A Journey's Link

Chapter 11 - Mister Stone

Inside the Devon Corporation building, Ash and Goh sat in a lobby, waiting for Mr. Stone to call them up to his office. They had walked into the lobby and talked to a receptionist frantically dealing with papers and phone calls, so they had been patiently waiting for Mr. Stone to appear for quite a while.

The elevator ringed, echoing throughout the pristine lobby. The doors slid open, revealing a gray-haired man in a blue suit. As he stepped out of the elevator, he waved over to Ash and Goh, who both understood that the man greeting them was Mr. Stone.

As the two trainers approached him, Mr. Stone feigned a smile; nothing new for the businessman. "Ash," Mr. Stone said in a friendly manner. "How are you? Last time I saw you was when you helped me take down that Team Aqua member."

"I'm doing well! How about you?" Ash responded, shaking his hand. "Doing as well as any businessman can," Mr. Stone replied, a firm grasp on Ash's hand. Now that he's here, I feel even worse about what I'm about to do. "I'm super excited to see what's inside the package you're giving us!" Ash exclaimed, a toothy grin on his face.

Mr. Stone laughed at Ash's enthusiasm and turned to Goh, his facial expression becoming more solemn. "You must be Goh," he said sternly. "I've heard you're Ash's partner." Goh timidly stuck out his hand, shrinking under the presence of Mr. Stone's powerful manner. "I-I'm Goh!" he said bravely. "It's nice to meet you!" Mr. Stone stared at Goh's hand, shaking it as he let out a booming laugh. "Don't worry Goh, I'm not going to bite you!" he exclaimed, still laughing. "Just because I'm the president of Devon Corporation doesn't mean I'm a bad guy!"

Goh looked up, shocked at Mr. Stone's actions, before slightly chuckling at himself for his cowardice. He shook his head and smiled at Mr. Stone, who gestured for Ash and Goh to follow him back to the elevator. Once boarding the elevator, Goh noticed that there were patterns of Mew printed all across the walls. It reminded him of his dream: to catch Mew.

It's my reality, my future, and I can hold it in the palm of my hands! Goh thought to himself; it was those words that got him through the day. He clenched his fists, imagining the moment when he would finally meet up with Mew and have the greatest showdown, ultimately ending with Goh catching it.

The elevator dinged, cutting off Goh's imaginative scenario. They stopped at a floor as people got off. Ash tapped him on the shoulder, noticing his friend was daydreaming. "Whatcha thinking about?" He asked.

"Nothing," Goh mindlessly responded. Ash raised an eyebrow but ultimately shrugged his shoulders. Goh knew Ash's goal was different from his in a lot of ways and wasn't going to bore him with the details of his dream encounter.

The elevator dinged again, opening to the expansive top floor; Mr. Stone's office was here alongside his displays of many different stones. As Ash and Goh followed Mr. Stone to his office, Pikachu began looking around and noticed that one of the displays had been seemingly broken into, as a large shattered hole had formed near the top.

Pikachu tried to get Ash's attention but was only met with a pat on the head. It seemed that at this moment, Ash was too excited to see what the package could be to truly notice Pikachu's attempts to notify him of what he saw.

Mr. Stone walked over to his desk, inviting the two boys to sit down. Ash and Goh took a seat in the leather chairs facing Mr. Stone's larger, more glamorous chair and looked around at the paintings hanging on the walls. A map of Hoenn, pictures of the nearby landscape, and portraits of the Stone family were a few that stood out to them.

Mr. Stone stared at the two, his breathing shallow. Right next to his folded hands was the note that Z had given him, flipped over. I brought him here, he thought to himself, sweat beginning to roll down his cheek. So why isn't anything happening? He realized that this brief period of grace was perfect for his emergency plan.