The sound of heavy duty machinery was all around him.

Frankly, he was surprised he was able to sleep at all with how noisy everything was, but even he could surprise himself at times, it seemed. But that wasn't the only reason he was surprised he could sleep.

Since they were quite far from their destination, Professor Amaranth had set in the course on autopilot, and his massive helicarrier that housed the entirety of the Professor's beloved Project Mew was currently flying towards their destination. Goh knew that they would be arriving in a few hours to their destination, a small, faraway island in the middle of nowhere. And despite being a nondescript island in the middle of nowhere, for Goh this place held huge significance.

Though, as he entered the study of the professor carrying two mugs, it seemed that he wasn't the only one who was feeling some trouble sleeping.

Sitting at the professor's desk in the study was his familiar childhood friend. Her hair was still down, a cascade of curls as she sat in her long yellow pajamas, clearly more interested in whatever was in front of her.

And so, to surprise her, he stepped close and put his arm around her, holding one of the mugs in front of her as he did.

"...!"

She gasped.

"I thought you'd want something to pep you up, so I made some coffee," he said.

Even in the dim light, Goh could see Chloe's eyes dart up at him before looking back at the mug.

"Coffee…?" she balked. "You couldn't make anything sweeter…?"

"I did add sugar," he said before gently kissing her cheek. "But you're still sweeter."

He immediately felt Chloe's face heat up. "Always acting so cool and smooth…" she huffed as she took the cup from him.

"You like it."

"I do."

The couple chuckled quietly in the dark room. With everything going on, they didn't really have any moments of quiet where the two of them could just be together like this, so it felt very nice to be able to just enjoy the other's presence. Goh took the moment to pull another chair closer to Professor Amaranth's desk and sit next to her.

Chloe took a sip of the coffee. "...you did pretty well, considering all you had to work with was whatever they had on board," she said. "And Quillon probably takes his coffee black with no sugar at all."

Goh stifled a chuckle. "Well, when I went to school with you for my most recent test, I saw everyone carrying coffee drinks. Though most of them were canned ones."

She nodded. "They're getting pretty popular at Sunset Junior High," she said. "I guess everyone's trying to grow up."

"Even you, Miss Cerise?" Goh asked. "All these extended absences must be stacking up."

Chloe glared at him, looking irritated, but Goh saw the sparkle of mischief in her eyes. She wasn't really upset. "I would worry more about what we're getting ourselves into than my attendance. Writing make-up essays is my job, after all."

"Not that that's what you're working on," he said.

Goh glanced down at the desk, spying three items on it. First, and most obvious, was a paper print out of a map. The map looked a bit strange, as though it was drawn by an uneven hand, but the island in the center of it was in fact the destination that the helicarrier was headed towards. The fact that it was so unreliable was the reason they had to get assistance from Tapu Fini in Alola to locate the island, in the end, but even this map was a vital clue.

The second item was a Dratini-skin pouch with a piece of glittering electrum embedded in it. The pouch was ethically sourced from a man from the Johto region and his Dratini partner's sheddings, but the significance of this object was far beyond the material it was made of: within the pouch was the mysterious, mystical sand that Tapu Fini had pulled out of Chloe and placed inside, containing the powers of nature. Only Chloe could take the powers into herself again, they were told, and they might need the powers of the natural world later depending on what challenges awaited them. For now Goh was at least lightly praying that she wouldn't have to do it, since carrying that power was painful.

He had seen its effects first hand, after all.

The final item that sat on the desk was a glittering ball that appeared to be made of gold and silver, though it truly consisted of the feathers of two legendary creatures and a special crystal. Embossed on the top of the ball were the letters 'GS', which Goh took to understand meant 'Goh's Special'. It was an incredibly powerful device that was said to be able to restrain and capture even a god, and Goh had no reason to doubt its efficacy, either.

Chloe shrugged. "Well… a lot has happened, you know? Thinking that we're finally getting to the bottom of things is a bit exciting. And so, I'm taking notes to help me keep everything straight. It helps me remember things and think through them, you know?"

Goh took another sip of his coffee. "Yeah. Having all your information organized makes it easy to pull data for reports and the like."

Chloe giggled. "You almost sounded like an adult there, Goh."

He smirked confidently. "Well… I am growing up. You are, too. It's been almost six months since everything happened in Stone Town, after all."

Chloe blinked at him before looking back down at the desk and the objects strewn about it. "I… I guess you're right," she said. "It feels like a lifetime ago that all of this was happening, you know? I wonder how much has changed since the day we went to Stone Town…"

Goh shrugged. "Well, Ash is preparing for the Masters Eight now," he said. "When we went to Stone Town he was only in the Ultra Class."

"The Masters Eight feels really far away from what we're doing…" Chloe said. "I wonder if Ash is going to get enough training out here to prepare for it?"

Goh chuckled. "Ash is the kind of guy who could find a way to make anything into training, so I wouldn't worry about that too much," he said. "I'm just excited to be able to go watch him."

Chloe giggled. "I guess that's best friend privilege?"

He shrugged modestly. "Well, he does get a ticket for a guest, so it'd be a waste if no one went, right?"

To that, Chloe just giggled.

He frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Well," Chloe said, her eyes still bright and full of life even this early in the morning, "you've actually become a lot cooler since the day we went to Stone Town."

He smiled sheepishly. "You really think so?" he asked. "If I have become cooler, it's thanks to you and Ash and everyone else. I don't think I'd be anywhere close to this far without everyone's help."

Chloe giggled a bit more. "And you've even become modest, too. I remember when you'd turn overconfident at even the slightest hint of being praised. But seeing you like this… you really are cool, Goh. You're really mature now." Her tone was warm and kind, and the look in her eyes told Goh that she was genuinely impressed with how he was carrying himself.

"Thank you," he said. "I've been trying to learn a lot about working together as a team ever since I cost everyone the win against Articuno."

"And this is exactly why you're cooler than you were before," Chloe said, leaning towards him a bit. Goh could smell the coffee on her breath as she did. "Who knew that my dorky, shut-in friend could grow up into such a handsome, reliable guy?"

Goh leaned towards her as well, his heart racing at the thought of finding the right moment to kiss his girlfriend once more, but the opening of one of the shutter-like doors meant that they would have an audience, so he leaned back. Chloe did as well.

"Ah, well I hope you two are comfortable."

"Mime, mime!"

Walking into the study was its owner - indeed, the owner of the entire craft - Professor Macbeth Amaranth. On his shoulder was the Mime Jr. he carried with him as his helper and companion.

Goh's mind drifted to Grookey, whom he normally carried on hand, and recalled that the chimp was still passed out asleep in his bed when he woke up. He was sure Chloe's Eevee was doing exactly the same.

"Good morning, professor," Chloe said before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Good morning," Goh added, following suit.

Professor Amaranth held his own mug, taking a deep drink from it. "You make a good cup, Goh. We're still a few hours out from the island, but since everyone's probably going to wake up soon, it might be time to ditch the pajamas."

"Mime, mime!"

Mime Junior stood on Amaranth's shoulder, miming the drinking as well as Amaranth's posture and pose.

"I'll go get ready soon," Chloe asked. "Only…"

"Only?" Amaranth asked, looking down at her.

"Professor Amaranth, what are you doing all this research for?" Chloe asked. "Why does Project Mew exist?"

Amaranth nodded. "That's a very good question, Chloe," he said. He scratched at his chin, covered in thin whiskers. "Project Mew is a team of researchers who are interested in the origins of these wonderful creatures that we share the world with." As he noted this, Mime Jr. puffed out his chest and smiled broadly.

"You want to know where they all came from? Is that why you're trying to find Mew?"

Amaranth nodded at the question. "Of course. Mew is said to house the DNA of every one of these creatures that we call Pocket Monsters, or Pokémon for short."

"Then… Professor Amaranth?"

Goh and the Professor both looked at Chloe, wondering what she was about to ask.

"Do you think Mew is a god?"

Professor Amaranth looked taken aback by her question. He frowned, stroking his chin in thought for a moment before looking back at them. "Well… tell me Chloe, what exactly is your definition of 'God'?"

"It's um…"

Despite asking the question, it didn't seem like Chloe had thought through exactly what she was saying. Goh crossed his arms in thought and frowned.

"A god…" he said, "...it makes you think of forces outside anyone's control. Almost like they don't live in our world and we're just their playthings, right?"

Chloe laughed to herself. "Well, I wouldn't go THAT far… but maybe you're not that far off. A god is something beyond what any of us mortals could conceive, with powers that can do all sorts of incredible things, I think."

"So, a god is an incredibly strong being that exists outside our world that we can't conceive with powers beyond our imaginings?" Amaranth asked. "I think it's dangerous to think that way."

"Dangerous…?"

It wasn't the answer Goh was expecting to hear.

"What I mean is, when you call something a god, there's a lot of weight behind that term," Amaranth explained. "Like you two put it, a god is something beyond this world and the people and Pokémon that live in it. They're a source of incredible, world-bending feats. Soon, people start to think they're infallible, because what sort of god makes mistakes with all that power? There are many who believe that strength and wisdom are the same thing, after all.

"However, I disagree with this notion. Calling Mew a god is like saying Mew isn't connected to the world we live in. So no, I don't believe Mew is a god, because Mew is a part of this world. Sure, Mew may contain the DNA of all Pokémon and they may be the common ancestor for all the Pokémon we know today, but Mew couldn't be those things without being part of the world that we share with them. Seeking out Mew is like seeking out the origin of life itself, and by learning where Pokémon come from, we can learn more about where all of us come from, because in the end, we're all in this together."

Professor Amaranth took another sip of his coffee after that, which Mime Jr. again mimicked.

"In any case, I've got preparations to make, and I'm sure you two do as well if we're going to be prepared for whatever we find on that island."

Chloe giggled. "Yeah, I still need to get my hair ready," she said, giving her fluffy, curly hair a gentle toss with her hand.

"I'll leave you kids to it," Amaranth said, turning out of his study and heading somewhere else in the helicarrier.

"You know," Goh said as he and Chloe stood, "the way Professor Amaranth spoke just now kind of reminded me of your Dad, you know?"

Chloe frowned at the thought, but as she looked over to Goh, he could see her putting the pieces together in her head and she nodded.

"Maybe Dad is a bit cooler than I thought."

Everyone was present as the island came into view over the horizon, and while he never saw it from the sky in the vision he received from Tapu Fini, Goh recognized its basic shape, from the sandy beaches to the cliff and forest towering above it. However, peering out of the forest in the middle of the island was a strange sort of stone obelisk that looked to be made out of obsidian or some other sort of volcanic rock. This struck Goh as odd because there was nothing of the sort on the island in his vision, and just from looking at the island one could tell there was no volcanic activity upon it.

Rather than risking anything by approaching the obelisk haphazardly, Professor Amaranth landed his helicarrier on the beach, having everyone but him leave to investigate the island.

The heat from the tropical sun felt both familiar and strange on Goh's skin. He was dressed as he usually was in his black sweatshirt and pants, but on his right wrist was an unfamiliar object that he was still getting used to - a red colored bracelet called a Z-Ring. It was a gift from Tapu Fini, one that gave him access to using powerful moves called Z-Moves, but given that he wasn't used to wearing it, it felt like a strange weight hanging on his arm.

He felt a familiar, friendly pat on the shoulder, and looking up, he caught the wide, toothy grin of his best friend Ash Ketchum. "C'mon, Goh! Let's check this out!"

"Pika, pikachu!" added Ash's partner, the steadfast Pikachu, from his shoulder.

Ash was dressed as he usually was, white shirt, blue vest, and shorts. Goh noticed that he didn't seem to be wearing his own Z-Ring, but thought that perhaps they were just in his pockets like usual.

"I know, it's pretty exciting," he said in response, "but I'm still getting used to this." He held up his wrist with the Z-Ring on it. "Do you really think I'll be able to use a Z-Move if we need it?"

"'Course you will!" Ash said, grabbing the bill of his hat while smiling widely. "After all, not only did Tapu Fini give that to you, but we also spent a lot of time practicing the poses, right?"

Goh groaned as he stepped onto the beach. It had taken some time to get to the island, and during that time, since he couldn't exactly train without blowing a hole in something, Ash had taken the time to get Goh familiar with the Z-Ring by teaching him not just the pose for the Firium-Z that Tapu Fini gave to him, but the poses for every type of Z-Crystal.

Goh stifled a chuckle. Ash even had a little song that he sang about the poses. It was an interesting amount of training, not the least of which because Goh's Grookey would play along with the song by tapping his stick across the ground.

For now, at least, Grookey was behaving himself, holding onto Goh's shoulder as he stepped onto the beach. The white sands were soft and clear, looking almost artificially put together. And other than the obelisk standing in the forest, the island remained looking like time had simply not passed since Goh had seen it in his vision.

"It looks just like I remember it," he said out loud. "It's almost like I was just here yesterday with Moyse and Miriam."

"Verily!" came Chloe's voice from behind him. As he turned, he saw his girlfriend smiling cheekily, holding her Eevee in her arms. She was dressed in her pink cherry-blossom themed blouse with jeans and sneakers and a jacket tied around her waist. "Perchance over yonder, Sir Goh, we may happen upon a most curious happening!"

Goh frowned. He knew exactly what she was doing.

He had spent the time he was't training Z-Move poses explaining to everyone the vision he had experienced thanks to Tapu Fini, not sparing any details. Which meant that Chloe knew about Moyse and Miriam, the two ancient people who lived in the kingdom of Pokélantis that for whatever reason looked like himself and Chloe respectively.

Clearly, she was just making fun of him here.

"C'mon, Chloe, I already explained that they didn't talk like that."

Chloe grinned at him. "Ah, but my sweet Sir Goh, my noble knight in shining armor, thou shouldest be wary of any trials or trepidations that await us! Thou wouldn'tst likest thy beautiful princess to fall into the clutches of a villain, would you?"

Before Goh could continue the teasing game that Chloe was clearly trying to instigate, another voice chimed in.

"Alright, you two, please keep the flirting to a minimum."

Chloe's face turned red in embarrassment, and even Goh felt his own heat up a bit. Looking over his shoulder at the last two people exiting the helicarrier, he saw the two chosen Chasers of Project Mew walking down the ramp. The one who had just spoken was a young woman several years Goh's senior. She wore an open tan and blue shirt that complimented her blue hair and eyes, keeping her chest covered with a purple top. On the belt that held her bag was a badge with a pink shape on it that Goh recognized as Mew's head, marking her as a full-fledged member of Project Mew. Her shorts were short enough that she thought it was prudent to wear kneepads while the rest of her legs were exposed, down to her boots.

This woman was Danika, and while Goh knew her to be at least somewhat playful, he also knew that she could be quite serious when she wanted to be, and so he took a deliberate step away from Chloe and towards the forests on the island.

Stepping past Danika on the ramp was a young man about her age with red hair and piercing red eyes. He was dressed in a similar tan outfit to her, only that instead of the blue accents, his were red. He also kept his shirt closed and wore full pants that covered his legs, and his shoes looked more practical as well. This was Quillon, the second chaser, whose Project Mew emblem was on the shoulder of his long-sleeved jacket. He quickly stepped past Goh, Chloe, and even Ash who was a bit further ahead than the others.

Danika cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "That goes for you, too, Quillon! No flirting! We've got a job to do!"

At the teasing, Quillon stumbled forward a bit, but quickly caught himself before he face planted. He didn't respond to her words, but Goh knew exactly how it felt to have a female friend teasing you, and so he felt some sympathy for the brooding young man.

"Well," Ash said, adjusting his hat in the afternoon sun, "here we go!"

Goh quickly rushed up next to his friend on the beach, with Chloe not far behind.

"To this mysterious obelisk on a faraway island!"

Goh offered his fist to Ash, who pounded his own hand against his.

To his surprise, Chloe joined in as well, putting her fist in, touching the side of both his and Ash's.

"Let's go!"

The five of them began hiking their way through the sand on the beach and eventually up onto the dirt where plants took root. Goh kept quiet for a few moments as they headed towards the forest that surrounded the obelisk, but about halfway, he paused.

In the corner of his eye was a tree. He turned to it, and saw that it had very soft, lush grass under it, looking like the perfect spot to take a rest if he was tired. And he gasped.

His mind was immediately taken back to Tapu Fini's vision, when he saw through the eyes of the white Zoroark that had accompanied Moyse and his beloved Miriam to this faraway island. And how the two in their old age finally breathed their last.

For Goh at least, the light, joking atmosphere vanished instantly, and he recalled the last words of the aged Moyse.

"If any human sets foot here again, let it be a kind-hearted person…"

He suddenly felt like he was once again holding the Clear Wing in his hands, feeling his own sins weigh down his body.

It was like he was stepping onto his own grave.

But more than that, Goh had a strange feeling. The chill that ran down his spine ran back up, and his eyes were drawn to the sky above him. And for the briefest moment, he felt like he saw the sky change. Like the image of the sky above him shifted, almost like it was a glitch in a video game.

"Grooki?"

The chimp on his shoulder looked at Goh with curiosity and concern, and Goh scratched his head. "I'm fine, Grookey. Just felt like someone was spying on me for a second. Let's hurry, you know Quillon won't let us forget it if we slack off."

To that, the chimp nodded and cheered, taking his stick and pointing it forward. "Grooki!"

Goh picked up the pace, climbing the hill and catching back up with Ash and the others on the very edge of the forest. The treeline was thick, hiding the base of the obelisk from view. Even the foliage seemed overgrown, making even progressing through forward towards the obelisk difficult.

Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball, letting out his Sirfetch'd.

"Sirfetch'd, can you use Fury Cutter and slice through these plants?"

"Sirfetch'd," the duck responded, a glint of light in his eye. He took his large, leek-like sword and began swinging rapidly, cutting through the smaller plants and making a path for the humans to follow as they entered the forest, with the thick treetops now blocking out any hint of the blue sky above them.

As they walked through, following Sirfetch'd, Goh's thoughts remained with the thick treetops.

"...isn't it strange?"

"Isn't what strange?" Chloe asked, blinking in his direction.

"If the trees are so thick that they let barely any light through, then why aren't the plants choked out? In a thick forest, you might have small plants growing near the trees that don't need much light, but something like this?"

As he spoke, Chloe herself frowned. "Now that you mention it, that is pretty unnatural. Do you think maybe the Pokémon who live on this island had something to do with it?"

Goh felt another realization pop into his head as he looked towards Ash. The veteran trainer shook his head. "I don't think so," Ash said. "There hasn't been a single Pokémon on the island since we got here."

"Piikachu," the mouse confirmed with a nod and a flick of his ears.

Danika crossed her arms. "I didn't think anything of it at first, but an island this lush would have some Pokémon on it, you'd think."

"We should keep up our guard," Quillon added. "Given what we know about the people who had this ancient weapon, we should be careful we don't step into a trap."

"Eievui…" Chloe's Eevee said, with an expression that was trying to mimic Qullion's serious one.

"Fetch'd!"

The humans all turned their attention back to Sirfetch'd, who had stopped cutting and turned back to them, a confident glimmer in his eye. Looking ahead, it seemed that Sirfetch'd had reached a clearing. The five of them followed the duck into the clearing, where they saw the obelisk up close for the first time. From this distance, Goh could see that it was covered in the same ancient writing that had been everywhere in Stone Town and Pokélantis.

Only this time, Goh could read it like it was written in his native language.

He didn't know if it was his familiarity with what had exactly been written or if the time he spent as Moyse in Tapu Fini's vision had left an impact on him, but he recognized the writing in front of him.

"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."

Chloe looked back at Goh in surprise. "Goh… you could..?"

He nodded, and Chloe gasped.

He wasn't sure what had happened to him from all the visions and trials he had gone through up to this point, but he knew that he would never forget this legend or the adventures he had been on to decipher it.

Looking straight ahead at the obelisk, there was a familiar formation of stones embedded in it: a Fire Stone, a Thunder Stone, and a Water Stone. It reminded him very much of the rusted and ruined mechanism they had discovered as the entrance to the temple in Stone Town, and so Goh approached it.

"The hidden secrets shall be uncovered by trials of Fire, Lightning and Water…"

He pressed in the Fire Stone, with Ash coming next to him and pushing in the Thunder Stone. Chloe was last, pushing in the Water Stone.

The teens took a few steps back from the obelisk and watched it carefully. And then, suddenly, it began to shudder and shift. The front of the obelisk, where they had pressed in the stones, fell down, sinking into the ground, and behind it were jet black stairs descending into the darkness.

Goh once again felt a chill roll down his spine.

"Is this similar to the temple you three found before?" Danika asked.

"Not just similar," Goh said. "It's exactly like it. This is the same mechanism, and even the writing on the outside is the same. We just couldn't read it back in Stone Town because it was so old that the writing had worn away…"

The obvious question rose in his mind, but it was Quillon who gave it voice.

"...then why hasn't this one been weathered away as well?"

"Quillon's right," Danika said. "We should stay on our guard inside. Who knows what's waiting for us in here."

It was another strange circumstance that seemed to pile upon the others. No Pokémon, a mysterious obelisk that wasn't in his vision that seemed untouched by time, and a strange feeling like he was being watched? It felt like too much to just be a series of coincidences. Like it would be too convenient for that to be the case.

It was all starting to fill him with dread. It was another mystery that they were going to be facing, another situation that they weren't sure exactly what was going to be waiting for them.

But in his mind, he knew that this obelisk - this temple - had to be where the ancient weapon that was hidden away by Moyse was kept. The power that was used by Mew to destroy Pokélantis was inside, and in order to keep it out of the wrong hands, he would have to delve into the depths of this place.

Those were his thoughts as he stepped inside.