1. Ash's Story (Part 10: Galar)

Chapter 23: Neon Contest

The fog thickened again before we reached Grenomy Town. It rolled across the path in pale waves, closing behind us until the Wild Area markers looked like shadows floating in milk. I kept one hand near Pikachu and the other near the strap of my bag, feeling the old prickle of memory at the back of my neck.

The Slumbering Weald had been different, but the feeling was close enough to wake the memory. Fog there had swallowed distance, sound, and certainty. This fog did not carry the same ancient pressure, yet it still made every step feel as if the world was deciding what we were allowed to see.

Drizzile stayed near the edge of the group, following a thread of damp ground beside the road. It had been quiet since the Bookmark job, but not absent. That was still progress. When the mist pressed too close, it touched the wet stones and watched the tiny ripples its fingers made.

Alice walked beside me with Eevee in her arms. "This feels thicker than the morning report said."

Gloria held her Rotom Phone high, but the map kept spinning as if it had lost confidence. "The signal says Grenomy should be straight ahead. Unfortunately, the fog disagrees."

Flora's Roserade held its flowers outward, feeling the air. Helen kept one hand on Applin's basket. Elena's Indeedee looked calm, but its ears moved toward every distant sound.

A shape appeared ahead of us.

Pikachu's ears rose. I stopped, and the others stopped with me. The silhouette moved through the fog without rushing, like someone who knew the path well enough to let the mist step aside. When she came closer, pale purple light shimmered around her coat, and the fog curved gently away from her face.

Gloria blinked. "I think I have seen you before. Aren't you Luna, the Gym Leader of Grenomy?"

The woman smiled, serene and quiet. "That is correct. And you are Gloria. I remember the challengers who travel near unusual company."

Her eyes turned to me. "Ash Ketchum."

I nodded. "That is me. We are trying to reach Grenomy Town. Do you know the safest way through?"

"I do," Luna said. "Follow my steps, not the lights you think you see."

That warning made my shoulders tighten. Still, she did not sound threatening. She sounded like a person who had given the same advice to many travelers and had needed it herself once.

Luna guided us through the fog in a calm line. She did not use a device, and she did not pause at the places where the path split. Every so often, a faint psychic shimmer moved from her hand into the mist, and the fog ahead opened just enough for our next few steps.

"This fog is part weather and part protection," Luna said. "Grenomy stands close enough to the Watchtower Ruins that Ghost-type Pokémon wander near the town borders. Drifloon, Duskull, Gastly, and others are not evil simply for being Ghost-types, but frightened townspeople and curious spirits are a poor combination."

Gloria looked toward a dark outline in the distance. "So the fog keeps them away?"

"It confuses the route and softens the town's presence," Luna explained. "Psychic-type Pokémon help maintain the barrier. They do not trap the Ghost-types. They only make Grenomy harder to approach by accident."

"That sounds fair," I said. "A barrier that prevents trouble without starting a fight."

Luna's smile grew a little warmer. "That is how I prefer to think of power."

Drizzile glanced up at those words. It did not move closer, but I noticed its eyes stay on Luna's hand when the psychic light opened the fog. The barrier was quiet strength. It changed the path without shouting at anything to move.