Ash's Story (Part 5: Modern Sinnoh)

Chapter 76: Copied Voices

Sandgem Town looked almost too normal after the Distortion World. The sea wind moved through the grass, the laboratory windows shone in the morning light, and the path to Professor Rowan's lab did not bend sideways or float away under our feet. I had never been so grateful for a straight road.

Professor Rowan and Lucas were waiting inside the lab when we arrived. Rowan looked as stern as always for one second, but then his shoulders dropped with relief.

"You have come back," Professor Rowan said, his voice rougher than usual. "All of you leave me speechless. You have done it. Never has my heart pounded this hard for so long in my sixty years of living."

Lucas smiled tiredly from beside the desk. "After you left, the professor did a lot of checking around. He got really worried about you. He contacted everyone he could to rustle up help, but you somehow came back before help could reach you."

Mom folded her arms with a look that said she still wanted to be angry at the danger. "They came back because they had many people and Pokémon refusing to let them fall."

Pikachu's meaning came warm against my cheek. "Coming back is also a kind of victory."

Professor Berlitz joined through the lab screen, looking relieved enough that even his formal posture had cracked. "Dawn, Ash, Lillie, everyone, Sandgem has been waiting for this call. The tremors around the mountain stopped, and the reports from the lakes changed at nearly the same time."

Dawn leaned closer to the screen. "Then Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf really returned?"

Professor Rowan turned toward the maps of Sinnoh's lakes. "Yes. There is one more thing. The three Pokémon of the lakes appear to have returned to their homes. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf are safe."

"That is awesome," Dawn said, breathing out like she had been holding that worry since Spear Pillar.

Lillie smiled softly. "They were hurt, but they still protected Sinnoh."

Rowan's eyes moved to the Poké Balls holding Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina's entrusted fragments. "And now the myths have become part of your responsibility. Do not let anyone convince you that power becomes safer when treated as empty."

"We won't," I said, meaning every word.

Professor Rowan studied us longer than usual, not only as Trainers but as people who had walked somewhere impossible and returned with proof. He did not ask to examine the Poké Balls immediately. That restraint mattered. After Cyrus, I noticed every time someone looked at legendary power and still chose respect first.

Professor Berlitz cleared his throat from the screen. "Dawn, your mother asked me to say she is proud of you and also very upset that you went through another world before calling."

Dawn winced. "That sounds exactly like Mom."

Lucas smiled. "It sounds like all of Sinnoh's parents today."

Before we left, Rowan mentioned one smaller Sinnoh method we could still check while we were near the southern routes. Route 221 held a Pure Incense connected to Chimecho's breeding line, and after all the legendary records, he thought a quieter discovery might remind us that not every part of the Pokédex came from crisis.

We made the detour. The path toward Route 221 felt gentle after Spear Pillar, with trees shifting in a normal breeze and wild Pokémon watching from the grass without fear. I kept expecting the ground to tilt, then felt foolish every time it stayed still.

The incense rested near a calm ledge where the wind sounded like a bell. I held it carefully, and Rotom Phone opened Chimecho's old Hoenn family record before I even asked.