Part CXI: Mega Stone Hunting

"Ok the cave should be under here according to Korrina." May said as they reached the edge of a cliff a day's walk north of Shalour City as the coastline went. "Not sure how to safely check though."

"Leave that to me." Ash said pulling out a Poke Ball. "Fletchinder, I choose you."

Ash threw the Poke Ball into the air and a moment later the dual fire and flying type burst from the ball. Fletchinder cawed as he was freed and turned to flap in front of Ash as he awaited orders from his trainer.

"Fletchinder, there is supposed to be a cave set into the cliff." Ash said. "Can you fly down and confirm it? If it is there then I can use Charizard to get us there one by one."

Fletchinder cawed again and nodded before turning and flying over the edge of the cliff. He then dove from sight and began to look for the cave Ash said should be here.

"Of course, how could I forget that Ash always has a flying type on him." May said as Misty and Serena laughed at her mistake. "Fletchinder will be able confirm it."

It was two days after Ash's gym battle with Korrina and they had gone to find the Mega Stone that Korrina said Professor Sycamore had detected in this area. Korrina herself would have come but there were a few challengers in town and with the slightly problematic nature of accessing the Shalour gym she had to stay and face them.

As such, Ash and his friends had gone without her to find it as it wasn't that far out of the way for them. They had spent the night at the gym sharing many stories with Korrina while hers and Ash's Pokémon were healed after their battle before heading north the day before to find the cave.

The plan was a simple one. They were going to get the Mega Stone and take it back to the gym to be tested. Professor Sycamore was already on the way and would be in Shalour in two days so it would all work out.

Apparently Sycamore had a special, portable, testing machine with him so that he could run the Mega Stone's special energy right away and use that to figure out which Pokémon it was compatible with. Ash had no idea how it all worked but it sounded cool, and he couldn't wait to test it.

The only problem had been getting to the cave that it should be in. According to Korrina it was set into the cliff and could only be accessed by repelling down or with a flying type strong enough to carry someone on its back. Fortunately, they had the latter with Ash's Charizard. All they had to do was confirm that the cave was there.

That came a moment later when Fletchinder flew back up and cawed for their attention. They all looked at him and he nodded in confirmation that there was a cave down there just as they'd been told there would be.

"Where is it?" Ash asked.

Fletchinder simply flew to the left a little and then bobbed his head down. They figured that it must be where the cave was but how far down they didn't know.

"OK stay out Fletchinder." Ash said pulling out another Poke Ball and really glad he'd listened to Professor Sycamore and kept this one on him after his battle with Kenny as Charizard was going to come in handy right now. "I may need you later."

"Wait Ash, I think you should go alone." Misty said as Fletchinder cawed and everyone else looked at her confused. "What? It makes the most sense to only have one of us go and get it."

"It does?" Serena asked. "How so?"

"Well Ash is the only one with a Pokémon who can get there." Misty said simply. "None of us have a flying type on us, or at least one that can carry us as I don't think your Vivillon can do that Serena."

"I don't think so." Serena said shaking her head and thinking on it. "Maybe, they are stronger then they look but I've never heard of it."

"A Vivillon can do that, but it requires a lot of training and trust as the trainer has to hang from its feet." May said. "Which also means that the Vivillon has to be pretty strong in the first place and Serena's isn't strong enough, at least not yet. Viola did that during the incident at the end of last year before she was knocked out of it to allow me and Alain to keep going forward."

"Yeah mine is nowhere near that level, it evolved way to recently so I can't ask it to try, especially not over the side of a cliff." Serena said. "I presume that Viola has had hers for a long time so they can do it."

"Exactly and Malamar doesn't know Psychic so she can't help." Misty said. "Not that she'd agree anyway. I think asking her to use Psychic and take me over a cliff edge and down to a cave would constitute something stupid in her book and slap me for suggesting it."

The sound of a Poke Ball opening cut the air as Misty finished speaking and Malamar appeared before her. All Malamar did was cross her tentacles and nod in agreement at Misty's assessment of the situation, it was incredibly stupid to ask something like that.

Her trainer was learning, slowly but she was learning, which was better than her mate. If even half the stories Pikachu had told her were true, and she had no reason to doubt him, then he was a lost cause when it came to stupidity.

"See, Malamar agrees." Misty said deciding not to return her just yet as Machamp decided to get out of his Poke Ball as well to keep an eye on Malamar and Misty just ignored them. "So, Ash is the only one with a Pokémon capable of safely getting him there and one who can save him if it is dangerous, which is another reason why it should only be one of us as the rest of us can stay here to help if something like that happens."

"Alright sounds good to me, we let him go and get the stone by himself and set up camp here." May said with a nod. "We can get lunch ready while Ash sorts it out."

"Plus, it might be hard to ask Charizard to carry people who aren't me." Ash admitted. "So that works for me. Charizard, come on out."

Ash opened his Poke Ball and one of his oldest and strongest Pokémon appeared before him belching flames into the sky. He had been thrilled when Ash had decided to keep him around for a bit and seeing this new region was fun. Hopefully Ash would let him battle some more, he still wanted to make up for that loss several months ago and restore his image as Ash's top Pokémon back at the ranch.

"Charizard, I need your help." Ash said to his Pokémon. "Do you think you can fly me and Pikachu to a cave in the cliff, Fletchinder will show you the way to it. After that I will keep you out as I may need your protection down there."

Charizard looked at his trainer and nodded as Fletchinder explained the situation to his fellow fire and flying type. This sounded like an adventure like the old days and Charizard had missed them. Naturally, he would do this for Ash and if his trainer needed protection, which was more often than not knowing Ash's asinine habit of getting himself into dangerous situations, he'd be there to remind him of his strength.

"Thank you." Ash said as Charizard lowered his neck and Ash climbed into his back, Pikachu leaping forward to sit in front of Ash and chat with his buddy as they flew. "I'll be back soon."

Ash didn't hear the others as Charizard took off and soared into the air. It had been a long time since Ash had ridden Charizard, the last time had been when he'd crossed Johto to reach Misty as fast as possible if he recalled, and he could help but cheer as he felt the wind in his hair and Charizard flew around a bit to show off. They didn't do this often, but Ash felt that they should do it more, it was a lot of fun and a great way to deepen their already deep bond.

They flew around for a bit with Fletchinder flying by their side before the Kalos Pokémon dove down and Charizard followed his new friend and potential protégé given their identical type combinations. Together they dove past the edge of the cliff and then flew out a to see a bit so that they had space. Then Fletchinder turned and Charizard followed him in a wider arc due to his size, well that and Ash was on his back. That allowed Ash to see the cave.

It was right below where Fletchinder had said it was and halfway up the cliff. It was too low from the cliff's edge to reach with anything short of a rope, not even a Vine Whip would likely reach it. Even if it could, the cave was set into the cliff with no ledge or anything. The only safe way into it was by flying in on a Pokémon capable of carrying a person. Somehow Ash felt that that was important, but he couldn't figure out why.

Whatever the case, Charizard just flew forward and followed Fletchinder into the cave. It was easily large enough to fit him and as soon as they passed through the entrance Ash saw that the interior was a lot larger than he expected it to be. If he understood how rocks worked he would have known that the outer rock was different from the inner one. The outer one was tougher than the interior rock hence the small opening compared to the wide cavern they were currently in.

As Charizard landed and Ash got off him, he tried to fathom the cavern that he was in. It was large, and he almost fell off a ledge as he tried to walk forward. Only Charizard grabbing his shoulder at the last minute saved him for falling into the pit. All Ash could do was stare in amazement at the natural room.

The cavern fell all the way to the sea as Ash could see the water inside it though the entrance must not have been large as it wasn't frothing but pretty calm down there. There were also a series of stalagmites that appeared to be growing from the sea floor and forming a series of rock pillars of different heights in the cave, some large enough that they might be able to support Ash's weight.

That wasn't all though. As Ash looked up he saw the ceiling of the cave a good 20 feet above him and he hoped that it was thick enough for the clifftop though he was pretty sure that it was. Stretching out from the ceiling were many stalactites that reached down all the way to eye level in places and created a field of rocks from both above and below.

All in all, it was an impressive natural wonder and almost unbelievable sight. Ash wasn't sure many had seen it given the cave's entrance and took a moment to marvel at the beauty of the cavern before him. It was a sight for sure, he just wished the others could see it.

However, he had a job to do here so he was going to do it. He didn't have anything to search the area for the Mega Energy that the stone apparently gave off according to Korrina but as he could see the back wall of the cavern he knew that it had to be here. Somehow, he got the feeling that he was supposed to use a flying type to search the area and with the large number of stalactites, Fletchinder was the best Pokémon for the job.

"Fletchinder." Ash said holding up his arm so that the Ember Pokémon could land on it. "There should be a Mega Stone here that I need you to retrieve for me. Charizard show Fletchinder yours so that Fletchinder knows what to look like."

Charizard grunted in agreement and held up his forearm where the gauntlet that held his Charizardite was. Fletchinder looked at the round, orange stone with a red and yellow swirl in the middle of it that was set into the gauntlet. He'd seen it many times before, had heard what it did and how it corresponded to the stone in Ash's glove but hadn't really looked at it in detail before. Now he did as it seemed important to Ash.

"There is a stone like it somewhere in here." Ash said gesturing to the room at large. "It probably isn't the exact same as the one Charizard has, I've seen a few other Mega Stones and know that each is slightly different, but they all have that swirl in it. Can you search and see if you find it and then report back to me? I think it's a test of sorts but why I don't know."

Fletchinder cawed and nodded before he hopped off Ash's arm and took flight, looping around Ash and Charizard before heading out into the cavern. It was large but not too large to search due to his size and with his speed and agility, tested by weaving in and out of the rocks, Fletchinder could glide around and look for the stone.

He started low near the water and went around the pillars of rocks in a pattern that allowed him to train his own flying while searching at the same time. Steadily he made his way up them and didn't find anything, just brown rocks and that was it. That meant that it had to be in the rocks attached to the ceiling of the cavern.

Again, he searched the rocks, this time the ones that were hanging for reasons he didn't understand and weaved through them. They were too close for Charizard and probably would have been for him as well if he were a Talonflame but as a Fletchinder he was almost perfect for this place. Large enough to easily fly through the spikes and not too small to be unable to do so. He could do this for Ash without a problem.

It took a lot longer with the hanging spikes rather than the ones growing from the sea but in the end he found it. He almost missed it as it was in a stalactite near the part attached to the ceiling and in the back left corner of the cavern but as he was flying past it he saw an unnatural glow and that peaked his interest. Turning, he flew back and after a little more searching he saw it. It was just what he was supposed to find.

Half buried in the rock was a perfectly circular stone giving off a soft glow that seemed to come from within. It was orange but not the bright orange of Charizard's, rather a more muted one. The swirl within it was mainly cream colored with a reddish pink strand at the top and a thin pinkish one above it.

Naturally Fletchinder had no idea which Pokémon could use it, but Ash wanted it, so he was going to get it for him. Of course, the moment Fletchinder tried to take it out with his beak was the moment that everything went wrong.

As Fletchinder was about to grab the stone and see if he could free it with his beak, he felt his body stop and he couldn't move. He knew what this was in an instant, it was a psychic type move. Before he could react though, he was hurled away from the stone and crashed into a stalactite that shook it.

Shaking his head and flapping his wings to form a Razor Wind that hit his unseen opponent before it could attack again, Fletchinder flew away and around the rock spikes to get a look at the attacker. What he saw was a floating, very colorful Pokémon that seemed to be guarding the stone for some reason. It was clearly a flying type, or at least capable of flight, but it was one of the oddest Pokémon that Fletchinder had ever seen.

It had a roundish body with multiple colors on it and two black, three-pronged arm things out its side. It had some rudimentary wings sticking out of the yellow band near the top of its body. They were yellow with 4 large feathers tipped with a blue-red-blue stripped pattern. A similar wing shot out of it's base. It also had two odd white spikes above what Fletchinder was going to say was a tail. Lastly it had a black spike shooting out of the top of its body with a rounded middle part and blue and white eye thing.

All in all, Fletchinder had no idea what in Arceus's holy name it was, but it was in his way. He'd have to get rid of it to get the stone and the best way to do so was to attack it and then draw it back to Ash to help out with how to beat it as he trusted Ash to lead him to victory. With that in mind, Fletchinder made his move.

As the Pokémon was recovering from the Razor Wind, Fletchinder flew around a stalactite and activated his Steel Wing. Before it could react, Fletchinder slammed into it with his steel type attack causing it to let out a sound of pain from somewhere as Fletchinder couldn't see a mouth or beak on the thing. Then, as he passed it, Fletchinder cawed out a challenge to it and taunted it to come and get him before flying off.

After two hits and an unprovoked attack on Fletchinder to start the encounter, he knew that the thing would follow him. That was confirmed a moment later when he flew around a rock spike and it shattered from an attack. The Pokémon was definitely chasing him, so he was going to bring it to Ash to sort it out.

As for Ash, he and Charizard had been waiting for Fletchinder to come back. His Pokémon was taking a while, but Ash knew that it was because Fletchinder was being thorough in his search of the cavern. He hoped that his Pokémon had found the Mega Stone and was bringing it back. That hope changed when Charizard suddenly perked up at a sound near the back of the cavern.

Ash followed his old Pokémon's gaze out to the stalactite field just before he saw one of them explode. That was not a good sign, and he had no idea what was going on until he heard a caw and Fletchinder appeared from around a spike and flew towards him. On his tail, was of all things, a Sigilyph.

Why one of the odd Unova psychic and flying types was here of all places was anyone's guess, but Ash could see that Fletchinder had annoyed it and was coming back for help. Who was Ash to not assist his Pokémon.

"Fletchinder, that's a Sigilyph, a psychic and flying type but I don't think it can move as well as you can." Ash said as Sigilyph attacked again with what looked like Smack Down that Fletchinder avoided. "We can use that to our advantage. Distract it with a Razor Wind and hit it with Flame Charge."

Fletchinder cawed in agreement as he turned and avoided a slash of air, responding with a sharp flap of his wings that forced the Sigilyph to avoid it. As it was doing that, Fletchinder ignited his body and turned, approaching it from behind and using the stalactites to his advantage. Sigilyph didn't have a chance as it was just centering itself before Fletchinder suddenly appeared, a blazing bird that crashed into it before it could counter.

That had been more than enough for the Sigilyph, and it fell from the sky and towards the sea below as Fletchinder soared up into the air cawing his victory song. However, Ash suddenly saw a problem when he noticed that Sigilyph was out cold. It would hit the water and it likely couldn't swim.

There was only one thing Ash could think of doing to save Sigilyph as the Pokémon fell, he pulled an empty Poke Ball out and tossed it down at the unconscious Pokémon. It wasn't how he usually caught a Pokémon, but it was the best way to save it because he had a full team on him so if it were caught the ball would vanish and be sent to Professor Oak's lab where he could recall it and add it to his current rotation once the Professor evaluated it.

That is just what happened, the ball hit the Sigilyph before it hit the water and it was sucked up into the ball in a flash of red energy. The airtight ball then landed in the sea and Ash could see it bobbing and shaking there for a few moments before it stopped and then shrunk and vanished to show a successful capture as he was too far away to hear it.

"Alright, I just caught a Sigilyph." Ash said a little surprised at what just happened. "Not what I was planning but I'll take it. I don't have a psychic type other that Mr. Mime so it will be useful once the Professor gives me the ok to use it. Fletchinder, you alright?"

Fletchinder cawed as he flew back to hover in front of Ash, a little beat up but otherwise looking ok. He nodded and Ash realized that the only reason why the Flame Charge had worked so well was that the fight must have started earlier, possibly when Fletchinder found the stone, and he'd drawn it back to Ash to help him finish off. Fletchinder was showing how clever he was.

"Did you find the Sigilyph when you found the stone?" Ash asked and Fletchinder nodded at him again. "Ok, well done. I think it might have been guarding it or at least liked it enough to not let you steal it. Whatever the case, I caught it to save it so now it is part of the team."

Fletchinder cawed in approval at that. The Sigilyph had given him a good flight, he had to use all his skills to avoid the rocks it was throwing at him, so it would be a good ally on the team. Well, that and Ash likely had to catch it to save its life as it wasn't a water type so couldn't swim.

"Are you still able to get the stone?" Ash asked and Fletchinder nodded once more. "Ok go and get it and bring it back to me."

Fletchinder cawed, turned, and flew back to where the stone was. He vaguely remembered where it was but what helped was the trail of destruction that showed him roughly where he'd fled from as Sigilyph chased him. It took a little while but soon he found the Fletchinder shaped imprint on a rock spike and turned around it to see the stone right where he'd left it.

Without a distraction this time Fletchinder was able to fly to the stone and try and get it out. However, while he could get his beak around it, he couldn't pry it from the rock as it was buried too deeply into it. That was annoying but there was another way.

He flew back from it and then turned so that he had space and flew to build up speed. Then he activated his Steel Wing and headed back to the spike with the stone in it. As he got to it, he flew low so that his wing hit the rock just under the stone. His attack took out the bottom part of the spike and it fell to the sea below with a splash.

Fletchinder quickly turned around and flew back hoping he hadn't dislodged the stone as well. Thankfully, he hadn't, he'd just made sure that more of it was exposed. Now he could really get his beak properly around it and with a little effort he was able to pry it free. The advantage of being a bird, he had more mobility and leverage than other types of Pokémon and was able to get under it to free it before he fell down.

With a spread of his wings, Fletchinder rolled over and steadied himself before he flew back up and glided back to Ash. His prize was in his beak, Ash would be very happy with him for his work today.

Ash tried to watch where Fletchinder had gone but alas he couldn't as the stalactites, which was where the stone was apparently, were to numerous to follow Fletchinder too far into them. All he could so was wait.

He didn't have to wait long, and Ash's concentration was brought back to the task by a splash of something hitting the water at the far end of the cavern. He looked out and a few minutes later Fletchinder reappeared flying triumphantly towards him with something in his beak.

"Alright he got it." Ash cheered and Charizard roared his approval as Fletchinder reached them.

Fletchinder flew around them a few times before he landed on Ash's shoulder so that he could give Ash his prize. Ash held up his hand and Fletchinder deposited the stone in his hand before cawing again to signify a job well done.

"You were amazing Fletchinder." Ash said putting the stone into his other hand and carefully stroking Fletchinder's head. "Do you want a break until we get back to the girls and you can get a nice meal with some berries and poffins? You deserve it after what you just did."

Fletchinder just nodded and Ash pulled out his Poke Ball and returned the Kalos flying type for a well needed rest. Once Fletchinder's ball was away, Ash inspected the Mega Stone he'd retrieved for him.

It was just like Charizard's in terms of size and the way it had a swirl in it but that was where the similarities ended. The color was different, and the swirl pattern wasn't the same and had 3 not 2 colors on it.

"Well, it's definitely not for you buddy." Ash said and Charizard shook his head, unlike the one he had he felt no tie to it on an unquantifiable level so it definitely wouldn't work on him. "I wonder which Pokémon can use this?"

Charizard just shrugged and Ash had to agree with him on that front. All he could think was that this had to be for a flying or maybe a rock type given where they had found it, but it could very well be for a fire or electric type for all he knew. This was not something that Ash was well versed in but thankfully Professor Sycamore was, and they would see him soon so he could answer all their questions then.

"Alright Charizard, let's get back to the girls." Ash said carefully putting the stone away in his pocket for later. "We have a little story to tell them. They might not believe this if they weren't used to things like this happening."

Charizard just nodded as they headed to the exit so that he could fly Ash back to the cliff and then take a nap in the sun for all his hard work. It had certainly been a little more exciting than Ash had expected it to be but that was usually how these things went. Regardless, he had a new Pokémon and had recovered a Mega Stone. He wondered if it would be one of the ones that he had a Pokémon who would correspond to it. Whatever the case, he couldn't wait to find out what the stone was.