"Stow-on-Side, here we are!" exclaimed Ash as he watched the town that opened in front of him. They had finally arrived at their destination and Ash was very eager to challenge the Gym Leader Allister.
"Pika!" also said Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and Ash scratched it with a smile behind his ear. Pikachu laughed happily and its cheeks sparkled a little.
"Yeah, but I thought it was bigger," Serena thought as she looked at the place and Gou standing next to her nodded and said, "Yeah, me too. And a little different looking, maybe less rocky."
Indeed, the landscape had quickly changed from that dense spruce forest to rocky and dry rocky soil. The vegetation was dried-looking grasses and bushes, and here and there some dry-looking trees were also visible.
"A lot of people don't expect to see this kind of area here, but there it is," Melissa said, then pointed to others to follow. "Come on, let's go. I have a little hurry to my meeting."
"Yeah, and I have to challenge Allister!" exclaimed Ash and they set out to move forward, Gou and Pikachu rolling eyes to Ash.
****
"Huh, it's pretty warm here," Serena said after a while as they walked along some long stairs. She fluttered her face with her hand and pulled the neckline of her dress with her finger. "This dress doesn't seem to be the best option for this weather"
"Yeah, I agree," said Melissa, who had taken off her long coat and now hang it in her hand. "Just like walking in the desert," she continued, trying to cool her face by waving her fedora in front of them.
It hadn't been long since they were already walking along the rocky streets of Stow-on-Side. Their curious gazes looked at everything around them and especially Ash looked at the Gym with his gaze.
The weather had changed rapidly from that permanent gray cloud mass to a permanent sunny heat. The weather in Galar had apparently decided that if the sun was wanted, then it was also obtained and a lot. This had been a nice thing back then in the spruce forest. Now on the desert-like streets of Stow-on-Side, it already felt a little too much.
Stow-on-Side itself seemed to consist of several different levels. Between these "levels" were made a long staircase with colorful pennants hanging above it, and the stairs led higher up to the city. Alongside them were built two-storey, rather simple stone houses, in front of which were many different market stalls selling various berries, food, and all kinds of trinkets and perhaps even a little more valuable stuff.
As they walked along that wide cobbled street, the vendors of the stalls watched them under their colorful parasols and occasionally shouted offers like, "Now two for the price of one!" or "Here would be beautiful earrings for the miss. They would fit well in the miss' blue eyes" However, they politely ignored the offers and continued their journey towards the Stow-on-Side Gym.
Melissa was about to say something more, but just then her phone rang and she answered it, saying: "Hello? Yeah, yes I am. Where? Okay, I'll go there. No, not take long, I'm already on my way." She ended the call and looked at the trio apologetically.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go," she said, putting her fedora back on her head. "My meeting is waiting, and he's not the most patient person. So, I say goodbye to you now and I wish Ash good luck with the battle. See you!"
Having said that, she left to walk quickly away and the trio left waving after her. After she disappeared around a corner, Ash put his hand on his cap and said, "Well, then we're three again. Nice"
"Yep," Gou said, turning to Rotom and trying to clearly understand the map on its screen. "Really nice. Serena, could you help me with this map? I'm not very good at reading it and you seem to know it much better. Serena?"
Serena didn't answer, as she had stayed to see a selection of a nearby market stall. She seemed to ask something from the stall keeper, a very old-looking woman, and lift something into the air. Ash noticed the girl holding something in her hand and his curiosity aroused.
He set out for the market stall, leaving Pikachu to help (with poor results) Gou with the map. He had suddenly become very interested in what that old woman was selling, and he didn't really know if it was because it also interested Serena or because the booth seemed to contain less cheap trinket-looking objects.
"It's beautiful," Ash heard Serena say as he arrived next to the girl. She was holding something silver and beautiful in her hand and the old woman smiled kindly at her. In front of the woman on the table were all sorts of shimmering and beautiful colorful stones, as well as some jewelry. They were all beautifully displayed and each had a small paper price tag next to it.
Serena seemed to notice that Ash had come next to her, for she turned to look at the boy and asked, "Isn't it, Ash?"
"What?" Ash asked curiously and Serena showed the object she had been watching. It was a silver heart pendant with a pink, glittering stone in the center and Ash noticed that the pendant could also be opened.
"Yeah," he said and Serena smiled happily. She looked at the resting locket in her hand and Ash felt how Serena's smile caused that familiar, and yet very strange, feeling in his stomach again. He still didn't know what it was, and it started to frustrate him very much.
Suddenly, however, Serena's happy smile disappeared and she sighed deeply, putting the locket back on the table where she had taken it. Ash stared at her in wonder and then Serena said, "But even though it's very beautiful, I can't buy it. It's too expensive."
And before Ash had time to offer to pay it to Serena, she had turned to sighing and left to help Gou and Pikachu with the map matter. Ash was left to watch her back and he felt bad to see Serena sad.
"You must like that girl very much, don't you?" there was a question and Ash turned his head and saw the old woman in the market stall smiling at him. The woman's wrinkled and age-torn face was overshadowed by the parasol, but Ash could still see the woman's eyes twinkling brightly.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked, and the woman smiled a warm smile and said, "I see how you look at her, I can see it in your eyes. There is a certain look, which I have seen many times in the eyes of the many young men and ladies."
"You are?" said Ash, not fully understanding what the woman meant and the woman laughed with a warm and a little hoarse laughter and said, "Oh yes, many, many times. And I find that you are a little confused. That's why I want to give you advice, young man."
The woman moved her index finger and pointed Ash to lean closer. Ash obeyed and leaned closer so the woman could whisper in his ear.
But instead of the woman saying something in his ear, he felt the woman put something cold and surprisingly heavy on his hands and wrap them around the object. The woman's hands were warm and a little rough as she put them on Ash's fist-clenched hands and she whispered, "Take it. That's my advice."
The woman then moved her hands away from Ash's hands and Ash pulled away, confused. He opened his fist, which the woman had wrapped around the object she had given, and gasped when he realized what was on his palm.
The same heart locket that Serena had looked rested on his palm, and its pink stone shone in the sunlight. Ash looked at it in amazement and began, "But.. I can't take it, at least not for free.." He tried to give the locket back to the woman, but this one pushed it back towards Ash, and looked determined.
"No, take it. That's my advice," the woman said resolutely, refusing to take the locket back. "Take it, and give it when a suitable opportunity arises that girl. I'm sure she will like it"
Ash nodded, finally accepting the jewel and looked at it more closely. He brushed the smooth surface of the pink stone with his finger and wondered what stone it might have been. At least it's beautiful, Ash thought. And Serena's favorite color.
It was as if the woman in the stall had read his thoughts, for she smiled and said, "It's rose quartz. A beautiful stone and is well suited for this situation, especially if you know what it symbolizes."
Ash looked up at the woman at the jewel and was a little confused. He had not known that the stones could symbolize something. But before he had time to ask the woman more, he heard Gou and Serena calling him and wondering where he had left.
"Come on, Ash, what the heck did you leave to study?!" Serena exclaimed and Ash startled and turned to his friends and noticed that they were already waiting for him at the foot of the next stairs. They had apparently gotten the map clarified and seemed willing to continue their journey.
"Yeah, come on, Ketchum, I thought you was eager to challenge Allister!" also shouted Gou and Pikachu in front of them also exclaimed: "Pika pika!" and looked a little impatient.
"Go. Your friends are already waiting," the old woman said quietly and Ash nodded and stuffed the necklace in his pocket. Then he said quietly, "Thank you" and went towards his friends and the old woman stayed to watch him with a smile.
"What did you stay to study into it?" Serena asked Ash in amazement when he got to them, but Ash just grinned and said mysteriously, "Nothing." And when Serena and Gou didn't believe it, but urged Ash to tell more, the old woman shook her head with a smile and said to herself, "Good luck, young man. You may need it."
****
"Hey guys, what if we stopped at the Pokemon Center first?" Ash suddenly asked as they approached the said building and Serena and Gou stopped and looked at him in wonder.
"I thought you wanted to challenge Allister as soon as possible," Serena said confused and Gou nodded and said, "Yeah, me too." Even Pikachu was a little amazed and Ash smiled sheepishly.
"I want, but I'm also a little hungry," he said and his stomach growled just then, agreeing. Serena and Gou looked at him with a sweatdrop and then Serena said, "Well, I'm a little hungry too, so stopping wouldn't be a bad idea at all."
"Now that you said it, I'm a little hungry too. And I could heal my Pokemon at the same time, too" Gou thought and Pikachu also said, "Pika pikachu!" Ash looked at them all and said with a grin, "So, what are we still standing here? Let's go!"
They stepped the rest of the way to the Pokemon Center and Ash pulled the door open.
They stepped into the lobby, which was almost exactly the same as all the other Pokemon Centers, and walked almost to Nurse Joy's counter. They were preceded by a girl with her friends (or at least they thought that those strangely dressed guys were her friends) and they waited for their turn.
"What is Allister like?" Ash suddenly thought as they stood there waiting for their turn. "Ghost-type Gym Leaders are sometimes a bit of a peculiar personality"
"I don't know, but it'll be clear soon," said Serena, who had looked at her surroundings while they waited for it. There were a few other people and a Pokemon besides them and that girl in front of them and her companions, and Serena had watched them with interest. "And it'll soon be clear if he can Dynamax or Gigantamax his Pokemon"
"Probably," Gou said, tapping something on his Rotom at the same time. "At least so far, almost all Galar's Gym Leaders have been able to, so surely Allister will be able to do the same."
"Yeah, so the Gym has to be big, at least that big," Ash said, illustrating it by spreading his hands big.
However, he was not careful and as he spread his hands, he happened to hit that girl in front of them so that all of her Pokeballs dropped to the ground and an interesting-looking Pokemon, somewhat reminiscent of Pikachu, next to the girl began to utter angry at them.
"Oops, I'm sorry, I did not mean.." Ash began apologetically, but his sentence with interrupted when one of those strangely dressed guys shouted: "Hey! What you just did!?" and looked at Ash angrily as the girl's Pokeballs spun around on the floor. "Yeah, Marnie doesn't be treated that way!" shouted another and picked up one Pokeball.
"It's okay guys, no need to get angry," the girl, who had picked up her Pokeballs from the ground and lifted a Pikachu-like Pokemon into her arms, said, and those weirdly dressed guys calm down in an instant. "I know it was just an accident. So, let's forget the whole thing."
"Yeah, let's do that," Ash said with a smile and held out his hand in greeting. "I am by the way Ash and this is my partner Pikachu, and these ate my friends Serena and Gou"
"Hi!" said Serena and Gou in unison and Pikachu on Ash's shoulder said, "Pika!" The girl nodded to them and said, "Marnie. And this is Morpeko. And those guys are part of Team Yell. They're like.. hm.. my personal cheering team." She nodded toward those two strangely dressed guys who had started arguing about something , when Nurse Joy tried to end the argue, with poor results.
Marnie had black, straight and rather long hair and pale, green eyes. She was wearing a black leather jacket, a pink dress, and black ankle-length boots. She had a black choker around her neck with a silver, some kind of symbol hanging from it, and she held that Pikachu-like Pokemon in her arms.
The Pokemon in Marnie's arms waved its hands and said happily, "Mor morpeko!" They looked at it with interest, and Ash said, "I have never seen such a Pokemon before." He took out his Rotom and scanned Morpeko with it:
"Morpeko, Two-Sided Pokemon and Electric and Dark-type. As it eats the seeds stored up in its pocket-like pouches, this Pokémon is not just satisfying its constant hunger. It's also generating electricity"
"Oh, that kind of Pokemon, then," Ash muttered, and Marnie nodded and said expressionlessly, "Yeah. But it was nice to meet, Ash, Serena, Gou, and Pikachu, but now I have to go. I have things to do"
Having said that, she went for a walk towards the main door of the Pokemon Center, Morpeko still in her arms. Team Yell's grunts apparently noticed it, as they suddenly ended their quarrel, exclaimed, "Hey! Don't leave us, Marnie!" and went running after Marnie. They walked out the door, Team Yell grunts pushing each other, and Ash and the partners were left staring after them.
"Well, that was a quick meeting," Serena noted as the front door slammed shut and a few people sitting on the couches startled. "Yeah," Ash said, then straightened out his cap. "But it didn't eliminate hunger. Nor that we might need a room for the night."
"Yeah, agree," Gou also said and then Ash turned to Nurse Joy, who smiled and said, "How can I help?"
****
It wasn't long before they had got a room for themselves and something to eat. Once they had eaten, they had decided to stay at the Pokemon Center for a moment to digest their food and thought about what Gym Leader Allister might look like.
Ash lay on his bed and browsed his Rotom. He was alone, or almost alone, as Pikachu slept at the end of his bed, in their room, as Serena had still been left in the lobby to chat with Nurse Joy and Gou had gone to the Center's backyard battlefield to do something. So the room was very quiet and the only sound heard was the steady hum of the fan rotating on the windowsill.
Ash changed his position a bit, and suddenly felt something heavy in his pocket. He wondered what it might be and dug up the object.
It was the necklace that the old woman had given him. He hung it in the air in front of his face (the jewelry was surprisingly heavy and Ash wondered if the chain and the silver part of the heart was pure silver) and watched as it swung slowly from side to side. The pink stone of the heart, that woman had called it rose quartz, sparkled in the light of the room's ceiling lamp, and Ash suddenly remembered what the old woman had said.
"It's well suited for this situation, especially if you know what it symbolizes..."
Symbolizes... Ash suddenly became very interested and he took Rotom and said, "Rotom, could you search for rose quartz?"
"Sure. Rose quartz is the name used for pink specimens of the Mineral quartz. It is abundant, common, and found in large quantities at numerous locations..."
"No that kind of information," Ash interrupted. He was not interested to know how that pink stone had formed. He was interested in what the woman had said about its symbolism. "I want to know what rose quartz symbolizes, not what it is made of"
"All right. The rose quartz symbolizes love above all else. It's also been called the 'stone of love,' and here's a story that tells how..."
However, Ash didn't listen anymore. He had found out what he wanted and for some reason that little sentence, or really just one word, had made him feel weird.
Love.
For some reason, that word made him feel almost the same feeling that seeing Serena usually caused him. He didn't know why, but felt that little word was very important.
He felt that he was suddenly close to something and he said, "Rotom, search a definition of the word 'love'"
"A strong feeling of affection and concern toward another person, as that arising from kinship or close friendship.."
However, Ash didn't listen anymore. He had froze on his back to his bed and stared straight at the pink stone of the pendant, and echoes of the phrases or snippets of others said echoed in his head.
Love.
"..I said it all depends on one word? One small, four-letter word. Say you've figured out what that word is .."
Love.
"You are my goal. The next time we meet, I'm going to be a more attractive woman..."
Love.
"..Do not realize anything about love or romance .."
Love
"To me, you're already a Pokemon Master..."
Love.
Suddenly something clicked into place in Ash's brain, and he finally realized what those feelings and sensations had been near Serena. He also finally understood all those teases and winks and other stuff and he felt like a fog curtain had been removed from his eyes.
"And all that thanks to this necklace," he whispered, looking at the silver jewelry innocently hanging in front of his face, and in his mind he sent a silent thank you to that woman in the market stall.
But even though he had found out that, the future was still a big mystery to him. How would he confess his feelings to Serena? What if she didn't feel the same way? What if he just embarrassed himself completely? Although the density had deviated slightly from Ash's brain, they were not yet completely clear, not at all.
Ash sat up on his bed and looked at the necklace resting on his palm. How would he give it to Serena? It should be some special moment, he couldn't just dig it out of his pocket and hand it to Serena. No, that would not be appropriate at all. But what would it be? He had already applied the flower trick to that red silk ribbon...
Ash squeezed the jewel into his fist and took a determined look on his face. He would think about it later. He would have time. It would be good after the Gym battle, yes, it would be a good time. He nodded to himself. That's what he would do, it would be a good plan.
He stuck the jewelry back in his pocket and got up. He gently shook the sleeping Pikachu awake and grinned at him.
"Come on Pikachu, let's go," he said and Pikachu jumped a little sleepy on his shoulder. Then Ash left the room head suddenly full of just one thought.
He would have the battle to do.