Chapter 578: Submarine Explorer ready to depart for Seafloor Cavern

Meanwhile, in the Team Aqua Base off the coast of Lilycove City, Archie was looking at the screen, watching all the new data they managed to get. Shelly was undercover in the Weather Institute after all.

Although she wasn’t back yet, she was supposed to return soon to report on the extra things they found. But she wasn’t back yet. She called earlier saying that some stuff ended up getting delayed, so she let some grunts stay and work while she rushed to get over here since she didn’t want to be left out.

But at the rate she was going, she might end up getting left behind.

As for the rest, Matt was finally out of bed rest after he healed enough to get back into the field, but he was still not in the best shape. He was actually leaning on Amber most of the time just because he was in so much pain.

And finally, there was Audrey. She finally decided to show up, with no explanation as to where she was or what she did. Not even a confirmation if Professor Cozmo was alive or dead, not that Archie cared either way.

But he was annoyed that she thought she could just ignore him and get away with it. He planned to teach her a lesson once he got back. He’d had about enough of her at this point. As soon as he got Kyogre, he would teach her a proper lesson.

But then a grunt manning the dock walked up to him and saluted, "They are here!"

Archie nodded and made his way to where their submarines were. As he got there, a large submarine that was very obviously painted red came out of the water, and the hatch opened.

Magma grunts began marching out quickly and stood in a line. From the doorway, Maxie walked out slowly, followed by Tabitha and Zenith.

Maxie gave a smirk, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Archie."

Archie frowned as he looked them all over. He was about to ask something when Matt spoke up.

"This is it, Boss. The moment we finally step foot on the seafloor cavern."

Archie looked back at Matt, and his eyes narrowed, seeing Matt still having to lean on Amber for support.

"Matt, you don’t seriously expect to take part in this operation, do you?"

"Oh...are you talking about my injuries?" Matt incorrectly assumed that was what Archie was talking about, "I’m a lot better now, so—"

Before he could finish, Archie’s Walrein flew out of its ball and slapped Matt with its tail, sending him flying and crashing into the wall, making him groan in pain.

As Amber quickly went over to check on him, Archie narrowed his eyes.

"It has nothing to do with that! I’m talking about your failure at Mt. Chimney!" he snapped, glaring at him, "You have let me down. I’ll decide how to punish you later. But now I’m taking Amber and Audrey with me to the Seafloor Cavern instead."

As Archie turned and started choosing some grunts to come with them, Amber narrowed his eyes while looking at Archie’s back. Before, Archie was at least reasonable, but recently he had been getting more and more agitated, and he would snap at them for the smallest things.

He couldn’t prove it, but he knew Audrey had something to do with it. Ever since she joined, nothing good had happened. Only bad things continued to happen.

Before, Amber and many of the other grunts chose to follow Archie willingly because of his plan to expand the sea, but now Archie was changing, and not for the better.

Meanwhile, speaking of Audrey, when she heard what Archie said, she jumped down from the table she was sitting on and smirked.

"Ohh, scary~" she said with a smirk, "You’re going to end up making me have second thoughts."

Archie didn’t even look back at her, "Shut up, Audrey." He barked another order, not caring what she said next.

And yet, Audrey only seemed to get a bigger smirk, like this was exactly what she wanted.

Archie and the squad of grunts, Amber, and Audrey followed, stepping up onto the platform.

Archie looked at Maxie with a look that said, ’If you betray us, I’ll kill you,’ before he slowly dropped the device into Maxie’s hand.

Maxie took it without giving him another look, then handed it to Tabitha.

Tabitha smirked as he took it and ran to the side to install it. Once it was in the submarine, visible lights began emitting for a moment before stopping, indicating the upgrade was complete.

"Special device activated. Submarine set to deep-sea mode," Tabitha said.

Then, like Maxie and Archie were trying to compete to see who could say it first, they spoke in unison, "Submarine Explorer ready to depart for Seafloor Cavern!!"

Then both groups marched forward to climb into the submarine.

Meanwhile, in the back, Zenith’s eyes landed on Audrey as he gave her a cheeky smirk.

Audrey just narrowed her eyes, looking annoyed, as they both realized they had the same idea. But that didn’t matter, all that mattered was who could start their plan first.

—

{At Mega Island}

Ash was leaning against a pillar, eating a sandwich while looking over the spoils. It had been a little less than four hours, so he knew he’d have to go back sooner or later.

Looking at his new stones, he managed to find a Blazikenite and Swampertite, but unfortunately no Sceptilite. He also only managed to find one Swampertite.

But he also found an Altarianite, which he was planning on giving to May when he got back. He also managed to find a Gardevoirite and Galladite. Not only that, he found two Galladites, so he could give one to Wally and still keep one for himself.

As for the next ones, he did find a Metagrossite after getting Metagross out to search with him, and an Aggronite.

Speaking of which, since there were so many Pokémon here on this island, he took the opportunity to start grinding a bit. The main Pokémon he still needed to evolve was Lairon.

And he was a few feet away from him, fighting a random Mawile that had just walked onto the island.

But that was it for the ones he was looking for. There were a few more he wanted, but he just didn’t find them. He would have liked a Garchompite, but oh well.

As for the extra ones, he did find some extra stones, but he couldn’t really use them right now. Like, he found one for Audino, but who the heck uses an Audino other than Nurse Joys?

He also found a bunch that he already had, but surprisingly he didn’t find any of the "new" ones from the DLC.

But he guessed that made sense. Most of them were unknown to the general public, and since Korrina and her grandfather knew about this island, they would have known if they found one.

That left three main theories Ash had.

One: they were not made yet. Maybe they were created during the second blast after the events of X and Y, and all of that created more Mega Stones.

Two: they were in a different dimension, since dimensions played a big part in the DLC.

Or finally, they just weren’t on this island, but there were multiple islands out there. There might be a second Mega Island where all the "new" Mega Stones were, and no one had discovered it yet.

It was definitely something Ash would look into, especially since he was already here, so he might as well.

But that day was not today. Maybe during the break, he’d spend a short while searching.

Either way, Ash took one last bite of his sandwich, throwing the last bite into his mouth, only for Pikachu to steal it at the last second and shove it into his own mouth.

Ash just looked at him and sighed as he pulled out another one, took a bite, then threw the rest to Pikachu.

As Ash was chewing, he pulled out his phone and decided to check up on Green, just to thank her if they did call her, and maybe ask her if she wanted anything. After all, he was already here.

He looked over to Lairon, who had just beaten the Mawile, but suddenly a random Sableye ran in to join the fight, so Lairon kept fighting,

Ash rolled his eyes and checked his phone.

—

Pokemonenjoyer: did May or Brock call you

Leavesonthevine: wowwww

Leavesonthevine: not even a hello first???

Pokemonenjoyer: hello first???

Leavesonthevine: thank you ❤️

Pokemonenjoyer: you’re impossible

Leavesonthevine: and yet you keep texting me

Pokemonenjoyer: Because you’re the only one I can trust to lie

Leavesonthevine: rude but thank you umu

Pokemonenjoyer: anyway, did they call you

Leavesonthevine: mhm

Leavesonthevine: I almost died trying not to laugh while pretending to be you

Pokemonenjoyer: skill issue

Leavesonthevine: says the guy who used ME as an alibi 😭

Pokemonenjoyer: because you’re reliable ❤️

Leavesonthevine: ......

Leavesonthevine: wow

Leavesonthevine: manipulative

Pokemonenjoyer: and yet it worked

Leavesonthevine: barely

Leavesonthevine: BTW, bunny ears almost caught me

Pokemonenjoyer: she is NOT beating those allegations

Leavesonthevine: honestly, after hearing her yell ’I DON’T HATE YOU’ at fake-you, I think it’s over for her

Pokemonenjoyer: 💀

Pokemonenjoyer: You ended up having to use that thing?

Leavesonthevine: In my defense, it was REALLY funny

Pokemonenjoyer: how many voice clips do you even have of me?

Leavesonthevine: enough

Pokemonenjoyer: that’s not a number and somehow makes this worse

Leavesonthevine: look, I had to improvise, okay

Leavesonthevine: I MIGHT have accidentally hit the wrong button at the end

Pokemonenjoyer: what button

Leavesonthevine: ......

Pokemonenjoyer: Green.

Leavesonthevine: one of your voice lines said "love ya"

Pokemonenjoyer: ...

Pokemonenjoyer: WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT

Leavesonthevine: don’t worry about it

Pokemonenjoyer: no, actually, I’m VERY worried about it

Leavesonthevine: sounds like a you problem

Pokemonenjoyer: HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THAT RECORDING

Leavesonthevine: again, don’t worry about it 😌

Pokemonenjoyer: GREEN

Leavesonthevine: So yeah, you say love ya now~ Enjoy, Ashy

—

Ash lowered his phone and rubbed his temples. He should have known better than to think it was too good to be true. My lord, that’s going to be annoying to deal with when he gets back.

Meanwhile, nearby, Lairon slammed into the Sableye with an Iron Head, finally knocking it away.

The second the Sableye rolled across the ground, another wild Pokémon immediately jumped out of the bushes to take its place.

Ash stared at it blankly, "Where are these things even coming from?"

Pikachu shrugged, "Chu."

"Yeah, no kidding." Ash sighed as he picked up his phone again.

—

Pokemonenjoyer: You know, I was gonna get you a gift, but I feel like you don’t deserve it now

Leavesonthevine: PLS 😭

Leavesonthevine: Ashy nooooo

Pokemonenjoyer: wow, suddenly it’s Ashy again

Leavesonthevine: because I can be cute when I need something ❤️

Pokemonenjoyer: manipulative

Leavesonthevine: Ash, pls, I supported your crimes

Pokemonenjoyer: that’s not helping your case

Leavesonthevine: I lied to your friends for you ❤️

Pokemonenjoyer: again, somehow worse

Leavesonthevine: okay, but imagine how sad I’ll look if everyone gets cool gifts except me

Pokemonenjoyer: you would survive

Leavesonthevine: emotionally? Maybe not

Pokemonenjoyer: dramatic

Leavesonthevine: accurate

Pokemonenjoyer: Still not getting it

–

Then, before Green could text back, Ash quickly blocked her number, huffing proudly to himself.

"Let’s see how she likes it."

Pikachu looked up at him while chewing the rest of the sandwich, clearly unconvinced, "Pika..."

"Don’t look at me like that," Ash huffed, looking at Pikachu, "You’re supposed to be on my side, dude."

Pikachu shrugged, making Ash sigh and ignore the look he was getting.

"So..." Ash muttered, "What now?"

He had already found most of the Mega Stones he wanted, and he still had around an hour before he needed to get back to the boat if he didn’t want Brock and May to start a manhunt.

Before Ash could keep thinking, Flygon, who had been lazily lying beside a nearby rock with his goggles pushed up, suddenly perked up.

Flygon tilted his head slightly, then his eyes narrowed, and very slowly he stood up and started walking away from Ash.

Ash blinked, "Flygon?"

Flygon ignored him and continued forward.

Pikachu immediately noticed too, "Pika?"

Ash pushed himself off the pillar and watched as Flygon suddenly stopped near a large cluster of cracked stone near the edge of the island.

Then he immediately started digging, "What are you doing?"

Flygon dug faster. Rocks and dirt started flying everywhere as Flygon aggressively shoved his claws into the ground.

"Wait, hold on-" Ash was about to run over there when suddenly he heard a roar behind him, and a massive burst of silver light exploded outward.

Ash whipped around instantly. Lairon had just sent the last Pokémon flying and started glowing brightly, "Oh come on, NOW?!" Ash yelled.

There were a few more Pokémon, but seeing the bright light, they got scared and started running away. Meanwhile, Lairon stood up on two legs, and his armor began getting thicker and heavier. Then, with one last roar, the light dispersed, and standing there was Aggron.

Ash was about to say something about that when suddenly Flygon threw a rock out of his hole, and Pikachu had to jump up and slice that stone with an Iron Tail before it hit Ash in the head.

"Jeez, thanks, bud," Ash said, giving a thumbs up to Pikachu as he scratched the back of his head. Aggron could wait a few seconds. For now, he walked over to the hole that Flygon was digging.

Another rock came out, but this time, with Ash ready, he caught it in his hand and looked at it before throwing it behind him. When he got to the edge, Flygon had seemingly stopped digging.

Ash crouched down, "Yo, Flygon, what are you doing down there?"

It took a few seconds, but eventually Flygon popped his head out of the ground, and Ash noticed something in his mouth. Ash raised an eyebrow and held his hand out.

Flygon happily dropped it into Ash’s hand, and Ash saw it was another Mega Stone. But this one was green and red. Ash tilted his head in confusion and checked his phone, looking at the Mega Stone wiki, and none of the official stones looked like this, not even any of the ones from Z-A or the DLC matched.

Ash looked at it, spinning it between two fingers before holding it up to the light, "What’s this for?" Ash muttered as he looked at Flygon.

Ash was about to ask something when he felt the annoying king screaming in his mind again, demanding to be let out. That startled Ash so much he almost dropped the stone, but he caught it and looked annoyed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"That’s it, I’ve had it," Ash muttered as he put the stone away to look into later. He walked back to where they were, with Flygon and Aggron following. Ash sat down against a pillar and closed his eyes, starting to meditate and going into his mind.

After a bit, Ash managed to enter his mindscape, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the king tied up, squirming and yelling at him.

"Brat, release me! I swear I’ll destroy everything you love, starting with your mother and stupid little sister!"

Ash looked unamused at first, but then he frowned as he walked up to the king. The king was about to say something, but the chain around his neck tightened and pulled him onto the ground. Ash stepped forward and stomped on his head, forcing him down.

"You know, maybe it was too nice letting you keep your tongue. You’re only still here because I allowed it. First you lost your usefulness to me, and now you’ve made me annoyed. Letting you pass onto the afterlife is too good for you, but I don’t want you in my head anymore."

The king struggled and immediately started backtracking, "Hey kid, I-I didn’t mean it! Hey, let’s make a deal. I can teach you how to use my powers, and we can rule the world together, 90/10, how about it?"

Ash remained unamused as he reached down and grabbed the king by the chain, pulling him close to his face, "Ow, fine! 80/20!" the king tried again, to which Ash just placed his hands on either side of his skull and began squeezing.

"AHH! 70/30!" the king pleaded as Ash pushed harder, "60/40!"

But Ash only applied more force, "50/50!" the king screamed one last time.

With that final scream, Ash crushed his head. But since he was only a spirit, once his head was gone, his body turned to light and all of it disappeared and passed into the afterlife, but hey at least no clean up

Ash would have spat on the ground if this wasn’t his mind. He just scoffed, "Let Giratina greet you at the gate of hell, bastard."

Then Ash went back out, opening his eyes. He checked his phone and noticed time had passed. He was going to be late. He cursed under his breath, he wouldn’t have time to check things.

He quickly returned Flygon and Aggron to their Poké Balls and called Abby.

It took a few seconds, but eventually she showed up, carrying a very noticeable bag of souvenirs from Kalos. Ash didn’t even question it, he just held onto her shoulder, "Come on, take me back."

Abby obliged and teleported Ash back to where he was before on the ship, then teleported away.

Leaving Ash alone, well, not alone. Sitting immediately in the same chair was Wally. He was still there. He jumped seeing Ash appear but relaxed after a second.

"Hey, Ash," Wally said softly.

"Sup, Wally," he replied, looking around. There were more people on the ship now since it was a cruise ship, "Where is everyone?"

But before he could say anything else, they both heard a loud voice behind them, "There you are! You have some nerve!"

They looked back and saw a very red-faced May walking up to them, followed by Brock and Max, who were trying to stop her, but it was no use.

May walked up to Ash and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "Care to explain yourself, you-you-" May couldn’t even form a proper sentence right now.

Ash slowly looked at Wally and leaned in, whispering, "She’s been like this ever since you called and said...um, ’love ya,’" Wally repeated.

Ash sighed, pretending to have everything in order, and put on his usual smile, "Yeah, May? What do you mean?"

"You know what you said! What did you mean by that?!" May was still flustered.

"Oh, just ’love ya.’ I say it all the time, don’t I?" Ash said casually.

"No, you don’t!" May pointed accusingly at him, "You have never said that once!"

"Hm, then I guess you don’t pay attention to me. I say it all the time," Ash huffed as he quickly put a hand on Brock’s shoulder, "Brock, I said it before I love you, no homo, You’re my best bro."

Then he jumped to Wally, putting an arm around his shoulder, "And Wally, I love ya too. You’re my boy!"

And finally, he jumped next to Max and patted his head, ruffling his hair, "And Max, I love ya too. You’re like the little brother I never had!" he said, making Max immediately look like this was the best moment of his life.

Then May pointed at him again, "That doesn’t count!"

Ash blinked, "Why not?"

"Because that’s different!"

"How?"

"Because it just is!"

"That is not an explanation."

"It doesn’t need to be!"

"It literally does."

May took a breath and covered her face, trying to calm down.

"You’re the worst. You know what you did," she said, looking away.

"I really don’t," Ash honestly said, but he knew that wasn’t going to help.

Ash just sighed, then reached into his pocket, "Oh yeah, before I forget, I have the stuff I went to get for you guys," he said, pulling out the Mega Stones and holding one out for Wally and one for May, "Here."

Wally looked at the one in front of him, "Ash, this is—"

"One for Gallade. I saw that he’s the one you like the most, so I figured you’d like this," Ash smirked, "And don’t try to say you can’t accept it. Take it for your birthday that I missed."

Meanwhile, May finally looked back and saw the stone Ash was holding out to her. She recognized it immediately since it was the same one Lisia used, an Altarianite.

"...You found one?" she asked quietly.

Ash scratched his cheek, "Yeah. Took longer than I thought, actually."

May carefully took the Mega Stone from him, "I...but..."

Meanwhile, Wally was staring at the Galladite in his hand, "Ash, I—"

"Nope. It’s already in your hands, so they’re yours. No take backs," Ash said, putting his hands behind his back with a smirk, "They are yours now~"

May and Wally sighed helplessly but smiled as they looked at their stones.

"Thank you," May said gently.

"Yeah, and I’ll make it up to you," Wally declared.

"You don’t have to. They are gifts after all," Ash said with an easy smile.

But then, before anyone could say something else, Max cut in, "Aww, no fair! Where is mine?" he huffed, crossing his arms.

Ash snorted and ruffled his hair, "Alright, tell you what, when you start your journey, I’ll get you any Mega Stone you want."

Max froze, "...Any?"

"Any."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Max’s eyes practically lit up.

"Even a Salamencite?!"

"Sure."

"A Metagrossite?!"

"Yep."

"A Garchompite?!"

Ash shrugged, "I can see what I can do."

Max immediately started celebrating, "YES!"

May facepalmed, "You spoiled him."

"Not my fault I’m the superior big brother~"

"That’s slander and you know it," Brock cut in.

Ash smirked, "You wanna go again? I’ve been meaning to have the second Big Brother Games."

"Anytime, anywhere, bring it on," Brock declared.

"We have an entire boat ride, right here, right now!"

And as the boys were about to turn another curse into a competition, May watched and snorted, laughing slightly at how strange they all were. All of them. And yes, she’ll admit it, she is too.