1. Ash's Story (Part 0: Prologue)

Chapter 10: Dragon Slayer

Elmososha Town did not sit on the sea so much as rise from it. Its floating base stretched north of Oceablu City like a white-and-silver tower anchored to the water, with docks spreading from the lowest floor and glass elevators climbing through the middle like glowing veins.

Ash pressed both hands against the elevator window as the city carried him upward. Ships moved below like toys, their wakes cutting thin lines through the blue. Serena stood beside him, trying to look calm, though her eyes kept widening every time another floor slid past.

"This whole town floats?" Serena asked.

Diantha smiled from behind them. "It floats, stabilizes, and adjusts to tides. Elmososha began as an engineering project, then became a city when people realized they wanted to live inside the miracle."

Paris, standing beside her in a purple jacket too stylish for ordinary travel, swept one arm toward the view. "And once people live somewhere, they need stories, games, food, factories, gardens, and a Gym hidden behind a bit of luck."

Ash turned around. "The Gym is really hidden in the Game Corner?"

Paris placed one hand over his heart, wounded by the question. "Not hidden. Dramatically invited."

Diantha gave him an amused look. "The entrance requires finding the correct machine, but challengers are not forced to gamble. Paris enjoys theatrical tests more than practical ones."

Paris bowed without shame. "A Gym battle should begin before the battlefield."

Ash glanced at Serena, who looked like she was trying not to laugh. Elmososha already felt like a city built by someone who believed every hallway should lead to a surprise.

The elevator passed the residential floors first, then the movie-studio levels on the fifth and sixth floors. Through the glass, Ash saw painted sets, camera rigs, costume racks, and actors crossing a hallway in armor beside a woman dressed like a queen. Higher still came the Poké Ball Factory, a bright industrial floor where technicians inspected finished Poké Balls behind protective windows.

On the seventh floor, beside the factory, a wide observation room housed Electric-type Pokémon in a protected habitat. Magnemite drifted near magnetic rails. Voltorb rolled along marked tracks, watched carefully by staff. A group of children waved at a cheerful Helioptile sunning itself under artificial lights.

"The food court is above that," Paris said. "Then the Game Corner. Then the Sky Garden at the top, where Diantha pretends she is resting while secretly reading scripts."

Diantha smiled serenely. "I rest artistically."

Serena looked toward her with open admiration. Diantha was not only Kalos Champion. She was also a world-famous actress, and even standing in an elevator, she carried herself like every movement knew where the camera might be.

Ash felt the red mask of Scarlett in his bag, wrapped carefully beneath his travel jacket. Chapter by chapter, lesson by lesson, his life kept turning strange abilities into new responsibilities. Greeny City had taught him that a form could be chosen honestly. Elmososha looked ready to teach him what a chosen role could become.

The movie studio floor smelled of sawdust, paint, warm lights, and fabric. Sets stood side by side in impossible combinations: a castle corridor beside a forest path, a village square beside a painted night sky, and a stone bridge that ended abruptly at a wall of green screen.

Diantha led Ash and Serena toward a rehearsal room where Paris waited with two children. Elline stood with her arms folded, her sharp eyes bright with excitement. David sat nearby, studying a prop sword with the seriousness of a real craftsman.