The Colossus Ruins

The sun beat down on Ash, Marnie and Zach as they trekked through Unova's vast desert, Zach was trailing a bit behind as he was still depressed. Lucario rested his paw on his trainer's shoulder and let out a comforting coo but to no avail. Lucario wasn't as alert as he usually was due to his concern for his trainer so he failed to notice the sand moving behind them as a pair of black predatory eyes locked onto Raboot!

"Krooko!" The sand burst beneath Raboot as a Krookodile surfaced, it's jaw wide open as it prepared to bite down on her!

Marnie happened to glance back at just the right moment and let out a gasp as she saw Krookodile about to chomp down on Raboot who was just as in the dark about the situation as her trainer was! "Shiftry use Leaf Blade!"

Shiftry burst from his Dusk Ball and shot towards Krookodile as his hands glowed a bit green color, he quickly slashed at Krookodile's chest causing the crocodile to flinch just before he could clamp his jaws shut! Lucario let out a yelp as he took notice of the unaware Raboot, he quickly yanked her out of Krookodile's jaw and backed away so Marnie could have more room to fight!

Krookodile didn't seem to appreciate having his lunch stolen as he shot Marnie a fierce look before firing a Dark Pulse at her, Shiftry swiftly moved and took the blow for Marnie. "Shift..." He grunted out and dropped to a knee before raising back up to his feet. "Shiftry!"

"Alright Shiftry, let's hit him with another Leaf Blade!"

"Shift!" Shiftry's hand glowed bright green as he slashed Krookodile across the face! Krookodile held onto his face and uttered out a pained groan as Marnie reached for an empty Dusk Ball before throwing it towards Krookodile!

"Alright Krookodile, prepare ta join us!" The Dusk Ball opened up and absorbed Krookodile's body in a beam of bright red light, the dusk ball hit the ground and slowly began shaking back and forth. Marnie clenched her fists as she and Morpeko watched on in anticipation, Ash watched with his usual excited expression while Zach and Raboot stared off into space. The Dusk Ball soon let out a chime to mark the capture a success before the ball was whisked away in a bright white light as it was transported away!

"Alright, we caught ourselves a Krookodile!"

"Morpek!" Marnie and Morpeko cheered while copying Ash and Pikachu's usual celebratory stance.

"I wonder where she keeps her Pokemon..." Ash couldn't help but wonder.

The group continued their trek through the desert before encountering an older male who was dressed up in safari attire. He was a stranger to them but Marnie couldn't help but feel that there was something familiar about the guy.

"Hello there, I'm guessing the three of ya are lookin' for the Colossus Ruins? I'm about ta head there myself to join the expedition team!" The man extended a hand in greeting. "The name's Lenny!"

"My name's Ash and this is my buddy Pikachu!"

"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu gave Lenny a wave as Ash shook the newcomer's hand.

"Marnie, pleasure ta meet ya!" Marnie shook his head.

Lenny turned to face Zach who was still off in his own world as he stared mindlessly at the ground. "What's wrong with your friend?"

"Oh that's Zach, he sort of went through a breakup." Marnie explained.

"Ah my condolences," Lenny gave a light bow before turning to point off into the distance. "See that speck out there? Cedric Juniper and the others are waiting for us there."

"Cedric's there?!" Ash's eyes lit up at the mention of Professor Juniper's father. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Marnie turned to look at Lenny as the group began walking towards the distant ruins. "So Lenny do ya have any idea what to expect down there?"

"Not a clue, I'm as in the dark about it as you are."

After another hour or so, though it felt a lot longer than that due to the sweltering heat, the group arrived at the ruins and descended an ancient staircase. Everyone uttered out a relaxed sigh as they were welcomed by the cool breeze that flowed through the ruins!

"Ash!" Cedric looked up from his tablet upon hearing footsteps and the older man was quick to rush forward to greet them! "I had no idea that you knew Brandon!"

"I could say the same thing about you!" Ash chuckled.

"Outta my way, outta my way!" Ash soon found himself knocked to the floor as a familiar voice cried out. Marnie's fists clenched and her eye started to twitch as she saw a fairly attractive blonde girl tackle Ash and pin him to the ground, or at least that's what her mind told her!

"Hey Ash, long time no see!" Bianca grinned down at him before helping him up to his feet. Her appearance was vastly different than the last time they saw one another, she now wore a pair of red glasses and switched out her old hat for a green beret which had a white bow wrapped around it. An unzipped orange jacket sat atop a white shirt and she now wore a pair of green track pants!

"Bianca, what are you doing here?" Ash couldn't help but question as he certainly hadn't expected to run into her here.

"I'm now a research assistant to Professor Juniper, both of them!" Bianca giggled out as she shifted her gaze towards Cedric. "We're actually here because Cedric believes that this is the location of the Dark Stone!"

"The what now?" Marnie asked with a raised eyebrow while Lenny's face lit up at the reveal.

"The Dark Stone, isn't that how you summon Zekrom?" Ash questioned.

"Indeed, we're hoping to locate it before some evil organization tries to take control of it much like Team Plasma did with Reshiram a few years ago." Cedric explained before turning his attention towards the passageway ahead. "However these ruins are said to be guarded by ancient and power Pokemon which is why I requested your help or rather Brandon's help. You see though my research team is experienced they're not quite as powerful as most trainers!" Cedric gestured towards Bianca and a blonde male who wore quite the strange attire while a blue Psyduck stood alongside him.

"Duck!"

"Oh, that Psyduck looks awesome!" Ash couldn't help but exclaim, fetching the male's attention as he turned to look.

"Hello there, the name's Shane Seeker! Shiny Pokemon enthusiast and collector!" The boy whipped out a blue Rotom Phone as if he was holding out a police badge, showcasing his Pokedex to Ash and the others. Every Pokemon listed within his capture page had an unusual coloring, course due to the rarity of such Pokemon he didn't have many captures to his name. "My dream is to fill my Pokedex with shiny Pokemon!"

"Wow, I only have two shiny Pokemon..." Ash trailed off as he saw Shane had ten!

"And I have one." Marnie stated. Ash turned and gave her a questioning look as he'd never seen hers before!

"Really? Wow! Would you be willing to trade? I have an extra Bagon and Swinub!"

"No deal, I could never part with them!" Ash was quick to shake his head.

"Nor could I, we've been throw a lot together." Marnie calmly stated.

"Aw..." Shane Seeker hung his head in disappointment but it didn't last long as he perked up once Cedric began speaking.

"Alright now that we're all here how about we head on in and take a look around?!"

"Right!"

"Ah!" Hearts appeared in Shane and his Psyduck's eyes as they spotted what appeared to be a silver coffin with purple stripes along the top. "I-It's a shiny Cofagrigus!"

"Psy psy psyy!" Psyduck chanted out alongside him, his personality was nothing like Misty's! The two eagerly rushed forward to catch it but it appeared that their eager shouts awakened the Ghost type as it's eyes shot open before a pair of black shadowy hands reached out for Shane and Psyduck, the two let out fearful shouts as he grabbed hold of them and dragged them into his coffin!

"Oh no, that's how Cofagrigus steals souls!" Bianca fearfully clung to Ash's arm which resulted in Marnie giving her a harsh glare!

'Who does she think she is?' Marnie silently huffed.

"Not if we have anything to say about it, Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"

"Pikachuuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he charged up and sent a powerful bolt of electricity towards Cofagrigus! The Ghost type cried out as the electricity flowed through him, Cofagrigus spat Shane and Psyduck out before retreating through the wall as it had no intention of getting zapped a second time!

Shane and Psyduck gasped out as they dropped to their knees before quickly standing up to angrily confront Ash. "What was that for?! I almost had it!"

"Psyduck psy psy!"

"What? I-I just saved your life!" Ash countered back as he gave Shane a light glare.

"And I almost grabbed hold of a ball before you made him spit me out!"

"Save it you two!" Marnie pushed the two away from one another. "Who knows what you'll wake up if you continue shouting like that!"

"Marnie's right, we really should be quiet." Bianca softly spoke as she placed her hand on Ash's shoulder once more only to raise an eyebrow as she caught Marnie glaring at her again.

"Darma!" A dark pink Darmanitan uttered out a fierce cry as he charged at the group. Cedric, Ash, Lenny, Marnie and Bianca had the sense to run out of it's way but Zach and Raboot seemed unaware of the present situation as they continued staring mindlessly at the ground. Lucario grabbed hold of them both and tried dragging them away but wasn't fast enough as Darmanitan began closing in on them!

"Water Pulse!"

"Psy duck!" Psyduck blasted Darmanitan back with a powerful pulse of water, sending the fiery ape crashing into a nearby wall! Shane quickly grabbed hold of an Ultra Ball and threw it after Darmanitan before his view was blocked by Marnie.

"You saved Zach, oh thank you!" Ash's eyes widened and his hands started to clench as he saw Marnie give Shane an appreciative hug.

"Huh? I did?" Shane blinked as he seemed unaware of the fact, the shiny enthusiast then hastily pushed her aside as the familiar chime of a Pokeball rang out!

"Darmanitan the Blazing Pokemon, the thick arms of this hot-blooded Pokémon can deliver punches capable of obliterating a dump truck!"

"Another one for the collection!" Shane excitedly exclaimed as he held the Ultra Ball up.

"Duck!" Psyduck posed alongside his trainer.

Bianca noticed the look Ash gave Shane and glanced towards Marnie as she slowly began piecing things together. As the others continued walking forward, Bianca stepped back to talk to Marnie. "You like Ash, don't you?" She asked in a hushed tone.

Marnie's cheeks lit a fiery red as she gazed towards Ash before nodding in confirmation. "Y-Yeah I do, but so do you!" She couldn't help but utter out a light growl.

"Wait what? Oh no, no no no!" Bianca hastily waved her hands as she shook her head back and forth, the two trailed a bit behind now so it was safe to increase their volume. "I mean I'll admit I used to have this very minor crush on him but I actually love somebody else, I'm dating this incredible guy named Cheren! He's the Aspertia City Gym Leader and oh so perfect!" Bianca gushed as stars filled her eyes.

'She's definitely telling the truth alright.' Marnie thought to herself while lightly sweating as Bianca fangirled over her boyfriend.

"...You don't like Marnie, do you?" Ash couldn't help but question Shane once Marnie was out of earshot.

"Huh? That girl? Oh no, whose got time to date when there's so many shiny Pokemon to be found and captured!" Shane excitedly exclaimed while Ash felt a sense of relief flowing through him.

After a few hours the group reached the end of the ruins and stepped foot into a large open room which was quite unusual as the only thing present was a large slate filled with various dark colored stones!

"So why is this place called the Colossus Ruins?" Ash asked only for Bianca to shrug in response as Cedric approached the large slate before reading out the inscription.

"Here lies the Dark Stone which hails the Legendary Pokemon Zekrom, this trial is a test to see how is worthy of the power that Zekrom possesses and who is not, those who are not worthy will face an immediate and harsh punishment courtesy of the guardian of the ruins!" Cedric read before looking the stones over. "But which could it be... how could we possibly know which is the real deal?"

Bianca tilted her head with visible confusion while Marnie scratched at her head for an answer. Ash stared at the stones while Zach continued staring at the floor. Shane seemed disinterested as there weren't anymore shiny Pokemon. Lenny slowly stepped forward and reached out for a stone that appeared to be glowing an electrical blue color!

"What are you doing, young man?" Cedric questioned.

"Lenny what are you doing?!" Ash shouted out.

"Wait a moment... how do you not know his name? He's part of your team!" Marnie exclaimed.

Cedric gave her a look. "No he's not, I assumed that he was with you!"

"Ah ha, Zekrom's mine!" Lenny let out a victorious laugh as he held the stone above his head. Cedric tried to yank it out of his grasp only to get shoved aside. "I can practically feel the power flowing through me already and it's so dang good!" Lenny howled out.

A loud explosion could be heard as a large fist came crashing through the ground beneath them, Cedric quickly crawled out of the way while Lenny was too busy reveling in his 'victory' to even notice the gigantic fist flying towards him! "Gah!" Lenny was blasted through the roof of the ruins and sent careening through the sky!

"He chose poorly." Cedric muttered as the true stone whisked itself away to another ruin, proving that there was some unforeseen failsafe to keep Zekrom out of the wrong hands in case the guardian fails to do it's job!

"That does it, I'm out of here!" Shane started to run off before Marnie grabbed his shirt collar.

"No way, you're staying here and helping us fight this thing!" Marnie growled out as a gigantic Golurk emerged from the ground.

"GOLURK!" The Pokemon seemed to view them all as intruders as he fired off a Hyper Beam at them! Marnie and Lucario quickly dragged Zach and Raboot out of the way while everyone else ducked for cover!

"But why should I stick my neck out? It's no shiny!" Shane huffed.

Marnie shot him a murderous look before planting her hand against her forehead as she sighed out. "I'll show you my shiny Obstagoon when we're back in civilization..."

"Deal!" Shane's eyes lit up at the prospect of encountering the shiny Pokemon. "Psyduck use Water Pulse!"

"Emboar use Grass Knot!" Bianca cried out.

Bianca's Emboar burst out and thrusted out his arm as a large series of vines burst from the ground and wrapped around Golurk's feet, tripping the goliath and making him crash against the ground with a loud heavy thud that shook the ruins! The floor began cracking beneath them while the roof above began to crumble apart.

"Shiftry use Leaf Blade!" Marnie shouted as she tossed a Dusk Ball into the air. She shot a glance towards Zach before frowning as he seemed unaware that the ruins were falling apart around them! "Zach call out Prinplup!"

"Hm? Oh, Prinplup come out and do... something." Zach sighed out as he aimed Prinplup's ball forward.

Prinplup burst out and fired off a series of bubbles towards Golurk.

"Incineroar I choose you!"

Incineroar let out a fierce roar as he burst from his Pokeball. "Incineroar!"

"Use Darkest Lariat!" Incineroar held out his arms and began rapidly spinning in place as fire covered his paws, a small fiery twister formed around him as he raced across the ruins before hurling himself at his opponent right as Golurk got back to his feet! Golurk let out a pained grunt and collapsed once more, the ground heavily shook once more and the ancient floors and roof began caving in as they couldn't withstand the pressure due to time wearing them down!

"Shiftry return!"

"Prinplup..."

"Emboar return!"

"Incineroar return!" The trainers all recalled their Pokemon while Ash was quick to grab Gardevoir's ball. "Everyone gather around, I'm gonna teleport us out of here!"

As Shane, Marnie, Cedric and the others gathered around him Ash noticed that Golurk wasn't getting back up. Ash wasn't exactly sure if Golurk would survive or not but he wasn't going to take any chances, he threw a Pokeball at the unconscious colossal before releasing Gardevoir from her ball.

"Garde!" Gardevoir was quick to pull Ash in for an affectionate hug as she emerged, not taking note of the situation they were in.

"Oh wow, a shiny Gardevoir!" Hearts filled Shane's eyes.

"Gardevoir, now's not the time!" Ash grunted out as tried prying himself loose from her grasp. "Can you teleport all of us out of here? It doesn't matter where you send us so long as it's not here!" Gardevoir took a quick note of the situation and sweated before performing a nervous bow as she apologized to her trainer. Everyone would soon be covered in a white light as Gardevoir whisked them away from the collapsing ruins though rather than being greeted by the sweltering desert heat, they'd all find themselves embraced by a cool breeze and the sound of a crowded street! They opened up their eyes and let out a shared gasp as they found themselves within the streets of Nimbasa City!

"Whoa, she teleported us all the way here?!" Bianca exclaimed.

"Gardevoir..." Gardevoir blushed as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Ash shot a quick look around as he wondered where Golurk's Pokeball ended up though he'd soon have his answer as further down the street some panicked shouting could be heard as the gigantic Golurk broke free of the Pokeball and blasted off into the sky above! Golurk paused for a moment as it's eyes set upon Ash, the colossal gave off a nod of respect before blasting off to parts unknown!

"So we all made it? Good." Ash smiled.

"Pika..." Pikachu uttered out a sigh of relief.

"Though that still leaves the question as to who that Lenny guy was." Marnie pointed out before feeling a light tap on her shoulder. "Hm?" Marnie turned and noticed Zach silently motion towards a wanted poster that sat on a nearby wall. "Oh hey, it's our old 'friends' Leroy and Cletus... and it looks as if he's one of their brothers!" Marnie exclaimed as Lenny's picture was plastered right next to theirs and now that she saw them side by side she realized why she thought Lenny looked familiar!

Lenny sat aboard his yacht far off the Unova coast as he attended to his wounds. He planned to keep the whole ordeal a secret from his mother as he intended on surprising her with the mighty Unova Dragon as an early Christmas gift! 'I bet those kids and that meddlesome researcher are all dead by now, oh well saves me the trouble of doing so!' He climbed into his hot tub and let out a soothing sigh.

"Hey bro!"

"Bro bro!"

"Gah!" Lenny leaped up and shot his brothers a light glare as he saw his exiled brothers scampering up the stairs to his yacht. "H-How did you two even get here?!"

"We saw you off the coast and swam for it!" Leroy explained.

"Yeah yeah, we swam for it!" Cletus exclaimed.

"You swam...?" Lenny shot a look towards the distant shore land before shaking his head. "You two always were so annoyingly persistent... why are you here? If ma finds out she'll kill you! You're supposed to be exiled!"

"We brought tribute!" Leroy exclaimed.

"Yeah, give it to ma for us!" Cletus shouted as Leroy held out the ball containing Garbodor. Lenny grabbed hold of it and examined it with a miniature device before giving them a quizzical expression.

"Is this supposed to be a joke? It's a Garbodor, Unova's full of them! What good does this do for us?"

"It can Gigantatron!"

"No, it can Dynamaximize!"

"You mean Gigantamax?" Lenny raised an eyebrow before shaking his head with a sigh of disappointment. "You two do realize that you can't do that outside of Galar, right?"

Leroy and Cletus' jaws dropped as they hung their heads in shame.

"Oh..."

Lenny tossed the Pokeball aside before placing his hands on their shoulders. "Don't look so glum my brothers, I happen to know of some Pokemon that will get you back in ma's good graces!"

"You do?!" The two excitedly exclaimed.

"Please tell us!" Cletus begged as they dropped to their knees.

"Well you see, there are some ancient Pokemon that resided in the Sinnoh region a long time ago, a very very long time I might add!" Lenny emphasized. "I'm sure our mother would be the utmost grateful if you were to find one of these Pokemon and bring them back to us!"

"Really?!"

"You're the best bro!"

"Yeah the best, we all you for this!" The two leaped off the side of the yacht and began swimming back to shore while Lenny watched on with a smile creeping across his face.

"That ought to keep them out of my hair, ain't no way they'll catch something that doesn't even exist!" Lenny collapsed back into his hot tub.

"T-Three shiny Pokemon!" True to her word, Marnie had convinced Ash to show off Noctowl and Gardevoir to Shane while she did the same with her magenta colored Obstagoon! Shane fell backwards as he fainted from the excitement, Psyduck followed his example while Ash and Marnie lightly sweated upon their reaction.

"Bzzzzt! You've got a challenger!" Ash was quick to retrieve his Rotom Phone to find out who challenged him, Marnie peered over his shoulder and let out an gleeful shout as Grimsley's face was displayed on the screen!

"I-It's Grimsley! Oh my gosh, h-he's the current Dark type Master!" Marnie's eyes turned to stars and Ash couldn't help but feel jealousy surging through him upon how excited she was getting over this guy.

He let out a sigh before forcing a smile as he locked eyes with Pikachu. "Well buddy it looks like we've got a match against one of Unova's Elite Four!"

"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu excitedly raised his fist.