"Thank you, Grandma," Ash said happily after hearing what Yuko Draconis told him. Even though they had only known each other for less than two days, Ash liked the feeling of being with her.
He had felt something similar with Delia. It wasn't that Professor Samuel Oak and the others didn't care for him—they did. But the way women showed affection felt different from the way men did.
After leaving the Draconis household, Ash ran toward a nearby mountain. His steps were swift, and within moments, he disappeared from sight using Shave. He had seen many Dratini yesterday, and that reminded him of his Dragonite. Then, a memory suddenly struck him—
The Super Ancient Pokémon.
Yes, apart from the enormous Dragonite he had already encountered, he remembered that there were still three more Super Ancient Pokémon. The ruins of an ancient civilization might even hold clues about them—or perhaps even about the Infinity Gems.
"It should be here. System, guide me to the exact location."
For more than an hour, Ash pushed forward using Shave and Moon Step, following the directions imprinted in his memory. Finally, he arrived at what seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary mountain.
"Ding~!"
[System scan complete. At a depth of seven hundred meters to the left of the host, the presence of Super Ancient Pokémon energy has been detected.]
Hearing the reply, Ash immediately moved in the direction indicated. Soon, he reached the spot, but his face darkened when he saw clear signs of excavation.
"Looks like someone has already been here..."
But he wasn't about to give up.
"Steelix, dig down!"
The towering Steelix let out a roar before lowering its head, allowing Ash to climb onto it. With the strength and speed of a living excavator, Steelix burrowed deep into the ground. Ash cloaked himself in a protective aura of energy to shield against falling rocks.
Bang!
Before long, they broke through into a hollow underground chamber. Just like the ruins he had discovered before, this one opened up into what resembled a vast labyrinth.
"Good. It seems the miners who came before only found a few relics and left. They never realized there was a true ruin hidden here."
Satisfied, Ash recalled Steelix and continued deeper into the maze.
Swish! Swish!
Suddenly, arrows shot from both walls. Ash instantly used Shave to dart between them, dodging effortlessly.
"These traps are still active? Strange... If the system detected Super Ancient Pokémon energy, this place must be at least thousands, maybe even millions of years old. And yet the traps still work."
Examining the fallen arrows, Ash noticed something unusual.
"Sharingan!"
Activating his eyes, Ash studied the arrows closely. Each one was faintly coated with psychic energy.
"According to the records I found in the ruins of the Super Ancient Civilization, humans back then weren't supposed to have psychic powers. Psychic abilities developed only thousands of years later. That means… the builders of this ruin must have had many psychics among them. No wonder these traps still function."
The ruins near Diglett's Cave could be considered the birthplace of the Super Ancient Civilization. But compared to those, this place felt… different. More recent, yet still tied to that mysterious age.
Ash pressed on, facing more traps along the way, but his strength and speed allowed him to evade them all. After nearly an hour and a half of navigating the maze, he finally reached the innermost chamber.
At last—his goal was in sight.
An altar stood before him. Three objects rested upon it:
A golden spoon.
A black dumbbell.
A gray bell.
Ash's eyes widened. They matched exactly what he had once seen depicted in the East Gate ruins.
In front of the altar lay a massive stone slab covered in text. But the writing was unlike anything he had ever studied. Even after years of deciphering the language of ancient civilizations, these characters were beyond his understanding.
"If I remember correctly… the golden spoon belongs to the Super Ancient Alakazam, the black dumbbell to the Super Ancient Gengar, and the gray bell to the Super Ancient Jigglypuff. But what does this tablet say…?"
Ash didn't touch the items. He simply stood before them, cautious yet burning with curiosity.
Because in his previous life, Ash remembered from the anime that when he and his friends had taken these three items from the ruins, the three Super Ancient Pokémon had appeared and destroyed everything around them.
Even though the current events didn't perfectly match what he recalled, Ash knew better than to assume that following the same path would end without disaster.
"Hm? What's this…?"
He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing at the stone slab.
"So that's it. The writing on this tablet is being concealed by an incredibly strong psychic power. No wonder I couldn't understand it before." His expression hardened.
"This psychic force… it's far too powerful to belong to just one person."
...
TN:
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