice. He stepped resolutely forward and Lucario, who guessed what he was going to, said, "Be careful. An injured Pokemon can be unpredictable."
Ash nodded, but didn't let it stop him. He slowly made his way to Dragonair until he was about two feet away. Braixen, who was drawn a little closer to Lucario, and Lucario looked at him silently and then Ash nodded to himself and said, "Hey Dragonair. My name is Ash and I want to help you."
It was quiet for a while. Ash, Lucario and Braixen stared holding their breath at Dragonair, and waited for what it would do.
Dragonair slowly opened her eyes. Its purple eyes looked blurry and it stared for a moment without actually focusing on anything.
Then it spotted Ash and locked her gaze on him. Its body tensed and Lucario began to sense the worst. "Master, retreat slowly.." it began, but didn't make it to the end, because that's when happened.
Dragonair screamed shrilly and then plunged Dragon Pulse towards Ash. Then it tried to take off, somehow succeeded, but due to its wounds it didn't stay in the air for long, but crashed into a cliff and lay down on it.
Without Lucario's quick reflexes, Ash would have been in danger of dying, once again. Now, however, Lucario had time to jump in front of Dragon Pulse and form an Aura Shield with his paws to protect them.
Dragon Pulse hit it and the collision made Lucario slide back slightly. Ash himself did nothing but stare his mouth slightly open in front of him.
"I told you to be careful," Lucario scoffed at him and released the Aura Shield. Braixen walked beside him and glared at Ash, agreeing with Lucario.
Ash shook his head slightly and said slowly: "I'm sorry. I did not think that Dragonair would attack like that" He felt stupid that he was not thought of the wounded Pokemon could be aggressive.
Lucario stared at him and said, "I told you that wounded Pokemon can be unpredictable." Then he shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, I thought you wanted to help that Dragonair"
"And I still want to," Ash said and was once again his own determined and energetic self. "Come on, let's go before it's too late"
He pointed his hand at Lucario and Braixen to follow and set off to run towards the cliff and look for a path or something along which to climb there. Lucario and Braixen glanced at each other and then left sighing to follow Ash.
****
Serena sat on the ground near the mouth of the cave and leaned on a large rock. It felt cold against her back, but she didn't care.
How long had it been since Ash had left to look for a way out with Lucario and Braixen? Serena wasn't sure, for she had lost her sense of time and sank deep into her thoughts.
"Tenna?" said Hatenna questioningly. She sat in Serena's lap and looked at her new trainer with concern. It didn't like that Serena just sat and stared in front of her.
Serena slowly moved her gaze to the little Pokemon and smiled a little. "I'm okay," she said, to calm, trying to convince Hatenna and also herself that thing really was how she said.
Her hand moved as if by itself to the place on her chest where her blue ribbon had been, but could not find it. She frowned until she remembered it had fallen from her hand when the roof had collapsed. Where, she did not know.
Hatenna seemed to believe that Serena was okay as she got up and went to play with Pancham and Yamper a little distance away. Serena just wasn't sure if she was really okay.
Meanwhile, as Serena thought deeply, Greninja dispelled his frustration by throwing his shurikens at the stone wall. They always exploded when they hit it, and seeing the explosions greatly satisfied Greninja.
It didn't like that Braixen had stayed on the other side of the wall with its supposedly-so-important Lucario. In fact, it greatly afflicted Greninja and throwing shurikens was its way to relieving anxiety.
(Dialogues translated from Pokemon to make it easier to read. Thanks)
"You know, it won't break no matter how you throw them," said Pikachu, sitting next to it, and Greninja growled.
"I know," it said disgusted and Pikachu tilted his head and said, "Is this somehow related to Braixen and Lucario?"
Hearing Lucario's name, Greninja squeezed the shuriken in his hand harder than before and then threw it furiously at the wall. It caused a slightly bigger explosion and a few pebbles crashed into the ground. Pikachu smiled smugly and said, "I knew it."
"Don't mention that dog's name," Greninja growled and Lucario's annoying face hovered in his mind. Pikachu looked at his friend questioningly and said, "I thought you were on good terms these days."
"We are, but I can't stand that dog being left alone with Braixen on the other side of the wall, and I'm not watching it do anything suspicious."
"I see," Pikachu said, crossing his arms behind his neck. He gradually began to get tired of this war of Greninja and Lucario from Braixen, just as it began to get tired of the density of Ash. "So what were you thinking of doing about it? Throwing the shurikens doesn't help much"
"Don't say that, maybe it would help if they aimed at the right place," Greninja said slyly and threw the shuriken at the wall again, imagining it to be Lucario. Pikachu, on the other hand, shook his head with a sigh and set out to see if Sylveon would keep company with him.
****
Gou flew in the sky. Or actually, he didn't fly, but Corviknight, on whose back he sat.
They had wandered and curved around the forest looking for Ash and Serena. With no glimpse of either, Gou had begun to get frustrated and Scorbunny, sitting in front of him, was also starting to feel the same way.
"Corviknight, let's land here," Gou said and Corviknight growled in his deep voice and set off to land. As it landed, Gou began to think that it would be best for Ash and Serena to have a good explanation for this.
Corviknight landed in the woods and Gou landed off its back. Scorbunny did the same and Gou looked around.
As he had guessed, Ash and Serena were nowhere to be seen. Only spruces and more spruces. Frustrated and tired, he sat down against the trunk of spruce and Scorbunny and Corviknight looked at him questioningly.
"As if the earth had swallowed them," Gou muttered to himself and took the cone that lay on the ground next to him. He spun it in his hand and focused so much on his thoughts that he didn't notice that Scorbunny noticed something on the ground.
"Bunny!" it exclaimed, but Gou did not listen. Scorbunny tried again, but when Gou still didn't answer, it annoyedly took a cone from the ground and threw it with force towards Gou's head.
"Ouch!" Gou exclaimed as the cone hit his head. He glared around looking for the culprit and saw a snickering Corviknight and a smug Scorbunny throwing another cone up and down with his paw, ready to throw it too towards Gou.
"Why the heck did you do that!?" Gou exclaimed in irritation, rubbing his head, which had begun to form a bump, and glared sharply at Corviknight, who was immediately silent. Scorbunny answered nothing but pointed his paw to the ground and Gou shifted his gaze to it.
Something white lay on the ground. Gou quickly got up and went to it. Scorbunny followed him and Corviknight looked they interested.
Gou picked the white thing up from the ground and realized what it was. Carnation. Slightly withered kind, but completely recognizable. He held it in the palm of his hand and wondered why it was so familiar.
Then he remembered. Right! Serena had had such a white carnation in her hair in the morning. Gou flashed quickly around him, noting that no carnations were growing nearby. So this had to be the same Serena had in her hair. And that meant she had gone from this.
Gou put the carnation in his pocket and turned to Corviknight and Scorbunny.
"Let's go, they're definitely somewhere near here," Gou said and set off in the direction the carnation had been. Scorbunny jumped happily beside him and Corviknight followed, albeit a little more clumsily.
****
"Slow down a little, Master. Braixen won't keep up," Lucario told Ash as they climbed along the steep cliff toward the cliff and the Dragonair lying on it. Braixen had indeed been a little behind and Lucario tried his best to wait for her while keeping Ash alive.
"I can't, Dragonair needs help," Ash stated, and continued climbing at a rapid pace. However, he wasn't careful where he put his hands and feet, so when he grabbed a protrusion, it came off the wall and Ash was left hanging on one hand.
"Do you see what I mean now?" Lucario asked with complacency as he climbed past Ash Braixen in his backpack and towed himself to the narrow path from which he reached the cliff of Dragonair. Ash answered nothing but climbed the rest of the meters and eventually pulled himself next to Lucario.
"You know, you don't always have to play hero, Master," Lucario said as Braixen jumped lightly off his back and smiled gratefully at Lucario. Lucario grinned back and Ash grunted. "Somehow you always manage to look for places where are difficulties, like you're looking for them"
"I'm not looking for difficulties," Ash said grumpy and Lucario raised his eyebrows. "Rather, the difficulties are looking for me. And I'm not 'playing the hero.' I'm just doing what I have to, and people see it as somehow heroic."
"Yeah, and I'm Arceus," muttered Lucario and Ash looked at him in amazement. "What did you say?" he asked and Lucario sighed.
"Nothing," he said and Braixen giggled. Ash blinked a few times until he shrugged and went for a walk towards Dragonair.
"Come on, let's go save that Dragonair," he said resolutely and Lucario sighed and left to follow Ash, with Braixen following, giggling, after him.
****
They arrived at the cliff on which Dragonair was lying and they faced a miserable vision. Dragonair looked even sicker and the wound in its tail was enlarged.
Hearing the movement, it opened its cloudy eyes and when she noticed Ash, it was clearly tense. It opened its mouth to make a new Dragon Pulse, but caused nothing but a miserable buzz. It closed its mouth grumpily and contented itself with glancing at the creatures it thought were dangerous in front of it.
Ash was prepared for Dragonair to make a new Dragon Pulse, but noticed that he only got an angry stare instead. Lucario, who had had the Aura Shield ready, lowered it and said, "It doesn't look good. It's so weak you can't even make her moves."
"Yeah, looks bad," Ash said, glancing at Dragonair. "We have to do something, but first we have to make it trust us"
He stepped forward and Dragonair's body tensed. It did not do anything and Ash opened his mouth and said: "Hi Dragonair. I'm Ash and I want to help you."
Dragonair didn't answer anything, just stared, so Ash continued and at the same time stepped slowly forward.
"We're not enemies, we just want to get you in shape," he explained, looking straight into Dragonair's eyes all the time. This didn't blink them, so Ash stepped forward again and continued, "So, let us help you. Otherwise, you'll be ill, and we don't want that. Please."
Dragonair looked bluntly with her purple eyes straight into Ash's auburn ones and Ash could feel how it wondered if they should be trusted. Lucario was constantly on the alert for a possible attack, and Ash hold his breath.
Dragonair then slowly tilted her head to the nod and Ash let out a relieved sigh. He nodded to Lucario, who nodded back, and then he said to Dragonair, who still looked at them silently, "You can trust us."
****
They went to work. Lucario healed Dragonair's wound while Ash and Braixen tied its wing. During all this, Dragonair was completely silent, not making a sound, even though they could clearly see when it hurt.
Ash and Braixen got the wing tied before Lucario, so they moved on to see what Lucario did to the wound. Ash watched with interest as Lucario placed his right front paw over the wound and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Ash asked, but Lucario picked up his second paw as a sign that Ash had to be quiet, and said, "Watch and learn."
Ash fell silent and watched silently as Lucario focused and moved his paw over the wound. The paw and the area around the wound began to glow blue and then to Asth's amazement the wound began to close and the bleeding stopped.
Soon the wound was completely closed and just a faint line was visible, which also soon disappeared completely. Then the wound was completely gone and Dragonair's tail looked like there had never been any wound in it.
At the same time the wound was gone, the blue glow disappeared and Lucario swung backwards. "Lucario!" Ash exclaimed and got caught before he fell to the ground. Dragonair, who found herself almost completely healed, instead plunged into the air and quickly left the scene.
With the help of Braixen, Ash put Lucario sitting against the wall and Lucario growled. He held his head with his paw and Ash asked worriedly, "What happened? Did you really heal that wound?"
"Yeah," Lucario said, slowly opening his eyes. "I did. It should be completely taken care of now."
"I didn't know you knew how to treat wounds," Ash said in awe. "How did you do that? And why did you mean to faint because of it?"
"Yeah, I can do it," Lucario said, looking up at the opening in the roof, which showed a cloudy sky. "But I don't do it often. You see it consumes so much of my energy. That's why I almost fainted. The bigger the wound, the more energy it consumes."
"But how did you do that?" Ash asked impatiently and Lucario replied, "With the help of Aura. I can teach it to you someday, but not now. Now we have to think about how to get out of here and the only route to that is that hole in the roof."
"And that means.." Ash said, a little upset. "..it's time to climb"
****
Serena startled. She had fallen asleep against a cold stone and woke up because she thought she had heard her own name. She slowly stood up and stretched out her arms.
"Hey! Serena!" she heard someone exclaiming and turned her gaze in the direction of the sound. To her surprise, she saw Gou running with Scorbunny towards her and waving his hand.
"Gou! Nice to see you," Serena said with a smile as Gou walked over to her with Scorbunny. She also saw Corviknight coming behind them like a big, dark and slightly clumsy shadow and she saw it looking at her with his dark eyes.
"Finally I found you!" Gou gasped as he reached Serena and looked at the girl. "Serena, no offense, but what the heck has happened to you?"
Serena blinked and only now realize look at her clothes. Her dress was covered in dust and dirt and torn at some points, her tights had holes, her hair was fluffy, and she realized there was dry blood on her forehead.
"Um... a small accident," she said and Gou shook his head. "Really? A small accident? You look like the roof has fallen on you."
"Yeah, that's right," Serena muttered and Gou stared. "Come on, I'll show you"
After a while, they stood with the Pokemon in front of the stone wall and Gou stared at it.
"So that happened," he said and Serena nodded. That's when Hatenna, who had been playing with Pancham and Yamper, came to the scene happily, noticed Gou and said angrily, "Tenna!"
It would have done the same thing to Ash, but Serena stepped in front of Gou and said, "No Hatenna. He's a friend, not an enemy. You don't have to defend herself against him."
Hatenna was silent for a moment and then seemed to relax and ran to Serena. Serena took it in her arms and Gou asked in wonder, "Who is she?"
"Hatenna. She's the newest member of our team," Serena explained and Hatenna nodded. Gou looked at her and said, "Nice. By the way, where is Ash?"
"There," Serena said, pointing to the wall. Gou took a moment to figure out what she meant and then said, realizing the matter, "You mean he left on the other side?"
"Yep," Serena said dryly. "He, Braixen and Lucario. They left looking for an exit from the other side."
"I see," Gou said with his hands in a gust. Then he seemed to get the idea. "Come on, let's go. We can fly on Corviknight and try to see if they've found an exit somewhere."
"Right," Serena said, returning all of her Pokemon to their balls and then climbing on Corviknight's back. Pikachu and Greninja followed her and then Gou jumped in front of her with Scorbunny and said, "Let's go, Corviknight."
Corviknight growled and rose into the air. Then it fluttered its wings and they rose over the spruce to the sky.
****
"You know, that Dragonair's help would be worth it now," Ash said as he and Lucario climbed along the cave wall toward an opening in the roof from which they could finally get out. Braixen was back in Lucario's backpack again and Ash thought they had chosen possible the most hardest route.
"Yeah. Where did it even fly?" Lucario thought dryly and Braixen corrected her position on his back. Dragonair had faded as soon as its wounds had been treated, and they had not seen it since.
Ash didn't answer as he focused on not falling down. The wall along which they climbed was almost flat and vertical and they were in danger of falling down all the time.
Suddenly Ash's grip weakened and he would have fallen if Lucario hadn't grabbed him by the wrist. A few rocks fell to the ground and caused a splash when they hit a water pond on the ground.
With the help of Lucario, Ash grabbed the wall again and was able to continue climbing. His fingers and wrists were hurt and his fingertips were scratched, but he wouldn't let go of a single complain.
They continued silently up their climbs until finally, after a climb that seemed endless, reached the roof opening and Ash was allowed to pull himself out of it. Then he helped Lucario and Braixen out of it as well and finally they were out of the cave.
"It's nice to see the sky properly again!" Ash said and enjoyed the view, even though the sky was gray and cloudy. Lucario, meanwhile, dropped Braixen down and said, "Yeah, I think so too."
Ash stepped a step forward, but then there was a crack and Ash saw cracks running under his feet. Then he felt the ground disappear under his feet and he fell. Again.
****
Ash fell and felt at the same time that it was starting to be a habit to him. I wonder how many times I have fallen in this way? he thought and thought how no one was this time saving him.
Wrong. Suddenly, from somewhere in the cave, something blue rushed towards him and it grabbed him by the back just before he hit the ground. After abducting Ash, Dragonair set out to head for the roof opening and wondered if it had made the right decision after rescuing this boy. Hopefully it was.
Ash realized he had hit something, but it wasn't ground. He opened his eyes, which he had kept closed, and found himself on Dragonair's back. Even the same Dragonair which wound Lucario had treated. He wrapped his arms around its warm body and felt a cool stream of air swing his hair and noticed them plunging toward the roof opening.
Dragonair flew quickly through the roof opening and Ash had a glimpse of Lucario crashing in amazement backwards and Braixen trying to keep Lucario upright. Dragonair then flew towards the gray clouds in the sky and dived through them above them.
The moisture in the clouds watered Ash's face and he wiped it off his face as he felt Dragonair stop and hover in place.
He opened his eyes and gasped. Above the clouds, the sky was not gray and dull at all, but glowed in different shades of yellow, orange, and red. Ash saw the sun, which had been stubbornly hidden for many days, and he was completely silenced as he watched the sight.
Dragonair set out to attach it in the middle of it all and Ash watched appear enchanted. He had never seen anything like this and he wondered if anyone else was. Dragonair glided among the clouds, which were not gray but white, and Ash tried to impress as much as possible of all this.
Then he felt him suddenly start to freeze and he said, "Dragonair, could you take me back down? It's starting to get a little cold here" Dragonair didn't answer anything but set off to land towards the ground.
Ash saw Lucario in amazement as Dragonair landed in front of him. Ash jumped to the ground from its back and said quietly, turning to look at its bright, purple eyes, "Thank you for saving me."
Dragonair answered nothing, just stared at Ash quietly with her purple eyes. She was now free to leave, she had done what had to be done. Then why didn't she leave?
Dragonair found herself leaning towards Ash and pressing her head on the boy's shoulder. It didn't really know why it did that, but it did. Ash was surprised by this and patted her head a little awkwardly. Dragonair then raised its head back up and wondered what it would do next.
"Ash!" heard suddenly and Ash turned in surprise to see who had shouted at him. He saw Serena waving at him from Corviknight's back and Gou sat in front of her.
"Hey Serena!" Ash exclaimed back and Dragonair looked quietly at this girl whose sight had made the boy she had rescued smile broadly and Dragonair then made her decision.
"Are you okay!?" Serena exclaimed at Ash and Ash nodded with a wide smile. Pikachu and Greninja also seemed to be waving from behind Serena and finally Ash felt everything would be in order.
Corviknight landed lower and Pikachu immediately jumped off its back. It ran to Ash and jumped into his arms. Ash laughed and exclaimed, "Hi buddy! Nice to see you're okay"
"Pika pikachu!" said Pikachu happily and sat down on Ash's shoulder. Serena looked at this with a smile and then saw a Dragonair she hadn't seen before.
"Ash, who is she?" Serena asked and nodded toward Dragonair. Ash glanced at it and said, "She's Dragonair. We saved it and it saved me."
"Save you?" Serena suddenly asked sharply and Ash had to explain to her how he had been again near the death. Dragonair smirked to herself as she watched Serena's irritated look as Ash explained how he had fallen again. That girl apparently knew how to be pretty tight if she wanted to!
****
After Ash had explained the explanations, they finally decided to leave. Lucario and Braixen ached in Corviknight's back and Greninja looked irritated to see how Braixen looked at Lucario. However, it restrained itself and glued a happy look to its face, which, however, is replaced with a grumpy as soon as no one looked.
As Ash was climbing on Corviknight's back, he suddenly felt a thud on his back. He turned and saw Dragonair looking at him silently and Ash realized what it wanted.
"Do you want me to fly on your back?" he asked and Dragonair nodded slowly. "All right," Ash said, climbing on Dragonair's back.
It took to the air and on the back of Corviknight, Gou gave it a signal to take to the air as well. It growled, spread its wings and then set off to fly away from the cave and Dragonair leased beside it gracefully.
"Listen, Dragonair," Ash began and Dragonair seemed to be listening. "Would you like to go on my journey?"
He was surprised when Dragonair nodded immediately. He had thought it would consider the decision much longer. But Ash did not know that Drsgonair had made this decision before. It had decided to follow this boy and it did not regret its decision.
"Great! Once we get to the ground, I can catch you the right way!" Ash exclaimed and Dragonair smiled. It had already begun to like this boy.
****
After a while, they landed in a camp that Gou had cleaned up and demolished. Ash caught Dragonair and Serena hugged Braixen tightly as soon as she landed and looked very happy to see her again. Ash looked at this and smiled to himself.
After the camp was dismantled, the things packed up and everything else ready, they finally decided to move on and leave towards Stow-on-Side.