Secrets of Galar (Ash x reader)

Chapter Fourteen: The Cave of Mystique

She could have asked. Told the truth, even, to take Zacian. Ash would have agreed...

But she didn't.

Y/N knew that her destiny was hers alone, and her mission to stop Rose would not be put onto anyone else's shoulders.

She couldn't drag anyone down with her.

Meanwhile, whilst Ash finally calmed down, Goh was checking his phone for any messages from Y/N.

"Well, she hasn't texted anything yet." Goh reported.

"Mmm." said Ash in response. "Can't you track her location or something? Like by her phone?"

"Y/N's also an inventor, Ash. She would have foreseen it."

"It'd be much more convenient." he muttered.

"Hey, Ash, is it just me, or is the sky a lot darker tonight." said Goh.

Ash glanced out the window.

"Hey, you're right!"

"I've got to ask Sonia something. She's doing research on this, so she might know. I would have asked Y/N, but..."

There was a tense silence between them. The absence of Y/N seemed to hang in the air.

"I'll go to Leon. He's the ex-Galar Champion, and the second-best option." said Ash.

The two went of Flying-types, and set off to find Sonia and Leon. Little did they know, Y/N was underneath, and could see them in the clouds.

They're going to rush blindly into danger like they always do, she thought. How am I supposed to save them now?

She looked around wildly. Just then, a faint blue light emitted from the crystal she gave her Pokemon for Christmas. Articuno flew up, and the light grew stronger, like a kind of locational device.

"This is it," she breathed. "My one chance to discover who I really am, once and for all."

A strong gust of wind blew the hood of her cloak off her head, revealing the H/C hair underneath.

"Y/N?"

She pulled her hood back on hastily. She definitely recognised that voice; it was her childhood 'friend'. They hadn't really been friends in the usual sense, but since their parents did have a economical relationship, they might as well be called so.

Apart from that, now, they truly were friends. Now that she thought about it, Gladion had been her crush for plenty of years, and yet, when he had finally fallen for her, she hadn't felt any different.

Perhaps it was that she had given up on him in all those years...

She motioned to Articuno to fly, and she only just got a glimpse of the person behind her.

It was Gladion.

"How predictable." said Y/N, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It was a good thing that it was, too, for it masked her real voice.

"Where are you going?" he asked her, struggling to keep up.

"I could ask you the same thing." came the reply. "Don't you have a family?"

"They're asleep. This was supposed to be a night time stroll."

"Oh, yes, because the very definition of 'stroll' is tail someone while miserably trying to keep up." she said, and as she did, Articuno swerved up into the clouds with Ash and Goh.

"Hey, it's the Masked Champion!" yelled Goh.

"Miss!" shouted Ash across from the other side. "We need your help in finding a friend of ours!"

Did they really consider me a friend?

She could see the blue light fading, and so dropped down a couple of metres as to regain it. Nearby was a cave, sparkling with mystery. She flew down to it, careful not to be seen.

The Cave of Mystique, a stone read.

Was this really it? What she had risked so much for, the very thing that had driven her to such heights?

She knelt down to the stone, and brushed dust out of the aged marble.

We do not promise you will find what you desire here. There is no certainty to whether you shall return. The thing you shall need lays not where else, however, and the mere existence of this cave brings the answers to your questions. Whether you want to hear them or not depends on you.

How cryptic it was indeed, and how peculiar Y/N did think it was too. Nevertheless, she stepped inside; the blue light on Articuno's neck growing brighter with each step it took. She let Zacian and Zamazenta out of their balls. Zacian looked utterly confused.

"This is for the good of Ash," she whispered to it. "It is vital that you don't tell him. I don't want him to come here, and neither should Goh or Chloe, or even Professor Cerise himself. They shouldn't have to risk their lives just to come and find me."

It understood, and walked on her right side; Zamazenta on her left.

"It's only too bad I can't let Eternatus out." she muttered. "It's been in that ball for quite a while. Nevertheless, let us venture forward, as Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the dwarves had done." (Please, someone, please get the reference.)

And, so, they set off for the Cave of Mystique. Yet, even so...

What exactly lies in such an enigmatic place?