For the next two days, it rained more or less. When the group went to sleep, they heard the rain crackling on the roofs of the tents, and when they woke up in the morning, it still crackled in them. During the day, on the other hand, it crackled either to the Aura shield made by Ash and/or Lucario, which served as their umbrella, or paused only to show depressing gray clouds. If they had to choose, they would have chosen rain.
They continued to walk on the same plain they had battled against Team Rocket. Fortunately, they hadn't seen a glimpse of them during those two days, and Ash in particular was pleased with that. Glimwood Tangle had also left far behind and now in front of them rippled (literally) just an open grass plain.
When wandering among wet hay during those two days, the group didn't speak much. They each walked mainly in their own thoughts, thinking of thoughts like maybe the sun might show tomorrow or would beans be for food (food was running low) They stopped a few times a day to eat quick meals (still those beans), and then continued their journey in that depressing early fall weather that Galar served them.
But the quietest of them all was Lucario. He had sulked since Greninja had won the bet and been allowed to take Braixen to date. And Greninja had done it right away. However, he had never told what they had done or where they had gone, and that both annoyed and infuriated Lucario. Admittedly, what seemed even more annoying was that when they returned, there had been a smug grin on Greninja's face and Braixen had giggled at him, holding his hand.
So, because of these things, Lucario had spent even more time alone somewhere, and communicated mostly by grunting. Nor was it helped that Serena's Kirlia had taken up her task to tease Lucario about Braixen and it only made Lucario even gloomier.
So it was no wonder that when something more special finally appeared in front of them in that gray weather, the group was very excited.
"Ash, is that...?"
"Yeah, that's what it looks like"
The foursome stood on top of a hill, looking at the view in front of them. The rain had stopped a moment ago, but the gray clouds still in the sky indicated that it could start again soon. But the likelihood of rain was not the thing that interested them. No, it was something much more interesting and rose right in front of them.
In front of them rose a large, rocky castle. One that was usually only in fairy tales and movies about knights in shining armor and maidens in towers. But that castle rose in front of them, and it really wasn't some movie set piece.
They stood there for a moment until Gou said, "Well, are we going to take a closer look?" The others nodded and then they set out to run quickly down the slope towards that special landmark.
As they got closer, they slowed down a bit, but at no point did they stop. They also found that the castle was not in very good condition; its walls grew with moss and one of its towers had collapsed. Reaching right at its foot, they stopped to look at the castle heads tilted.
"Why is it placed alone in the middle of the plain?" Serena thought for a moment and touched the castle wall with her hand. It was cold and wet and a rocky and lonely raindrop rolled from the moss bump on her hand. She pulled her hand away and continue, "I mean, weren't there usually other housed around these castles?"
"Maybe there used to be a village here, but it's gone a long time ago," Chloe suggested. She swept one damp hair curl out of her eyes and looked at the castle thoughtfully. "Or this was just some kind of watchtower"
"Yeah, maybe," Serena said, glancing at Chloe. The girl had somehow been even quieter during those two days, and Serena felt like she was trying to get to tell her something important. But whenever Chloe had tried, something had interrupted it; either one of the Yampers wanted food or someone else wanted attention. Either way, Chloe had clearly tried to tell Serena something and Serena wondered what it might be.
"Guys, we can get in here!" suddenly there was a cry from Gou, and Serena's thoughts were interrupted. She turned to look in Gou's direction, and saw this indicate a large gap in the castle wall. The wall had collapsed from that point to the ground, and now formed a large opening from which to reach the other side.
"Cool! Let's find out right away what's in there!" exclaimed Ash and swung himself over the collapsed wall to the other side. Pikachu followed him and then came Lucario, rolling his eyes. Kirlia was right in his heels, and Gou and Chloe followed them. Then came Braixen and Greninja and last came Serena, who glanced at the castle towers rising to the gray sky and frowned. She had a bad idea about this castle. Then, however, she shook her head, sighed, and followed the others to the other side.
After crossing the collapsed wall, Serena noticed they had come to some sort of courtyard. Or to what was left of it. In the middle of it passed a rocky path, the rocks of which over time had been covered with grass, mosses, and a mess of twigs and old leaves. On either side of the path was grass that was now yellowed and completely wild. Here and there grew trees, some of which had died upright, and some of which still survived somehow. A short distance away was a small pond with algae growing in its muddy water, with curbs cracked and covered with moss. Everything else, then, was an impenetrable mess of vines, shrubs, and wild hay, constantly taking over the castle and its small, damaged courtyard.
Serena looked at that apathetic landscape for a moment until she hurried to the others. Ash had found the door covered with vines that led inside the castle, and was now trying to tear the vines away from in front of it. Gou, Chloe, and the Pokemon watched from a safe distance as he told Pikachu to make Iron Tail to the vines, and Lucario explored with interest something he found on the ground.
"Greninja, try if the shurikens would be more useful to those vines," Serena heard Ash say when Pikachu's Iron Tail had proved useless to them. Greninja nodded, formed a few shurikens with his hands, and threw them toward the thickest vine.
They hit it and made a small cut in it, but didn't cut it completely. "Again," Ash said enthusiastically that his technique worked, and Greninja repeated his move.
Serena watched it, smiling for a moment, until suddenly a cold wind blew through the yard, making her tremble. She wrapped her arms around her body and looked up at the sky. The clouds had turned even grayer and it seemed that it would soon start raining again.
Suddenly Serena felt someone wrap their hands around her and hug her tightly. "Braix braixen," was heard beside her, and Serena recognized the hugger as Braixen. She looked down and saw her Pokemon wrapping her arms around her waist. She guessed that Braixen had noticed that she was cold and decided to warm up her trainer.
Serena smiled at her fox-like Pokemon, saying, "Thank you Braixen," and Braixen grinned back. However, her grin suddenly froze as a drop of water fell on her nose. It caused her to suddenly pull her hands away from Serena and wipe her nose to get the water away.
Serena giggled and Braixen glared at her a little irritated. However, Karma was a bitch, and soon a drop of water fell on Serena's nose as well. It made her stop giggling, and look up at the sky. Soon another drop of water fell from the sky, hitting Serena's forehead directly, followed by another and another drop.
Gou and Chloe had apparently also noticed that it was starting to rain again, for Gou said a little irritated, "Ash, how long it takes? There is starting to rain again" Greninja happened to hear it, and it caused him to throw his shuriken so hard that it first split the vine neatly in half and made another hole in the old wooden door.
They looked at it stunned for a moment, until Ash and Gou quickly tore the smaller vines and hay out of the way. Then Lucario, unimpressed by the Greninja's shuriken tricks, kicked the door open with his foot and a gate to darkness opened in front of them.
They stared at it for a moment until the rain and wind together began to be so violent that it made them shake violently. Finally, Ash made the decision and was the first to step inside the castle, the others quickly following him.
In it, they then stood in a dark doorway, only that slight gray daylight in its light. "Well, after all, we have a way out," Serena said, trying to brighten the mood and the others smiled lamely.
Except that just then a strong gust of wind threw the door shut, causing complete darkness to descend inside. However, it only took about a minute for the soft, yellow glow to light up next to them, and they saw Braixen lighting her torch to create light into the darkness.
"Well, we still have light," Serena said again. "And we can always open the door again"
That's what they could have done if they hadn't suddenly heard some heavy dripping on the ground right outside the door. There was no need to be a genius to conclude that something had blocked their only way out and they were trapped like Rattatas.
For a moment they were all quiet until Gou finally opened his mouth and said, "Well, that went great." Serena, instead, sighed heavily and said, "Come on, let's move on. It's useless to just stand here."
And so, they left forward, the Braixen's torch illuminating their path in the dark castle.
As they walked in that silent darkness, they found themselves walking in some sort of hallway. Their eyes were gradually getting used to the darkness, and the Braixen's torch illuminated their path just enough to see them move forward. Additional light was also brought by the small, shimmering balls that Kirlia hovered in the air. Admittedly, none of them had any idea how she had done them.
The castle and its corridor were ghostly quiet as they walked forward. The only sounds came from their own footsteps as they hit the rocky floor as they stepped forward.
As she walked forward, Serena blinked curiously at the walls of the hallway in the light that come from Braixen's torch and Kirlia's light balls. She noticed that the walls were full of portraits of noble-looking people, but there were also a couple of Pokemon among them. Some of the pictures had dropped down from the walls, and some had been damaged by moisture.
The light from Braixen's torch also cast various shadows on them, making it look like that some of the women had grown a beard. Who were these people? Serena thought as she walked. And what happened to them? However, she knew she would probably never get an answer to her question and it made her strangely sad.
Eventually, after walking for about ten minutes, they arrived in some sort of hall-like space. On their right side went two stairs to the upper floors of the castle, and on their left was a wooden two-door door much larger than the one from which they had entered. Below the stairs was also another similar door system, and above it seemed to have some sort of coat of arms.
They stepped out of the hallway to the better hall side. This seemed to be the main entrance to the castle, and where they had come from had only been a side door. The hall was also much brighter, as the light got inside from the collapsed areas of the walls. So rain and wind also got, and they had formed small puddles on the floor full of leaves and twigs.
After exploring the downstairs, which had nothing but stones detached from the walls, puddles on the ground, and locked doors, they decided to go up the stairs and explore the upstairs.
"Gou and Chloe, take you right side. I and Serena go to the left," Ash said as they stood at the foot of the stairs ready to look upstairs. Gou and Chloe nodded in response and Gou said, "Got it. Let's go then!"
When that was done, and the group divided in two different directions. To the left of the staircase went Ash and Serena, as well as Lucario, Braixen, Greninja, and Kirlia, and to the right, in turn, Gou and Chloe, and Raboot, whom Gou called to bring light. And none of them knew at that point where they would end up.
After ascending the stairs upstairs, a new corridor opened again in front of Ash and Serena. It was as dark as the previous one, but luckily Braixen's torch and Kirlia's light balls brought some light. As they walked forward in the hallway, they saw that there were many doors at its edges. Some of them were open and led to abandoned bedrooms or small salons. However, most were closed and no matter how they tried, the moisture had firmly closed them.
Eventually, they arrived at the end of the hallway and found it ending in a slightly bigger door. They assumed it would be as tightly closed as the previous doors, but to their surprise, it opened quite easily.
Ash opened the door, and it opened with creaking. Braixen's torch lit the doorway and they found themselves coming into some sort of study. Opposite them was a large desk with some paper and other small items scattered on it. Behind the table was a large World Map on the wall, which, however, was nowhere near true, as well as a large portrait of the mustache man and his Arcanine. The image was skewed and moisture had ruined its bottom. Below the map and portrait was a large fireplace that had certainly served as a room heater during the cold winter months.
The walls of the room were surrounded by large bookshelves with books still left. In those areas not covered by the bookshelves were paintings of noble-looking people and their Pokemon. Serena noticed at least one lady had Liepard and another bearded man Ninetales. The roof was adorned with a darkened chandelier that looked as if it could fall at any moment, and at some points the roof had collapsed, revealing parts of its supporting structures.
Ash and Serena stepped better into the room and left curious to walk around it. The Braixen's torch and Kirlia's balls of light provided them enough light to see where to walk them, but they were not enough to see the details. Braixen and Greninja were as curious as Ash and Serena, but Lucario just followed lazily.
Serena had gotten to the desk in the room and studied the papers in it curiously. She noticed that there was also a fallen chair behind the table, and part of the table was darkened, as if it had burnt. In addition to papers, there was also an ancient quill and ink bottle on the table, as well as candles. Serena carefully turned one of the papers over and noticed that it was some kind of letter. A letter that was clearly left out of its author. She gently took it in her hand and began to read. At the same time, she found that the paper was not really paper but parchment.
The text was difficult to read as it was very intricate calligraphy and written in an outdated style. However, Serena somehow made the handwriting clear, and the more she read, the more her forehead wrinkled.
"Ash, you need to hear this," she finally said as she reached the end of the letter, and Ash, who was examining the portraits on the walls, walked curiously to Serena.
"What does it say?" he asked when he saw the letter in Serena's hand and Serena said, "I'm not quite sure because the text is worn out and so old, but some war is being talked about here. Listen to this: "...and although Rin doesn't want Galar's help, we can't leave them...," or this: "...and if I may say so, that war will be the end of the Rota...," or..."
"Rota?" interrupted Ash suddenly. Serena looked at him in surprise. "Do you know where it is?" she asked and Ash nodded slowly.
"Yeah, it's a place in Kanto," he said, and memories of a particular adventure flashed through his mind. "Let's just say it has a long history, which includes a really big war," He glanced at the letter still in Serena's hand. "Maybe that's exactly the war that letter says about"
"It certainly is," Serena said thoughtfully. "And according to the author, Galar would have been willing to give them support, but Rin, whoever they was, refused it..."
"She was the queen who ruled Rota during the war," Ash said suddenly, and Serena looked at him even more surprised. "And how do you know that? You're in no way particularly interested in history," she said and Ash shrugged.
"It's a long story," he just said and Serena sighed. "They're always long stories," she muttered, but continued then. "But then, this Rin, Queen Rin, didn't want help, even though Galar offered it, and..."
As Ash and Serena went through the letter, Lucario had wandered lazily around the room. He wasn't really interested in the whole castle, and he would have preferred to train outdoors. He wandered lazily out the door and set off mooch forward along the hallway.
"You look bored," a sudden voice came from behind him, and Lucario turned around the Aura stick in his hand ready to strike. However, he noticed that just Kirlia was standing behind him, throwing one of her lightballs in her hand and staring straight into his eyes.
"Oh, it was just you," Lucario grunted and turned his back on Kirlia. He then marched to the nearest door and tried it with his hand. Of course, it didn't open, so Lucario stepped a little further back and then kicked his foot toward the door.
There was a rumble as the door flew off its old hinges and fell to the ground. However, Lucario didn't care about it, stepped inside briskly, the blue Aura stick glistening in the dark.
This room, too, was a kind of study, albeit smaller than the one Ash and Serena had stayed in. There were no paintings or maps on the walls of this room, and no chandelier hung on its ceiling. Instead, the room was full of bookshelves and also its floor bursting with books.
Lucario stepped farther into the room and set out to explore it. He couldn't explain how, but for some reason he felt drawn to this room. However, he did not know what was causing it, but that did not stop him from finding out the reason.
He had just toured the bookshelves when he suddenly saw a glowing light ball hovering past him. He knew without even turning where it came from, and it made him moan quietly in his mind. Then he closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten before saying, "You didn't bother to leave me alone."
"Why would I leave? You enjoy my company so much," Kirlia said calmly, sitting on top of a small stack of books and poking with her hand one of her light balls. "Besides, you should be grateful. I don't offer my company to everyone."
"Yeah, sure," murmured Lucario, without bothering to answer further, and continued to examine the bookshelves. He was sure there was something in them that was crucial, but yet he hadn't found anything. Nor was it helped that Kirlia had gone to follow him and carried her other hand annoyingly along the backs of the books.
Eventually, Lucario's patience ran out, and he turned to ask Kirlia to leave. However, he did not have time to say anything, for just then there was a click and the ground disappeared under his feet.
Lucario felt himself rushing through the air and had no idea what had caused it. He ripped through the air and soon stumbled into something that felt and smelled very old straw. He felt himself rolling down and then slammed into the hard and cold stone floor.
There was a stumble next to him, and he thought Kirlia had fallen with him to... somewhere. He had no idea where he had gone and it didn't help that the room they were in was pitch black.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered as he got back up. But after doing so, he suddenly had to suppress the curse, for he felt a disgusting pain in his wrist. He guessed that he had somehow managed to twist it into a bad position when landing and it wasn't nice.
"I don't know, I just happened to twist one of the books and next I felt like I fell towards the ground," Kirlia said. She had made light balls again, and they created some light in that dark place. She had sat on top of the pile of straw and stared quietly at one of her balls.
"Of course. It was some kind of trap," Lucario said, cursing in his mind that he hadn't prepared for such. "And now I don't know where I am"
"Where we are," Kirlia corrected, a little irritated. "I'm here too"
"Whatever," Lucario muttered, suddenly grimacing as a little more hurt his wrist. Kirlia noticed it and said, "You're hurt your wrist. I can heal it." She got up from the straw pile and walked over to Lucario.
"Don't bother, I can do it myself," Lucario said, pulling his hand out of Kirlia's reach. He didn't really trust that this one could do it well enough. Kirlia rolled her eyes at the answer.
"I know you can heal wounds with Aura," she said, hovering one light ball closer. "But it also takes a lot of energy from you and you're tired no matter how long after it. Heal Pulse doesn't do that. So, let me take care of that wrist, please."
She looked at Lucario expectantly and Lucario stared back. Eventually, though, he sighed and said, "All right, do it." He held out his sore wrist to Kirlia and this one smiled happily.
"Thank you. This won't take long," she said, then closed her eyes. She focused and then she started to shine dimly. She directed the glow with her hands to Lucario's wrist and Lucario felt how his wrist felt warm for a moment.
Then the feeling disappeared and so did the pain. Kirlia opened her eyes and smiled. "It seems to be healed again, right?" she asked and Lucario tried to wave his wrist. It didn't hurt anymore. He nodded.
"Yeah," he said, adding quickly, "Thanks." Kirlia, on the other hand, just grinned mischievously and said, "Good, because now your wrist is, you know, handy again." And winking, she turned her back on Lucario and stepped away, grinning herself.
Lucario was very grateful at the time that the room was pitch black.
"What was that?" Ash asked, hearing a close exclamation. He and Serena had studied the old letter when suddenly there was a rumble and then an exclamation. "It was heard up close here." He looked intently around him and Pikachu, sitting at the desk, moved his ears, trying to locate the sound.
"I heard that too," Serena said, folding the letter into her pocket. "Maybe we should go investigate what it was. Something might have happened to others."
"You're right," Ash said, nodding and improving the position of his cap. He was just about to step towards the door when he happened to push one candlestick on his elbow and it fell to the table.
Except it didn't fell. It did lean right near the table, but then rose back up. Then they heard Greninja say, "Ninja!" and turned their heads in his direction.
They were surprised to see that there was now a large opening in the wall where there had just been one of those bookshelves. The bookshelf, on the other hand, had shifted slightly to the left and Ash suddenly realized what it was.
"Wow, the real secret passage!" he exclaimed excitedly and walked excitedly to the opening. Pikachu followed him, and Serena, who had been left to examine the candlestick, said thoughtfully, "This must have activated it. I would not have thought that such old mechanisms would still work."
"Yeah, but we definitely need to examine it!" exclaimed Ash and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go!"
"Right!" said Serena with a smile and walked over to Ash and the Pokemon. Then they looked at each other, and then entered the secret corridor, the door closing behind them
The secret passage was, as the name implies, the passage. It was a narrow and dark alley made of stone and smelled of soil and mold. Luckily for Ash and Serena, Braixen was with them and her torch lit the passage enough to see them move forward.
In the light of the torch, they also noticed that there was some kind of metal brackets on the walls of the hallway that might have held torches before. Now, however, they were empty, and darkened over time.
The hallway was really narrow, and they had to go in line so everyone could fit in there. Braixen led with her torch and was immediately followed by Greninja. Ash followed him with Pikachu on his shoulder and Serena was last, blinking occasionally behind her, as if waiting for something to attack from the darkness behind. However, nothing attacked from there and the darkness remained only as darkness.
At some point, the hallway began to descend and they realized it was taking them underground. It continued for a while until the passage suddenly began to widen and eventually ended completely in the large room.
The room was completely round in shape and also made of stone. Its walls also had darkened metal torch holders and this time they also had torches. Braixen set out with her own torch to light them, and as the room gradually lit up, they saw better what it contained.
In the middle of the room was some sort of podium and on top of it, on a beautiful wooden pedestal, a book with a leather cover. The walls of the room, or actually, the wall, were covered with four skillfully woven tapestries. Two of them had a picture of two wolf-like Pokemon, one with a long sword in its mouth and the other's brush shaped like a shield.
The third tapestry, on the other hand, had an image depicting a large, purple, dragon-like Pokemon. The fourth, in turn, described how those two wolf-like Pokemon fought that dragon-like Pokemon.
There was also a fifth point on the wall for the tapestry, but it was empty. It looked like someone had gone to take it off the wall and taken it somewhere else because it wasn't visible in the room.
"What is this place?" Serena thought aloud as she stepped better into that special room. Her voice echoed in an almost empty space and made it sound many times louder. "I've never seen anything like this before"
"Neither do I," Ash said, looking curiously at the wall tapestries. Pikachu also said on his shoulder, "Pika," and Greninja and Braixen watched with interest the tapestry that featured wolf-like Pokemon in the fight against the dragon-like Pokemon.
Serena, on the other hand, stepped curiously to the podium in the middle of the room and looked at the book resting on the pedestal. It had a burgundy leather cover closed with a golden buckle. There were decorative, golden patterns on the cover of the book, but they weren't really clear, as there was a layer of dust on top of the cover.
Serena took the book with interest in her hands and found it to be in surprisingly good condition into such an old book. She blew the dust off the top of its cover and got some of it to her lungs. Coughing, she wiped the rest off with her hand, exposing a golden pattern under the dust.
It featured a Pokeball that was on top of a shield-shaped pattern. There were two swords crossed under the shield and a small crown above. Serena realized it was some kind of coat of arms. She brushed the surface of it with her finger and noticed that the pattern was embroidered with the golden thread of the cover.
Serena turned her attention from the cover to the buckle that kept the book closed. She noticed that the buckle was thankfully not locked, so she was able to open the book easily.
She opened the buckle and turned the book open. It opened from an opening that was more or less in the middle of the book. It contained text written in small, narrow calligraphy, as well as a hand-drawn image of some sort of peculiar stone.
Serena looked at the picture, and suddenly realized something. "Ash, look at this," she said and Ash turned his gaze from the tapestries to Serena.
"What's in it?" he asked when he noticed the book in Serena's hand, and stepped closer, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder.
"This picture. Doesn't it look familiar to you?" Serena asked, pointing to a hand-drawn picture in the book. Ash leaned over to look closer and Pikachu did the same.
"Yeah, it looks," he said, digging something out of his pocket. When he brought it up, Serena found it to be the same stone Lucario had given to Ash, which Sonia had said was the Wishing Star. "That's exactly the same as this one. But why is there a picture of it in that book?"
"Maybe the owner of this book was researching them," Serena suggested. "I haven't read this yet, so I'm not sure"
"Well, read it now!" Ash said excitedly and Serena nodded. "Right," she said, moving her gaze to the first line.
"Hmm... Let's see... I guess it's been a date in the beginning, but it's faded. After that, the actual story begins," Serena explained, carrying her finger in lines written in squiggly handwriting. "And it goes like this: 'I've gotten ahead in my research, and I've found that these special stones have a connection to the gigantic growth of Pokemon. I asked Lizzie why they could be called, and she suggested a Wishing Stars. I think that idea is great, because the first stone I found fell right in front of me. So far, though, it's a mystery how they affect Pokemon, but that's my next research topic. I've also learned that that old legend is inherently related to these stones, and tomorrow...,' and that's where it ends. Ash, this is clearly someone's diary! Or it was someone's diary."
"Yeah," Ash said, staring at the drawing on the page of the book that featured Wishing Star. "And this person has clearly been interested in these stones. He, or she, must have examined them very interested."
"Yep," Serena said thoughtfully and then suddenly closed the book so that Ash and the Pokemon were scared of the sound coming from it. "Now I know! Let's go back up and show the book to Gou and Chloe as well. They're definitely interested in it too!"
"Yeah, and Sonia would definitely like to hear about this too," Ash said and Serena nodded. She then closed the book and put it in her bag. Then they turned and set out to step back down that narrow corridor, the Braixen's torch illuminating their way again.
"You know what? This place is pretty gloomy," Kirlia said, lying on straw and spinning her light ball in the air with her hand. She had created more of them, so now the place they were in was better lit. "Gloomy and dark and cruel"
"Really? I wouldn't have guessed," Lucario muttered sarcastically, a little irritated. He had been pushing the walls of the trap for the last ten minutes in the hope of a hidden door or something like that. However, he had not yet found anything and the fact that Kirlia had done nothing about it began to annoy him more and more.
"Yeah, Luca..." Kirlia said contemplatively, ending her sentence suddenly in the middle. She got up to sit on the straw and then asked, "Hey, can I call you Luca?"
"No. Why?" Lucario grunted and knocked on the wall with his fist. It made no change to the wall.
"Because the mere 'Lucario' is boring and plain," Kirlia said. "Luca would be a good name for you. Besides, it's the first part of Lucario!"
"The answer is still no," Lucario said and Kirlia folded her arms. "You're boring," she pouted and one of the light balls went out. Lucario did not pay much attention to this. Finally, Kirlia sighed, giving up.
It was quiet for a moment, for which Lucario was grateful, until Kirlia started again.
"Did you know my name is Shirley? Just Kirlia goes too, but I like Shirley more. And did you know that Ash doesn't like that you always disappear somewhere alone? Serena said so. Oh yeah, and did you know that I saw Greninja and Braixen kissing one day? I didn't even know they liked each other so much. And did you know... "
"Yeah, whatever, just... wait, WHAT?!" exclaimed suddenly Lucario, who had let Kirlia's, or Shirley's, stuff go in from one ear and out from the other. Now, however, he had turned to look at her and said tensed, "What exactly did you say about Greninja and Braixen?"
"That I saw how they kissed," Shirley stated, hovering one of her light balls in front of her face. "I guess it was the day Greninja took Braixen to that date"
"How do you know about this?" Lucario asked, listing in his mind all the options that could kill that frog. There were quite a lot of them.
Shirley looked a little embarrassed. "Oh well... I wasn't meant to see them, it was like an accident, you know?" she explained quickly, but Lucario's face was expressionless. Shirley hurried forward. "So, I was picking flowers in the woods because Serena had asked me to bring them. However, they weren't really found, and I went a little deeper into the woods. I found some and picked them up. Then I heard voices and because I was curious, of course I went to see, where they came from. Well, I soon found out that they came from Braixen and Greninja."
"I was hiding behind a tree because I'm not that stupid that I reveal that I was there. I heard they were talking about something, but I didn't find out what. However, Greninja apparently told Braixen something funny as she giggled. They also held each other's hand. Then they said something to each other again and then they, well, kissed. "
Then Shirley stopped and Lucario looked at her. For a moment neither of them said anything until Lucario said, "And then?" and Shirley asked, "And then what?"
"What happened then?"
"I don't know, I didn't stay to watch," Shirley said, hovering one of her lightballs right up to the roof of the trap. Lucario facepalmed. "Kissing is disgusting, why would I have to stay watch it? And I'm definitely not going to kiss anyone in my life!"
"That damn frog!" Lucario suddenly roared and Shirley was so frightened that most of the light balls burst into shimmering crumbs. However, Lucario didn't care about this, but furiously hit wall with his fist, which in turn made him roar with frustration and pain.
He kicked and hit the wall in frustration, and Shirley noted off from the straw pile while creating new balls of light, "I'm sure that helps nothing."
Then suddenly Lucario's fist went through the wall's mortar layer. He stopped in surprise until he began to hit the wall again, now, however, enlarging the gap that had formed in it. Gradually the wall in front of him collapsed and soon in front of them was the opening big enough to Lucario and Kirlia.
Shirley looked at it in surprise. "Well well, that wasn't completely useless," she muttered to herself, rising from the straw pile. Lucario, on the other hand, said nothing but formed a blue stick from Aura with his hand and set off jogging along the corridor leading out from the opening.
"Hey, wait for me!" exclaimed Shirley when she saw it and rushed after Lucario, the light balls following her.
"Lucario! Lucario, where are you?" shouted Ash as he stood in the ruined courtyard of the castle. "I hope he's not gone somewhere alone again"
"I don't think so, Kirlia is also gone and she's not so stupid as to go alone somewhere," Serena said, shouting her own Pokemon as well. "Or so at least I think"
"I hope you're right," Ash said, and Pikachu on his shoulder also said, "Pikaa..." He didn't like that Lucario caused to Ash unnecessary worry. "However, we never knows what Lucario will come up with next."
After Ash and Serena had gotten out of the secret passage and its room, they had searched for Gou and Chloe and shown them the letter and diary they had found. They had been very interested in them, for they themselves had found nothing. "Only boring bedrooms and dust," Gou had stated, a little disappointed, and Chloe had agreed.
After that, they had set out in search of a new exit, until at some point Serena had noticed that Kirlia was missing. Ash had also realized Lucario's absence at the time, and the search for the exit had turned into their search. They had gone through the entire castle, but had not found a trace of either Pokemon. During that time, however, Serena's restlessness and Ash's concern had grown.
Eventually they had found the third exit and got out. They had also continued their search in the wild garden, which they had found at the exit, but had not found Lucario and Kirlia there either. Eventually, they had cleared their way back into the courtyard and Serena's concern wasn't eased at all.
"Somewhere they have to be," Gou said, tapping something on his Rotom. "According to the map, there isn't settlement around the castle, just a plain, and I don't think they would have been so stupid that they would have gone there without us."
"Kirlia maybe, but Lucario could very well have done it," Ash said, frowning. "Besides, I don't think..."
However, his sentence was broken, for just then there was a loud bang from nearby. They turned their gazes in the direction of the voice and Serena asked, "What was that?" However, the answer to that became clear very soon when two familiar characters appeared from a nearby vine mess.
"Lucario!" exclaimed as Ash saw his Pokemon standing in the exposed opening with the Aura stick in one hand, the other fist upright and an angry look on his face. Behind him stood Kirlia, who looked very exhausted.
"Lucario! Where have you been?!" Ash exclaimed, but Lucario didn't answer. Instead, his gaze was glued to Greninja, who was standing with Braixen nearby, and he quickly set out to step towards the ninja Pokemon.
"Lucario, what are you doing?" Ash asked, confused to see this, but Lucario did not answer. Instead, he marched directly in front of Greninja and stopped there. And hit him directly in the face.
"Ninja!" Greninja exclaimed in surprise, holding his face, and falling to the ground. Braixen cried in horror, "Braixen brai braixen!" and Ash and the others also breathed in horror. "Lucario, what do you think you're doing?!" Ash shouted and ran between Lucario and Greninja.
"Out of the way, Master, I have work to do!" Lucario growled and raised his Aura stick ready to hit someone with it. However, Ash didn't like the idea and said, "You're not hurting anyone here! Not Greninja or anyone else, no matter how annoying they are! I won't allow it!"
"I said out of the way!" Lucario said and raised his stick higher. Seeing it, Ash said to Pikachu, "Pikachu, Iron Tail!" and Pikachu nodded. "Pika pikachu!" he said and was just jumping in the air when something surprising happened.
Braixen, who had watched the scene in horror next to Serena, now stepped resolutely between Ash and Lucario. She knew exactly where all this came from and why Lucario was so angry. However, she had decided that it was time for Lucario to admit his defeat and stop the ridiculous resentment.
So she stepped calmly between Lucario and Ash and spread her hands to her sides. "Braixen!" she said and Lucario was so surprised by her gesture that he stopped his stick.
"Braixen?" said Serena amazed to see this and the others were amazed as well. Most amazed of all, however, was Lucario, who stared at Braixen with his mouth slightly open and Aura stick still raised above his head.
"It's time for you to stop this," Braixen stated calmly, still standing as a shelter for Ash and Greninja. She was perfectly calm, but there was still a certain determination in her words. "I'm not looking at this anymore. I've made my decision, and I want you to respect it like everyone else!"
She then closed her mouth, but looked at Lucario with eyes from which Lucario could see the blazing flames. Deep down, he knew he had lost this battle a long time ago, and with a sigh he lowered his Aura stick.
"All right, because of you," he said and Braixen smiled a little. "Thank you," she said and then turned to help Greninja up from the ground. A nasty-looking bruise had appeared on his face, and he looked at Lucario angrily.
"Are you okay?" Braixen asked worriedly, and Greninja nodded slowly. "Thank Arceus!" said Braixen and hugged Greninja tightly. This wrapped his arms around her and pressed his forehead against Braixen's forehead.
Lucario looked at this, squeezing his hands into his fists. Then suddenly he turned and started running away. "Lucario, where are you going!?" Ash exclaimed and was about to follow. However, Serena stopped him and said quietly, "Let him be alone for a while. He has just faced the first heart break of his life."
"Really?" said Ash, and he still didn't really understand what it was all about. He scratched his head in confusion and Serena shook her head at him. Ash wasn't Ash if there wasn't even a tiny bit of density in him!
Lucario did not appear with them until late in the evening, after they had set up their tents and camped near the castle. He was silent and quiet and every time he looked at Greninja, his hands clenched into fists. He refused to say a word to him and it seemed that even the slightest consensus between them had disappeared.
Serena had explained to Ash why all this was due to, and Ash now understood Lucario much better. However, he was not very worried about this and thought that time would heal the wounds.
"It was quite a day!" said Gou and yawned. Ash nodded and said, "That's right." Serena next to her was browsing the diary she had found in the castle and Chloe had already gone to bed. "What will tomorrow be like?"
"I don't know, but I know the adventures aren't over yet," Ash said and grinned. "And I'm looking forward to what they are like!"