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”You’ve been really quiet”, Goh says, when it’s already dark and silent and they have settled down onto their bunks for the night – Goh onto Professor Magnolia’s couch and Ash onto a mattress on the floor next to him.
“Hm?” mumbles Ash. His back is to Goh, and Goh wonders if he woke the other up. But no, he can see Ash’s shoulders moving up and down, a slight shrug.
“Just been thinking.”
Goh squints at him trough the darkness. Pikachu is curled against Ash’s back, ears down and eyes half open. Usually, it would’ve been fast asleep by now, but tonight it seems tense, somehow. Lucario is also awake, sitting near the doorway, brow furrowed and gaze far away.
“About what?” Goh asks cautiously. He feels uneasy, though he doesn’t exactly know why. After they caught Eternatus with the help of Zacian and Zamazenta, Ash and Goh had called Professor Cerise with the news and then spent the evening with Professor Magnolia and Sonia. The mood had been high, victorious, until a bit after dinner when Ash had started to grow more distant, and he had gone to sit outside by himself, saying he was feeling tired.
Which… was understandable considering the day’s events, of course, but for Ash it was unusual, and somewhat concerning.
Ash sighs, but the rigid line of his shoulders doesn’t relax. “All this stuff going on just reminded me of something that happened a while ago, that’s all.”
That’s all? Goh makes a face. The way Ash is talking, it doesn’t sound like a ‘that’s all’ thing.
“What stuff?” he asks, frustrated. “C’mon Ash, don’t leave me hanging.”
Ash flops onto his back, Pikachu scrambling to get away from under him, and he looks up at Goh. His face is cast in deep shadows, spots of moonlight dancing on his hair and forehead.
“I’m just worried”, Ash says quietly, as Pikachu settles on top of his chest. “I really don’t want anything bad to happen to Galar.”
What?
“What?” Goh asks, shocked, voice rising in tone. “What does that mean?”
“Did you hear what Chairman Rose said?” Ash asks back. Suddenly, the apathy is gone from his eyes, replaced by strange intensity. The kind of look he often gets right before a difficult battle. “Did you hear what he was saying about Galar?”
“No, I didn’t”, Goh says, frowning. “You and Leon battled him, right? I wasn’t there.”
Ash purses his lips, staring at the ceiling.
“When I was having dinner with Rose”, he says, and – Goh blinks; wait, what? “He was saying all kinds of weird stuff about how he’s gonna do whatever it takes for Galar’s future, and… Even back then I was kinda thinking it didn’t sound that great.”
Goh sits up, taken aback. “Hold on”, he says hastily. “You had dinner with Chairman Rose?”
Ash keeps looking up, lost in his thoughts. “Usually when people start saying stuff like that, it doesn’t end well, y’know?” The way he’s speaking, it’s making Goh’s skin crawl. “Good thing I didn’t agree to have him help me, right Pikachu?”
“Pikaa…”
“He offered to help you?” Goh blurts out. “With what? Ash, when was this? I thought you were with Leon yesterday, not with Chairman Rose!”
Finally, Ash turns his head and squints up at him. “Well, I was with Leon at first, but at some point we met up with Rose and I learned he used to be kinda like Leon’s mentor. And then Leon had to go to investigate something so I had dinner at Chairman Rose’s tower and spent the night there.”
“Huh?” Goh yelps, incredulous. “You were at his tower? All night?”
“Yeah”, says Ash plainly. “I didn’t know about all his plans back then. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, anyway. And he was being very nice to me, even after I refused his offer.”
“What did he even want from you?” Goh asks warily.
Ash shrugs. “Not sure. Um… He knew about me, already. He said I had potential.”
Goh can see him grimace quietly at that. Like those words are bringing him bad memories.
Suddenly, Goh feels angry, at nothing, at everything. He doesn’t know what to say.
“A lot of people like him, who have too much power”, Ash adds then, quietly, hands wrapped around Pikachu’s stone-still form. “They go kinda crazy with it. They mean well, or… maybe at some point they did, but then they just want more and more and it never ends. And you don’t wanna believe someone you look up to, or someone you know could be like that, but they can. I’ve seen it.”
Goh swallows thickly, his mouth suddenly dry. “Ash…”
Ash smiles softly, sadly. “I just want Galar to be okay. I mean, Eternatus is sealed away now, and Chairman Rose left, so I think everything is fine for now. But I dunno if that’s the end. They don’t usually give up just like that, y’know?”
Goh shakes his head slowly. “I don’t- I don’t think I really get it, Ash. B-but… I don’t think you should be thinking things like that. We’re just a couple of kids from Kanto, right? I’m sure Leon and all those guys are handling it. Right?”
Ash is silent for a moment, before nodding. “I’m sure they are. You’re right, Goh. There’s probably nothing else we could do right now, anyway.”
Goh lets out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Yeah. Yeah, we already helped save Galar. That’s already pretty cool, right?”
Ash grins at that, exhausted but real. “Right. That was pretty awesome, too!” he says, getting more excited. “Zacian and Zamazenta were amazing. They are gonna take good care of Galar, I’m sure!”
He seems more relaxed now, Goh thinks. Nearly back to his normal self.
“For sure”, says Goh, relieved, and he flops back down onto the couch. “Tomorrow, lets go return the sword and the shield back to the place where I found them. I think… that way, they will always be close enough to help, if anything happens again.”
“Good idea”, Ash agrees. He yawns then, his face scrunching up with the force of it, and it makes them both giggle sleepily.
They go to sleep soon after that.
And Goh...
Goh dreams of red light, streaming down from the sky, burning, all-consuming.
He wakes up early next morning, looks at Ash, and knows he dreamt the same.