Alright, before we continue with this chapter, it's time for me to answer to a few reviews. Yes, I'm going to be doing this often, not all of the time though.

Devin sands: Steven didn't give Aria a Mega Stone. It was just a stone used to evolve pokemon. If you want specific answers, it's a Dawn Stone. This stone will be important in a later chapter, but I do plan of having Steven explain how he got it and why he gave it to Aria.

MsAngelOfDarkness96: I know right? Especially since I've never added in a character like him in a fanfic like this before, so I do get to try something new! :D

I want to thank Dreaming of Skylark with the recap suggestions. I will short them now so that it won't take up much of the chapter, but thanks for the nice comments too!

And this one is just a bit of a...well a side chapter? Basically, I just wanted to change things up for a bit in this episode, so while Ash is on his way of training and catching a certain Pokemon, I figured to change it up a bit and see if I can do a bit of a difference to it.

Anyway, enough talking from me and more of the chapter. Later!

Separate Plans
Episode 23: Part 1

Recap of the last episode...

The deck below Steven and Aria started to make a strange sound, causing them to look down, confused. The cue of a snap instantly got to their heads once they both fell right in the water below.

They both take a deep breath once they got their head out of the water.

"Aria, are you alright?" Steven asked concerned.

"I'm fine." Aria said as she called out Sharpedo.

They held onto the pokemon as it lead them to shore. Once they were on the sands, the two on their hands and knees as they coughed up water from their throats. Aria called back Sharpedo and Misdreavus, (who managed to escape from the fall since she could fly) floated towards them, a concerned look on her face as she stared at her trainer.

"We're okay Misdreavus." She assured. Steven stood up off of the ground, him and Aria soaking wet when they fell in.

"I wonder how that happened." He said, placing his hand on his chin.

"Maybe the wood was tampered with?" Aria suggested, standing up as well. Misdreavus floated beside her, and titled her head to the side in confusion.

"That could be it." Steven said, getting onto the deck once more, inspecting the shattered platform. "Seems like it was already messed with a while ago. I'm curious to know what or who could have done this."

"Curiosity killed the cat you know." Aria said. Steven laughed at her comment, standing up.

"Well that cat won't be looking into it anymore." He responded. Aria couldn't hold back her laugh before she smiled warmly at him.

"Welcome to the group, Steven."

A kid from pallet town with a brand new world to see

I don't know what's ahead but it won't get the best of me

There's so much to learn and battles to be won

I've advanced so far and still there's always more to come

Take a step and I'm on my way gonna start all over again

I want to be hero (hero!)

Pokemon advance

I wanna be a hero (hero!)

Give it just one chance

And the future will decide

If there's a hero buried deep inside

I wanna be a hero!

Pokemon!

"This is Ash's way of training?" May questioned as she just about finished hanging up the laundry. Everyone looked at Ash and his Pokemon, finding sitting near the end of the cliff, meditating as if they were practicing for some kind of samurai training.

"Ash must be practicing his timing for dodging attacks." Brock said, cleaning the dishes they used for this morning.

"Why is that?" May asked the breeder.

"It's so that when he battles with Brawly, he can dodge his Pokemon's movements easier than how he battled them before." He said with a chuckle.

"I guess that makes sense..." May glanced around, realizing that they were missing three people. "Hey, where did Aria and Steven go?"

"Oh, right. You weren't up at the time." Brock realized. "The two of them went sightseeing. They should be back by tomorrow night."

May was disappointed that she couldn't go with them. She would love to go sightseeing! But she missed her opportunity to go. If only she could get some sleep...

"And they told you two and not me?" She asked, placing her hand on her hips. Brock nodded and May sighed. "If you say so..." Then she mumbled, "Luckies..."

"Is this the place?" Aria asked once she caught up to Steven.

"This should be it." He said, taking off his bag and setting it down on the ground. "Granite Cave extends from here, we should be able to drill our way through."

Aria looked at him confused. "Drill?" She questioned. Steven chuckled at her response, taking two lights that could attach to their heads when they enter the dark cave.

"I meant Aggron and Armaldo." He explained, taking out two Poke Balls.

"Well, if you explained it more easier, then I would get what you just said." Aria pointed out, taking one of the lights he handed to her. "What are we looking for again?"

"A Thunder Stone. We should be able to find one if the two of us work together." Steven explained.

"Um, quoting you, but didn't you say, "It took you months to find the Fire Stone."? How are we going to find one by today or tomorrow?" Aria said, putting the light on.

"You never know what could happen down in the caves. We might even find it before we even start." He smirked at her and Aria just rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let's go." She said. Steven nodded, calling out his two large Pokemon.

"I need you two to dig a hole into Granite Cave. We're going to try and take a new route." He told them.

The Pokemon nod, digging a hole together as they were already somewhere deep. Steven puts his back on and knelt down, looking down into the hole. He waited until he heard his Pokemon signal him it was okay to go down.

Steven nodded to Aria and she took out a bundle of ropes. She hands it to him before he hooked one up to the ground and let the end of it fall down the hole. He used a second rope and set it up for Aria to go down as well.

Soon enough, they took their ropes and slowly deceased down into the hole.

"Be careful," Steven told her. "These rocks are slippery."

Aria nodded in response once she placed her foot on another rock sticking out of the wall. That is, until it fell out, causing Aria to gasp. Steven instantly heard the sound and his head snapped in her direction.

She lost her footing and was falling down. A scream past her and Steven tried to reach out to grab her hand, but he missed.

"Aggron, catch her!" He shouted.

Aria nearly hit the ground, until the large Pokemon caught her in its hands. She was set down on the ground, looking up at the Pokemon.

"Thanks Aggron." She said. Steven landed on his feet and ran over to her.

"Aria, are you alright?!" He asked quickly.

"I'm fine, thanks to Aggron." She said. Steven sighed with relief.

"Ar! Armaldo!" They glanced at Steven's other Pokemon and saw it pointing at a narrow tunnel.

"There, we should be able to get into Granite Cave." Steven said, taking out two Poke Balls. "Thanks you two, you were a big help." He returned them to their Poke Balls before they processed on ahead.

"There was something strange about those rocks." Steven said. "They were really slippery. And there was no rain for the past couple of days."

"You don't think there's an underwater cavern, right?" Aria asked once they got through the narrow tunnel.

"That might be it actually. Especially with that waterfall, maybe it could have caused it. We'll have to keep an eye out." Aria nodded at his response as they walked down a path they found. Steven stopped and held out his arm, preventing Aria from moving forward.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Do you hear that?" He asked, looking at her from over his shoulder. They look ahead and heard something running in their direction. They saw movement in the darkness before they saw something large and purple.

"What is that?" Aria asked.

"A Loudred!" Steven exclaimed, grabbing her hand to get her going. "Run!"

They ran down the same tunnel to try and avoid the large Pokemon.

"Why is chasing after us?" Aria asked, glancing at Steven.

"I don't know! I think someone or something alerted it and it must be on a berserk!" He said. "Quick! Down here!"

They jump into a hole and ran down it before they realized that they managed to avoid the Loudred.

"Do you think it was going after something else?" Aria asked.

"I'm not sure. But something definitely set it off. We'll have to be careful." Steven said. All of a sudden Steven's light went out. He took it off and looked at it, seeing that it was busted when they jumped in the hole. "Great, even better..."

"My still works." Aria said, adjusting the light. "We'll have to be even more careful."

"Yes, I agree." Steven looked back, thinking he heard something, but shrugged it off before they continued down the cave.

Deeper within Granite Cave, there was a small lake within the caverns. There were small blue Pokemon carrying fruit towards what appears to be a Salamence. The Salamence seemed to be relaxed and ate fruit that the small Pokemon brought to them. However, the small ones were tired, weak, and exhausted. They felt like they were going to pass out if this doesn't stop.

The Salamence is making them its personal servants and not caring about them at all. And these small Pokemon didn't like it at all. They needed to be saved, they need to be rescued.

Their only hope now was to wait for someone to come and help them.