Ash's Story (Part 5: Modern Sinnoh)

Chapter 67: Temple Beneath Snow

Snowpoint's evening snow looked gentle after the Gym, but none of us felt calm.

The Icicle Badge sat safely in my case, and Lillie's badge rested in hers, but the path beyond Snowpoint was not only about Gym progress anymore. Team Galactic had already taken Mesprit and Azelf, and the report from Uxie's lake still felt like an open wound.

We did not go to Lake Acuity because we thought we could still stop the capture. We went because Barry had been there, because Uxie had suffered there, and because walking away without checking felt worse.

Zoey came with us, quiet beside Dawn. Candice stayed behind to rest her Pokémon before Paul's battle tomorrow, though she sent a guide to help us find the safest path.

The guide left us at the final ridge, where the trees thinned and the lakefront opened below. Even from above, the place looked wrong. Snow covered the ground, but the air above the lake seemed hollow, like a bell after the sound had been stolen from it.

Lillie held her coat closed with one hand. "It feels different from Snowpoint."

Daniel's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "A legendary presence was disturbed here. I cannot prove that from sensation alone, but the pattern fits everything we know."

Tox looked toward the lake path. "Barry may still be injured. Emotional shock can make people ignore physical symptoms."

Dawn did not wait for more than that. "Then we hurry."

The lakefront was colder than Snowpoint.

Not colder in the normal way. It was the kind of cold that felt empty, like something important had been pulled out of the air and left the place unable to breathe.

Barry stood near the lake path, fists shaking at his sides. His Pokémon were exhausted around him, and Jupiter watched him with bored cruelty while her Skuntank stood between him and the frozen water.

"You are finished already?" Jupiter asked. "Your Pokémon are not bad, but you are laughably weak."

Barry gritted his teeth. "Team Galactic is not getting away with this!"

Jupiter looked toward the lake, then back at him. "The lake Pokémon is already gone. You failed to save Uxie, and now Team Galactic has what it needs."

Dawn flinched hard beside me. "Barry..."

Barry tried to step forward again, but his legs nearly gave out. His Empoleon pushed against him, trying to keep him upright, and that made the helplessness on his face even worse.

Empoleon's meaning came strained and furious. "He wants to stand. His body says no. I will be his legs if I must."

Tox moved a step forward, but Jupiter noticed us before he could reach Barry.

Her expression sharpened with irritation rather than fear. "You again. Do not waste your time whining about poor Pokémon and other trivial junk. We are doing something huge for everyone's sake."

"Hurting Uxie is not for anyone's sake," Lillie said.

Jupiter lifted one hand. "Skuntank, clear our path."

Her Skuntank fired a blast of poison-dark force toward Barry before anyone could reach him. Our Stunky burst from his Poké Ball on his own and threw himself in front of the attack.

"Stunky!" I shouted through the poison.

Stunky hit the snow hard, rolled, and stood again with shaking legs. Jupiter's Skuntank growled down at him, larger, nastier, and trained to hurt without hesitation.