Mastermind

3 - Sourcing

The boy looked up, suddenly his face of anger turned to curiosity and amazement. "Korrina!?" He asked whilst quickly shuffling from under her weight.

"Pika!" Pikachu suddenly dashed into Korrina's arms and nuzzled her happily.

"Hey Pikachu! And Ash, omg! It's been so long!" She cackled in her usual hyper-excited tone.

"Yeah! And I see Lucario is looking as strong as ever! Wait- are you wearing a jumper!?" He exclaimed.

"What!? It's cold..." she responded, quite embarrassed that the boy had picked up on her fragility.

"I get it! So you're here to find out what's going on with the weather!"

Ash laughed, "you're right, and speaking of the weather, do you have any idea of where the source might be?" He asked the girl.

"Well, the mountain surrounding the valley has had a constant dark cloud above it for about a week..." she said, pointing to the ominous area around the tall mountain.

"Alright, thanks Korrina!" He said whilst starting to walk up the hill.

Korrina suddenly walked passed Ash and stopped in front of him. "I'm coming with you!"

"Sure! But if it gets too scary I won't judge if you decide to turn back!" He teases with a grin, swerving past the blockade.

"Haha!" She spoke sarcastically, trekking behind the leader.

"You ready Chloe?" Professor Cerise asked as he was holding the front door of his house open. His daughter was in another room gathering her belongings, Talia and Parker were both sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast. The loving wife was drinking a hot cup of coffee whilst reading a magazine, and the girl's brother was busily chowing down on his cereal, looking over at the excitable Yamper. Chloe quickly rushed around the kitchen grabbing her bag and shoes, then moved towards the door.

"Thanks dad. Bye Mum, Parker!" She shouted as she exited the room.

"See you two. Have fun at school Chloe!" Talia wished upon the pair as they walked towards the car.

5 minutes later, the pair were talking about how Ren had recently gotten a girlfriend.

"I mean, how did the introduction start? 'Uh, h-hi... I'm Ren, I like Pokemon and have a stable job, will you marry me?" Chloe copied with a slight giggle.

"Probably something like th-"

The car phone began chiming, indicating someone was calling the Professor.

Cerise pressed a button on his wheel and the call went through. "Hello?" He asked.

"Hey, Professor!" Ash called back.

"Ash, how is the investigation going?" He asked.

"Well, we think we figured out where the problem's coming from. I just sent you an image of our current whereabouts!" He shouted.

Chloe listened intently, before her father brought up the picture Ash had recently sent. It showed an image of a tundra on top of a mountain, covered in a blizzard and thick snow.

"Arceus, are you wearing any layers?" Chloe asked concerned for the boy's health.

"Oh, hey Chloe... nah, I've just got my normal shorts and shirt on." He responded bluntly.

"Ash! You really have to take care of yourself!" She boomed.

"Ash, who are you talking to?" Asked Korrina. She was walking next to Ash as they scaled the invisible mountain.

Ash turned the phone on speaker, and allowed the girl to speak into it. "This is Chloe and Professor Cerise; guys, this is Korrina!" He spoke.

"Korrina... you're the Shalour city gym leader, correct?" The Professor asked.

"That's right! I offered to help Ash with this little mission of his!" She laughed.

"Glad Ash has got someone responsible with him..." Chloe mumbled.

They laughed and the Professor spoke up, "Ash, I'll let you get back to it! Let me know if you sort this out, and we'll get another flight booked up!"

"Got it, see ya!" Ash said as he hung up. He turned to Korrina, "let's go sort this out before we freeze!"

For the remaining morning, the pair of trainers slowly ventured further into the anomaly. Winds slowly picking up pace, snow and hail battering their courage, there was no end in sight.

"Listen, Ash! I think we need to find shelter! There's no way we can carry on in this weather!" Korrina shouted over the blizzard.

"Yeah, you're right! We need to find a forest or cave!" It was then that Ash gathered an idea. "Lucario, come on out!" He said as he through his Pokeball into the abyss in front of them.

"Wow! You got a Lucario too, Ash?" The trainer asked in awe.

"Yeah! The Riolu hatched from an egg, and soon evolved!" He turned to his Lucario, "can you use your aura to try and find shelter?"

"Lu!" He agreed in a dark gravely voice. Then, the Pokemon closed its eyes and a blue force started surrounding it. Lucario calmed its nerves, carefully plotting a map of the hidden terrain around them. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and started to run in a direction. Ash and Korina looked at each other and grinned, before running after the aura Pokemon. It wasn't long before they came up to a huge cliff, and hidden in a small crack was an obvious cave entrance.

The three of them continued to run towards it and through the tiny crack in rock, opening into a warm, ominous room of darkness. There was a large pond, from where they stood they presumed it was about 6 feet deep. The blue and green colours of the water created a rippling affect around the cave, giving it both light and life. Ash, fascinated by the surroundings, got his phone out and started recording. A path of rock curved around the pond and into a darker area of the room. The ceiling sank a couple of metres, making it harder to see where it went.