"Mega Ash-Greninja?" Ash repeated back to Sycamore. There was no way he heard him correctly. He learned that the Ash-Greninja form was some variant of Mega Evolution when he traveled through Kalos. So, then how can there be a Mega Evolved form of a Mega Evolution? He asked himself, perplexed by the whole situation.
Sycamore nodded, a gleam of joy in his eyes as they witnessed the now Mega-Evolved Ash-Greninja. "How is that even possible?" Ash asked, also staring at the powerful and towering Mega Ash-Greninja. He had grown almost a foot in size and had grown muscle-wise. Every feature about Ash-Greninja had carried over to this form, excluding an additional layer of the X-shaped water design that grew on his back.
"Well, when you left Kalos to go back home," Sycamore began explaining. "I began experimenting on Greninja to test its stamina while being away from you." He walked over to a laptop and opened a datasheet, containing numbers that Ash couldn't possibly understand. Goh could probably tell what they say, he thought, saddened by the thought of his friend, alone.
"This datasheet contains some pretty clear evidence that Greninja seemed to be getting somehow weaker the longer you were away from it," Sycamore continued, pointing at spots on the sheet. "The longer you and he failed to bond together, the more you both started getting weaker."
Ash realized that what Sycamore was saying lined up with what had been happening the past few days. "Yeah, when I ran the other day in Vermillion City I became tired a lot quicker," Ash said, referencing back to the race he and Goh had to Cerise Laboratories, and how he had run out of breath much more quickly than normal.
"Exactly!" Sycamore exclaimed happily. "I found a temporary solution to this when I had my Garchomp Mega Evolve. The second she changed forms, Greninja suddenly got a boost of energy, so I decided to test something," Sycamore explained, walking over to Greninja.
"I introduced a wide variety of Mega Stones to Greninja to see if he would react to them, and he did," Sycamore said, staring at the Mega Stone in the scarf Greninja was now wearing. "Unfortunately, he never Mega Evolved due to the stones, only received a boost of energy." He took off the scarf from Greninja, causing him to revert to his normal form, looking refreshed and otherwise healthier than before.
"When I saw this piece of fabric glowing, I knew that somehow, it was Greninja reacting in a positive way to it, which is why I was confident enough for you to put it on Greninja," Sycamore finished, handing the scarf back to Ash, who held it in his hand. "But how did you know that Ash-Greninja could Mega Evolve?" Clemont asked. "Wasn't that form already a variety of Mega Evolution?"
Sycamore raised a finger. "Not quite, Clemont. It seems that the bond between Ash and Greninja is almost symbiotic, rather than a normal bond that simply triggers Mega Evolution. It seems in this case, Ash and Greninja almost need to be together to maintain their strength," he explained, walking back over to the laptop to shut it.
"Wait, so why was Greninja green?" Clemont asked curiously. "It seemed to be almost glowing as it came in." Sycamore frowned and closed his eyes. "That I am unsure of, but I think now that Ash is here, we can most likely dive deeper into that to figure it out," he responded.
Ash walked up to Greninja, who was now sitting down on the stretcher Professor Sycamore and Clara brought him in on. "Hey, Greninja," Ash whispered, getting down to his eye level. "How have you been? Did you finish slashing all the roots?"
Greninja looked up at Ash and nodded, clearly excited to see Ash but not overly emotional, as he usually kept to himself and stoically did his job. "That's great," Ash said, smiling back. His smile disappeared when the roots reminded him of something. Squishy.
Squishy had asked Greninja to travel across Kalos to help slash the roots, so if Greninja was traveling with it, then maybe he would know something about this third Zygarde cell. "Greninja, do you still know where Squishy is?" Ash asked Greninja softly.
Greninja didn't respond for a moment, not wanting to, but reluctantly nodded, knowing that answering truthfully would be the best course of action. "Gre-ninja," he replied, standing up as he did so. "You do?" Ash repeated back, a glimpse of hope for the looming disaster on the horizon.
Sycamore overheard the quiet conversation and curiously asked, "Why do you need to find Squishy, Ash? He and the second Zygarde cell are living peacefully." Behind them, Bonnie smiled to herself, glad to hear that her Pokemon friend was doing great. Ash contemplated whether or not to tell the Professor about the situation, as more people knowing the world could potentially be in danger could mean more panic.
Ash glanced at Greninja and saw something in his eyes that told Ash to trust the Professor, so he turned back and did so. "Apparently there's a third Zygarde cell heading to Earth," Ash began. "And according to Olympia in Anistar City, I have to stop it, and I have no idea how to do that." He turned back around to a shocked Bonnie and Clemont and said, "That's why I came here. To find both of you and get your advice." He looked at Sycamore and added, "And your help as well."
"I'm sorry, did you say a third Zygarde cell?" Sycamore asked, unable to believe his ears. Ash nodded and thought to himself, I might as well tell them everything. Just as he was about to begin the story, Clemont spoke up and suggested, "It's getting pretty late. Why don't we reconvene tomorrow and talk more about what's going on." Everyone agreed, leaving Ash a bit anxious about not getting to explain everything going on.
Greninja must've sensed Ash's emotions, as he walked over and put a webbed hand on Ash's arm. "Gren," Greninja reassuringly said, leading Ash to smile at him and say, "You're right, I should just go to sleep. It has been a long day." Sycamore saw the interaction between the two and realized an opportunity was right in front of him.
"I know!" he exclaimed, whispering something to Clara, who looked back at him and asked, "Are you sure?", leading to Sycamore nodding and saying, "I'm very sure." They watched as Clara walked out of the room, with Sycamore turning back to the rest of the group. "I'm letting you and Greninja stay with each other for tonight. Just to study some data about the two of you," he explained to the group of perplexed visitors. "And, of course, to let you two catch up," he added.
Ash and Greninja happily looked at each other, excited to be able to talk after such a long time. "Thanks, Professor!" Ash exclaimed, shaking Sycamore's hand. Ash turned back to the Lumiose City siblings and said, "So, where are we staying?" Clemont looked at Ash and smiled. "Right in the middle of Lumiose City," he said proudly. "Inside of Prism Tower!"
[-]
Serena ran through the forest, in search of Ash. "Ash!" she kept exclaiming. "Ash? Where are you?" She had no clue where she was at or why she was even searching for him, as Goh had said that he would make a ton of phone calls to places he thought Ash would be. Regardless, she now found herself running aimlessly, hoping to see the raven-haired boy.
She failed to see a root in the ground and tripped over it, landing on the coarse dirt on her back. "Ow," she whined, trying to pick herself up. She found that she had hurt her ankle to the point where she couldn't walk and mentally scolded herself. I have a performance tomorrow! How can I perform on a bum leg? She thought to herself, punching the dirt once out of frustration.
"Hey! Are you okay?" A small, innocent voice said. Serena was startled by the sudden voice and said, "Who are you?" in a scared, yet forceful, tone. "I'm just here to help," the voice said again, getting closer to Serena's location. "I saw you fall, so I thought I should help," the voice said, now near Serena.
The figure appeared from the bushes, revealing a small boy that Serena thought looked to be about the age of Bonnie. She was relieved at first, finding comfort in the fact that a small child wanted to help her out. The second the figure leaned over to help her ankle, she almost screamed at what she saw.
It was Ash. Well, not the Ash Serena was looking for. It was the Ash she had met at the summer camp she went to when she was younger; the one where Ash had helped her when she hurt her leg and consoled her when a Poliwag had scared her.
She crawled backward, confused and scared of the child Ash that stood in front of her with a smile on his face. "What's wrong?" he said, a genuine look of worry and concern growing on his face. "Why don't you want me to help you?"
Serena couldn't answer that question, due to the circumstance she seemed to be in. "Well, I, it's," she began, trying to find a practical reason as to why this impossible version of Ash was even in front of her. "What's wrong, Serena?" he asked, causing Serena to shudder at hearing this version of Ash saying her name.
His eyes began glowing red and a smile full of sharp teeth grew on his face. "Why don't you want me to help you?" he said, his voice now full of malice and evil. Serena screamed at the sight as the young Ash, now demonic-looking started making his way toward her. She continued screaming and stood up, trying to run away.
When she stood up, however, she found herself sitting up in her bed. She looked around, panicking, realizing that what she had just gone through was a dream. Groaning out of annoyance for having a nightmare that, of course, had to do with Ash, she failed to realize that she had woken up Chloe in the other bed. "Serena!" She loudly whispered. "What's wrong?"
Serena shook her head and said, "It's nothing. Really." She continued to sit there and think about the nightmare. "Are you sure?" Chloe asked, seeing that Serena wasn't even attempting to go back to sleep. Serena groaned again and said, "I just had a really bad nightmare. I promise."
Chloe was silent for a second before she quietly said, "Was it about Ash?" Serena was annoyed that Chloe had figured out what she had a nightmare about but reluctantly answered, "Yes. I think I'm scared of him. Or rather, how he might react when I talk to him about Miette." She put her hands on her face as she imagined how the talk would go; Ash becoming angry and Serena being left in tears.
Chloe sighed and got out of her bed, wanting to walk around as she spoke. She wished she could tell Serena about what had truly happened, but decided that she could trust Miette simply because she knew that Miette had little to no reason to lie about that. No one got anything out of it, which led Chloe to believe that Miette did have good intentions.
"I don't know much about feelings or whatever," Chloe admitted, her mind oddly drifting to Goh as she said this. "But I can tell you that Ash does seem to like you. I don't think the kiss would put anything between the two of you." She walked over to Serena's bed and put a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."
"Then why did Ash leave?" Serena countered. "Why did he leave if he didn't just think to talk it out with me or at least admit to what happened." She frowned as she thought about what Ash could've done. "Why leave like that?"
Chloe shrugged and said, "I'm sure Ash just needed some time on his own to think. People need to just reflect sometimes whenever something major happens in their life." She had once heard Goh say that and decided that it applied at this moment. "A kiss can change a person."
Serena brought her head up when Chloe said the final part, leading her to realize something. I left whenever I kissed Ash at the airport, she thought to herself. I left for Hoenn before he even got a chance to talk to me. And now he's doing the same thing. She groaned for the umpteenth time as she realized how hypocritical she was being, leading Chloe to simply say, "Why don't you go back to sleep. You have a performance tomorrow."
Serena realized that Chloe was right, so she said, "Thanks, you've been a big help." Chloe smiled and said, "You're a good friend to Ash, and he's a good person, so I'll help you anytime." Chloe stood up and walked over to her bed, but not before stopping at the foot of the bed where Serena's bag was.
"Uh, Serena," Chloe warily said, a cautious look growing on her face. "Does your bag always glow like this?" Serena jumped out of her bed and said, "What do you mean glow?", walking over to where Chloe was standing. "I mean like this," Chloe responded, picking up the bag. Serena gasped as she saw that the bag was indeed glowing. Ever since the merge occurred, it had been acting stable and normal, until this very moment.
Serena grabbed the bag from Chloe and opened it up, trying to find the necklace. Grabbing it, she held it in her head and was dumbstruck by what she saw. The crystal was now emitting a light blue, similar to the color of Aura.
"Why is it doing that?" Chloe asked, not realizing that the necklace could do such a thing. "I honestly have no idea," Serena responded, keeping her eyes on the necklace. She felt an odd tugging from the necklace, almost like it was trying to pull Serena somewhere.
Normally she would follow her heart and go wherever the necklace wanted her to go, but right now, her heart wasn't in the right place, and she had a performance tomorrow. "It's whatever," she said, dismissing the necklace's tugging by stuffing it back in her bag. "Are you sure?" Chloe asked, watching Serena zip up her bag.
"Yep, I promise," Serena stated. "Let's get to bed." Chloe raised an eyebrow at her, but gave in, as she was extremely tired from being woken up by Serena's screaming and wanted to get enough sleep for the performances the next morning. "Alright then," she said. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Chloe," Serena responded. "And thanks again," she added as Chloe laid down in her bed. "No problem," Chloe said, turning over on her side and falling asleep almost instantly. Serena was in disbelief at Chloe's ability to sleep so quickly and turned over herself.
As Serena began drifting back to sleep, she thought about Ash, about his whereabouts, his safety, and his feelings. I hope he doesn't hate me, Serena thought as her eyes began closing against her will. Please don't hate me, Ash.