1. Ash's Story (Part 9: Alola)

Chapter 72: Light Beneath the Snow

The morning after the Seven Mysteries felt almost too bright, as if the school wanted to prove that it could still be ordinary. Professor Kukui accepted our invitation to Mt. Lanakila with a grin, and the classmates came with enough excitement to fill the road before we even reached the snow.

Ice Manor stood against the white slope like a place from another region. The air turned sharp around us, and Snowy stepped forward with her tails lifted. Pikachu stayed on my shoulder, watching the mountain with more curiosity than worry.

Ice Manor had once sounded like a comfortable destination when we planned the visit. Now that we were actually there, it felt more like the mountain had invited us into a lesson. Every gust carried powdery snow across our shoes, and every distant rumble reminded us that beautiful places could still be wild.

Lillie smiled when Snowy breathed in the cold. "She looks happier here."

Pikachu pressed one paw against my scarf. His meaning arrived with a warm spark under the freezing wind. "Snowy remembers snow the way some hearts remember home."

Lillie glanced at Pikachu and softened at once. "Then we should let her enjoy every step."

Professor Kukui led us toward a ridge where the snow opened into a wider field. Mallow and Lana pointed out small Ice Pokémon moving between rocks, while Sophocles tried to keep Rotom from fogging its own screen. Selene stayed near the back with Rotom and Comfey, helping anyone who slipped.

Trenor tested each snowy patch with Mudsdale before the younger students crossed it. Nate sketched the shape of Ice Manor in his notebook, while Rosa teased him for making a field report out of a class outing. Even so, everyone stayed close, because Mt. Lanakila's beauty made it easy to forget how dangerous the mountain could become.

Then the ground dipped ahead of us.

A crater stretched across the snow, too wide and too fresh to belong to the mountain naturally. The edges had melted into black glass, and the light around it felt thin, like the air had been emptied of color.

Lillie stopped beside me. "Is that a giant crater?"

We descended carefully, using Mudsdale and Charizard to steady the steeper path. At the center of the crater, something dark and broken lay among the scorched stones. Sharp crystal limbs twitched once, and my breath caught before I could speak.

"It's Necrozma," I whispered in disbelief.

Rosa stared at the fallen prism Pokémon. "You mean the one you fought in Ultra Metropolis? What is it doing here?"

Necrozma's body looked different without the stolen light blazing around it. It was still terrifying, but the terror had been cracked open, leaving exhaustion underneath. Its edges trembled with faint color, and every flicker seemed to hurt.

Nobody rushed forward. Even Kiawe, who usually met danger by stepping toward it, stopped at the edge of the scorched stone. The mountain was silent around Necrozma, and that silence felt less like fear than mourning.

Lillie and I looked at our Z-Rings at the same time. I remembered Dulse and Phyco explaining that Z-Power carried light close to Necrozma's own. Lillie nodded before I said anything.

We raised our Z-Rings together. Golden light poured from both bands, not as an attack and not as a challenge. It flowed into Necrozma like sunlight entering a sealed cave.

Necrozma stirred. Its eye opened, dim but aware. A voice entered the air without touching our ears. "Why did you help me?"

"Because leaving you like this would be wrong," I said.