Chapter 18

A/N: It's been long… Previous story altered.
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Ash, Dawn, and Brock followed the five monks through the stone door
archway into the cave. What they saw next got their jaws hanging for a
full minute.
They saw humans flying, with no support whatsoever. Close observation
showed a certain blue glow surrounding them. The air was peculiarly
fresh and free from any pollutants. Ash breathed in and savoured it.

Psychic. thought Ash.
Yeah. agreed Dawn.

The inside of the cave was unimaginably huge. There was no visible
ceiling and the whole cave was illuminated by an unknown light source.
They were standing on a rock platform hanging out on the wall. Ash
peered over the cliff and saw houses floating around neatly in a
spiral form from the near bottomless cave. Pikachu, quickly scrambled
down from Ash's shoulder. It had a minor fear of height that it has
never been able to get rid of.

Dawn turned to her left and saw the monk nearest to them, a bald
headed five-footer close his eyes and frowned in concentration. A blue
glow surrounded all seven humans, Pikachu and Toxicroak. Ash felt his
weight taken from him and his body felt considerably lighter. He and
Brock has had this sensation many times before in the past, so he had
much experience on this but Dawn was a greenhorn on this. He held out
to her spiraling body and set her straight. He cringed a little at the
skin contact. Dawn blushed.

They floated straight up to the top of the inner mountain. The tall
monk opened up his mouth to speak.

"May I introduce myself; I'm Hakera, High priest of the Dragon
Shrine." He did not introduce the others. They simply look straight in
front. The trio smiled. They were a little grateful that he decided to
break the ice.

"I'm Ash, from Pallet town. This is Brock, and this, Dawn." Ash
gestured to the other two. Brock waved. Dawn smiled. Hakera simply
nodded before joining the others in silence.

Ash looked in front of him. He noticed that they were heading towards
a huge building looming over them. He viewed below him. The houses
seemed like tiny ants from here.

They arrived at the front garden of the Dragon Shrine. It was lavishly
filled with various intimidating gold and silver statues of Dragons
like Salamence and Garchomp. There was even a statue of Rayquaza,
seemingly made of emerald, hovering above them, with a soft green glow
pulsing from it. The statues highlighted a path to a large archway.
However, there was nothing beyond that. Ash raised his eyebrows.

"Follow the path. Through the doorway. We shall not follow you. It is
your path, not ours," said the five monks.

Brock sighed. Ash's right eye twitched. Not a good sign, in any case.
Great. This just keeps getting better and better. Thought Ash. He
faintly sensed Dawn's chuckle somewhere.

A/N: Until next time, folks.