Third Person's POV

"They stole this," An older woman flips her laptop around towards the three boys.

"Smart thinking Lenora," A man, her husband, states.

Lenora is the Nacrene City gym leader who is obsessed with ancient legends, much like Cedric. She has big poofy teal hair, dark skin, and lots of clothing. A majority of it follows a teal, orange, and beige pattern.

Her husband Hawes is the kind of guy you expect to never leave the Nacrene Museum which also acts as the gym. He has thin glasses along with a short haircut. He also wears a nicely put together suit which is grey and lime coloured.

"We has to turn to the digital world at some point," Lenora laughs. "We have every bit of text found on artifacts, in the books, and even the ancient engravings found everywhere, copied and documented in this file."

"Amazing," Ash awes while watching Cedric scroll through the pages of some book. "Why did the thieves steal this book?"

No one talks.

The three adults look among each other until Lenora finally makes Ash feel like he's there again. "Ash we'll be right back okay," She smiles and they leave the room.

"I'm going to tell him what's going on if you don't," Lenora puts her hands on her hips, staring deep into Cedric's soul.

The architect gulps.

"If you do that you'd be lying to him," The dirty blonde starts to sweat. Lenora's expression drifts farther from the happy side. "Because I lied to you..."

"Cedric!" Lenora steps up and grabs the collar of his shirt.

"Okay Lenora," Hawes calms down his wife. "How about we go back out there and Cedric can explain what's really going on?"

Cedric nods and Lenora lets go. They walk back into the library where they started and Ash immediately senses a problem amongst them.

"Ash I haven't been completely honest with you," Cedric sighs. "Everything about the race and having to beat a team was true."

"Except that team isn't a bunch of archaeologists who want to discover an ancient secret. It was Team Archo Plasma, whom I don't know much about."

"Plasma?" Ash questions.

"They are linked to the team you and Hilda defeated."

A tingle goes up Ash's spine.

"At least I think so."

"I don't know how they were able to rebound so quickly," Lenora adds. "Their leader was captured so it makes no sense that a bunch of grunts could organize something like a robbery."

"It's almost as if we are missing a piece of the puzzle," Her husband states. "Hidden but in the open like a Mareep in a cotton field."

"Interesting analogy," Cedric rubs his goatee. "But possibly the key to figuring this out."

"So can you tell me what the book is about?" Ash asks and Cedric flips his laptop around so the boy can see.

It's weird seeing an ancient piece of writing on the same screen that can present modern words, pictures, television shows. It would be more fitting if there was a background, showing the wrinkled pages and dusty cover.

"Legend of Ky." Ash reads the title.

"Reading is a waste of time," Cedric says and Ash looks up. "When I've already got the information."

"For Arceus' sake Cedric," Lenora rolls her eyes.

"They are planning to use the third legendary in the Tao Trio of Unova. It's powers rival Zekrom and Reshiram, the other two." Ash reads the first two lines of the page.

"It is said that Kyurem can freeze the world to restore peace," Cedric sums up the next bit for Ash. "If the balance of all the world's legendaries is out of order."

"But that's not all. Kyurem also holds the energy to power a very dangerous weapon that is hidden deep inside the Giant Chasm in Eastern Sinnoh."

"So we go there and find the weapon?" Ash asks and Cedric shakes his head.

"Not quite Ash," Cedric coughs and lays back on the couch. Almost as if energy is being drained from him. "Finishing the weapon wouldn't do us any good, even if we got there in time."

"What do you mean Cedric?" Lenora has a stern look on her face. "If you two could get the weapon then problem solved."

"I have a feeling they already have it."

Lenora stops, the only sound being their breaths. Which are getting sharper and sharper as they realize how bad this may be.

"You need the DNA splicers," Hawes suddenly states.

"But—" Cedric tries.

"Professor Juniper with all due respect, I don't believe your plan we talked about will work."

"Honey but it made sense," Lenora protests but Hawes takes the computer from Ash and shows a page near the end of the book.

It has an ancient picture of a legendary looking Pokémon but it has lightening and flames coming from it. "Is that Kyurem?" Ash asks in amazement.

"No," Hawes states and Ash frowns. "Well not technically."

Cedric is rubbing off on him already."

"If they have the weapon, they will beat you to Kyurem no doubt. That's why I don't think you should keep considering this as a race."

"Because we lost," Cedric nods in agreement. "But maybe we didn't."

Now it's time for Hawes to be surprised. It'd be a lot easier if one of them would just spit out their idea already.

"The DNA splicers are in Opelucid City, pretty faraway from the Giant Chasm." Hawes puts up a hand to stop Cedric.

"They were," Hawes sighs. "The heritage council voted to have them returned back to Kyurem's home, the Giant Chasm."

"So you're telling me that the Pokémon, the weapon, and weird power enhancing item are all in the same place," Lenora says in disbelief. "Sorry to say but I don't think Kyurem is going to be the key to the situation here."

"Could we let them get Kyurem and the weapon then take it from them?" Ash suggests but based on their reactions they don't like his head on approach to this. "Or not."

"The DNA Splicers are hidden deep in the chasm," Hawes shrugs. "Even with the knowledge of this book, they would need to find it and one of either Zekrom or Reshiram."

The group nods and they fall back into another eery silence.

"You guys realize your plan is still head to meteorite crater and hope for the best right?" Lenora rolls her eyes.

No response.

"Well waiting here isn't going to help that," Cedric gets up. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime," Hawes shakes his hand. "Remember the Giant Chasm is a hole."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They are really hustling," Hilda wipes off her forehead before picking up her fire type pig Pokémon, Tepig. It's orange fur warming up her already sweaty body. "Okay back down you go."

Tepig looks down sadly but Hilda assures it that it's not her fault she's a fire type. And when winter comes Tepig will be cuddled 24/7.

The brunette is entering Nacrene City, a mix between the modern world and the past. The old village style houses blending with modern construction such as the museum. "Let's find Ash!" Hilda cheers and she walks down the main drag, looking all over for any sign of him.

"Maybe they went right through," Hilda concludes after ten seconds of looking.

But then she's sees him.

Cedric is also there but she doesn't care for him,

Pikachu is perched on his shoulder as always but even from here she can tell that they aren't bubbly and comical like they usually are. Their shoulders seem a little slumped and their feet are barely getting off the ground.

That means a lot since the two are usual jumping and running all over.

"Tepig," The female Pokémon nudges it's trainer forward.

Hilda didn't even realize she stopped. Now that she thinks of it, she can barely move forward again. Almost as if she's cemented into the paved streets.

Her eyes widen but is relieved to find that she isn't actually standing in cement. But now she's much more self aware...

Her breathing has quickened, palms sweatier than when she was holding a literal fire animal, and her knees are shaking. "I—- I can't do it," Hilda mutters and forces herself to look away from Ash.

"Tepig!" The Pokémon protests and starts to run towards Ash.

Unfortunately Hilda quickly swooped her up and made a run for the Pokémon Center.

She bursts through the doors, attracting a few odd looks but none bigger than the one a black haired boy is giving her. "Hilda?" Cheren gets up from one of the lobby couches.

"Ohhh," Hilda looks at him nervously. "Hey Cheren."

"We need to talk," He motions to the couch and the brunette sighs before following him. "First off— WHE—"

"Attention citizens of Unova!" Every television in the building comes to life with the face of a green haired man.

"The Unova President," Cheren stops.

"I would like to announce that I am taking over this region completely," He laughs maniacally but no one reacted. Either people are frozen in fear or don't understand.

"Our world as we know it is a mess and I'm going to bring it back to the start," He smirks. "Starting with an ice age that will eliminate every human and Pokémon off of this planet."

Now it's sunk in.

Mothers are hugging their children tightly, burying their child's head into their stomach to cover their ears. Couples look between each other with terrified looks while friends lean forward a little more to make sense of the words coming out.

"Now don't be alarmed," The President chuckles. "You might as well continue with your daily lives until my team is ready to go through with my plans."

"It's also a shame that the only person who know of my plans is about to walk himself into a trap as well," He shrugs. "Just one less person I'll have to freeze when it's time."

"Have a wonderful day!" He gives an evil smile before the screen flashes a rocky shield with a bright yellow A.

"Oh no," Hilda mutters.

"What?" Cheren looks at her. Obviously no one is feeling safe right now but she knows something he doesn't. "Hilda!"

"It's Ash!" She gets up and runs towards the exit.

Cheren grabs her in time and holds her arms tightly. "Don't do anything rash," Cheren whispers. Most people are preoccupied with their President's words so they aren't paying attention to the two.

"I need to go warn them," Hilda starts to cry while struggling against his hold.

Even though Cheren should let her go, he isn't because her emotions are sky high right now. Under normal circumstances it would be dangerous to let her run out alone. But it's even more dangerous now.

"Hilda just slow down so we can talk," Cheren says but inside his mind he's thinking about the two things she said.

It's Ash.

We have to warn them.

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Sorry for the long delay but I have a schedule worked out now so it shouldn't happen again.

WEDNESDAY UPDATES NOW.

Thanks for sticking bye and cya next chapter.