Calem and Shauna were searching Ash's house for clues regarding his wish to go to the moon. As they were doing so, they happened to enter Ash's basement... where they come across an unexpected sight.

We join the two as they continue their search.

No One's POV

"W-What is all this?" Shauna whispered.

Calem just stood there looking at the sight in front of him.

The basement was dimly lit by a tiny incandescent light bulb hung from the low ceiling. The walls were bare with a hint of moss growing. This was accompanied by the smell of the damp air. It was a relatively unpleasant environment. It looked like no one had been down there for years, however, there was proof that someone had been there at one point in time.

The proof? Origami Poliwags. Lots and lots of them.

They were scattered all across the floor, covering almost every inch of it. They were almost identical to the Poliwag Ash had in his room. The only difference being their colour. While Ash's Poliwag was blue and yellow, the Poliwags in that room were all plain white.

The only space that wasn't covered by the Poliwags was instead taken up by a box, atop which rested a stuffed platypus.

Calem took in everything around him. He focused back on the origami Poliwags and then started speaking.

"It must have been Serena's doing..." he replied to Shauna while still keeping his gaze fixed at the Poliwags.

"But she died years ago." replied Shauna.

Calem nodded.

"She must have made them when she was still alive..." Calem started as he walked towards a random Poliwag and picked it up. He started talking again as he inspected the Poliwag.

"...she probably left them here... and nobody decided to clean it up." he finished.

Shauna watched Calem, who seemed deep in thought.

"Maybe they didn't want to clean it up, that's why they decided not to?" asked Shauna.

Calem nodded as he set the Poliwag back down.

"This is interesting... but we still have to help Ash, and we're running out of time." Calem said.

Shauna nodded and then started walking back up the stairs, towards the exit of the basement.

Calem was about to walk up too, however, he stopped to have one last look at the basement.

'All these Poliwags and that random Platypus in the middle... they must have some meaning to them...' he thought to himself as he gave that Platypus one last look before switching the light off.

The two walked out of the basement, feeling slightly disappointed.

They had searched the whole house and couldn't find a single clue as to why Ash wished to go to the moon. They felt as if they were back at square one again, however, a voice quickly snapped them out of their miserable thoughts.

"Did you guys see those Poliwags?"

Calem and Shauna's heads snapped up as they focused their sight on the source of the voice.

There stood the young boy who had told them how to open the basement door.

Calem then decided to reply.

"Yeah Johnny, we did. Do you know anything about them?" he asked.

Johnny slightly frowned and shook his head.

"No, sorry. Our dad never let us go down there. River and I went there secretly once and saw all those cool origami Poliwags!" he started off with a frown, however, ended the sentence with a smile. Johnny seemed to like Serena's handiwork.

Suddenly, something came across Calem's mind.

"Your dad?" he asked, almost asking where he was since neither Calem nor Shauna had seen him in the house.

"Yes..." a voice came from behind the two doctors.

Calem and Shauna immediately turned around to see Bonnie standing there.

"Max never let these two go down into the basement. Ash had told Max to keep these two away from the basement. He is in Hoenn right now, visiting his sister, May." Bonnie finished with a slight smile.

"So... this 'Max' is your husband?" asked Shauna.

"Yes, he is! Unfortunately, you guys won't be able to meet him as he won't be back for another week." Bonnie said as she frowned.

"It's no problem. We understand." replied Shauna with a bright smile.

Shauna then turned around to face Calem.

"Calem, if we don't start soon, we might run out of time. I'm going to go set the machines up while you keep looking for clues, ok?" she asked.

Calem knew Shauna was right. He nodded and watched as Shauna and Bonnie left to Ash's room. Calem started contemplating on where he was going to search next. He was sure that he had looked through the whole house.

As Calem was deep in thought, he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down to see who it was and it turned out to be Johnny.

"What's up?" Calem asked.

"You know, there's this really old lighthouse outside. Ash used to go there very often. Maybe you'll find something there?" replied Johnny.

Calem's eyes immediately lit up as soon as Johnny finished speaking. Now that he had this new information, he wanted to go to the lighthouse immediately. He hoped that there would be at least some clues there.

That's exactly what he did. Johnny told him how to get to the lighthouse and Calem immediately left the house and made his way towards the lighthouse.

After a short walk, Calem reached the lighthouse. It stood at the very edge of a jagged cliff.

Calem stood in front of the lighthouse. It towered over everything in the immediate vicinity. From how close Calem was standing, he could see that the paint on the outside of the lighthouse looked faded and chipped. The windows were either extremely dusty or completely shattered. The main entrance door to the lighthouse seemed open, so Calem started walking towards it.

When he was only a couple of meters away from the lighthouse, he spotted something from the corner of his eye. Calem immediately focused his vision to the object. It turned out to be a slab of rock... but it wasn't just any old slab of rock. It was a headstone.

Intrigued by it, Calem started walking towards it. The headstone itself looked relatively new... so he guessed that it was put there recently. Calem made it to the headstone and started reading what was written on it. The words were heartfelt, however, there were two words the stuck out to Calem.

Serena Ketchum.

It was Serena's grave. That's where she was buried... but why in such an awkward place?

It wasn't a cemetery. The only things that could be seen from that place were the moon, the lighthouse and Ash's house.

Calem decided not to think about it too much. Instead, he quickly walked inside the lighthouse.

As soon as he entered, he found it to be completely empty. The only thing that caught Calem's eyes were a set of stairs that seemed to spiral their all the way to the top of the lighthouse.

Calem made his way up the stairs as he had no other option. It was a very long climb. The lighthouse was probably 40 meters tall, so it would have been.

Eventually though, a heavily panting Calem made it to the top, where he found a ladder leading to a hatch.

Calem slowly climbed the ladder and opened the hatch as he made his way into the subsequent room. By doing so, he found himself in the Light Room of the lighthouse. It would have been dark had the moon not been shining as brightly as it was and had the room not had clear glass, transparent walls.

Right in the middle of the room was a huge optic. It was probably bigger than Calem himself. That's where Calem's immediate gaze went, however, as he started looking around the room, he felt like he was having a sense of deja vu.

Again, the floor was littered with origami Poliwags. The scene was extremely similar to the one in the basement. The plain white Poliwgas all looked almost identical to each other. It only suggested that the maker, Serena, probably had a lot of practise in making this. To Calem, that level of replication almost seemed uncanny. All of this was making him slightly uncomfortable.

Regardless, Calem still looked around the room. He found another similarity between the light room and the basement.

Surrounded by all the Poliwags was a box, just like the one back in the basement, however, unlike the one in the basement, there was nothing on top of the box. Calem guessed that at one point, there must have been something resting on top of it... but what?

He kept that thought in minds as he looked around the light room and the observation deck, however, again, he ended up finding nothing. In fact, as he made his way back to the house, he realised that if anything, the questions just kept building up and there were no answers in sight.

Not much later, Calem made it to the house. Upon entering, he immediately made his way up to Ash's room.

"Oh, you're here just in time!" said Shauna as she started preparing for the events ahead.

Calem noticed that the briefcases were open, the quantum computer was booted up and the cranial transducers were ready. The transducers were manufactured in the shape of a helmet so that it could sit snugly on the wearer's head.

"Alright, everything is ready!" announced Shauna.

Calem nodded and started picking up a helmet, however, Ash spoke up.

"Calem? Shauna?" he asked, his voice sounding weaker than ever.

The two immediately give their attention to the old man.

"Can you really take me to the moon?" he asked, his eyes showing nothing more than sheer desperation.

Calem and Shauna looked at each other first and then focused on Ash again.

"No..." started Shauna.

Ash immediately frowned.

"We can't, but you, yourself, might be able to do so." she finished.

The statement puzzled both Ash and Bonnie.

"I know that you guys didn't quite understand what I meant by that. I'll let Calem explain everything to you." said Shauna as she motioned them towards Calem.

Calem stepped towards Ash and Bonnie and then started speaking.

"Right, so what we will do is we'll go into one of Ash's earliest memories. As far back into his memories as possible, will even try to get into Ash's childhood. Once we get there, we'll simply implant a desire within him. A desire to go to the moon." finished Calem.

Bonnie then spoke up.

"Desire alone? Almost everybody has a desire to do something. You know, hopes, goals, ambitions, and dreams, but most don't accomplish them. What makes you think that, just by making Ash want to go to the moon, he will end up going to the moon?" she asked.

It was a valid question, however, it was a question Calem and Shauna had been asked way too often.

Shauna immediately replied.

"Well, you see, in the real world, ambitions fluctuate... and fade. People start things with a passion but eventually, they lose their initial drive and slow down. But imagine if you were locked into that initial drive throughout your whole life. There would be no fluctuations or procrastinations... if you get what I mean. That way, we'll ensure Ash goes to the moon." finished Shauna.

Both Ash and Bonnie nodded in acknowledgement.

"But it won't be easy..." Calem started.

"You see, since Ash's memories are all we have to work with, we have to jump in increments of his memories in a reverse chronological order. So, we'll just go back in his memories one memory at a time." finished Calem.

"Why?" asked Bonnie.

"Can't you just jump straight back into his childhood?" she asked.

"That would be too difficult. Almost impossible." started Calem.

"Think of it this way. You clearly remember what you had for dinner last night, however, if I ask you what you had for dinner 64 days ago, you'll struggle to give me a correct answer. That's because you have a better memory of the more recent events.

What we will be doing is going back to Ash's most recent memories. That memory will be clear, so it will give us time and room to explore around and try to find any clues as to why he wants to go to the moon. The sooner we find it, the sooner we will be able to send him to the moon." finished Calem.

"And how will you be going back into a specific memory?" asked a very curious Bonnie.

"It will all be thanks to this." said Shauna as she pointed at the helmet on her head.

"This has a very special camera. When we spot something that triggers a strong memory in Ash, like some sort of memento, the camera will take a photo and project it into Ash's brain. Because of the memento, Ash's brain will then remember that memory and we will be able to jump into that specific memory." finished Shauna.

"But surely, the further back you go into his memories, the less clear they get?" asked Bonnie.

"Yeah, you are right about that, but as I said earlier. His memories are all we have to work with now. It is our only option." said Calem.

Bonnie finally nodded.

Ash had been silently listening to their conversation this whole time. He had no problem with it as long as Calem and Shauna tried their very best to get him to the moon.

Calem picked up a helmet and walked over to Ash.

"Ash, this one is yours. Please put it on." he said as he handed the helmet over to Ash.

Ash took it and was about to put it on, however, stopped when Shauna spoke.

"Calem, you moron. Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, sounding slightly irritated.

Calem stopped for a while as he thought about what he had forgotten. Upon realisation, his eyes immediately widened.

"The memento!" he said out loud.

Calem walked over to Ash and started talking.

"Ash, since you're quite old now, I don't expect your memories to be vivid, however, there must be one strong memory that sticks out." Calem stated.

"Also, it would be really helpful if the memory is quite far back in time. Not so far that you don't remember much, but not too close either." Calem finished with a smile.

Ash thought about it for a split second. He then immediately developed a frown on his face.

"Yeah... I do have one memory..." he croaked.

"Great, we just want some sort of memento. Any object that was near you or with you at that time." requested Calem.

Ash didn't look up. Instead, he pointed to the corner of the room where a lone blue umbrella stood.

Calem saw that Ash was quite upset, however, he decided not to ask him about it. Instead, he asked Ash to wear the helmet, which Ash did.

Shauna, too, put her own helmet on.

Ash and Shauna had both extended the mask from the helmet. It was now covering their faces.

Calem reached the umbrella, however, turned around to face Bonnie.

"Bonnie, please look after Ash while we're in there." requested Calem.

Bonnie nodded.

"I will. I've called a doctor and she is on her way too. She'll be trying to keep Ash alive for as long as possible. That should give you guys enough time to do your work." Bonnie replied with a warm smile.

Calem nodded and then put the helmet on. He then made sure that the camera was facing the umbrella.

Calem then took a picture of it and the lowered his own mark. After taking the picture, there was a small delay, however, eventually, they could feel Ash's memories being built around them.

Suddenly, they were dropped off in one of Ash's memories. The skies were grey and rain was hammering down on earth. They were about 50 meters away from the light house.

While Calem looked around at the scenery, Shauna was focused on her job. She was determined to help Ash get to the moon. It was the only thing on her might right now. Brimming with confidence, she then spoke up.

"Right, now lets go explore this memory!"

End of Chapter.

And that's the second chapter done.

We have now started our journey into Ash memories and in the coming chapters, there will be a lot of things we will learn about Ash's life.

Next chapter, we'll find out what the umbrella reminded Ash of.

Anyway, Thank you so much for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!

I'll see you in the next one!