1.Ash's Story (Part 2: Johto)

Chapter 36: Crystal Heart

When we passed through the gate leading into the Ruins of Alph, the air changed before anyone spoke.

The stone paths ahead should have felt old and quiet, but instead the ruins glittered with a cold light that did not belong there. Grass near the entrance had hardened into pale crystal, and the flowers beside the path were turning transparent petal by petal.

Ethan stopped so suddenly that Aibo nearly bumped into his leg. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Look over here!" Kris called.

She knelt beside a patch of flowers, but she did not touch them. The stems were half green and half crystal, trapped between life and something sharp and unnatural. Megaree stood close to Kris, tense and worried, while Archy sniffed the ground and growled at the crystalline scent.

Two Natu hopped across the broken stones nearby. One stared at the flowers. The other stared at a cracked wall carved with Unown symbols.

The first Natu's meaning reached Lillie and me in tiny flashes: "Letters awake. Feelings too loud. Stone is dreaming wrong."

Lillie's eyes widened. "The Natu are warning us."

Kris looked up immediately. "What are they saying?"

"They say the symbols are awake," I answered. "And something is wrong with the feelings here."

The second Natu hopped closer to Kris's notebook and pecked gently at a sketch of the ruins layout. Kris did not understand its words, but she understood the gesture.

"You want me to follow the symbols?" Kris asked softly.

Natu gave a sharp little nod.

A sudden pulse of red light flashed from deeper inside the ruins. The air twisted, and a wave of unseen power rolled across the ground. The two Natu cried out as the Unown symbols on the wall glowed.

Power burst from the symbols, hidden inside letters and shapes instead of coming from one clear attacker.

Move Dex Updated — Ash and Lillie's Shared Johto Record

Hidden Power — Normal. A move that releases hidden strength from within the user's nature, symbols, and identity, with the force shaped by what lies beneath the surface.

The first Natu stumbled toward me. I caught it carefully before it fell into the spreading crystal.

It was lighter than I expected, but its whole body trembled like it had been staring at too many futures at once. Its eyes did not focus on my face right away. They kept shifting from the wall to the tower, then to Molly's distant house, as if every direction held a different piece of the same warning.

Its meaning flickered weakly: "Help ruins. Help child. I can see pieces."

"Then come with us," I said.

The Natu touched the Poké Ball in my hand, and the capture clicked quickly, not from defeat but from choice.

Pokédex Entry Updated — Ash and Lillie's Shared Johto Record

Natu — Tiny Bird Pokémon — Psychic/Flying. It stares fixedly at things only it seems able to see, often reacting to signs, symbols, and distant danger before others understand them.

The second Natu stayed beside Kris, refusing to leave her notebook. It tapped one symbol, then another, then hopped to the side where Kris had written the names of the ruin chambers. Kris followed each tap with her pencil, and a rough path began to form on the page.

"You are not only scared," Kris murmured. "You are trying to map the disturbance."

Natu ruffled its tiny wings. I could hear the meaning that Kris could only feel through behavior: "Research girl listens. She writes instead of grabbing. Good."