Note: Another day, another chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy.


Another mountain.

Yellow felt like she was getting far too used to a very specific sight. The gaping maw of a mountain entrance, forever dark and foreboding, promising secrets hidden in a cavernous, dark abyss. This one might have been the worst of all. An active volcano. The question that she guessed was on everybody's mind was 'exactly how active."

"This is it, the western entrance," Kiawe said.

"Let's not waste any time," The younger Gladion said as they entered.

At the very least, Yellow was starting to get used to the winding, rock-laden corridors. In the crevices she could see the usual denizens, Zubats and Geodudes. These geodudes in particular had little black rocks adorning their heads, and their rocky skin was a lighter shade of gray than the ones she was used to. Yellow also noticed that they seemed to be… scared, but scared of what?

Considering what she had seen during the past few weeks, there were a lot of potential answers.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Gladion said as he pulled out his pokedex. On it was a small digital map of the Volcanos tunnel system. "We're going to reach the core in a second. Watch your step.:"

Just as Gladion said, the trainers saw light pouring in through the end of the tunnel. Though it was… not sunlight. Rather than the warm, welcoming glow of the Alolan sun, it was a vibrant, hazy purple.

"What's that?" Yellow asked.

"Guess there's one way to find out,'' the younger Kiawe said. "Let's go."

The group rushed towards the light. They crossed the passage into a gigantic cavern, the heart of Mount Akala. What they expected was a large magma pool sitting at the bottom of the cavern, contrasting with the Alola sun pouring in from above. However, as they looked down over a small ledge, the entirety of the cavern was filled with a viscous, purple substance. It almost seemed like lava, though the rugged surface formed by the melting mineral deposits looked oddly smooth. Furthermore, within the 'purple lava' were large, angular white crystals.

Throughout their short trek into the tunnel, none of the trainers noticed that they couldn't feel the heat of the lava. They had also failed to notice that they were feeling somewhat… lighter.

"Hey, guys…" Gladion was the first to feel his feet leave the ground. "Somethings wrong with the…"

He was cut off, as everyone was suddenly tossed into the air, flying over the central cavern and hovering right above the purple lava below.

"Charizard, come out!" The older Kiawe's Charizard burst forth from its ball. It flapped its large wings against the invisible force to no avail. Quickly, it found itself stuck in place, like all the others.

"Oh no…" Yellow whispered, as the gravity holding them released its grip, sending the trainers plummeting below.


Ash felt like he was becoming an expert at this whole "diving into dangerous mountains" thing.

In his younger years he had certainly traversed through his fair share of ominous caves. He'd even run into another one of his look-alikes in a tunnel system back in Kalos. It was quite a lame version of himself, though Ash wondered what had ever become of him. Perhaps the other Ash had found his fighting spirit during the time when he had lost his own.

"This is… odd…" Moon said.

"How so?" Gladion asked.

"We're currently heading towards the core of the volcano. And yet… the temperature doesn't seem to be going up."

"Now that you mention it… I'm starting to feel a little chilly," Sun chimed. "Guess that's pretty weird when you're in the middle of a volcano."

"I doubt it has much to do with the shards. It might be because of that second anomaly," Gladeon said.

"That could be it… but… I don't know," Ash chimed. "I still don't really understand what they can do… and I've already collected three of them…"

"But according to what you and Yellow have written to the professors… they haven't been analyzed to do anything once they have been collected," Moon said, as she tapped on her pokedex. "We must make a right up ahead, and then down towards the base of Akala. It's a bit away from the primary magma chamber."

Soon enough, the trainers made their way to the descending chamber. A long, unnervingly flat tunnel leading straight down towards what the trainers imagined was a gaping abyss.

"Pika?" Pikachu said, worryingly.

"Yep… we have to get down there," Ash took a tepid step unto the slanted surface. His shoe could barely get a grip on it.

"This is an oddly smooth lava duct," Moon analyzed. "It's gonna be hard to get a grip with our shoes. Maybe we should use some of our pokémon to.."

"You ready Pikachu!?" Ash cried with childlike exuberance. Before the little pokémon could question, and likely protest, what his trainer was about to do, Ash grabbed him tightly and leaped down into the lava duct, his back sliding easily against the smooth rock surface.

"Yahaaaaaaaaa…"

In almost an instant, he was gone, leaving the other trainers stunned.

"... and I thought he changed…" Gladion said.

"My sister told me he was prone to some… unusual behaviors…" Moon commented, peering down into the duct.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Sun chimed, grabbing Moon's arm. "Let's follow him Ms. Customer Package!"

"Wait… Sun, we should…" Too late. The momentum of his hold dragged her right unto the corridor, and before she knew is, she was right next to Sun sliding down the lava duct.

"Waaiitt a seeccoooonnnn…"

"Figures…" Gladion sighed as he propped himself up, sitting at the edge of the duct. "Maybe I should have gone with the other team…"

A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he pushed himself into the winding darkness, as his voice joined the choir of cheers.


The fall happened in less than a second, but it felt like an eternity. Perhaps the feeling would have gone away if they had hit the ground. They didn't.

Yellow was the first to open her eyes. She was on her back, staring up into the sky past the mouth of the volcano. She swore that it stretched up for miles. There was something else too. Small, hazy blots in her vision. She wiped her eyes, assuming it was just some dirt. They didn't go away. As her vision cleared, she realized that it wasn't something affecting her vision at all. It was clumps of rocks, suspended in the air. The clumps ranged from tiny pebbles to large boulders the size of her head, and they were everywhere.

As she tried to get her bearings, her heart jumped a little as she placed her palm to the ground. Or at least… tried to. While she couldn't feel a solid surface, her hand flattened out against an invisible pressure. It was at that moment that she realized that she wasn't on the floor, or, more precisely, there wasn't a floor at all. Her whole body was hovering inches above the ground.

The jolted up, looking around herself for the other trainers. They were all there. The Kiawes and Gladion… they were all hovering above the purple lava swirling beneath them.

"Hey… is everyone okay?" She called.

"Ya… we're fine, mostly," The older Kiawe said, catching his breath. Yellow recalled that he was screaming the loudest on the way down.

"Senior Yellow… what are we gonna do now?" Gladion asked. Yellow pulled out her pokedex. They had certainly descended into the volcano's interior, no surprise there. What was slightly more surprising…

"Guys… the second anomaly… it's right… here…"

"What? What do you me…"

Gladion was interrupted when the larger stones that were suspended in the air suddenly burst in tiny crystalline shards that flew in almost all directions.

"Charizard?! Use flamethrower!" Kiawe commanded, as the large pokémon unleashed a cone of searing flame.

"Kitty!" Yellow tossed out a pokeball, releasing her Butterfree, a large, purple, butterfly-like pokemon. "Use gusts on the crystals!"

The pokemon spread its wings, unleashing a blast of air that collided with the Charizards fiery breath, turning the flamethrower into a spiral torrent of flame that seared the crystals on impact.

"Has anyone been hit?" Yellow asked.

"We're all good…" Gladion responded.

The group frantically looked around themselves, searching for the assailant. Left, right, forward, up, down…

It was down, swimming beneath them, down in the purple lava. Something long and serpentine, but still a gray blur. A blur that was getting bigger… and bigger…

"Charizard! Use..!"

It happened again, before Kiawe could give out another command, the trainers suddenly found themselves in the air again.

"Not agaaaiiinnn," The younger Kiawe cried out, spinning in place.

"What's happening?!" Yellow panicked, also flailing.

That's when they finally heard it. A loud, ominous rumble ripped through the air, as the gray blur burst through the ground, flying towards the trainers.

The pokémon… looked like an Onix. The silhouette was certainly there. The main body was composed of multiple, large sized boulders giving it the general appearance of a large snake. But dotting the surface of the creature were large, irregular, purplish crystal growths, organized into two distinct, perfectly symmetrical rows flowing down the creature's back.

"On-ixxxx," the creature bellowed, a roar that ripped through the trainers' souls. The Onix charged towards the trainers, before suspending itself between the 4 of them.

"That is one strange looking Onix," Gladion said as the pokémon stared at him. It looked amongst the trainers, one by one. It paid particular attention to Yellow.

"Hello… ummm…" she stuttered as the Pokémon leered up to her. As it crept up to her, she could feel the pressure in the air slightly increase, as she was pulled slightly closer to it by the gravitational force that had kept them airborne this entire time.

"Senior Yellow!" The younger Kiawe called as he pulled out a pokeball. "Go, Maraw…"

"Wait a second!" Yellow shouted towards him. He lowered the ball, watching silently.

"You're… not like other Onix's." She raised her glowing palm towards the Pokémon.

"You sure about this, senior?" Gladion asked.

"It's alright," Yellow said, completely focused on the Pokémon in front of her. The Onix was clearly observing her, its eyes trained on her palm.

"So… why don't you tell us about yourself," Yellow said as she placed her palm on the head of the beast.

In that moment, she awoke herself to the world.


Certainly there must have been a better way to get deeper into the volcano.

Though Galdion would never admit it, Ash certainly picked the most fun method. He just have known, considering the smile on the other trainer's face as Gladion reached the bottom of the lava duct, finding himself in another large section of the volcano's tunnel system.

"Wow Gladion, I think you were screaming the loudest out of all of us," Ash said, offering his hand to help Galdion up.

"Pika!" Pikachu concurred.

"Wasn't that loud…" Gladion took his hand.

"Unfortunately senior Gladion, you sounded quite ecstatic on your way down," Moon said as she pulled out her Pokédex. "We're very close to the first anomaly. It should be just ahead of us."

The four trainers continued down the dark, winding tunnels, the Pokédex leading them through the maze-like tunnels. The dark corridors seemed to be closing in on them. It was difficult to tell if that was actually the case, or if the situation was starting to drive the trainers mad.

"Right here. Just around this corner is the source…" Moon said.

"Everyone, be ready for anything…" Gladion said. The other trainers kept their hands over their pokeballs.

The trainers turned the corner to find…

A door.

An absolutely massive, ornate stone door. Intricate patterns that seemed to be of storms and rain were painted along its surface. At least… that's what it seemed like at first…

"Look at that. It's like stars!" Sun said. The other trainers noticed it too. The small droplets of 'rain' had a faint, purple glow to them, and the seemingly random swirling patterns weren't nearly as random as they first appeared. The swirls coalesced around a central group of 'stars', forming the shape of a galaxy.

"That's certainly the source of the anomaly," Moon said.

"But senior Ash… what is that?" Sun asked.

"I… don't know… we haven't seen anything like this before."

"Pika-chuuuuu…"

"I know Pikachu. You think the shard's in there, too?"

"Chuuu…" Pikachu said, hesitantly.

"Wait… look at the center," Moon said, as the center swirl of the galaxy began to shift right in front of them. With an almost uncanny elegance the stars realigned from a nebulous blob to a near perfect handprint.

"That's a…" Gladion said as about to urge caution, before Ash suddenly moved towards the door. "Wait, Ash?! We don't…"

"I have to do this," Ash interrupted, as he placed his palm at the center of the door.

In that moment, he awoke himself to the world.