From his aerial position above the forests that surrounded the area once known as Pokélantis, Goh saw that the jet that Lawrence had flown had cut a terrible looking gash into the land itself, on top of all of the felled trees and panicked Pokémon. He was thankful that it seemed so quiet before they headed into the ruins, now. Hopefully the wild Pokémon in the area had given the whole forest a wide berth and had spread the word, so that none of their friends or companions would have been injured in the crash.

The jet, now containing no passengers and having a huge gash in the top from Porygon-Z's Hyper Beam, had come to a stop, having run out of propulsion from digging through the ground and crashing into the trees.

Looking back in the direction the jet had flown from, Goh saw that the cloud of Porygon that Lawrence had somehow sicced on them had vanished, much like the man himself had. And much like he felt when Lawrence had disappeared, Goh couldn't shake the sense of dread that was building within him.

Lawrence had more than enough time to escape the crash, though the method of his conveyance wasn't something Goh knew. But as surely as he vanished himself, so too was Goh confident that the Porygon had left with their master.

The only question was to where?

A lot had happened, and happened quickly, in the last few hours.

In the depths of the ruins, Lawrence had mentioned something about finding the true treasure of the god of Pokélantis, and that he needed the plate and the strange stone they had found in the tomb to locate it.

He had then later mentioned, on the jet, that this treasure was the very weapon Mew had wielded to destroy the kingdom. Goh shuddered at the thought. A destructive force that could level an entire nation…

No one should have that kind of power, he thought. Not a Pokémon, nor a human, nor even a god.

Yet with Lawrence's escape, all their clues ran cold. He had taken the objects that they arrived to search for; the next clues in their chase to uncover the mystery of the god of the temple.

Though… did Lawrence not give them that answer himself? The identity of the God who would descend at the end of the rainbow?

Goh formed the word breathlessly with his own lips.

Mew.

"I'm going down there."

Ash and Chloe turned to look at him from the backs of their own flying Pokémon.

"Why? Don't you think it'll be dangerous?" Chloe asked, her worry obvious.

Ash frowned. "Maybe Chloe's right, but still…"

He and Ash were on the same wavelength. The danger that might be present in the ship was irrelevant to Goh's logic. In fact, it might be more dangerous not to investigate it.

Goh looked over to his girlfriend, her green eyes glittering in the setting sunlight. "If what Lawrence said is true - and we have no reason to doubt that it is - then he's on his way to find something incredibly dangerous. We have to go down there and find out anything we can that can lead us in the right direction so that we can find out where he's headed."

Ash nodded confidently. "Right! And when we get there, we'll stop 'im!"

"Pikachu!"

"Grooki!"

"Eievui!"

The three Pokémon all cheered from their positions on Ash and Goh's shoulders as well as from Chloe's lap.

The girl sighed. "I guess I'm outvoted… but can we at least be a little careful?"

"We'll take it easy," Goh said. "Now come on!"

Coaxing Flygon to head down to the crashed jet, Goh flew right towards the hole they had just escaped from. Even on his approach, he saw that all the exhibits he had ignored on his search for Chloe were wrecked. Some were destroyed by Porygon-Z's errant Hyper Beam, but the rest were knocked over and ruined by the crash. There was broken glass all over the floor, so Goh was careful about directing Flygon to drop him off. He recalled Flygon after landing and did his best to make a place for Aerodactyl and Dragonite to drop Chloe and Ash down. Chloe herself put Eevee on her shoulder where Grookey and Pikachu typically rode anyway, but the three teens could only look around at the room in wonder.

Goh turned his attention to where Lawrence's chair had been. The entire seat had vanished as the man made his escape, only now the front windshield had been shattered and crushed on the crash landing, not to mention the pieces of broken trees and branches that were now populating the area. There were no computer panels or really any input devices of any kind in the place where Lawrence was piloting from. "If only there was some sort of computer we could access?"

Ash, who was at this point wandering the room avoiding touching any of the broken glass, turned to Goh. "Why's that?"

"There's a chance that Lawrence backed up his thoughts on a computer. Or left some sort of hint or something that we could use." He sighed. "But there's absolutely nothing here."

Chloe frowned and crossed her arms. "I think it uses the same sort of system that the holoprojector uses at my dad's lab. At least, that's what I saw him use."

Goh looked back at the area at the front of the jet plane. Under copious amounts of broken glass, branches, and trees, he did see a holo-emitter, much like the familiar one in the Cerise Laboratory.

"So he just put his hands up an' a keyboard appeared?" Ash asked, frowning.

"If that's the case," Goh surmised, "then the real computer is probably stored elsewhere on the jet. Probably out of the way so as to not offend his aesthetic tastes."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Sure, I guess the kidnapper super villain we just thwarted has an eye for interior design. Why not?"

"Well, you've seen how big the systems can be in the lab, too, right?" Goh asked. "Professor Cerise had part of it built into the ground and there's still those huge servers right there next to it!"

"My dad's never really cared about if things look cluttered or not…" she replied, laughing a little. "Mom really keeps getting on him about it, but I guess there's a limit to even what she can get him to do."

"Goh's the one who keeps our room neat!" Ash said, practically boasting. "He's always makin' sure everything gets pushed in and put away at the end of a long day."

Chloe nodded at that. "Goh's always been kind of a neat freak. Not that he's afraid of getting dirty, but he definitely likes to keep things nice and organized."

Goh sighed. "I can't tell if I'm being made fun of or actually praised here…"

Chloe giggled as she stepped towards him and tapped him gently on the forehead with her index finger. "It's called teasing and as your girlfriend, I'm allowed."

"Well, I'm allowed to tease you back," Goh said with a smirk. "But now's really not the time for it. Let's see if we can find some sort of server room on this thing."

"Right. If he's been investigating these ruins for this long, then he's probably got some sort of bedroom or something, right?"

"Eievui…" she chattered from Chloe's shoulder.

Goh made his way towards the back of the jet, stepping past all the broken exhibits while taking the time to actually look at them as he walked. There were many sorts of different items on display, though many were beyond recognition at this point. There were shattered vases, pieces of murals that were now crushed or shattered, and ancient tools that almost looked like they resembled Mew's tail or paws, though for what purpose they were designed, Goh couldn't begin to imagine.

All he knew was that humans in the ancient past definitely treated Mew as a god, even if the practice had all but died out.

The three teens and their Pokémon exited the room that contained the exhibits and found themselves in the same hallway that had the ladder that led to the roof that they had used as their first entranceway. The hallway went past the ladder further into the back of the jet, and due to how it landed, this area, while having everything thrown about, should at least be less damaged than the ones they saw up to then.

The path ended in a crossroads of sorts, though rather than any long paths, there were three doors that faced Goh and the others, one each immediately in front of them as well as to their immediate left and right. None of the doors were labeled, but that made sense if Lawrence was the only person who was ever supposed to see this area.

"Let's try this one first," Goh said, pointing to the one directly ahead. As the three of them stepped closer, the automatic door opened, revealing the room in front of them.

The room before them looked rather utilitarian with very little inside. Directly in front of them against the back wall was a computer desk with monitors mounted to the wall. The computer tower was knocked over and the mouse and keyboard were hanging off the desk by their cables. To the left of the desk was a bed slightly recessed into the wall. The ground was littered with books and papers on various topics, all scattered about due to the crash.

Goh approached the computer and put the keyboard and mouse back into place. Then he began tapping on the keyboard, bringing up the password entry.

"I guess that's to be expected…" Chloe sighed. "There's no way we would be able to guess his password in a million years…"

"Man…" Ash groaned. He grumbled under his breath about his friend Clemont that Goh had met a while back.

Looking at the room, it almost felt like his own, back in his parent's apartment back in Vermilion City, Goh thought. He could almost picture Lawrence in here, typing away at his computer over some form of research or another, locked away from the outside world.

The image in his mind brought out a bit of pity for the man, who didn't have anyone like Chloe or Ash to pull him out of his loneliness. Goh quietly wondered if he and Lawrence were really that different after all.

Goh turned back towards the hallway. "C'mon, this isn't the holo system."

He said nothing more as he stepped back into the hallway. Ash and Chloe followed shortly thereafter.

With two more doors to pick, Ash turned to the right and stepped through the next automatic door. This room reminded Goh of the break room in the Cerise Laboratory, with its small kitchen and even smaller dining was a small closet in the corner of the room that was labeled with a picture of a toilet, so Goh didn't figure that they needed to search here.

Ash just crossed his arms, frowning as he looked over the room. Goh nudged him playfully. "What, you're not hungry?"

Ash shook his head. "I don't think it'd be right to just eat the food here. We should take it out for the wild Pokémon whose homes were destroyed. It's the least we can do."

Goh nodded. "Good idea. But for now, we should find the server room."

"Well, there's only one door left…" Chloe said, already turning to leave this one.

"Eievui…"

The three teens turned and left, heading directly across from the kitchen and into a room containing multiple glowing metal computer servers.

"Here they are…" Goh said with a grin. "These have to be our easiest way to get access to his information." Looking around the small room with the humming computers, Goh saw a holograph terminal similar to the one in the front of the jet as well as the one in the Cerise Laboratory. He held up his hands over it, and the holographic projector came to life, forming a keyboard and window of light in front of Goh.

"Alright… what should bring up the information…?"

He tried to put himself in the mindset of Lawrence and think of the word that would bring up what they were searching for. The collector who was obsessed with obtaining a rare treasure never before seen in the world… it was difficult for Goh to comprehend. But he understood the single-minded devotion one would give to such a pursuit, and so he typed in 'collection' into the system.

The system brought up a listing of all the objects in Lawrence's collection in reverse chronological order from the date they were obtained, Goh could tell according to the parameters that appeared on screen and a quick glance of the list. There were even thumbnails that let him see what objects there were, and he recognized a few of them from the room that was now destroyed.

Though, looking at the most recent entry, it didn't seem that Lawrence had the time to enter the plate or the stone into the listing, so any information about them wouldn't be found here.

"There's a little information here," Goh said, "but all it tells me is that he didn't have the time to add what he took to his collection."

Ash frowned. "Well… maybe he has it listed under something else… like research or something?"

Goh typed in 'research', and the window before him displayed what looked to him to be an endless assortment of file folders. They ranged across all sorts of topics and seemed to be mostly attributed to the various ruins and relics across the world that Lawrence was tracking, but there didn't seem to be any organizational pattern to any of them. "We could search these, but it'd probably take hours…" he groaned.

"Well," Chloe said, shrugging. "Why not search 'god', then?" Goh looked at her with a look of confusion, which Chloe seemed to take as a sarcastic note. "I-I just mean that he was looking for the treasure of the 'god who destroyed Pokélantis', right?"

Goh's mind was already a step ahead of her, though, and he was typing it in. What had Lawrence said to him when they had met?

'I've come here seeking God.'

Typing in 'god' immediately brought up images of the ruins they were just in, as well as much more information.

"Chloe, I love you. You're a genius."

Chloe blushed, looking away. "I-uh, I love you, too."

Ash came closer, peering over Goh's shoulder. "Did that bring up what we need?" he asked.

Goh nodded. "I'm reading over all his notes now," he said. He continued to read as he scrolled down the image by literally dragging the words up with his finger. An image appeared on the screen that was almost painfully familiar. "...what the…?"

Shown on the screen was a complex geometric pattern that had no discernible meaning on its own, but definitely raised some memories in his mind.

"It's the map…"

Ash gasped. "The weird TV static map that you got from Felix…?"

Goh nodded. "We found another copy of it in a book in Cameron Palace," he said. "I guess Lawrence found a copy of this map as well…"

"Do you think he found a way to decipher it…?" Chloe asked. "That book back in the Palace said it was an encoded map, right?"

"Do y'think the map in the palace was the first one and the rest are copies?" Ash asked.

Goh said nothing and returned his focus to the screen and continued reading.

Below the map were Lawrence's own frustrated comments on the completely unreadable map he had obtained. He noted that he had purchased it from a man purporting that it was a map that led to Mew which, if Goh was honest, felt like might have been the way Felix and his family had obtained their 'priceless' treasure.

Lawrence then noted that he tracked the providence of the map to being copied from an ancient book in the kingdom of Rota, which confirmed that both he and Goh were working from the same information.

Only Lawrence's research continued, and Goh read eagerly to obtain new details that he didn't know up to now.

According to Lawrence's research, the cipher was created by the Kingdom of Pokélantis after discovering the strange properties of a rare metal that seemed to be native to this area. This metal, after undergoing a special tempering process, was supposed to take on a unique crystalline structure that rendered it see-through, but the image was recut and jumbled. Since the result was supposed to resemble looking through a kaleidoscope, Lawrence had whimsically taken to calling the rare metal 'kaleidium'.

But what he noted most of all was that kaleidium's patterns were always uniform after the tempering, and so the way the image was scrambled when looking through it was always predictable, and it was this unique property that allowed the ancient Pokélantians to use it to inscribe hidden messages and create coded maps like the one Lawrence had run into.

Suddenly, the pieces in his mind were fitting together.

"...so that's why he needed that plate we found…" Goh said. "By tempering the plate in a certain way, you can use it to decode the map, and the map is supposed to lead to where this treasure Lawrence is looking for is."

Ash frowned. "I thought it would lead to Mew…?"

"If you've been paying attention," Chloe chided him, "Mew and this treasure are supposed to be linked together. That guy said Mew used it to destroy Pokélantis, right?"

Ash frowned. "Right…" He crossed his arms, thinking. "But if Mew's in the Tree of Beginning, do you think the map just points there…?"

"I guess there's only one way to find out," Chloe said, turning back to Goh. "Does it say how to temper the metal?"

Goh kept reading, and it seemed that Lawrence was going to end up experimenting with the metal when he found it. The collector hadn't determined how to transform it from the iridescent coloration to the clear, crystalline structure. "There's nothing here about it," Goh said out loud. "He was going to find that out later."

Chloe smiled. "Then all we have to do is figure it out first, and we might be able to get a jump on him!"

Goh shook his head. "We can't. Without this metal he calls kaleidium that the plate was made of, we have no chance."

"What if we had a little?" she asked with a teasing smile. "Even just one little piece?"

Goh was about to protest that finding even a small piece would likely be impossible, given how desperate Lawrence was for it, but Chloe held something up in her hands that he never expected to see again.

In her hands was the metal card depicting the ancient carving of Mew that Lawrence had showed him deep in the ruins.

He looked up at her, his mouth agape. "H-How…?"

Chloe giggled. "When he came up behind me, I was trying to find anything I could that I could use to force him to let me go, but the only thing I could find in any pocket was this card, so I just hid it. I guess he didn't notice it wasn't in his pockets anymore and didn't search me." The smile on her face was entirely self-satisfied and had the situation been different, Goh might have teased her for her own arrogance.

But for now? Chloe had every right to be arrogant about this.

"But this is made of the same material as that plate, right?" she asked. "We can just use this, can't we?"

Goh took the card from Chloe and held it up to the light. Even in the dimly lit tomb, he could easily tell that the plate was made of this colorful, iridescent material.

And now that he was holding the ancient metal Mew card in his hands, he could only believe that it was made of the same stuff.

"Chloe, I love you. You saved this entire thing." She began to protest but Goh quickly leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek before turning back to Ash. "We need to take this somewhere we can analyze it, and there's no better place I can think of than the Cerise Laboratory back in Vermilion City."

Ash nodded and pumped his fist. "Alright! Let's get back to the Professor and see what he can help us figure out about this piece of metal!"

All three of them punched their fists into the air, with their three Pokémon joining in.

"Let's GO!"

The trip back to Vermilion City took a few hours by Pokémon flight and by the buslines once it was obvious that the Pokémon would tire out after all the flying and fighting they'd done during the day, and by the time they had returned to the lab, the sun had already set.

Still, having received Goh's call ahead of time, Professor Raymond Cerise and his assistants Ren and Chrysa were at the ready as soon as the three teens stepped through the door.

Professor Cerise was astounded at the card and immediately began analyzing its physical structure as Chrysa and Ren hit the computers to research any information on tempering processes they could.

"It's really a fascinating piece of history," Professor Cerise said, looking at the holographic projector showing pictures of the card as the computer system ran scans and tests of the metal. "A card with an ancient depiction of Mew… if this was really made by the Pokélantians, then this would change our understanding about their lost civilization. History is being rewritten here tonight."

"Not that any of that matters," Chloe said, rolling her eyes as she sat on the couch in the lab. Eevee sat nearby, watching Grookey hop around on the table. "We need to figure out how to make it so that we can use that card to read this map."

Laid out on the table was the map they had obtained from Felix, the exact copy of the one they found in the library in Rota as well as in Lawrence's database.

"We'll end up ruining it as we temper it to read the map, anyway," Goh said. "But we still need to figure out exactly how to do that…"

"This metal doesn't even have a real name," Ren said, scratching his head. "We can call it kaleidium all we want, but that won't suddenly make articles about it appear online."

Everyone in the laboratory sighed. Without knowing the properties of the metal, working with it would be difficult, and if they somehow destroyed the small amount they had, pursuing the map would be impossible.

And if they couldn't beat Lawrence to the punch, he could get his hands on a dreadfully powerful weapon, one that could destroy an entire city. And that was a power no one should have.

"At times like this," Chrysa said, "I think about a novel I've read about a detective who, when trying to crack the case, would turn his thinking around and consider all the information they've learned up to that point and use that to find the path ahead. Maybe let's start at the beginning and we'll figure out the truth by the time we reach the end of it."

Goh leaned back against the wall near the couch. "Turn our thinking around…? Well… I guess if we do that, it all started with the temple in Stone Town, right?"

Ash, who was standing near the stairs that lead up to the holoprojector with Pikachu on his shoulder, nodded. "The Project Mew Mission sent you there, and we all tagged along."

"It was a temple not dedicated to Eevee, like Professor Amaranth thought apparently, but to a mysterious god and the powers of fire, lightning and water."

Goh nodded at Chloe's summation. "And in that temple, we found the Clear Wing. The writing system used in the temple is the same one used in Pokélantis, and is also the same one used in the ruins on Mount Tensei."

"The same Mount Tensei that sits between Rota and Pokélantis," Cerise added.

"The legend we found in the temple went 'The hidden secrets shall be uncovered by trials of Fire, Lightning, and Water. The treasure within shall be blessed by the powers of Fire, Lightning, and Water and be purified. It will be called the One who Chases the Rainbow, most beloved by the gods. Offer your prayers at the foot of the Rainbow, and God will descend."

Goh knew the words of the legend they had read by heart at this point.

"Given its shape and the presence of the three shrines to Entei, Raikou, and Suicune in the Raizen Mountains, we originally thought the feather was tied to Ho-Oh in some way, as their legends are intertwined," Chrysa noted. "But from what Morty, the Ecruteak Gym Leader said, the legend written here isn't like any legend about Ho-Oh at all."

"There's also the tablet we found up there," Ren said. "It said, 'Where Rainbows begin and Kingdoms end'."

"We got so caught up in the word 'rainbow' that we didn't understand the meaning. We know now that the god of Mount Tensei wasn't Ho-Oh," Goh said. "It was Mew. That's why images of Mew are all over the ruins of Pokélantis."

"Rota's got a huge connection to Mew, too," Ash added. "So if they both saw Mew as a god, then it makes sense that they'd both write about Mew in the same way."

This was all coming together bit by bit, Goh thought.

"We still don't know the connection between Mew and the three legendary Pokémon immortalized on the mountain," Cerise said, scratching his chin.

"But we can connect Mew more directly to both Rota and Pokélantis," Chloe said. "The succession crisis that split the ancient kingdom of Rotatlantis into two all happened on that mountain. That's what the tablet meant, after all! The Kingdom of Rotatlantis ended!"

"But wait, if they're all connected like this, why is the feather so far away from everything else…?"

Ash had a good point with his question, but it was one Goh was immediately ready to answer.

"Because of the nomads who moved down there," he said, as his mind continued to fit the pieces they had been gathering together. "Or maybe 'nomad' is the wrong word. They were 'refugees'."

"Refugees?" Ash asked.

"When the Kingdom of Pokélantis was destroyed, all the people had to go somewhere, right? I guess the Clear Wing was important to bring with them for some reason."

"We know they're all connected," Chloe said. "The same pattern in the temple that was stressed as being so important that their order is repeated practically everywhere! Even that hidden chamber, right?"

Goh gasped as his mind made the last connection. The train of logic they had been following had reached its conclusion.

"I've got it."

When Goh spoke those words, everyone in the lab turned to him. And so, he began to explain the conclusion he had reached.

Even with the missing gaps, the truth was undeniable. The ruined kingdom had to have been constructed before the temple in Stone Town was, and because of that, it proved that the three elements - Fire, Lightning, and Water - held special significance for Pokélantis beyond using them to empower the Clear Wing. One of the pieces they didn't understand was the origin of the Clear Wing, but for now, it wasn't as important as tempering the card into a crystal.

After all, why would these three elements be important to Pokélantis if it wasn't for the Clear Wing?

"The legend they left was many things. It was instructions on preparing the Clear Wing. It was an explanation for how the two sons had competed in trials to be blessed with the leadership of the kingdom. But most importantly to us, it's instructions on tempering the kaleidium.

"We need to heat the metal, run an electric current through it while it's hot to polarize it, and then quench it with water to finish it. Fire, Lightning, and Water, in the order we've been pursuing them from the beginning."

Professor Cerise took the physical card from his pocket and handed it to Ash. "If we're using all three of these things at once, perhaps inside the lab itself isn't the best place. Let's step outside."

The occupants of the lab agreed and headed out front to perform the tempering. Using a few extra pieces of broken machinery, they turned the card into something of a target, being held in the open air so that it wasn't lying flat on the ground, nor was it being held by a person or Pokémon.

Goh reached into his pocket and took out a Poké Ball. "Cinderace, you're up!"

With a toss, Goh's first partner appeared, glaring down at the card depicting Mew.

"Use Pyro Ball to set a big fire up right under that card. We need to get it very, very hot, okay?"

"Cinderace!" the rabbit replied, giving Goh a thumbs up. He began kicking at the ground, knocking pebbles up into the air that quickly were engulfed by the flames coming from the Fire-type's large feet. Cinderace knocked the flaming spheres towards the card, creating an intense bonfire beneath it.

Goh felt like the air was tense as the card began to glow with heat as the flames continued to lick at it. Cinderace had to add a few more Pyro Balls to keep the blaze going, but eventually the card was entirely red-hot, which meant it was time for the next step.

"Ash, it's all you!"

His friend nodded before gesturing forward. "Alright, Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leapt up, slapping his cheeks and creating sparks from them. With a shout of "Piii-kaaa-chuu!" that echoed over Vermilion City, the mouse unleashed his blast of electrical energy on the card, causing the red-hot card to begin to shift and change, though between the heat shimmer and the electricity crackling all around it, it was difficult to tell what was happening.

But now was the time to end it.

With another toss, Goh called out his Water-type. "Inteleon, use Snipe Shot to quench that metal card!"

"Intel." The Agent crouched down, locking his eyes on the burning, crackling card before shooting a spray of pressurized water from his fingertip at it. The card hissed as the water quickly boiled off of it, but the blast launched the card spinning high into the night air high above their heads.

"Grooki!"

Goh's Grass-type chimp leapt into action, jumping from Goh's shoulder to the top of his head and into the air, grabbing the spinning card in his hands before making a perfect landing. He turned with a wide grin on his face as he raced back over to Goh and the others, holding up the card for his trainer to see.

The card was transformed by the process, Goh could see that easily. The card now looked as clear as glass, though much like the research and the writing promised, it looked like the inner workings of a kaleidoscope, refracting light and shapes in a way that made it almost dizzying to look at.

"We did it…!" Goh cheered. "WE DID IT!"

"Grooki!"

"Dace dace!"

"Inteleon!"

"Alright!" Ash cheered along with the Pokémon.

"Pipikachu!"

Professor Cerise was already rushing for the door. "Come on back in! Let's take a look and see what the map looks like through it!"

Goh, Ash, Ren, Chrysa, Chloe, and all the Pokémon returned inside the laboratory proper and turned their attention to the old map on the table. And when Goh placed the card on the map, his eyes went wide.

Looking through the card, it was almost as though the strange pattern was completely removed, and instead there was a map that showed a landmass in this particular corner. As he moved the card across the scroll, more of the land masses could be seen, but also, Goh noted, a lot of ocean.

If they had the large plate that was in Lawrence's hands, looking at the entire map all at once would have been simple.

"Go back to the corner of the page, Goh," Professor Cerise said. "Let's copy down each section and construct the full map on the monitor."

Goh obliged, moving the clear card back to the corner, which Professor Cerise copied into the holographic imagery before he moved the card over, allowing the professor to copy the next part over.

Slowly but surely, the map to their next destination was coming into focus. Goh could feel the anticipation rising in the pit of his stomach.

Chloe stepped over and placed a hand softly on his shoulder and shot him a kind, hopeful smile. And as the map came to life behind them, Goh once more felt hopeful for the future. Chloe's love was a comfort for him, even with a small gesture like this.

And in a spring season that he would never forget, Goh would need all the comfort he could find.

Hello there! I'm Purim, the author. I hope everyone's having a great time! It feels like ages since I last had a chance to speak directly to everyone! In the time since we last spoke, Pokémon Journeys ended in Japan, and there's a lot to say about that as well as the other news related to it, but for now, I'm going to keep this part brief. (I'll just say I cried a lot at the ending for Goh, Chloe, and Ash...)

But focusing on this story, this is the beginning of the end of the tale of the Clear Wing we started way back at the beginning of last year. While not every mystery has been solved, it seems that everything is coming together, pointing out the next course of action. And being this close to the ending, in this story, I really wanted to show how far Goh has come since we started.

We began with Goh in a rather dark place. His defeats in Pokémon Journeys lead him to this point, feeling desperate and it is through this feeling that doubt began to settle in his mind. Would he be able to become a Chaser? This led to his meeting with Lawrence and the idea that there was a shortcut he could have taken to Mew, which built up to his confrontation with Ash, who had been hiding Mew's location in the Tree of Beginning since the story began. (Did you notice Ash seeming hesitant in two scenes in Book 6?). Goh lost his way, much like he did in Book 2, but in this case, he was able to talk it through with Ash and realized that he was right, and that there was no way he could take the Tree of Beginning's Mew without causing major problems for everyone. He is more mature than before, having already seen and felt the effects of greed.

How does Goh's personal growth reflect in this newest adversary, Lawrence? For that, please check out next week's side story chapter, "Collector and Beginning Again".

One of the things I had considered doing part way through was having an actual knock-down, drag out battle between Ash and Goh, but as I was watching the series as I was writing this, I came to a dramatic realization: "There's no way Goh can possibly win, right?"

I'm kidding! (sort of)

What I actually thought was "These two characters have been through a lot together, and though there will clearly be times their friendship is tested, it will endure". That's why the scene in Chapter 4 played out the way that it did: Goh was frustrated, sure, but his friendship with Ash was more than that, and his friend had a good motive for not telling him. I hope my portrayal of Goh and Ash's important friendship felt true to the series, since Ash has (admittedly) been more of a supporting character up to this point.

Another thing I wanted to write was showing how Goh and Chloe interact with each other moving forward. At the end of Book 6, they were able to confess their feelings, and they've been on a few adventures up to this point, and so I wanted to make sure they had that feeling of "Yes, these two really care about each other" without losing what made either of them unique or interesting. I wanted to write them as a couple who can continue to support each other, no matter what happens, and I hope their strong connection with each other continues to shine through as we head closer to the end of this storyline.

Speaking of which, we must discuss next time! For the next two weeks, as usual, there will be two more side-stories. The main story resumes on 28 January 2023 with "Chaser and the Ruins of the Other Side!" I hope you join me then!