Ash's Story (Part 5: Modern Sinnoh)

Chapter 23: Oracion

Alamos Town looked close enough to touch, which made the lake between us feel especially unfair.

The towers rose beyond the water like a reward we had earned too early. After Eterna Gym, I wanted one simple walk into town, but Sinnoh seemed determined to make every road teach us patience.

We had followed the road west from Eterna City with Lillie's Forest Badge still shining in her case, but the path had twisted around the mountains in a way none of us expected. When the towers finally appeared in the distance, I started running before I noticed the water.

Dawn stopped beside me, bent over, and groaned. "And now I am exhausted for nothing."

Gladion looked across the wide lake toward the town. "Looks like we are on the wrong shore."

The two towers rose above the buildings like they were watching both the sky and the water at once. One stood graceful and bright, the other dark and steady, and the space between them seemed to hum even from far away.

Lillie shaded her eyes. "There has to be a way across."

A shadow drifted over us before anyone answered.

A hot-air balloon descended from the mountain breeze, its basket decorated with music notes. A girl leaned over the side with a Chimchar perched beside her, both of them smiling as if rescuing lost travelers happened every day.

"Need a ride to Alamos Town?" the girl called.

"Yes, please!" Dawn shouted before any of us could pretend we were not desperate.

The balloon touched down, and the girl introduced herself as Alice. That made me pause, because hearing that name always brought another Alice to mind first, but this Alice was from Alamos, with gentle eyes and a leaf whistle tied around her neck.

"I work part-time as a balloon tour guide," Alice explained as Chimchar helped pull us aboard. "Most of the time, I am a music student."

"We came for the Pokémon Contest," I said while Pikachu climbed onto the basket edge. "I heard it is being held in Alamos Town."

Alice nodded and guided the balloon upward. "Then you came at the right time. The Contest site is inside the Space-Time Towers."

Dawn's tiredness vanished at once. "Inside those towers?"

Alice smiled and lifted the leaf whistle to her lips. The melody that came out was soft and old, floating over the lake like light on water. Pelipper, Pidgey, and Pidgeotto gathered around the balloon, following the song without fear.

Lillie's face changed as recognition softened her voice. "Oracion."

Alice lowered the whistle. "You know it?"

"We heard it when we were little," I said. "It is a song that feels like a promise."

The towers grew larger as the balloon crossed the lake. I pointed to the right tower. "That one represents time."

Lillie pointed to the left. "And that one represents space."

Alice blinked. "You know a lot about them."

"Godey built this place a hundred years ago," I said. "The towers were made for music, but also for something bigger than music."

Before Alice could answer, the air shuddered.

The balloon lurched so hard that Dawn grabbed the basket, and Chimchar cried out. For a second, the sky itself looked bent, like heat over stone, except there was no heat.

Daniel stared at the rippling air. "That was not ordinary wind."

Gladion's hand moved toward Umbreon's Poké Ball. "No. Something pushed space."