He had stopped paying attention to the direction he was traveling through the ruins. Argent and Grookey were watching him with worried eyes, but he was too hurt to consider slowing down or turning away.

He stepped through an archway and found himself at a crossroads. He took a step towards the darkness ahead of him when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hold there, Goh," Lawrence said. "We seem to have stumbled into an older part of the ruin.

"An older part…?" Goh asked, looking around. Now that he was taking more of the room in, he saw that ahead of him was a great staircase heading upwards, and the paths to the left and right seemed to go back and behind the stairs and deeper into the ruins. "It's like it's an entirely different building…"

Lawrence stepped in front of Goh. "Indeed. I believe we may have stumbled our way into the ancient Castle of Pokélantis. The ruins we were just in must have been built on top of them."

"Grookiki…?" Grookey asked, tilting his head. He looked to be asking Porygon2 a question, but the Virtual Pokémon didn't respond.

"Bruh…" Argent huffed, sticking close to Goh's side.

"If that's the case, maybe heading up these stairs will help us get closer to the surface," Goh said. "I need to find my friends."

Lawrence frowned, but he gave a shrug. "Well, alright. I just hope your friends are as good for conversation as you are, Goh."

Goh walked up the stairs and through another doorway that led into a large, open chamber. As soon as Goh set foot in the chamber, the torches along the walls all flared to life, making the room uncomfortably bright for someone who had just been in dim light and darkness for the past few hours.

Thankfully his eyes adjusted and he was able to take in the full image before him.

In the back of the room was a giant statue of an old man holding a staff, seated on a giant throne. At the robed man's feet was a smaller throne, but as Goh looked around, he saw no other exits to this chamber.

"A dead end…" he sighed.

"Perhaps," Lawrence said, looking around the room himself, "but the fact that these torches all seemed to light as soon as they detected our presence… there must be something mystical in the air here…"
"You think so?" Goh asked. "I guess you never see things like this happening in other places. Not even the temple we explored near Stone Town had anything automatic in it. But I guess it did have that machine…"

He thought about the hero's engine they had found in the mountain temple.

"...maybe a pressure plate…?"

He began rubbing his chin.

"Regardless of what it was," Lawrence said, "this is quite the discovery down here. Though sadly the abandoned throne room of an ancient castle is likely the first place many would have come seeking artifacts and treasures. The room looks picked clean of anything that could be carried off…"

Glancing around himself, Goh had to agree. He approached the throne and sat on it himself, propping his arm on the stone armrest there. "I guess this is a dead end for both of us, then," he said.,

"Not to worry," he said. "Perhaps in the rooms below there is more we could find?"

Goh started to get up, but then decided against it. The stone throne wasn't exactly comfortable, but he didn't feel like he could focus on exploring with his thoughts turned away from his Trial Mission and towards Ash.

"I think I'll stay here for a bit. Since it's lit up, it's a good sort of place for a base camp, you know?"

Lawrence nodded. "Good point. I'll go see what I can find. You can remain here and if I need you, I'll send for you with my Porygon."

Goh blinked. "You have a Porygon and a Porygon2?"

Lawrence chuckled. "Porygon and Porygon2 don't need to eat or breathe, so for someone like me who isn't interested in catching every Pokémon, they make very convenient companions."

Goh laughed. "They sound pretty convenient. I'll be here if you need me. I just… need a moment to gather my thoughts."

Lawrence waved him off and descended the stairs, disappearing into the darkness of the ruined castle, leaving Goh with his thoughts.

Grookey moved off of Goh's shoulder and onto the arm rest, looking up at him with his concerned eyes. It felt very much like Goh was looking at a child who was worried about the bad mood his father was in. Argent, for his part, curled up at Goh's feet, trying to offer companionship without pushing Goh into it.

It was very much like how he would try to comfort Chloe without forcing something onto her.
"I'm alright, Grookey," he said, patting the chimp on the head. "I just… I guess I'm still having doubts about things. I'm still learning what it means to be someone's friend, and having all of the sudden to worry about what Ash might have been doing… it's a bit scary. I just hope by the time I see him again I'm able to-"

Goh's words were interrupted by the sound of stone grinding against stone coming from his left, followed by a familiar voice.

"Hey, it's bright in here!"

"Pikachu!"

"Hold on, let me mark this down. It wouldn't do to get lost at this point."

As though summoned by the doubts clouding his mind, a secret door seemed to open to Goh's left, revealing what looked to be a solid stone wall as a false one. And stepping through the door were his missing friends.

Grookey responded immediately and leapt from the throne to the ground in front of Ash and Chloe, with Pikachu and Eevee leaping from their trainers to join him.

"Grookey…?!"

Chloe's exclamation followed her dashing out from around the throne. Her emerald eyes, glittering in the torchlight, met with Goh's and part of his worries instantly faded. The gentle smile that grew on her lips was met with one he felt on his own.

Still, Argent didn't move, and the Dark-type seemed to know why.

Stepping around with Chloe, leaving Pikachu, Eevee, and Grookey to play on the floor was the very person who had caused Goh to feel all these doubts in the first place. The friend who had stood with him through the trials on his journey. The young man he trusted as much as he trusted Chloe.

Ash shot him a wry grin. "Hey, Goh! Takin' a break on that throne, huh? I'm glad we found you!"

And much like an ancient king, he let his heart be hardened. He sat unmoved, with Argent lying on his feet as he gripped the stone armrests tightly.

He wanted to say a million different things, all at once. The thoughts were all competing to be the first thing he said, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the conflicting emotions only brought him to silence.

"Goh…? Is everything okay?" Chloe's words were tempered with a concerned look on her face.

He averted his eyes from Chloe and focused them on Ash. He stoked the flames of his anger in his chest and did his best to remain angry, even with Chloe's worry and concern so close.

"Ash, we need to talk."

Chloe's eyes went wide and the Pokémon stopped playing. Even Ash looked surprised and concerned.

"What is it, Goh?" He asked, furrowing his brow. "Did somethin' happen while you were down here…?"

Goh took a breath and focused on his feelings and gut reaction.

"I learned something down here. About the Kingdom of Rota. And the Tree of Beginning."

He glared at Ash, and for the first time in recent memory, he saw Ash's confident glare begin to crack.

It was all the confirmation he needed to know that what Lawrence had told him was true. And the pain and anger he felt roared to life once more in him.

Chloe, however, was oblivious to what was being transmitted between them unspoken. "What did you learn? And what's it got to do with Ash?"

"Grooki…?"

Goh did his best not to look at Chloe or Grookey, keeping his eyes focused on Ash, who despite how he normally carried himself, was looking rather guilty. So guilty, in fact, that Pikachu stepped over to him with his long ears lowered in concern.

"Pikapi…?"

Ash coughed, rubbing the back of his head. "I-uh… S-Sorry, Goh."

Chloe frowned, pursing her lips like she had just put a Persim Berry in her mouth. "What're you sorry for?" she asked before turning back to Goh. "What's going on here? We've only been separated for a few hours! What happened, Goh?"

"Vui! Vuivui!" Eevee chirped, yelling something to Argent with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face.

Argent merely looked up from where he was laying and communicated with his eyes an unspoken message, and Eevee backed down.

"Do you really think 'sorry' is going to cut it?!" Goh shouted, standing up. Argent stepped to stand at Goh's side. "After everything we've talked about?! After all the words about following our dreams and all the support we've given each other, you ended up hiding this, Ash! I thought we all learned something about keeping secrets in Azalea Town but I guess I was wrong!"

The last words were delivered with cutting sarcasm that almost made Ash flinch, but the other boy found his resolve and glared back at Goh. "You're wrong! I do know that keepin' secrets like that doesn't help! But if I told you-"

"What, you couldn't trust me?!" Goh shouted over his friend. "We've gone through some of the most awful experiences of my life together, fighting side by side against Team Rocket, and Eternatus, and so many others but you couldn't trust me with this?!"

"I wanted to say somethin'!" Ash shot back. "But I guess I couldn't figure out the right time!"

Goh felt his blood boiling at Ash's betrayal, and he felt his fingernails digging into his palm as his hands were clenched into fists. Before he could take a step forward, though, Chloe got between them, holding a hand out towards both of them to keep them separated.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?!" she said. "Goh, Ash, you two need to calm down! Why are you two fighting? What does Ash know that's got you so upset?"

He pointed an accusatory finger at Ash. "He's known! He's known for years about the Tree of Beginning and how there's a Mew that lives there!"

Even though the silence was only a few seconds long, to Goh it felt like it lasted an hour.

Chloe's eyes went wide. "Th-That's what this is about…? You think there's a Mew on some mountain and Ash knew about it?" She glared at him, turning up her nose. "So you're fighting about a fairy tale?"

"It's not a fairy tale!" Goh shot back, trying to shrug off the pain that Chloe's accusation brought to his heart. "I know Ash met Mew at the Tree of Beginning! And at any point, he could have brought me there and I could have caught it! He's known about my dream of catching Mew since the day we met, and he could have mentioned it at any time!"

Chloe turned to look at Ash, who had already taken a few steps back and was tugging down on the bill of his cap to hide his eyes. She looked between the two boys. "Th-There's no way, right…? I'm sure that you just misread anything you saw and-"

"No."

Ash's words were somewhat quiet at first, but the Palletonian shook his head.

"No, Goh's right. I knew about the tree an' I didn't say anything about it."

"Pikapi…" Pikachu cooed sadly.

Chloe stepped backwards towards Goh, looking at Ash. "Wait… so you knew? You knew that Goh wanted to meet Mew again all this time, and you just never said anything about where you knew where Mew lived?"

"Tch…"

Ash pulled his hat down further and turned away.

"But… but why?"

Chloe's tone conveyed more confusion than sadness. But Goh had an answer. The very one that was tearing him up inside.

"Because he never trusted me. Trusted us."

Ash looked up, and Goh saw the tears in the corners of his friend's eyes. He had never seen Ash cry in frustration before. He had seen him cry thanks to Sobble, but this was different. These were tears brought up because of pain.

"Of course I trust you!" he said. "You've gotta believe me, Goh! I just couldn't figure out how to say it, is all!"

"Is that a fact?" Goh said. "Like how you just conveniently never mentioned that you were the Champion of Alola? Or how you seem to know people everywhere we go? Those brothers in Stone Town? Dawn? Korrina? Morty? Serena? Kurt? That none of them ever came to mind until someone else brought them up? I guess that was just you not being able to figure it out either, huh?"

Chloe grabbed onto Goh's arm. "Goh, calm down!" she said, looking him back in the eye. "Shouting at each other isn't helping anything!"

Goh pulled his arm free of her. "You're supposed to be on my side in this!" he said. "Ash has been lying to us this entire time and-"

Before he could continue, Chloe closed the space between the two of them and flicked him square in the forehead. Goh winced and stepped back, glancing at Argent. The Umbreon's yellow eyes seemed to communicate that he thought Goh deserved it.

"I am on your side, you idiot!" Chloe chastised him. "But if there's anything I know about you and Ash, it's that your friendship is the strongest, most unbreakable bond I've ever seen in my entire life. You guys just operate on the same wavelength as each other! Yes, he definitely messed up by not explaining things, but yelling at him and not giving him a chance to talk isn't going to make things better!"

Goh opened his mouth to rebut Chloe's words, but between the stinging on his forehead and her reminding him of just how strong his friendship with Ash is, he couldn't find the words to speak.

It was Ash who spoke next.

"I… I was tryin' t' explain why…" he said, clearly ashamed of himself.

Chloe spun on her heels and turned her attention to the eighth strongest Pokémon Trainer in the world.

"That means you weren't trying hard enough!" she snapped. "Goh has been searching for Mew for eight years! If you knew something about Mew, even if he couldn't ever be allowed to go see or catch it for whatever reason, you owe it to your friend to at least give him some sort of explanation. Honestly, I can't see how you two were even able to become friends if you both can't just sit down and talk!"

Chloe crossed her arms after talking down to both of them and stepped back, leaving Goh, Ash, and their Pokémon to stare at each other.

"Goh, I'm sorry." Ash gave a deep bow towards Goh before standing back up straight. "I knew about the Mew livin' in the Tree of Beginning ever since I went to Rota three years ago. Mew came to th' town for th' festival, and they ended up kidnappin' Pikachu!"

"Pikachu, pikapika!" Pikachu added in acknowledgement.

"That's the only reason I ended up goin' to the tree, but when we went there, we learned that it's not just a tree. The whole mountain's really alive!"

"A living mountain…?"

Chloe's question was dipped in incredulity.

But Goh said nothing and let Ash continue.

"Yeah! The roots from the tree are all the crystals that are growin' around the buildings and lands of Rota. And it's thanks to the tree that all the other plants and things are able to grow! And since there's trees and plants, that means people and Pokémon can live here."

The fact that this living mountain apparently supported the local ecosystem was fascinating to Goh (Maybe it was a kind of new, unexamined Pokémon?) but it didn't answer the question he had, so he cut right to the point.

"What does this living mountain have to do with Mew?"

Ash nodded at the question. "Y'see, the Tree an' Mew live together in a symbionic relationship. If one of 'em gets sick, then the other one gets sick, too. And if the tree died because Mew wasn't there anymore…"

"He means 'symbiotic' but that does make a lot of sense…"

Goh had to agree with Chloe's words. As the pieces Ash was telling him were slotting into place, he felt the furnace of his rage begin to cool. "So… you didn't want to tell me about Mew living in the Tree of Beginning because if I went and caught it, it would probably kill the tree."

"Yeah…" Ash said with a solemn nod. "And if the tree died, then all the people and Pokémon in Rota could be hurt, too."

It did seem that the blessings of the god of the tree did impact things. It was only because of the Tree of Beginning and the Mew who lived there that Rota even existed. Goh began to wonder if, after Mew and the Tree were removed, if the same harsh environment that seemed to be around the Pokélantis would reassert itself there, as well.

"I'm really sorry, Goh," Ash said. "I should have just said something, but I know how important your dream is to you 'cause I know how important mine is to me. I didn't mean to hurt you by not sayin' anything."

Goh locked eyes with Ash and clinched his hands into fists again. He stepped up towards his friend and focused all of his anger, pain, and indignation into his fists. Goh pulled back his arm to throw a punch at Ash.

"...!"

"Goh!"

"Pikapi!"

"Grooki!"

"Vui!"

"..."

The reactions of Ash, Chloe, Pikachu, Grookey, Eevee, and Argent all bared their fears and anxieties of Goh's explosive reaction.

But the explosion never came.

Indeed, calling what Goh did a 'punch' would have been an incredible exaggeration. All of the anger and hurt that Goh felt had evaporated, and so the force he had focused into his hands to strengthen the strike was nonexistent.

Goh merely nudged Ash's shoulder with his fist and gave his best friend a smile.

"...then just lead with that next time, okay?"

Ash looked up at him, feeling the gentle nudge. "Goh…"

"I'm sorry, Ash," he said. "I let it get to me. As soon as I saw Mew, it's like I forgot everything that's happened to me. It was just like when Felix showed me that map; I forgot everything that was important and focused on Mew. You had a reason for keeping it to yourself, and I should have known that. You wouldn't do anything to hurt me or any of your friends on purpose."

"But, Goh, you should be mad at me," Ash said. "After all, catching Mew is your dream! I didn't know how to tell you that Mew was right nearby in Kanto but then to tell you that you shouldn't go catch it! That would have been awful!"

Goh shook his head. "I'm not going to lie and say I like knowing where Mew is and not being allowed to go catch it, but I wouldn't want to be the kind of person who destroyed the home for the people of Rota and countless Pokémon living in the area. But just like with Lugia and the other Legendary Pokémon that we've met, I haven't tried to catch them even if they were right in front of us because they had bigger things to do than to get caught by me. Lugia needs to stay in the sea, and Mew needs to stay in the tree. So it's alright. I'm not mad."

"You say that now," Chloe quipped, "but you were the one who was sitting on that throne like some sort of evil king. The fact that you were upset about it just proves that Ash was right not to say anything."

Once more, Chloe's logic couldn't be debated. So instead, Goh turned back to Ash.

"So what do you say, Ash? Are we friends again?"

Ash threw an arm around Goh's shoulders, grinning widely. "We never stopped bein' friends! No need t' worry about a thing!"

And at that, Goh could only laugh, and so he did. Pikachu and Grookey leapt to Ash and Goh's shoulders and Argent visibly relaxed. Eevee trotted over to Chloe, who had her own smile on her face. She turned to the throne Goh was sitting in before looking up and grimacing.

"What an ugly statue," she said.

Ash looked up. "That's the king of Pokélantis, right?" he asked.

"Seems like it," Goh said with a nod. Ash and Goh released each other and approached the throne.

"What were you doing in here, anyway?" Chloe asked.

"Well, I was mostly looking for a way back up," Goh explained, "but I ran into someone down here who helped me translate some of the ruins. He went back out that way" - he pointed to the front entrance rather than the secret side door - "and went to go look for an artifact. He's an artifact collector."

Chloe crossed her arms and frowned. "Seems like a weird place to be looking but I guess we're all a bit weird, huh…?" She looked up at the statue and frowned a bit more before a flash of realization crossed her eyes. "Wait a minute… That necklace…"

She took a few steps back, looking at the statue, and Goh turned his head upwards towards the statue's necklace as well. Even though they were simply carved into the stone, it appeared that the giant statue was wearing a chain with a large round stone hanging off of it. Embedded in the stone were three glittering stones, organized in a triangle that pointed upwards. The topmost point was an orange and red stone that looked like it had a flame trapped inside it, though it remained still. The rightmost point was a green-and-yellow stone with a distinctive, familiar thunderbolt pattern. And the leftmost point was a blue that reminded Goh of a clear pool of water.

"Those are evolution stones…!" Ash gasped.

The pieces clicked together in Goh's mind. "It's just like the temple in Stone Town…!"

Given that they had come here pursuing the white feather they found there, Goh wasn't shocked to see the pattern here, but it was in a very inconspicuous location, especially given that. He briefly wondered how he missed them earlier, but given that stones embedded in the wall aren't exactly something that one could 'carry off' and his own distracted mental state at the time, he figured that they weren't of any interest to Lawrence either.

He frowned, wondering where the man could be. No Porygon had arrived, so he must not have been in trouble.

"Grookey, can you climb up there and push in on the stones?" Goh asked his shoulder-bound companion. Grookey nodded and leapt from Goh's shoulder to the throne and quickly began scrambling up the statue of the robed figure.

"Pikachu, you give 'em a hand, too!"

"Pika!"

As Grookey climbed towards the necklace, Pikachu also bolted up, climbing the figure's staff and crossing over from his arm to the necklace.

"Now, Grookey, start by pushing in the orange one!"
"Ki!"

Grookey obliged and pressed on the Fire Stone. There was a distinctive click that filled the room that felt incredibly familiar to Goh.

Ash went to speak but chuckled. "Uh, Grookey'll need to push the Thunder Stone in, too."

Goh laughed. "Right! Grookey, now push in the Thunder Stone!"

"Grooki!"

"And Pikachu, you push in the Water Stone!"

"Pikachu!"

Pikachu and Grookey pressed in the two remaining stones in order, each one coming with a distinctive click that echoed through the chamber.

Then there was a moment of silence as the teens waited.

Before Goh could comment that maybe this mechanism was broken, just like the one back in Stone Town, the statue began to shudder, and the throne began moving to the side, revealing a passageway hidden beneath it.

Goh and the others approached the passage and saw that despite the torches all around them, the passageway was dark, and twisted down below the statue.

"Argent, you're up!" Goh said. His Umbreon leapt forward and began slowly heading down the stairs. Argent's gentle glow lit them up, and Goh was the first to follow the Moonlight Pokémon into the darkness with Grookey leaping to his shoulder as he went. Ash and Pikachu followed him, leaving Chloe and Eevee to bring up the rear.

The stairs spiraled down beneath the statue and the throne room, though there wasn't anything that would indicate any alternate entrances to this hidden area. The stone walls within weren't even covered in any hieroglyphs or messages. All they could do is descend further and further into the darkness and search for what awaited them there.

"Grooki…"

Goh reached up and scratched behind the chimp's head.

"It's okay, Grookey. It's just a bit dark. We'll get back to the light soon."

"Kiki…"

Grookey quieted down, and up ahead, Argent leapt off the final stair into a small, darkened chamber. It wasn't long until they were all down in the small chamber. It was circular and bare of anything save one large object. As Argent's pale light illuminated it, Goh grimaced, swallowing his apprehension.

It was a large sarcophagus. He remembered seeing the Pokémon Cofagrigus in the Unova Region, and though this one didn't resemble it, it was clearly large enough to hold a body inside.

As he and Chloe hesitated, Ash stepped forward. "I guess this is this guy's tomb, huh?"

"Pikachu…"

"A tomb…" Goh repeated. "But who could be buried here…?"

"I dunno," Chloe replied, "and I'm not interested in knowing. Can we get out of here?"

Goh shook his head. "This was sealed beneath the same sort of lock as the Stone Temple. Whatever is inside could be the answer we're searching for… the thing that the temple was built for!"

He approached the sarcophagus and pushed on the lid, grunting and finding it too heavy to move alone. He turned towards Ash, who gave him a nod. The two boys, grunting together, shoved the lid off, which fell to the stone floor with a loud crash.

Inside, wrapped in bandages marked with strange symbols that looked nothing like even the writing on the walls in the ruins above, was a human body. From the size, Goh could surmise it was an adult. From the robes around them, it felt obvious to say that this body belonged to a very wealthy and important person. But whether this was the King of Pokélantis' final resting place or merely the body of someone important to the kingdom's final day, there was no way of knowing that for now.

Clutched in the mummy's hands were two objects that Goh had never seen before. One was a remarkably flat plate of iridescent, colorful metal that looked to Goh to be about the size of a magazine page. The other was a black and white stone with a distinct pattern on it that Goh felt was familiar, but he couldn't place where he saw it.

Ash, however, reached for the strange stone and held it in his hands. "This is-"

"-as far as you'll go."

"Vui!"
Goh and Ash gasped and turned around.

"Chloe! Eevee!"

Standing in the dark behind them with his hand over Chloe's mouth as he restrained her, was a familiar face. The only reason Goh could recognize who was assaulting his girlfriend was because he could see the bright, glowing eyes of Porygon2 floating wordlessly next to him. Under the man's foot was Eevee, who was held down by the man's weight.

"Lawrence!" Goh shouted. "What are you doing?"

Ash's eyes went wide. "Wait, it's you!" he said, pointing at the man.

Lawrence smiled. "Well, I thought you might stumble upon something before I could, but this is very fortunate, Goh," he said. "Please, give me the plate and the stone. Those are the very artifacts I have come here for."
"Why are you holding Chloe like that?!" Goh shot back. "Let her go!"

Ash took a step forward. "Goh, this guy's really bad news. Where'd you meet him?"

Lawrence looked at Ash, confused for a few seconds before he smirked in recognition. "So you're the boy who withheld information about Mew from Goh…" he said. "Who'd have thought that we'd meet again like this."

"You know him?" Goh asked.

Ash nodded emphatically. "Remember when I talked about the disaster in the Orange Islands? This was the guy who started it all!"

Lawrence chuckled. "It is quite interesting that we would meet up again like this after all this time. Now please boys, if you would, hand over the plate and the stone."

"Why would we?" Ash asked. "Pikachu, use-"
"Do you want to risk hurting the girl?" Lawrence asked. "It would be a shame if something unfortunate happened to her because you attacked me."

"Why are you doing this, Lawrence?!" Goh asked. "Is this what your mother would have wanted? Is this how you want to expand your collection?!"

He shook his head. "How I expand my collection isn't important. Unlike a living thing with a memory, my artifacts will simply and perfectly be what they are without needing anyone to touch them. Besides, I need them to claim the true treasure of this land's god."

"The true treasure…?" Goh asked.

But if Lawrence knew what it was, he wasn't going to share. "The plate and the stone, now please. Unless you consider them more valuable than the life of this girl?"

Goh locked eyes with Chloe, and he saw the fear and worry in them.

He knew what he valued, so he threw the plate down to Lawrence's feet. Ash, grunting, did the same with the stone.

"There! Now let Chloe go!"

Lawrence nodded at Goh's demand, but turned his attention to Porygon2. "If you would."

"Pibip," chirped the artificial Pokémon. Porygon2 floated down towards the two objects and tapped their blue, rounded limbs against them, causing the objects to stick to Porygon like they were velcro.

"Let her go!" Goh demanded. "You have what you want!"

Lawrence shrugged. "I'm afraid I'll need a bit more insurance than that," he said. "Who's to say that you or your brute of a friend wouldn't simply follow me. Come, now, girl."

He pulled on Chloe, keeping her restrained from behind as he returned to the stairs and began making his way up, leaving the injured Eevee on the ground where she was laying.

"You coward!" Goh shouted. "Argent, use Dark Pulse!"

"Pikachu, use Electroweb!"

"Substitute."

Porygon2 floated in the way of the attacks and took them both, resulting in an explosion of dust and smoke, choking the already stale air of the tomb. When the dust settled, they were gone.

"They made a double to get away!" Ash shouted. "C'mon!"

"Right!"

"V-Vui…"

Chloe's Eevee struggled to her feet, and as Goh stepped towards the stairs, he took his girlfriend's partner into his arms. "C'mon, Eevee. Let's go save Chloe."

"Umbre," added Argent with a nod

"Grooki!"

With Grookey's acknowledgement as well, Eevee gave a confident smile, and Goh charged up the stairs after Ash. Just as he caught up to his friend, though, there was a loud explosion in the air above the long staircase that made the entire subterranean castle shake.

"Hurry!" Ash called out.

Once they arrived at the top of the stairs, Goh and Ash saw what the explosion was about. Blocking the opening that was once covered by the throne was the stone face of the statue of the king that once sat above the throne.

"He… he destroyed the statue..!" Goh said, the words almost catching in his chest.

Ash's next words came out practically as a growl.

"He's trapped us!"