Pokémon XY: Trying Something New

Secrets of the Jackal Scroll!

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A knuckle knocked against a thick, wooden door, sending sharp echoes ringing down a stone hall. Against the canvas of the quiet night, the sound was almost deafening. Soon enough though, it faded, and silence returned.

At least, for a while.

"Keep me waiting, huh?" It was Korrina standing in the dim light of the hall. Though her tone spelled out her annoyance, in truth, her mind was on something else entirely. Her furrowed brows dropped. "...Why are you keeping me waiting?"

Soon, however, the door cracked open, and the face she was looking for showed itself. Korrina breathed a sigh of relief and grinned.

"Korrina?" Ash blinked, even the low light of the hallway seeming bright to him. "Korrina, it's- 3 AM."

"Course it is! That's when I do my best work." Pressing her hand against the door, Korrina wrenched the opening wider, revealing Ash in his full glory- Loose pajamas and a nasty case of bedhead. "Come on, I've got something I wanna show you."

"At 3 AM," Ash reiterated, shaking the sleep from his eyes and fully coming to. Reaching back into the dark, he pulled out his hat to help tame his hair.

"Of course, it's-"

"-when you do your best work." Ash finished her sentence with an eye roll and a sigh. "Alright, I'm coming."

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The statue of Mega Lucario spiraled ever onwards as Korrina picked up speed, ascending the Tower of Mastery floor-by-floor. She was going to need that speed, if she was ever going to pull off this trick.

As soon as she was level with the statue's head, Korrina took a sharp turn, leaping over the railing in a single bound. After a few seconds of air time, she skidded onto the statue's shoulder. Definitely a close call. Catching her balance, Korrina slowly inched her way along.

"Nice jump!" As soon as Korrina reached the statue's head, Ash's voice rang up from down below, grabbing her attention. He was doing warm-up stretches of all things. "I'd try it myself if I had those skates, hah!"

"There's a ladder in the storage room behind you," Korrina called down, turning back to the statue. Her hand brushed against the old metal, in a spot where the oxidation had been worn away by her touch. "Don't take too-"

"Hyuh!" That grunt from Ash grabbed Korrina's attention once more, her gaze whipping down to the ground below. He wasn't going for the ladder- He was scaling the statue by hand!

"What're you-!"

"Nearly- There-" With a cheeky smile, Ash pulled himself up to the statue's chest spike, taking just a moment to balance himself before continuing. After a little while longer, he joined her, sitting up on the statue's other shoulder. "Okay, so, what's up?"

Shaking her head clear, Korrina grinned.

"I've got something for you." Now it was Korrina's turn to pull out the surprises. Without a hint of hesitation, she stuck her entire arm into the mouth of the statue, digging around for a few moments before she pulled back, holding onto something new.

"Is that-" Ash blinked, nearly falling off the statue before catching himself. "That's the Jackal Scroll! That thing Gurkinn was talking about!"

"Yep! Old man thought he was clever, hiding it up here," Korrina said, a hand traveling up and down the length of the scroll. The sigil of Mega Evolution greeted her eyes, with a crude drawing of a Mega Lucario underneath it. After a moment, she looked back to Ash. "Let's open it. We've both earned the right to look at this thing."