Chapter 189 Fading Color Forest Part 1

Ash, Victoria, and Mars are now at the Night Club as the one there is Nyu.

Nyu: Haihaihai again, Ash~ Today, I have a special invitation just for you! No Pikachu today, but some of the others are having a special picnic!

Ash: A special picnic? Are you serious?

Nyu: I don't remember their names, but it was a bunch of kids! And they told me I should invite you~ Like as a cherubic chaperone-type of thing?

Victoria: Are you sure it would be the time to have a picnic? I mean, Julia and the others still need help from Rayquaza...

Ash: We'll go there, maybe another Anomaly would come and attack them out of nowhere.

Nyu: Sweetness~ They said they were gonna try and find a good picnicketty spot over in Rhodochrine Jungle. Maybe near that tree? I wish I could go too, but I don't wanna intrude, and it's okay because secretly I'm hiding all my snacks behind this desk anyway. You have fun~ And remember, when in doubt: Eat it!

It turns out that the ones attending the picnic are Noel, Shelly, Heather, Eve, and Lumi, so they all greet them.

Lumi: Ash, even Victoria and Mars, you came! I was hoping you'd get our message! Laura was the one who suggested we all have a tea party picnic! And she was gonna come too, but then something came up with her sisters- So we had some spare food, and we thought, "Ash's helped us all with a lot, so why not?!" This can also be our small way of saying thanks for helping with all the stuff before! ...Hm, I can't help but feel like we're forgetting something though...

Ash: That is so nice of her. And don't worry, I'm sure Laura and her sisters are fine.

Eve: Oh, you made it. That's good; Lumi will be happy. She's been doing better lately, in every way imaginable. Even in some ways I hadn't imagined it possible. I've been thinking that perhaps I've been selfish. I should have worked with her from the very beginning. She may be younger, but she is still my sister, and every bit as capable as I am. In some ways, maybe even more. Perhaps I held her back this whole time by taking the burden for myself. But there's no use in worrying about all that for now. I think the best thing to do for now is simply to find a cozy spot and enjoy the air.

Victoria: That sounds great, I know how it feels since I was worried a lot as well.

Shelly: Hi, Ash! I'm glad you came! Just in time, too! It took forever to find a good spot! We're just getting set up now, but- just give me a bit and I'll get a plate for you, too!

Ash: (Notices Heather) Even you decided to come?

Heather: Nice to see another familiar face. Laura invited us all here, and I was like, "Okay, I'll come to your picnic, BUT, You have to battle me!" We were gonna see who the stronger Elite 4 member was! (And it was gonna be ME, cuz I have the type advantage and that's definitely not cheating!) But then she couldn't even make it! So now this is kind of a bummer. I mean, food and picnics are nice and all, but where's the fun stuff?! I'd challenge you to a rematch here and now, but I don't wanna mess up the picnic blanket now. I just wish something exciting would happen!

Ash: Sure... (Turns to Noel) What about you?

Noel: I don't know what I'm doing here. Lumi asked me to come, but I don't understand the point. Even if you eat outdoors, the food isn't better, right? It just attracts bugs.

Ash: Don't say such things, it will be a great experience. Besides, I have been traveling through years outdoors, so eating outdoors is common for me.

Lumi: (Yells) WAIT! I figured out what we forgot! Laura put in a special order to The Spyce just for our picnic and I totally forgot to pick it up when we were heading out from the Nightclub! Ash, I'm so sorry for the fetch quest, but can you go pick it up for us? Just say Laura's name and the clerk at The Spyce should get it for you!

Ash: No problem, I can get the orders for you guys.

Victoria: I'll come with you.

Mars: Same.

Then the three of them head to the restaurant named "The Spyce", and they head to the counter.

Receptionist: Oh, you had an order placed? For 'Laura'...(Search through the takeover bags) Oh, yes, right here! Ten Bubble Teas to go. These aren't on the normal menu, as they're a specialty from a different region, but we were able to make them as requested! Don't worry- it's all already paid for. Have a good day, and we hope we could Spyce up your life~

Victoria: (Sweatdrops) Those sure are a lot of drinks...I mean, did they know that we are coming? I thought they only invite Ash.

Ash: Maybe they just want to share for some more? But anyway, we got the order, let's get back to the Jungle.

But just as they get back to the jungle, they find that the colors are starting to fade.

Victoria: Is it just me? Or the color of the trees is quite weird?

Mars: Yeah...it starts to get darker...

As they find Lumi, she is standing in front of a New World Portal, which is also in front of the picnic blanket.

Lumi: Ash, Victoria, Mars, you're back just in time! Just as soon as you left, this weird aura started affecting the area! Shelly thought she noticed some Pokémon burrowing away, so she went to try and find a way underground and see what they were running from, and the source of the aura seemed to be centered on the tree, so Heather flew up to see if anything was at the top, and then all of the sudden that New World Door appeared. But why here?! Why now?! We were supposed to be having a nice time! One of my friends taught me a word that is VERY good for situations like these! But I will not say it! YET. Anyway, the two are obviously connected, so Noel and Eve went inside to go check it out.

Ash: So Shelly is in the Underroot while Noel and Eve are inside the Portal? And you say something about Aura...(Gasps) Oh dear...

Victoria: Do you know something, Ash?

Ash: According to the Legendary and Mythical Pokemon that I haven't captured, Yveltal might be for this one...

This causes Squishy and Z2 to pop out of Ash's bag.

Squishy: It would be worse if it is that Pokemon...that Pokemon is the Destruction Pokemon.

Heather: (Comes with Salamence) Update- there's some kind of weird barrier all-around parts of the top of the tree! So obviously, I'm gonna try to break through it! Back in a bit!

Lumi: That sounds like a bad idea! Good luck! (Heather leaves) Well anyway, if you ask me, this whole thing is very rude and unfair, and I would like to have a word with whoever is responsible!

They go to the Underroot and find Shelly there, and she also notices some Z-Cells on the ground.

Shelly: I don't- I don't understand? I saw some Pokémon running away from here and traced them back to this point... And then it's as you see here- There's all these weird cells around the roots, but I don't understand why? Why are they here? What does it even mean?

Ash: If the Anomaly is Yveltal, that means the Zygarde here is trying to fix the order...after collecting these, I say we should have 60 cells.

Then they decide to let Shelly continue to check the area while they enter the Portal, and they find Eve and Noel there.

Eve: Ah, you're back already. That'll be the first of hopefully several reliefs. We've no idea what sort of phenomenon this... On top of the loss of color and the sudden door, now we've got all these Pokémon which don't seem to be entirely real. Heather also said she saw some kind of barrier around the top of the three, and went to try and break through.

Noel: They're fighting. There's two clear sides, but no way forward. Do we do something?

Ash: I can see three Espeon and two Umbreon...

Eve: Give me a little time. I used this old tablet to measure environmental factors when I was looking for Shaymin. Given a few tweaks, I should be able to use it to tell us a bit about what's going on here...

Noel: Maybe we need to match them up? There's an obvious odd one out. I would know.

Ash: So we need to battle the Espeon.

Then they proceed to battle and defeat the Espeon, after it is defeated, all the Pokemon in the area are gone and a ladder appears.

Victoria: The ladder appears...

Eve: (Looks at the machine) Oh, for the- There is literally no reason you should be crashing on that of all things! Didn't I just fix- Tch.

Ash: Well, let's proceed...

After getting to the second floor, Eve's machine is finally working.

Eve: Got it! These apparitions aren't real Pokémon, but manifestations of unstable energy in the area. I believe it's similar to the Anomalous and Umbral energies we've already observed numerous times. In order to open a way forward, the two opposing energies will need to be stabilized. In other words, we need to balance the two sides against each other. Perhaps you've already figured that much out, given that you got up here, but keep listening, okay? I've pulled some data, and I should be able to tell you exactly which Pokémon to fight in order to balance the two sides.

Ash: I think I got it...For instance, here, we've got Chingling, Espeon, and Mightyena. What are the numbers on your machine?

Eve: I can detect that the power of the Anomalous side is 7, and the power of the Umbral side is 5. Furthermore, we can detect and express each individual Pokémon's power level as a prime value between 1 and 20. Here, Espeon has a power level of 3, each Chingling has a power level of 2, and Mightyena has a power level of 5. Using this information, you can easily conclude which Pokémon needs to be fought in order to balance the energy.

Mars: So to balance out...we need to defeat a Chingling to make all sides 5.

Eve nods as Ash proceeds to defeat the Chingling, and it causes the ladder to appear. Then they all climb up the ladder.

Eve: More? Give me one second, and I'll get the numbers... (Type the machine) Got it. The Anomalous side once again has a power of 7. The Umbral side has a power of 10. Togetic has a power level of 7, while-

Just then, vines are appearing from the tree, and it is about to attack Eve until she jumps out of the way.

Victoria: Eve! Are you okay?

Eve: I'm fine, that was close. Why is this happening now? (Notices the vines start to surround her) It's not safe for me to stay here. Noel, take this.

She throws the machine and Noel catches it.

Eve: Use that to proceed. I'll do what I can from the outside.

After Eve leaves just in time, their path outside is blocked.

Noel: Just us. I don't know how to use this. I see the totals, but not which numbers match up to which species. Still, there's only a finite number of possibilities for any given setup. We can brute force it if we have to, but given that each power value is prime, it should be easy to deduce from the given information. 7 on the light side. 10 in the dark. This is simple.

Ash: Yeah...now let's do this ourselves.


And as you can see, this is the Xerneas and Yveltal sidequest, judging by the fading forest. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be solving the rest of the puzzles.