Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Fifty Four

Truth Revealed

While May and Melany were busy at the Battle Frontier, Ashley and Rina finally arrived at Mossdeep riding Pidgeot and Knight respectively. Once they landed, they hopped off and thanked their pokemon before recalling them.

"So this is Mossdeep, huh? I can kinda see why its called that. From the air it looked like a big, green rock in the middle of the sea." Ashley said as she scanned the island. She immediately spotted the large building with the rocket set up nearby and rolled her eyes. "Gee, I wonder if thats the Space Center?"

"The rocket is kind of a dead giveaway huh?" Rina said to her. Pippi, who Rina was holding in her arms as usual, looked up and down the distant object curiously.

"-Umm...what is that thing used for?-" Pippi asked Rina.

"Its...umm..." Rina paused and thought about how to explain it. "Its something people hope to use to get into space eventually." She eventually explained.

"-Oh.-" Pippi blinked then looked up at Rina. "-What's space?-"

"That'd take a while to explain I think..."

"Isn't is amazing though?" Ashley said, turning toward Rina. "With all the strange gadgets and such we use in our everyday life, we're only now starting to get into space! Space travel must be just that hard, I bet even now it'll still be decades before we're even able to get to the moon!"

"The moon huh?" Rina said to herself, looking at the rocket in the distance. "I wonder if...the moon is made of moonstones?"

"We won't know until we get there, right?" Ashley replied cheerfully. "Anyway! Let's go check this place out already!"

Rina nodded to Ashley and the two of them set off toward the Space Center. Along the way, they passed by brown haired man, appearing to be in his early twenties, wearing a labcoat. He was kneeling next to a white rock at the bottom of a hill leading up to the space center and seemed to be mumbling to himself. Curious, they decided to stop and see what he was doing.

"Umm...excuse me? What are you doing exactly?" Ashley asked him.

"Wishing for our success today." The older man replied without turning to face them. "To the people at the space center, this rock represents that wish."

"But it's just a rock..." Ashley replied. The man chuckled and slowly stood up, then turned to face them. Ashley and Rina could then see the nametag he was wearing on his coat, which said 'Roland'.

"What's the matter? Never heard of a lucky charm?"

"Well usually there's something special about a lucky charm, but no matter how you look at that...it's just a rock."

"Supposedly there's something unusual about it according to our local rock expert." Roland said to them. "I don't know the exact details myself, but he assured us it was special when he placed it here a few years back."

"Well that makes a bit more sense I guess." Ashley replied.

"So you work for the space center? Then, have you ever heard of a pokemon called Deoxys?" Rina asked him.

"Deoxys?" Roland thought for a moment and stroked his chin. "Kinda rings a bell...why do you ask?"

"Well...umm..." Rina paused and thought for a moment. She knew if she mentioned that she had caught Deoxys, or even saw it, they'd be want to see it or know where she found it. "I heard about it once and was kinda curious, and wasn't the space center looking into a pokemon by that name?"

"You may be right, but I don't know anything about that." Roland replied, chuckling quietly.

"Oh." Rina sighed.

"You girls seem to have a few questions you'd like answered, perhaps you would like to accompany me into the facility?" The man said to them, gesturing toward the space center above them. "I'm sure our 'rock expert' is there as well, he usually is."

Pippi snapped her fingers. "-Oh! I get it now! Its called a rocket...because it uses rocks! That's why they have the rock expert there!-"

"I don't think thats how it works..." Rina whispered.

"Are you really allowed to take us in there though? There's no top secret government projects or anything being hidden there that the public shouldn't know about?"

"Of course not." Roland replied with a smile. "They're all stored underground." Ashley and Rina stared at him incredulously. "Kidding, kidding." Roland said, holding up his hands. "We allow visitors within certain areas of the facility. We frequently get young trainers dropping by to see the rocket."

"Ah! So its ok for you to show us around then?" Rina asked.

"Of course, just follow me."

Roland headed up the flight of stairs leading up the hill to the space center and then went inside. The girls followed along behind him and were amazed to see the very first room they entered was filled with drafting tables, computers, and similar equipment. Scientists, most of whom were astronomers and such, were busy discussing various aspects of the rockets they were launching. Few even looked up from their work when the girls entered and no one seemed particularly concerned with their arrival at all.

"Wow, they really are pretty lax about visitors." Ashley observed.

"Or they're simply more concerned with their work." Aisha said to her. "You could stand to learn a thing or two from them."

"If you would like to see if there's anything about Deoxys in our database then your best bet is to ask that girl over there." Roland said, directing them to a young blue haired lady sitting in front of one of the computers. "She's the one that usually handles that stuff. As for the rock outside, our rock expert is probably on the observation deck gazing at the rocket."

"Well, that rock is starting to bug me now." Ashley mumbled to herself. "So where's the observation deck?"

"Up those stairs there." Roland replied, pointing to the flight of stairs in the corner. "Directly up from there actually."

"Ok." Ashley nodded and turned to Rina. "I'll go see this rock guy while you look into Deoxys, alright?"

"Is that rock really that important all of a sudden?" Rina asked her.

"Not really, but..." Ashley sighed. "I'm dying to know the story behind it now..."

"Well, you can't miss him." Roland said to Ashley. "He has silver hair and wears a purple and black business suit. He'll stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of us."

"Ok, I'll catch up with you two later then." Ashley said to Rina and Pippi, then headed up the stairs.

"Well, I'm sure you can handle yourself from here." Roland said to Rina. "I have to get to work. Good luck with your search."

Rina nodded. "Ok, thanks for your help Roland." Roland then left the two, starting up another computer for his own work. Left on her own, Rina approached the blue haired lady Roland had directed her to. The woman was busily typing away at her keyboard. Rina couldn't really tell what she was doing, being

"Excuse me?" The woman stopped typing and turned her head to face Rina, looking slightly annoyed. "U-umm...I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Deoxys?" The woman remained silent, staring at Rina intently for a moment and then turning back to the computer and typing away again.

"-She doesn't seem very friendly...-" Pippi noted to Rina. "-I don't think we'll...-"

"Deoxys is the codename given to a pokemon believed to have come from outer space." The woman replied flatly after bringing up the appropriate file. "The name is derived from the long name for DNA as the pokemon itself is thought to be a mutated virus. Attempts to find the pokemon after its descent uncovered a strange triangular object on an island near Kanto that has since disappeared. Further investigations into this incident have since ceased until information on the pokemon's whereabouts is available."

"So they are looking for it...but that's all I've managed to find out here aside from the fact that they know even less about the pokemon itself than I do." Rina thought, then let out a sigh. "Thanks, I was hoping there might be more info than that though."

"We can't help not knowing much about this pokemon." The woman replied with a shrug, not even looking back at her. She then closed out the screen on Deoxys and went back to her previous task, vigorously typing away as if trying to make up for the wasted minute.

"I guess thats true." Rina said. "Coming all the way here just to hear that kinda feels like a waste though. Maybe Ashley will find out something interesting about that silly rock." The woman at the computer suddenly twitched and stopped typing.

"-Uh oh...I don't think you should have said that...-" Pippi said, quickly moving behind Rina and sitting on top of her backpack.

"Wh-what did I say?!" Rina said in confusion as she slowly backed away.

"I won't tolerate anyone calling that rock 'silly'!" The woman growled. She quickly stood up, knocking her chair over in the process. She roughly grabbed Rina by the hand and dragged her toward the door, then shoved her outside and slammed the door shut behind her.

Rina turned and stared blinking in disbelief for several moments before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Now I'm getting curious about that rock..."

"-Do humans always get touchy over these things?-" Pippi asked Rina.

"Sometimes you never know what will set someone off..." Rina replied, sighing again.


Meanwhile, on the observation deck...

"That must be the guy over there." Ashley thought. Staring out the large window lining the wall of the observation deck was the silver haired man Ashley was told to seek out. "What's with that suit though? It looks so...tacky." She shrugged to herself and then approached the man.

"Excuse me, are you the rock expert?" Ashley asked the man.

"That would be me." The man replied, running his fingers back through his hair as he turned to Ashley. "I am Steven Stone, the...'rock expert' as you put it." He paused for a moment. "I assure you my fascination with rare rocks and stones has nothing to do with the name..."

"I wasn't going to say anything about that, but now that you point it out that is a bit suspicious." Ashley thought. Before she could say anything in response, another thought struck her.

"Wait, Steven Stone? Melany's older brother?"

"You've met her?" Steven chuckled. "Well that comes as a bit of a surprise. She's usually the least recognizeable in our family, though she has managed to stir up quite a bit of trouble recently."

"Well isn't that quite the coincidence." Aisha said to a dumbfounded Ashley.

"That IS quite the coincidence..." Ashley mumbled under her breath.

"I hope she hasn't been causing you too much trouble." Steven said, smiling lightly.

"Tell him if he's willing to listen I've got a long list of complaints about that girl." Aisha said in a very bitter tone.

"Oh, no! We've been helping each other out a lot lately!" Ashley replied, ignoring Aisha's request. "Anyway, I was hoping you could tell me about that white rock outside." Ashley thought for a moment. "Also...what's a 'rock expert' doing at a space center anyway?"

"That rock...hmm..." Steven looked out the window at the rocket, currently being worked on by several engineers. Panels along the rocket's fuselage were left open, exposing the working parts inside. "Well...to put it bluntly, that rock wasn't formed by natural causes." He replied. "In fact, after running some tests, we have found what seems to be a crystal inside the rock. The rock itself seems as though it might be a disguise of sorts, somehow formed by the crystal."

"A crystal? Was there another one aside from the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald?" Ashley asked Aisha.

"There were many crystals, but most had very limited powers." Aisha replied. "Even in my time, those crystals were beginning to lose their powers. They most certainly couldn't create a rock large enough to hide in, nor would there likely be any spirits residing in the crystals to do such. It is likely this one is something different entirely."

Ashley nodded slightly, accepting Aisha's answer, then decided to try to get more information from Steven. "Steven, how big would you say that crystal is?"

"It would be slightly over a foot in length and about half as thick." Steven replied, remembering the crystal's size quite well. He smirked to himself and turned back to face Ashley. "Legend has it that there is a powerful pokemon that awakens only for seven days, once every thousand years. While it sleeps for a millenia, this pokemon takes the form of a crystal."

"So then...you think this crystal might be that pokemon?"

Steven shrugged. "Its a possibility, but we have way of knowing at this time. To be on the safe side, we left the rock intact and kept this information to ourselves. Though we have no way of knowing when it will next awaken, it might not even be in our lifetime, its for the best that no one knows."

"Then why are you telling me?"

Steven chuckled and brushed his hair back before replying. "Well, silly me..." Steven's voice suddenly grew dark. "I suppose I'll have to kill you now to make sure this doesn't get out!"

"Wh-what?!" Ashley yelled, taking a step back in shock. Steven laughed and patted her on the shoulder.

"Just kidding! Though I will have to ask you to keep this to yourself." Steven said to her. "And especially don't tell Melany, or else she will almost definitely try to crack it."

Ashley let out a relieved sigh. "Right...I'll keep that in mind..."

"As for your other question, the reason I'm here..." Steven turned to look out the window for a moment, drawing out his response. A smirk formed on his lips and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, isn't it natural that a 'rock' expert is involved with 'rock'et science." He eventually replied, putting emphasis on the word 'rock'.

"Urk..." Ashley twitched and clenched her fists tightly. "I should have known we weren't getting out of here without someone making a rock joke..."

"What do you mean? This rocket has nothing to do with rocks? Then why is it called a rocket?" Aisha asked Ashley.

"Nevermind..."

"No? Not even a snicker?" Steven chuckled to himself and looked back at Ashley. "Well I thought it was a good one. In any case, the reason I'm here is because I have a personal interest in the space program. For that reason I've been providing them with some funding and supplies."

"So your involvement with the space center isn't because they need the expertise of a rock expert."

"Of course not, they have no need for such expertise. Though they were impressed with the lucky charm I gave them." Steven chuckled to himself. "In any case, were there any other questions?"

Ashley shook her head. "No, I think that's everything. I was just curious really, I didn't expect to find out there could be some kind of legendary pokemon sealed inside."

"Well, you never know where a legendary pokemon will show up these days. They've become rather...common lately." Steven winked at her. "Wouldn't you say?"

"Err...well...I guess that's kinda true..." Ashley quietly admitted. There was no denying that pokemon that had previously only appeared in legends were suddenly showing up everywhere. Especially not while she had four such pokemon herself. "Well anyway, I should probably get going now! Thanks for telling me about the rock!" Ashley turned and quickly left the observation deck and Steven couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Quite common indeed..." He said to himself, turning to look out the window again and folding his hands behind his back. "It seems the pokemon sleeping in that rock may very well wake up soon..."


Having been kicked out of the space center and still waiting for Ashley, Rina decided to check out the strange rock again. Kneeling in front of it, with Pippi beside her, Rina stared at it intently for several minutes and then let out a sigh.

"No matter how I look at it...its still just a rock." She said.

"-Maybe it powers the rockets?-" Pippi suggested, still knowing next to nothing about how rockets actually work.

"I don't think that's it..." Rina replied, smiling sheepishly. Looking at the rock again, she let out another sigh. "Still, I don't see what's so special about it..."

"Perhaps the real secret is inside the rock itself."

"Huh?" Rina blinked. Thinking it over, she squinted her eyes at the rock. "You know, I never thought about it that way before..." After staring at it for a moment, she frowned. "How would anything have gotten inside? I don't know if I can believe that..."

"Don't believe it? Yet, there is undoubtedly something special about this rock, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess thats true." Rina replied, nodding in agreement.

"The only logical answer is that 'something' is something you cannot see just by looking at it."

"That makes sense I guess." Rina gave a slight shrug. "Well, if there's anything special about it, Ashley will find out."

"One more thing..."

"Hmm?"

"Who is it you've been talking to all this time?"

Rina blinked. Until now, she hadn't given it any thought, carrying an entire conversation with an unfamiliar voice. She quickly stood up and turned around, finding herself face to face with a mysterious cloaked figure. The man was accompanied by none other than Duke, the ex-champion of Kanto.

"You...! Who are you?!" Rina demanded. Pippi quickly moved in front of Rina to protect her. Sparks shot across Pippi's cheeks, indicating she was already charged and ready to fire an electric attack.

"I am someone who will be taking that rock." The cloaked figure replied calmly.

"Heh. Boss, you want me to deal with this one?" Duke asked him.

"No need." The figure replied, waving him off while reaching into his cloak with his other hand. "Her pokemon is of no threat."

"-No threat?! I'm not going to sit back and take that!-" Pippi growled. She fired a Thunderbolt at the cloaked figure, but suddenly a pokemon appeared before him to take the attack instead. A pokemon with a rock hide appeared and took the Thunderbolt attack to its gut, but was seemingly unharmed. Sand then began to billow out from its body, creating a sandstorm around them.

"What kind of pokemon is that?!" Rina exclaimed in shock.

"As I said, your pokemon are of no threat to me." The cloaked figure said to her. "Now, I suggest you stand down."

"No way!" Rina shot back. "Pippi, that pokemon's obviously a ground type! Hit it with Surf!"

"-Got it!-" Pippi replied affirmatively. She summoned up a wall of water from under her and rode on top of it as it moved across the field. She jumped off at the last second, just as it came crashing down on the rock skinned beast. The pokemon grunted in pain but easily withstood the attack.

"What kind of strength does that pokemon have?!" Rina wondered in disbelief.

"Tyranitar, Hyper Beam." Tyranitar turned its head toward Pippi and then fired a massive energy beam from its mouth. Pippi cried out and disappeared from view, her body completely engulfed by the beam. Rocks and dust were sent flying in every direction from where the Hyper Beam attack hit the ground, leaving a fair sized crater with an unconscious Pippi lying in the center.

"Pippi!" Rina cried out in dismay. She quickly grabbed Pippi's pokeball and recalled her. As she reached for another pokeball, however, she suddenly found a pair of green hands grabbing each of her arms. A Sceptile had managed to sneak up on her and grab her. "When did he..."

"There is no escape for you now. The final piece of the puzzle is in place." The cloaked figure said. He then snapped his fingers. "Tyranitar, grab the rock."

"The rock?" Rina watched in confusion as the Tyranitar, after recovering from Hyper Beam, moved toward the rock. The sandstorm surrounding it enveloped Rina as Tyranitar moved closer, forcing her to close her eyes. She could still hear the pokemon grunt from the effort of lifting the white rock that was behind her. With the sandstorm around her, and Sceptile still holding her hands, Rina couldn't even open her mouth to call for help without breathing in sand.

Though she was now unable to do anything about it, Rina was finally starting to realize that there was more to the space center's lucky charm than meets the eye. "That rock...there's definitely something special about it then! And this guy is stealing it!" She thought. "He said its the 'final piece of the puzzle'...is this what we've been trying to stop all along? Does this mean...we failed?"

"Rina!" Ashley finally arrived on the scene. Exiting the space center's main door, she could the situation Rina was in below. The cloaked man happened to look up at her, giving Ashley a glimpse of his face. "That guy...where have I seen him before?"

"Seems we have company." The cloaked figure muttered to himself. "Duke, I will be taking my leave now. Clean up here."

"Alright, you're the boss." Duke replied with a nod. The cloaked figure reached into his cloak and pressed a button on a remote he had hidden away. The cloaked man and his pokemon disappeared, taking Rina and the mysterious rock with them. The sandstorm died down as well.

"RINA!" Ashley cried out in dismay.

"I wouldn't worry about her, you have your own problems to deal with." Duke said to Ashley. "Even without any enslaved pokemon with me, I am more than a match for you."

"I already know I can take you down easily enough." Ashley thought, recalling her previous battle with him. Though he had used Mewtwo, she had also faced three of his own pokemon and defeated them with little effort. "Charizard, I choose you!" She called out, holding out a pokeball and releasing Charizard. She aimed down the hill, releasing him near where the white rock was and then running down a set of stairs in front of the space center to join him. Charizard let out a roar as he appeared, looking eager for a fight.

"Heh heh heh. Not too bright, are ya?" Duke said mockingly. He quickly took aim at Charizard with a slave collar launcher attached to his wrist. "Slave collar, I choose you!" Duke called out as he fired a collar at Charizard. The collar snapped around Charizard's neck, giving Duke full control over it.

"Damn it! I forgot about the slave collars!" Ashley growled under her breath.

"This could end badly..." Aisha said.

"Now, Charizard, attack..." Before Duke could finish the command, the device on his wrist was suddenly crushed. "What the?!" Duke held up his arm, staring at the broken device in disbelief. With the launcher, which doubled as the control unit for the collars, destroyed, the collar on Charizard's neck was rendered useless. The fire pokemon let out a growl and snapped the collar off.

"-Damn it...can't believe I was almost enslaved again...-" Charizard grumbled.

"Now, now. That's hardly fighting fair, is it?"

"That voice!" Ashley looked up and saw Steven standing at the Space Center entrance with a Metagross standing in front of him.

"Damn it...so you're here too, huh?" Duke growled as he quickly reached for a pokeball. "Fine! I'll take you both on then! Ninetales, go!" Duke held out the pokeball he grabbed and released Ninetales onto the field.

"Both of us?" Steven chuckled. "I'm not convinced a trainer like you could handle either of us. Metagross..." Steven stretched out his hand, gesturing toward Ninetales. "Meteor Mash." Metagross hovered off the ground and took off toward Ninetales. With one claw-tipped limb held out and a fiery aura surrounding it, Steven's Metagross shot toward Ninetales like a meteor.

"Can Steven actually take on Duke?" Ashley wondered. "I mean, attacking a fire pokemon with a steel attack is kinda..."

Before Ashley could finish that thought, Metagross' attack connected. Ninetales cried out in pain, but the cry quickly diminished as it was tossed back by the tremendous force of the attack. The fire pokemon bounced along the ground, falling down several cliff faces until finally skidding to a stop in the shallow water on the sandbar surrounding Mossdeep island. With one attack, which Ninetales was supposed to be resistant to, the fire pokemon was down for the count.

"I...I guess...he can..." Ashley thought, her jaw hanging loosely as she stared in shock. She quickly shook her head, snapping out of her shock. "Well if that's the case..."

"NINETALES!" Duke called out to his pokemon. From where he was standing he could just barely see its unconscious form lying in the water.

"I would be more worried about yourself." Steven said to Duke.

Duke quickly turned around, looking as if he was going to say something back to Steven, but found Ashley's fist connecting with his jaw instead. Duke grunted and staggered back from the blow, but then suddenly started laughing

"Hahaha...you've got guts coming after a tough guy li-OY!" Duke's voice left him as Ashley followed up her punch with a swift kick to the crotch. The 'tough guy' dropped to the ground in tremendous pain.

"Where. The. Hell. Did. You. Take. Rina!" Ashley demanded, punctuating each word by stomping on Duke's crotch. Naturally, he was unable to muster up any response at all while Ashley attacked him. His attempt's to speak came out only as a high pitched whine.

"He won't be able to reply if you keep that up." Steven said to Ashley as he walked down the flight of steps going down the hill. "If you intend to learn anything from him, perhaps you should give him a chance to respond first?"

"Fine." Ashley grumbled. She quickly reached down and pulled off Duke's pokeball belt, then tossed it over near Charizard and stood back. "Now, tell me where your buddy took Rina or else I'll make sure there's never a Duke junior!"

"Trainer...hill..." Duke wheezed in response. "He took her... to Trainer's Hill... said he'd need... insurance... for when you guy's... show up... "

"Hmph. So, he's the one calling the shots then." Ashley muttered to herself, then turned to Steven. "Hey, can you get the police here to take this guy in?"

Steven nodded to her and smiled. "Of course, I didn't have anything important to be doing anyway." Ashley nodded and walked off out of earshot of Steven while taking out the pokenav given to her by May.

"-Damn it. I was really looking forward to a fight after that.-" Charizard grumbled, snapping his fingers.

"Interesting. Looks like things are finally coming to a close here." Aisha said to Ashley.

"The sooner the better." Ashley muttered to herself. "If that rock is what Steven said it is, then Rina getting kidnapped again might be the least of our worries..."


Author's Notes: Was going to have Ashley actually battle it out with Duke, but the end result would have been more or less the same. Only with Duke's Pokemon getting beaten by Ashley's Pokemon instead of Duke getting beaten by Ashley.

I think this is the closest to an actual battle Steven's been shown in throughout either this saga or the Hoenn saga. Though its probably pretty obvious from what his Metagross did, the strength of Steven's pokemon is based off his post Elite Four appearance in Meteor Falls.

On another note, any guesses as to who the cloaked guy is and why Ashley might recognize him from somewhere? Also, naturally, there is a pokemon in that rock. No doubt you can tell what it is now. We're fast approaching the final showdown now!