"Mornin' Serena. Did ya sleep well?" asked the yawning Gou as he sat opposite Serena at their portable camping table, and Serena, who had fallen asleep leaning on her right hand, was startled awake.
"Huh? Did you say something?" she asked, yawning wide and stretching her arms. Gou opened his mouth to repeat his question, but didn't have time to say anything, for it was then that the tired-looking Ash, who had given breakfast to his Pokemon, stepped toward them half-asleep.
He sat down next to Serena and now seemed to notice the existence of the whole girl. "Morning, Moonflower," he said a little sleepily to her and yawned wide. Serena blushed when she heard the new nickname that Ash had invented for her, and last night's events suddenly remembered bright in her mind.
However, Gou didn't know anything about them, so he looked pretty confused when Ash said Serena as the Moonflower.
"Moonflower? Where the hell does that name come from?" he said confused and watched as Ash made himself a sandwich and Serena poured herself a glass of orange juice, yawning wide with her hand in front of her mouth. Neither responded to him at all. "Besides, why do you two look so tired? Just like you've been staying up..."
He interrupted his sentence halfway and suddenly seemed to realize something. "..all night," he ended, and wide, and a little mischievous, grin appeared on his face.
"Right. Of course. Why didn't I realize it right away?" he muttered to himself and there was some intersection of grin and mischief on his face. "I get it now. Though I don't know where the name 'Moonflower' comes from, but maybe I shouldn't even know it. But now, if you will, I have a job to do."
And chuckling to himself, he left to give his Pokemon breakfast, and Ash and Serena stared after him, Ash saying, "What the heck is Gou talking about?" and Serena shrugging and yawning.
When they finally got to eat, and Ash and Serena had finally woken up properly, it was time to pack up their belongings and continue their journey to Ballonlea.
Meanwhile, as Ash and Gou unpacked Gou's tent and Lucario, Greninja and Braixen put everything ready outside, Serena packed her bag in her and Ash's tent ready to leave. Yamper and Pancham helped her to the best of their ability, but most of the time they just played some kind of tag on the tent floor.
Serena just put on her nightgown in her bag when something white and small dropped next to her on the tent floor. "Huh?" she said in amazement and picked up the thing from the ground and took it to her face to take a closer look.
She immediately identified the thing as one of the white petals she and Ash had followed last night to the magical square. She turned the petal in front of her face and wondered how it had ended up in the tent. Maybe it had caught on to her nightgown and thus passed into their tent.
Serena herself did not have a completely clear idea of how she had gotten back to camp. She remembered falling asleep in the square, but when she had woken up in the morning, she had found herself sleeping in their tent, Ash snoring beside her. She guessed that Ash had carried her back to camp and she had, with a smile, pressed a small kiss to the boy's forehead. Ash had smiled in his sleep.
When she had sat up yawning to sit down, she had felt something fall from her head. Confused, she lifted it up from the ground and had been amazed when it was a small pink flower. She had then examined more closely and found other flowers and leaves in her hair as well. As she recalled more closely, she remembered making the flowers a wreath, so she guessed they came from it.
To her chagrin, however, the wreath was not visible in the dim tent, so she thought it had fallen somewhere in the woods. It saddened her a little, as it would have been nice for her to wear a wreath on her head today.
Serena's thoughts suddenly were interrupted when a questioning voice from Pancham was heard near her, saying, "Pan cham cham?" Hearing it, Serena moved her gaze away from the petal a little reluctantly and turned her gaze to the two Pokemon standing in front of her and found them staring at her a little questioningly.
"Cham?" said Pancham again and Yamper barked and leaned his front paws against Serena's knees. Serena smiled at them and dropped the petal next to her on the ground.
"No worries, I was just a little in my thoughts," she said to her Pokemon, smiling reassuringly and these immediately seemed more relieved. They climbed into Serena's lap and Yamper licked Serena's cheek.
As Serena giggled at Yamper, her hand looked for the rose quartz necklace around her neck and suddenly she got a great idea. She gently moved Pancham and Yamper out of her lap and these remained curious to see how Serena opened the necklace clasp and took it off her neck.
She looked for a moment at her necklace, which had been given to her by the most important person in her life, and then opened its heart-shaped pendant. She smiled slightly at the note given by Sonia, which had a beautiful rune drawn, which Sonia had said to mean "ash," and then she took from the ground the white petal she had looked at a moment ago.
She looked at it one more time for a moment until she placed a petal on top of the note given by Sonia. There, she thought as she closed the locket and put it back to her neck. Now I always have with me a memory of that magical place and night.
After getting the necklace back around her neck, she put her nightgown in her bag and then turned to Pancham and Yamper with a smile.
"What if we would go to help Ash and Gou? I'm sure that..." she began, but she broke her sentence all of a sudden, because just then there was a loud crash outside, and they all turned their eyes towards the door of the tent.
"What was that?" said Serena in great wonder, getting up to stand and squeezing her bag in her arms. Pancham and Yamper looked at each other, looking as amazed as Serena, and then ran out of the tent, Serena following.
Serena and the Pokemon stepped out of the tent, only to see how Lucario and Greninja had started the fight and were now almost stuck to each other, their fists upright and shouting to each other expressions that sounded like death threats. In front of them lay on the ground their portable camping table, fallen, and Serena guessed that the crash she had heard had been caused when it fell.
Dragonite and Braixen tried to pull the brawlers away from each other's, but it didn't help very much. The atmosphere became even more threatening as Lucario formed his blue stick from Aura with his paw, and Greninja formed shurikens with his hands, and they began to growl even more threatening to each other.
"Say one wrong word, and I'll peel the guts out of you, dog," Greninja growled at Lucario, shuriken menacingly raised into the air, and Lucario tightened his grip on his Aura stick and snorted contemptuously.
"Hah, I dare to try, frog," he growled and they would probably have attacked each other if someone had shouted just then, "WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON THERE?!" and a very angry-looking Ash would have run to them Gou, Scorbunny, and Pikachu following him.
"The frog started. He was standing too close to Braixen," Lucario said, glancing at Greninja with the Aura stick still raised, and Greninja turned his angry gaze toward Lucario.
"I started this? Hah, I say! YOU stood too close to Braixen here! I even saw you tried to take her by the hand!" growled in turn Greninja and Lucario's muscles tensed and the grip on the stick tightened.
"Is that so, frog?" he said softly, squeezing his stick and his face almost caught in Greninja's face. "It is, dog," Greninja replied, his face equally close to Lucario's face and growling equally menacingly.
They would probably have tried to hit each other again if Ash hadn't had enough and shouted, "ENOUGH! Both of you. I thought you had agreed on whatever you were arguing about, but apparently not. I don't know what happened here or what both did, but I will not see how ye provoke one another to anger."
"But Master.." Lucario began, but the irritated Ash couldn't begin to listen to his explanations. "No butts. Lucario, you go help Serena and Gou packing Gou's tent. Greninja, you stay here with me and Pikachu, okay?"
But no one moved a muscle to advance the matter until Ash roared, "NOW!" and Greninja and Lucario finally left, muttering something vague and glaring to each other, to do what was commanded.
When they finally got the camp dismantled and the stuff packed, it was finally time to move forward towards Ballonlea and Ash's fifth Gym battle. They looked at that unfortunate campsite one last time and then went for a walk.
A few hours later:
They walked along the woods again, but this time it wasn't foggy or dim, but actually pretty beautiful. The light of the sun shining in the sky filtered through the spruce and other tree branches growing in the forest, and made them glow bright green. It also warmed the air and they saw many wild Pokemon warming up on the rocks, sunbathing.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the company was not very warm. Greninja and Lucario had finally calmed down enough to be able to walk without grabbing each other's throats, but it didn't stop the glares and loud growls. Ash, too, was still a little irritated that the two still couldn't get along properly and his silence made Gou and Serena look at each other with a little concern.
"Ash has been weird since we left camp," Serena said, whispering and looking at her boyfriend walking in front of them, and Gou nodded.
"Yeah. Maybe you should talk to him and ask what's bothering him. He would listen to you" Gou whispered back and Serena nodded. She took a determined look on her face and then stepped beside Ash.
"A penny for your thoughts?" said Serena as she got next to Ash. Ash looked startled and then turned his gaze to Serena, a little confused.
"Huh? What did you say?" he asked and Serena replied, putting her hands behind her back, "I'm just wondering are you okay? You're somehow strangely quiet and looking irritated."
Ash blinked his eyes a few times when he heard it and then rubbed his forehead looking a little frustrated.
"I'm sorry, Serena. I'm just annoyed that Greninja and Lucario aren't able to get along with each other. I'm sick to intervene in their fights," he said, glancing behind him to those two Pokémon, who grunted and created gloomy glances with each other.
"Oh, I see," said Serena, nodding and glancing in the direction of Greninja and Lucario as well. Then she turned her gaze back forward and said softly, "Maybe you should ask them why they're fighting. It could help."
Ash stared at Serena and then said slowly, "You're right, why didn't I come up it myself?" A familiar, wide grin appeared on his face, and he suddenly seemed to come up with something. "Wait a moment"
He turned abruptly and went for a walk back. Serena stopped and turned to see what Ash had now come up with. Pikachu, who had walked beside them, also stopped next to Serena and said in a little wonder, "Pika?"
"What did you say to him?" Gou asked as he walked over to Serena, holding the straps of his backpack. He watched as Ash stepped briskly towards Lucario and Greninja and Serena sighed.
"I just told him to ask why Greninja and Lucario are fighting," she said and Gou turned to look at her in surprise.
"Doesn't he know that? That's obvious," he said, shaking his head. "And I thought you got to break his dense shell, but apparently something still remains."
"Yeah," said Serena and they stayed to see what Ash was going to do.
As Serena and Gou stayed to watch Ash, Ash himself stepped briskly toward Greninja and Lucario. He knew exactly what he was going to say to these and there was a determined look on his face.
But since he was Ash Ketchum, nothing usually goes exactly as planned, and this time was no exception. For just when he had gotten close enough to Greninja and Lucario and opened his mouth to say, "Okay, you two. Now you're telling meee..!" the ground suddenly betrayed from under his feet and he felt himself fall into something reminiscent of a deep pit.
"ASH!" screamed Serena in horror when she saw it and Pikachu also exclaimed, "Pikapi!" They all quickly rushed to the point where Ash had fallen underground and realized it was some kind of pit led by a steep "slope" formed from collapsed land.
Peeking into the pit, they saw Ash sitting on the bottom of it holding his head and Serena asked, "Ash, are you okay?" They saw Ash getting up, rubbing his head, standing up and saying slowly, looking away from them, "Yeah, but you should see this."
Serena and Gou glanced at each other and then shrugged. They slid down a slope down the pit and Pikachu, Greninja and Lucario followed them. Finally reaching the bottom, Serena turned to Ash and asked, "What did you want us to see?"
"This," Ash said, pointing in front of him, not turning his gaze away from whatever he was looking at. Serena looked at him for a moment, but then finally turned her gaze in the direction indicated by Ash and gasped.
In front of them opened a dark tunnel, the walls of which seemed to grow small, purple crystals. They seemed to shine some kind of light that illuminated a dark tunnel, and Serena said thoughtfully, "Where would it lead?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out," Ash said in his familiar determined style, then referring others to follow. "C'moon, let's go!"
He was already entering the tunnel when Serena suddenly exclaimed, "Wait!" and Ash stopped confused in the middle of his step.
"What now?" he asked, watching in amazement as Serena dug one of her Pokeballs from her bag and Braixen appeared in front of her. "I thought some kind of light could be useful," she said and nodded to Braixen, who realized the hint and lit her branch again as a torch.
It created a warm light in that dark pit and Ash smiled. "True, now it's easier for us to walk over there," he said, pointing to the tunnel and then referring again to follow others. "And now, let's go!"
And accompanied by these words, they entered a dark tunnel, the light of the Braixen's torch and the endless energy of Ash leading them forward.
They walked along a dark tunnel whose walls grew those special crystals, wondering where it might lead them. The tunnel was quite narrow, their hands reach touch both walls of it, and at some points their heads almost hit its ceiling. Despite these problems, they managed to move forward with the Braixen's torch illuminating the tunnel.
As they walked by, Serena began to feel inside her that something bad was about to happen. However, she couldn't say what and she shook the feeling away. Stop being paranoid, she told herself briskly. What there suppose could happen? However, a small part of that feeling remained, and it worried Serena.
As Serena was left wondering about possible accidents that might happen to them, Ash and Gou whispered into a silent conversation. "What was the purpose of this tunnel?" thought Ash whispered to Gou walking in front of him and Gou shrugged.
"Who knows. Maybe this is an old mining tunnel that has been forgotten over time," he replied and Ash frowned.
"But this doesn't look like that," he replied with a frown and Gou snapped, "Well then I don't know. Come up with a better explanation for yourself!"
After Gou had said it, the crowd stopped abruptly and Ash and Serena looked at Gou a little strangely. Gou realized he had snapped a little too rudely and he said apologetically, "Sorry, Ash. I didn't mean to say it that way. This place is getting on my nerves."
"It doesn't matter, just keep going," said Ash and Gou nodded. Quietly, they continued their journey forward, led by the light of Braixen, and Serena wondered if the recent had been some kind of omen for something worse.
They walked for a while longer until Braixen suddenly stopped and they were bumping into her. "Braixen, what now?" asked Serena from her Pokemon, and Braixen responded by pointing in front of her and saying, "Braixen brai"
The trio plus Pokemon reached out to see what Braixen was showing and saw some sort of wall in front of them. Braixen's torch illuminated it and they saw that it looked pretty sturdy.
"Wall?" said Gou, amazed to see it, and scratched his head. He watched Ash went with Pikachu past Braixen to the wall, and tried the wall with his hands. "I didn't expect to see one here"
"It's a stone," Ash said as he stepped back a little from the wall and Pikachu sniffed the wall with his snout and seemed to state the same. "And a sturdy one. It's not quite easy to break."
"Does that mean we have to turn back?" Serena asked, a little disappointed, but Ash shook his head.
"No, if it depends on me," he stated and his face had a familiar determined look. Then he looked at Pikachu standing next to him and said to him, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu and sent his electric move towards the wall. It hit it and caused a small explosion and a cloud of dust, but as the dust dissipated slightly, they saw that not a single crack had come to the wall.
Ash and Pikachu looked amazed when their attack had made no change to the wall, and Gou snorted.
"Amateurs," he muttered and picked up one of his Pokeballs. "Scorbunny, show them how to handle this thing"
Scorbunny emerged from his Pokeball and Gou nodded at it. Scorbunny grinned and picked up one pebble from the tunnel floor, which it then threw into the air and kicked toward the wall.
That, too, caused a nice explosion and a cloud of dust, but did nothing on the wall itself. "How...", Gou muttered in confusion and Ash grinned at him smugly and said, "Who's an amateur now?"
Nor were Greninja's shurikens, Lucario's Aura tricks, Sobble's Water Gun, or Ash's desperate kick done nothing on the wall. Eventually Ash and Gou sat down giving up to the ground and their Pokemon followed.
Serena, who had been watching this for a little while, walked over to them and asked, "Did you stop?" Ash nodded looking at the ground and said, "Yeah, that wall stands for everything" He sighed and Pikachu sighed too.
However, Serena did not intend to surrender yet. "And we'll see that," she muttered resolutely, picking up one of her Pokeballs. "Hatenna, show the boys how to do things"
A small pink Pokemon appeared next to her and said resolutely, "Hat tenna!" Serena looked at it with a smile, but then turned to the boys and asked, "Can I?"
"Go on," said Ash, who didn't think Hatenna's moves would make any difference to the wall. However, Serena just grinned and said, "Hatenna, Psybeam!"
"Tenna!" exclaimed Hatenna and plunged a pink ray towards the wall. It hit it, causing an explosion and a cloud of dust.
But unlike before, this time something else happened as well. As the cloud of dust descended, they saw a wide hole in the wall from which shone some kind of purple light, and Ash and Gou stared at it with their mouths open.
"Impossible," said Gou and Ash turned to Serena and said, "Serena, how is that possible?" However, Serena just grinned at the boys and shrugged.
"Secret," she said and then stepped forward, referring others to follow. "Come on, let's see what's on the other side" And after saying that, she stepped through the hole, Hatenna after her, and Ash and Gou had time to see that there was a smug grin on its face.
When Ash and Gou had finally recovered from their shock, they stepped after Serena through the hole to the other side. And what they saw, exceeded all their imaginations.
They had never imagined seeing anything like this. Ash had imagined seeing more of a tunnel or something and Gou had also had similar thoughts. Instead, there was no tunnel on the other side, but a cave. And it was full of purple crystals of different sizes.
They all shone the same special purple light that the crystals had on the wall of the tunnel, but this time there were so many crystals that it illuminated the whole cave brightly. (A quick note on this. This is not Galar mine 2, although it sounds the same) They grew from the floor, ceiling and walls and some of them were huge and some of them were very tiny.
Some of the crystals had also formed high columns reaching to the ceiling, and they created perhaps the brightest light of all in the cave. They seemed to support the whole place like pillars, and as they looked at them, they wondered how they had formed.
In addition to the crystals, there were also small water ponds here and there in the cave, the source of which they had no idea. They reflected the light and reflections of the crystals, and the light of the crystals made them shine beautifully. In addition to the ponds, the water was also heard by a distant echo resembling the flow of the river.
In the midst of all this, Ash and Gou found Serena staring with her mouth open in delight and amazement, and her hands on her chest crossed. Next to her stood Hatenna, and her mouth was also open in amazement.
They walked up to Serena and, getting next to her, she said in delight, "Isn't this place beautiful? I've never seen anything like it before"
"Yeah, but what's its purpose?" said Gou scratching his head and staring at the crystals. "I mean, why is it here? And I was left bothered by what that tunnel was for. It's a little weird to build a tunnel and then end it in a stone wall."
"Who cares," Serena said, still staring enchanted at the crystals. "I'm just interested in this place now. It's so beautiful, right Ash? Ash?"
However, Ash didn't answer anything, so Serena and Gou turned confused to see what was wrong. To their surprise, and a little worrying, they saw Ash holding his forehead and looking as if it had ached. His eyes were also closed and Pikachu looked at his trainer with concern, saying quietly, "Pikapi?"
"Ash, are you okay?" Serena asked worriedly and stepped beside Ash. She put her hand on the boy's shoulder and, feeling the touch, Ash seemed to wake up and look up.
"Huh? What did you say?" he asked and looked straight into Serena's blue, and now worried, eyes. "I just asked are you okay," Serena repeated worriedly and Ash nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I am," he said and smiled a little Serena. He then took the girl by the hand, squeezing this soothingly, and said, "My head just ached a little, but I think it's just due to fatigue." He flashed to confirm his familiar, wide smile, but Serena wasn't sure.
"Are you sure?" she asked still a little worried and Ash nodded. "Yeah, I am," he said, and Serena was to add something, when suddenly they heard Gou shouting, "Hey, come here! I think I found some kind of path!"
Hearing that, Ash grinned and said, "Let's go. I want to explore this cave a little more!" Serena nodded smiling and then they went hand in hand to walk towards Gou, with the Pokemon following.
And no one noticed how Lucario pressed his hand to his temples, which had suddenly appeared a stabbing pain.
They walked along with some sort of path that Gou had found and admired the crystals growing around it. Serena walked the Rotom upright all the time, taking pictures, and Gou tried to spot if any interesting Pokemon were showing anywhere.
Because others were busy with these things, they didn't notice how Ash fell behind. He had started to feel the stinging pain inside his head again, and he was pretty sure it wasn't due to fatigue, as he had previously told Serena. The pain felt especially in his temples and seemed to intensify every time he walked closer to the crystals.
However, he didn't show this to others, but whenever Serena or Gou turned to look at him or ask him something, he took a wide smile on his face and tried to speak completely normally, even though he really wanted to scream in pain. He did so because he didn't want to worry about others, especially Serena. (Although Serena had noticed that Ash looked pale, but she thought it was just due to the light)
So they walked forward until they finally came to a small, round square that seemed to be some kind of intersection. Many different crystal columns grew around it and they made it shine bright. It took many small paths in different directions and they stopped a little confused, looking at the paths and thinking about their next move.
"So, which path we choose?" Gou asked, glancing at the paths and wondering which of them would be more likely to go. Serena shrugged and said, "I don't know, they all look the same."
"Yeah, you're right," Gou admitted, rubbing his chin and looking thoughtfully at all the small paths.
When Serena and Gou thought about this, Ash was somewhere else. His headache had only intensified when they reached the square and it was going to become unbearable. I have to sit somewhere, he thought holding his forehead and looking for suitable places with his gaze.
Suddenly he noticed a suitable spot at the base of one of the crystal pillars and he quickly stepped up to it. He sat on the ground and rested his head against the pillar.
When he then sat there, leaning on a pillar and wondering if he was getting sick or where that headache was really coming from, he forgot to stare at one of the crystals growing from the pillar.
Serena is right, he thought looking at the purple stone. They are indeed very beautiful. Staring at the crystal, he could see some kind of waving inside it, as if there had been a small sea inside the crystal. There I would like to sink in, he thought staring at the crystal. And forget about this annoying headache...
Meanwhile, Serena and Gou had decided which path they would take. They had chosen the middle path, as it seemed the most attractive to them.
"Let's go then. Come on, let's..," she was saying, when suddenly there was a loud cry of pain behind her and she quickly turned around.
She saw Lucario holding his head in his paws and looked suffering. Gou looked at him anxiously and all the Pokemon also looked scared, even Greninja, who was still a little grumpy for Lucario.
"Lucario, are you okay?" Serena worriedly asked Ash's Aura Pokemon and walked over to him. Lucario seemed to grimace and take support from one of those crystal pillars. He seemed to close his eyes for a moment, and then Serena heard his voice inside her head, "We have to go. This place is not safe, I feel it in my Aura."
"What do you mean?" asked Serena, but Lucario didn't have time to say anything, for just then there was an insane laugh behind them and they slowly turned around. And that vision froze them in place.
They saw Ash sitting on the ground a short distance away and staring at one of those purple crystals. But what gives their goosebumps in the vision was that there was some kind of red glow in Ash's eyes and some kind of energy exuded from him that was anything but inviting.
"Ash... are you... okay?" Serena asked cautiously and walked slowly to the boy. Ash slowly turned his gaze away from the crystal and stared at Serena with his eyes, which were now more reddish instead of auburn.
"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine," he said and smiled, but the smile resembled a more insane grin than a genuine smile. It made the fear inside Serena grow considerably, and she said in a louder voice than she had thought, "Are you absolutely sure? You don't look like that"
"I am," Ash said calmly and turned his gaze again to the great, purple crystal, which he was staring at. He smiled at that insane grin and said quietly, "Because I can be close to my loved one.. my.. my Treasure."
Serena and Gou stared at him with wide eyes and listened as Ash chatted to the crystal, with an insane smile, "Yes, my beautiful, purple Treasure. We're always going to be together, right? Yes, my Treasure, yes..." He stared at the crystal and in his eyes was a glow that Serena did not recognize belonged to Ash and it made her fearful.
"Aura... these crystals affect the Aura," suddenly Lucario's voice was heard inside Serena's head and she turned to look at the Pokemon. This leaned against the pillar with eyes closed and looked more suffering than before.
"What do you mean?" Serena asked and Lucario slowly opened his eyes and explained, "These crystals... this place... they exude some kind of energy that affects the Aura. It also causes this headache. That's why we have to get out of here."
"But what about Ash? What happened to him?" Serena asked, pointing to her boyfriend, who seemed to be singing a lullaby to that purple crystal.
Lucario's expression darkened as he turned his gaze to Ash. "It looks like the crystals affect Ash more strongly than me," he said and Serena looked at him in wonder.
"Why?" she asked, and Lucario explained in a serious tone, "I have for some time predicted this, but it seems that Ash's Aura has some sort of deviation. I don't know what kind, but somehow crystals energy strongly affects Ash. And that is the reason why Ash became like that."
Serena nodded quietly and Lucario continued, "We have to get Ash out of here. And the sooner the better." Having said that, he marched briskly to Ash and said, "Time to leave, Master."
"No! I'm not leaving without my Treasure!" shouted Ash as Lucario tried to pull him away from the crystal. He clung to it and Lucario grunted. "It's not an option. Take your grip off from it before.."
However, what Lucario feared would happen, they never found out. It was then that there was a sharp click as the crystal held by Ash detached from the pillar. It made him sway and fall on Lucario and the crystal flew, swaying to the ground.
"My Treasure!" Ash exclaimed, trying to get to the crystal, but Lucario prevented it by holding his hand tightly. "Quiet, Master. I guess I hear something," he murmured to Ash as he told Lucario to let go and miraculously, he fell silent.
For a moment it was quite quiet and one could have heard the pin fall to the floor. Lucario seemed to listen closely with his ears and suddenly they all heard it. Or really, heard and felt.
The floor of the cave began to shake, and they heard a loud crack from somewhere. They looked around in fear until suddenly it became completely silent and as if nothing had happened.
They already had a sigh of relief, but Lucario was sure it wasn't all there was yet. He formed a blue Aura stick with his hand and stared intently around him, listening to the smallest possible sound.
Suddenly his ears moved in the direction Ash was currently trying to reach for his purple crystal with his hand, and suddenly he crashed towards him and just in time. Just as Ash was about to reach for the crystal, Lucario pulled him out of it, not a moment too early.
Just as Lucario pulled him farther to the place where Ash's hand had been, a big crystal crashed and it formed a large cloud of dust when it hit the ground. Soon other crystals began to fall from the ceiling around them.
"RUN! The cave collapses!" cried Serena, and the others did not need to be commanded twice. They set out to run along the path chosen by Gou and Serena, dodging dripping crystals, and Lucario drew Ash, who fought against, with his crystals left out of the way.
They ran along the path as hard as they could, while dodging falling crystals and other big things. Serena and Gou led the crowd and when a big crystal crashed directly in front of them, Serena told Hatenna to make Psybeam and blow the crystal out of the way.
Gradually, the path began to rise and the running became heavier. However, they did not slow down as the cave behind them continued to collapse and if they had stopped, they would have been left under the collapsing crystals.
For Lucario, the journey was twice as heavy as for the others. He dragged Ash with him, who fought all the time, and it made his pace much slower. However, he did not give up, for he was sure that they would soon arrive at some exit and get out of the cave.
Suddenly in front of them was again a similar rocky wall as before the crystal cave. Seeing it, Serena didn't hesitate for a moment, but shouted, "Hatenna, Psybeam!" and Hatenna got to blow the wall out of their way again.
Psybeam hit the wall and caused an explosion and a large cloud of dust. They did not wait for it to dissipate, but ran straight through it toward the bright light that shone through the cloud, and found themselves on some kind of rock cliff.
They crashed to the ground and heard the hole behind them collapse, causing a huge cloud of dust. Then came silent and after waiting a while they dared to get up from the ground and look back.
The opening they had come out, had completely collapsed. Small pebbles and crystals dripped from it onto the cliff, and a cloud of dust still hovered in the air, but otherwise, it was quiet and the only sound was heard from their panting breath.
"We... survived," Serena said, panting, and sank to her knees on the ground. She was tired, dusty, and with small scratches, but she smiled nonetheless. They had survived and escaped that disgusting cave.
Ash, on the other hand, looked as if he had woken from a very long sleep.
"What happened?" he asked, confused, scratching his head, and blinking around. He seemed only more confused when he found himself standing in the middle of a cliff and Serena, Gou, Lucario, and the other Pokemon were watching him as if he had come back from some very long journey.
"Ash, you're yourself again!" exclaimed Serena as a smile spread across her face. She got up from the ground and then she ran to Ash and hugged him tightly. "I thought you'd stay like that forever!"
"I'd stay like what?" asked Ash, a little confused as he hugged Serena back a little surprised, but Serena didn't answer. Instead, he heard Lucario say, "I'll tell you later, Master, but now we have to go. I want to be as far away from that cave as possible."
Ash nodded slowly, though not quite sure why, and then Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. "Pikapi!" he exclaimed and Ash smiled at him and this time his smile was normal again.
"Hey, buddy," he said to Pikachu, scratching this from behind his ear. Pikachu laughed and Ash laughed too and Serena smiled at them, happy that Ash was himself again.
"Hey! Guys! Come here! I think I'll find our way down!" suddenly Gou's voice was heard and they turned their gaze in his direction. They saw Gou on the edge of the cliff, pointing to something, and they realized it was some kind of path that led down.
"Come on, Ash! Let's get out of here!" Serena exclaimed happily and set out to pull Ash towards Gou and the path.
"Wait a minute, Serena!" Ash exclaimed as the girl pulled him from his hand laughing forward and they set out to run towards the path, followed by Pikachu.
Lucario smiled at them and moved on as well. But then he felt himself stepping on something sharp and, cursing quietly, he raised his leg to see what he had stepped on.
It looked a bit like a crystal, but was darker and much harder. Rock was actually a better word for it. It was dark, it had fuchsia stripes and some kind of bumps. With interest, Lucario took it in his hand for a closer look and took the small thing right in front of his face.
He hadn't seen one before, so he didn't know what it was. Curious, he turned the rock in front of his eyes and wondered what it was. It wasn't a crystal, and not really a stone, so what then?
However, Lucario's thoughts were interrupted, for just then Ash shouted at him, "Come on, Lucario! The journey is waiting!" and he turned his gaze away from the strange stone.
"Coming, Master" he messaged to Ash with the through of Aura and pressed the strange rock in his fist. Then he glanced once more at the collapsed door of the cave and finally went for a walk towards Ash and others.
They moved on that day and finally camped next to a small creek in the evening. Lucario told Ash everything that had happened in the crystal cave, and Ash became quite quiet after hearing what it had been like when the crystals had affected his Aura.
The evening passed, and a beautiful starry sky and an almost full moon rose into the sky again. At camp, the atmosphere started to get a little tired, and eventually they went to bed one by one. Gou was first and Serena followed.
"Good night, Ashy," she said to Ash, pressing a light kiss on Ash's forehead and Ash smiled at the nickname Serena had given him.
"Night, Moonflower," he replied and heard Serena go inside their tent and Pikachu followed her.
Ash himself left to sit next to their campfire and stare at the flames. He thought of what he had become in the cave and the thought scared him. What's happening to me? he thought, and watched the flames dance in the campfire.
Suddenly he felt someone sitting next to him and he recognized the comer as Lucario. "Still awake?" Lucario asked and Ash hummed.
"I'm thinking," he replied and they were silent for a moment. Then Lucario seemed to open his fist and take something out. Ash turned his gaze in his direction with interest and saw Lucario looking at something, which resembled a tiny pebble in the light of the campfire.
"What are you doing?" he asked and Lucario grunted. "I'm thinking, like you," he replied and Ash's curiosity awoke.
"What?" he asked curiously and Lucario slowly turned his gaze to him.
"This," he said, handing the stone he was looking at to Ash. Ash took it in his hand and looked at it with interest.
"What is it?" he asked, but Lucario shrugged. "I don't know. I found it on a cliff there. It looked interesting and I thought it might be useful sometimes. You can keep it, I'm not doing anything with it."
"Wow, thanks!" Ash said, staring with interest at the stone given by Lucario, not noticing that Lucario had stood up.
"I go to one place, night, Master," he said, then formed his blue Aura stick with his hand. He then went jogging towards the nearby woods and soon disappeared into the shadows.
"Night...," Ash said, a little distracted, and left watching the stone resting with his hand, the starry sky shining bright above him.