The Underground Path opened into daylight with a dull echo behind them.
Ash stepped out first, blinking as the city noise of Saffron brushed past and then thinned again as they moved along the outer road. The place felt closed without being hostile, like a door that simply hadn't been meant for them.
They hadn't gone far when Ash felt it.
Not danger. Not pressure.
A pause in the air.
He slowed.
Maya noticed immediately. "You felt that too," she said, not asking.
They reached a small open stretch where rainwater from earlier had collected into a shallow pool beside the road. The surface was smooth, almost glasslike, undisturbed by wind.
Someone stood there.
A woman, a little older than Ash, wrapped in a long blue coat that moved softly even though the air was still. Her hair was dark, tied back loosely. She wasn't blocking the path. She wasn't watching them directly either.
At her feet stood a water-type Pokémon, half in the pool, half out. It didn't tense when it noticed them. It simply shifted, calm and steady, as if it already knew how this moment would pass.
Ash stopped.
Poliwag's Poké Ball at his belt shook.
Once.
Then again.
Ash's hand hovered over it, surprised. He hadn't called it out. He hadn't even thought about it.
The ball clicked open on its own.
Poliwag appeared beside him, eyes bright, posture relaxed. Instead of bracing for battle, it stepped forward a little, tilting its head toward the woman's Pokémon.
The water rippled gently.
No challenge. No fear.
Recognition.
Maya's brows knit together. "That's… unusual," she said quietly. "It's not reacting like it normally does."
Ash swallowed. "Yeah. I see that."
The woman finally turned her head.
Her eyes moved from Ash to Poliwag, then to Charizard standing silently behind him. She didn't smile. She didn't frown.
"You're traveling with care," she said. Her voice was calm, like water moving around stone. "That's rare."
Ash blinked. "We just… try to."
Her Pokémon shifted closer to Poliwag. The two touched briefly, like old friends brushing past each other, then separated again.
The woman nodded once, as if confirming something only she could see.
"Water remembers," she said. "Even when people don't."
Maya opened her mouth, then stopped. "Have we met before?"
The woman's gaze flicked to her, thoughtful. "Not yet."
She stepped back, the pool barely rippling as her boots touched the edge. Her Pokémon followed without hesitation.
As she turned away, Ash spoke before he could stop himself. "Wait. Are you a trainer?"
She paused, just long enough.
"I walk where water allows," she said. "That's enough."
Then she was gone, disappearing down a side road that curved away from the city.
Poliwag stood very still for a long moment after. Then it turned back to Ash and hopped closer, pressing lightly against his shoe.
Ash knelt, resting a hand on its head. "You okay?"
Poliwag chirped softly.
Charizard hadn't moved the entire time. But as Ash stood, he noticed its eyes fixed on the path the woman had taken, flame steady but lower than before.
Maya exhaled slowly. "That makes two," she said.
Ash looked at her. "Two what?"
She shook her head. "I don't know yet. But the first one felt… grounded. This one felt like flow."
Ash glanced back once more at the empty road.
Five, he didn't know.
But something told him this wouldn't be the last time the journey felt watched.
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T/N:
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