The Lost Universe. New Pokemon Black Market. Late Afternoon.
While infiltrating the Pokemon Black Market to save the Pokemon and Nadya's parents, Ash had made a shocking discovery. When reading the Auras of the Pokemon who originally come from this lost universe, he at first thought that a majority of their fear came from the fact that they were captured. And while that was true, it all quickly shifted to someone else.
It shifted to Ash himself. The Pokemon were fearful of Ash for one reason. It was because of Prisma, who was a well-known figure in this lost world. A storied figure even.
"You're afraid of me?" Ash spoke after feeling their Auras. Looking into the eyes of a Delcatty, he saw only fear. Delcatty moved back, bumping into the bars of the cage.
At that moment, the fear they felt changed. They felt another Aura, but it wasn't Ash's. It was the other one that brought them joy as opposed to Ash's Aura which brought them fear. And when looking at Pikachu, they also felt somewhat of the same fear. When Ash made even the slightest movement, he was met with jitters and startles from the Pokemon.
"Ri...!" Some of the Riolu here gripped onto the iron bars, growling at Ash. They didn't show fear. Instead, they showed anger and hostility towards him.
Ash would still aim to free them even if they feared his presence. The Pokemon were very hesitant and found that hard to believe. But all Ash had to do was break their cages and restraints. By having Pikachu use Iron Tail, the cages were shattered.
The Pokemon here were freed, no longer confined to the Pokemon Black Market. But even after being freed, they distanced themselves away from Ash, backing up against the wall. They all stayed together in one group with the Riolu being upfront.
"Pika. Pikachu." Pikachu tried calming them down, attempting to reassure them that Ash was not dangerous at all. But all he received back was a scowl and an intimidating cry from an Archeops.
"It's alright, Pikachu." Ash kneeled. "I'm guessing this is all because of Prisma. That's why they're afraid of me."
"Ash! Ash!" Rushing into this part of the Black Market was Twilight, who quickly caught up with Ash. She was joined by Princess Luna. Upon seeing her, as opposed to seeing Prisma within Ash, the Pokemon saw someone else. Twilight Luminaria. "There's something familiar about this place.
As soon she arrived, her own Aura went off. Twilight had a miniscule Aura compared to Ash but it was still there. And because of her relation to Twilight Luminaria, she would instantly read the Aura in this room which made her come to a halt as well. She heard something different compared to what Ash heard. It was only joy and relief, but not because someone was here to save them from the Pokemon Black Market, but because a friendly face that they knew despite meeting Twilight Sparkle for the first time was here.
"Togepi!" Leaping towards Twilight was a Togepi. Seeing her brought immense joy and required a hug.
"Ah!" The young alicorn gasped. She instinctively held her hooves out, embracing the incoming hug. She grabbed the Togepi as all the other Pokemon here immediately swarmed towards Twilight. "W-Wait! Hold on!"
Soon, Twilight was swarmed by all of these Pokemon, finding safety around the young alicorn. "Uh...I was going to bring up something important until this happened. But it's alright. You're all safe now."
"Rio..." The Riolu snarled at Ash while standing behind Twilight's leg. All the other Pokemon would eye down Ash with fear in their faces. They were essentially using Twilight as a shield against the one who resembled Prisma. Twilight didn't understand what was going on at all so far.
"Goodness." Luna looked down at the Pokemon. "What a reaction they're having to you, Ash."
"Gee...They don't look that pleased to see you, Ash." The young alicorn said. "Don't worry, everyone. He won't bite."
"Yeah. They don't." Ash giggled. "They're pretty happy to see you though and I think I know why. It might be because of Prisma."
"Oooh, that makes sense. This is a part of the Lost Universe." The young alicorn looked around her. "That's what I was going to bring up. I felt the Aura here all of a sudden. Only when I entered this room. Plus...there's something familiar about this tower."
"You're right. Feels like I've been here before..." Ash couldn't put his finger on it, but a strong part of him felt like he's been inside of this tower and something significant happened. Twilight was unable to figure out as well. This tower was rather ruined so it was hard to really make out what was up with it, especially since parts of it had been redesigned for the Pokemon Black Market.
"You don't have to worry about him, everyone," Twilight reassured the Pokemon. "He may look like Prisma but he's not. Well, technically not..."
"Medi!" But with a Meditite backing up and other Pokemon flinching, they still didn't feel safe around him. Not even Twilight's words could stave away their fears. As of now, the Pokemon were too terrified to approach him, even those who showed signs of rage.
"Twilight. That won't happen." Luna shook her head. "This level of fear can't be staved away so easily. Judging by what little we know of Prisma, it's easy to see why. Such an enigmatic figure..."
"Nevermind...Just stay with me, alright? The only way for you to leave this place is by going through the gateway. And only Ash can make it happen."
The Pokemon weren't too pleased hearing that. The fact that their only way of leaving such a desecrated place was by relying on Ash made them uneasy. But they had to since freedom was staring them right in the eyes.
"Hm?" But before they could continue on their way, something else caught Ash's attention within this room. He swivelled, facing the walls. The cages were once against the walls but now that they were destroyed, Ash felt something past those walls.
Twilight also looked in the same direction as Ash as she had a similar reaction. Both of them spaced out for a moment until both of their Auras kicked in. In unison, their Auras activated without them even doing it willingly. The Strange Aura that permeates the land was involved, merging with their own which resulted in both of their eyes glowing.
But while Ash had the typical Azure Blue, Twilight received a Purplish colour to her eyes, similar to what was seen from the Magical Aura. Both of them saw that there was something beyond the wall. Ash approached this part of the wall before pushing his hand against it.
The wall reacted to Ash's touch, unleashing an Azure pulse. Ash, Twilight and Luna gasped as the walls were beginning to open up, revealing something that was never there before. Most likely, not even the people here at the Pokemon Black Market knew about its existence.
This secret room introduced itself to Ash, Twilight and their Pokemon. But to the Pokemon who lived here, this wasn't a surprise to them at all. They knew about its existence since this was their world and this room was just another part of it.
In this vast secret room, its walls were lined with ancient, ruined metallic structures that belonged in the future instead of the past. They entered the room, gawking at its splendour and mystery. The fact that it reacted to Ash's Aura raised intrigue. But if they had to guess, Prisma was involved in this somehow.
It all revealed the remnants of advanced technology, with broken and toppled items scattered across the room. Shattered holographic displays flicker sporadically, casting eerie shadows that dance across the room. In one corner, a once-elegant couch lies toppled, its ornate golden accents now tarnished and broken.
Rays of faint light slip through the cracks in the ancient yet futuristic walls. When walking around, Twilight also noticed how there was an assortment of ruined books. Dimly lit sconces flicker along the rows of crumbled and ruined bookshelves, casting elongated shadows that dance across the desecrated marble floors. But Twilight couldn't even tell what books these were since their covers had been absolutely ruined and their pages were tarnished to a level beyond recovery.
But there was one thing that stuck out from the rest. In the centre stood a towering monolith, its surface etched with seemingly indecipherable symbols that seemed to pulse with a faint blue light. It was the prime object in this room without a doubt.
"Quite a Monolith...But what are those symbols on it? They look like Unown but..." Luna squinted, trying to make out what these symbols said. They were obviously trying to spell something.
"It's an apology letter." Twilight already knew what she was staring at and so did Ash. In Ash's eyes, they were identical to those creatures that were close to the Unown. The same creatures that Galaxy Master was dealing with for a while until they made peace.
"An apology letter? How'd you know?" Luna questioned.
"I don't know. It just kicked in for me." But for Twilight, a part of her just knew that it was an apology letter. "And I think I can read it too. Can you, Ash?"
"Mhm," Ash confirmed, eyeing down all of those words. Now this made him think about those creatures back in that dimension where the Subspace Pokemon can be found.
"Let's see..." Twilight would be the one to read the Apology Letter that was etched on the Monolith. It was unknown who left it behind, but Twilight saw that it was directed to someone else. Someone deserving of an apology. "It's an apology to Prisma."
"Really?!" Ash and Luna said in unison. Someone who once lived here, presumably in this tower, wrote an apology letter to Prisma which could be found here. Twilight began reading, deciphering it with ease.
"Prisma. If we can manage to get this message out of the tower as soon as possible, then I'm terribly sorry for how things have turned out. We wish we could've been there for you during your darkest time. We knew that you were truly lonely and we were too late to rectify it. If this message reaches you before Princess Twilight Luminaria does-" However, Twilight promptly stopped. The message was cut off as it was never finished. "That's it. Whoever wrote it couldn't finish it in time."
"Hmm...It must've been a group then. Possibly a group that lived in this tower." Luna speculated. "It sounds like they were attempting to prevent something truly horrible involving Prisma. And Twilight Luminaria was already on her way to encounter Prisma by that time."
It was a bit of a mystery who wrote this. But one thing was for sure, it was a group that regretted trying to rectify something with Prisma. Twilight was also curious about everything else this room had to offer, mainly those books. Whoever this group was, they would have had books detailing a lot about this lost universe aside from Scione who lived in it.
On top of that, if only Lucas was here to revive this area just so they could see it in its true form. But that couldn't be done until the Pokemon Black Market here was toppled.
"I'd love to figure this out but...Let's find Nadya's parents first." Ash put his mind back on track when it came to saving Nadya's parents. By closing his eyes, he tapped into the Aura, searching for their Aura signatures. That was rather tricky considering there were so many people and Pokemon in here and there was constant movement going around.
Finding the Auras of Nadya's parents would not be easy. Once his eyes closed, he already saw multiple Aura signatures everywhere. Some strong. Some weak. The strong ones came from his friends while the weak ones came from those working in the Pokemon Black Market. Ash would have to search for the weaker ones if he wanted to find Nadya's parents.
As for everyone else, they had dealt with those working here at the Pokemon Black Market as one of the grunts had fallen unconscious thanks to Gardevoir. Their excellent teamwork allowed them to swiftly obtain victory. But they weren't done yet as they had yet to find Nadya's parents and there were still more Pokemon captured with here.
Aurorus had sent a plethora of ice around the place, followed by Zeraora's brute force breaking a lot of the rooms apart as well as electrifying them. These rooms that once belonged to this mysterious group were hard to distinguish anymore. Whether it was from the Pokemon Black Market changing a lot about it or the destruction that befell this new Black Market.
But while advancing through the Pokemon Black Market, Celestia came across something rather peculiar and interesting. She came to a halt, noticing a picture. It was the faces on the picture that made her react so quickly.
The Sun Princess gravitated the picture towards her with magic, looking right at it in its current state. It had obviously gone through some damage but it could still be made out.
On it, different species could be seen standing together with smiles on their faces, standing next to other Pokemon behind a sunny background. Ponies, Humans Changelings, Dragons and another species were spotted. Celestia squinted her eyes when trying to make out what species this was and even though it was difficult at first, just by looking at their tails, she figured it out.
"There were Kirins here as well...Who is this group?" Celestia wondered before noticing one pony who truly stuck out. In the very middle, a pony resembling Twilight Sparkle's colour scheme was spotted.
A Cutie Mark that strongly resembled Twilight's was also seen. That same pink star was visible still, but it wasn't just the star. This Cutie Mark also had a bit of Twilight Moonlight on it. A bit of Twilight Wish's Cutie Mark was present too. Right now, Celestia was looking at a picture involving Twilight Luminaria herself but her face was unfortunately missing due to the condition of this picture.
But there was no mistaking it, this was Twilight Luminaria in Celestia's eyes, which made her instantly suspect that this tower might have belonged to her. Looking at the surroundings of this room, while it was ruined to the point where any of its uniqueness was, it was easy to see the slight magic involvement in it. While a majority of this place had futuristic traits, magic-related designs seeped in here and there.
Eventually, by following the weaker Auras, Ash, Twilight and Luna ended up in the smallest room by far. Coming to a halt, they spotted Darkrai up ahead which was a good sign. And right next to the Pitch Black Pokemon was none other than Nadya's parents.
They were currently free as the ropes that restrained them were on the floor. However, this wasn't done by Darkrai. The ropes had burn marks on them after all. The reason for it was thanks to Daybreaker, whose mere presence caused the ropes to weaken, showing just how fierce her flames were even when she was being completely passive.
"Excellent work Darkrai!" Luna exclaimed. "That's one mission completely done with."
"These two were free the entire time. Well, at least free from the ropes." Darkrai explained. "I showed up to see them staying low while everything was erupting outside."
"R-Right." Nadya's Father who shared her blue hair added. "Those ropes got weak enough for us to break free, but we couldn't just high-tail it out of here."
"We had to wait." said Nadya's Mother, who had her yellow eyes. "As soon as that mess with the Gardevoir happened, we snuck off elsewhere in the Black Market."
"And then all of a sudden, we hear more bombastic noises outside!" Nadya's father exclaimed, referring to Zeraora breaking into the Black Market with brute force. "We're so glad we averted their eyes for so long. They just spent their time trying to put the Black Market back together after what just happened. This was the only room we could hide in for the meantime."
"Well, you won't have to worry about staying here for much longer. You and all the Pokemon captured here will be free. But after this, we'll have to figure out what to do about this gateway. Keep an eye out for the meanwhile, Darkrai."
"Nadya's gonna be so happy to see that you're all doing well. You can get out of here if you hold onto me." Ash uttered. "The sooner we get out of here, the better too. This place isn't looking its best. If only Lucas were here..."
"Our daughter's safe right?!" Nadya's mother frantically asked, quickly walking up to Ash.
"She's safe. And here at this very moment. But you don't have to worry about that." Twiligt reassured. Nadya would be safe with the protection of Celestia, Luca and Rainbow Dash being present. And once she finds out that her parents are safe, Nadya will have all the reason to finally take action.
Nadya's Parents stayed close to rescuers as Darkrai descended into the shadows, swiftly moving across the Black Market to make sure that everything else was clear. Ash would take the lead, going straight for the gateway just so Nadya's parents could leave this place once and for all.
They also had to think about the Diamond Domain since that was where Daybreaker's group was heading next. They were already behind since Daybreaker's group had left hours ago, but they were counting on Ash's shortcuts to help them.
Elsewhere in Kalos.
Speaking of Daybreaker's group, they were still on their way to the Diamond Domain, which was housing plenty of Light and Aura. Perfect for Necrozma and Gardevoir. Her group could be seen travelling on a chariot made by Second Wind's Unown. This chariot was large enough to carry this entire group as the Pokemon pulling on it was none other than Hunter's Salamence. Flying next to the chariot was Gardevoir, who was absolutely elated with what she achieved today.
"We might arrive at Allearth Forest by nightfall. After that, we'll break into the Diamond Domain and let loose." Daybreaker said. "J. Care to share any more locations we can target? Anything that helps Necrozma would be nice."
"No. Nothing else that interesting from Nadya considering any light. For the most part, I've been focusing on getting information about Ash and his irritating friends. But they don't come by to that Battle Frontier all often. However, since he's so popular in Equestria, I can still get a lot out of him."
"And with Twilight Sparkle's Desire in you, you have double the information about our enemies. Splendid!" Second Wind said with glee. Anything to get the advantage over those who got in her way was wonderful to hear.
Hunter J would share what she could with Daybreaker's group while they were on their way to the Diamond Domain.
"I can't improve nearly as much at this rate," Gardevoir said to herself, wanting more already and a chance to really test out the Magical Aura to its fullest potential. There was quite a sinister look on her face which alerted Daybreaker. Gardevoir already had some sinister looks here and there but something was amiss.
The Magical Aura around her body was showing once more, growing in vibrance. But Daybreaker instantly felt something off about this newly obtained Aura. At that moment, Daybreaker felt a bit of Twilight Luminaria emanating from the Aura. Not just because it was originally hers, but because her presence was just now showing up.
Gardevoir suddenly accelerated through the air, heading off on her own. The Embrace Pokemon wasn't aware of it just yet but Twilight Luminaria was still fighting to gain some control back. This started affecting Gardevoir, accelerating her drive to devour more Aura.
Unable to properly contain it, the Embrace Pokemon was about to test the Magical Aura once more. She came to a halt while the chariot was still moving, deciding to hover in place. The chariot was promptly stopped under Daybreaker's order. The Solar Queen saw something more than just Gardevoir giving into her urges. Twilight Luminaria was involved in this.
"Gardevoir? What are you doing?" Daybreaker questioned.
"I need to find out more...This is where I can improve." By tapping into the various forms of energy at her disposal, Gardevoir would try growing to the point where she could contain the energies she couldn't touch at all. Before that, she held her arms out, going straight for the Digital Energy. A digital power surrounded Gardevoir's energy as it had yet to be used. Until now. Gardevoir started conjuring a Digital Aura around herself which brought a foreboding air.
Hunter J and Second Wind, this didn't seem out of the ordinary at all, Daybreaker noticed how familiar this was. Something similar to this happened with Necrozma. During the scuffle at the Sea Temple, Necrozma started losing control, wanting more light.
The same was happening with Gardevoir. And much like Necrozma, Daybreaker feared that even with this alliance, Gardevoir's actions could affect them as well. Daybreaker's splendid experience with magic and long life easily allowed her to see this flaw leaking through. It once again showed itself and now it was coming from the Aura Vampire Gardevoir.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 322 End.