By the time Ash returned to the hotel from Lysandre Labs, it was already half past five in the afternoon.
He had originally planned to return to Vaniville Town that afternoon and spend the rest of the day training his Pokémon. However, things had not gone according to plan. He had ended up staying at Professor Sycamore's laboratory until one or two in the afternoon, only to encounter Celosia, one of Team Flare's senior executives, afterward.
Then, he had been invited to visit Lysandre Labs.
The time he had originally set aside for training had been completely consumed by these unexpected events.
It was a classic case of plans failing to keep up with changes.
However, Ash did not feel disappointed or regretful in the slightest.
If anything, he felt incredibly fortunate.
After all, these two unexpected changes had allowed him to obtain an exceptionally talented Shiny Fennekin and a Mega Stone—and that Mega Stone happened to be compatible with his Shiny Gyarados.
If these were the kinds of unexpected events that came from having his plans disrupted, Ash would gladly encounter more of them.
After having dinner at Clemont's house, everyone returned together.
The Kalos climate was extremely cold at this time of year. In Lumiose City, snow would basically begin falling as soon as night descended.
Therefore, nobody went out to wander around the city.
Instead, everyone stayed at Clemont's house and chatted together.
At first, everyone gathered around and talked as one group. Gradually, however, the girls gathered together and began discussing topics more suited to them—clothes, cosmetics, accessories, and other things girls were interested in.
Meanwhile, Ash and the other three boys gathered on the other side, talking about Pokémon training and battles.
They stayed at Clemont's house for nearly three hours.
When the time reached half past eight, Ash and the others finally stood up, said their goodbyes, and prepared to return to the hotel.
Bonnie, however, had no one to play with at home. Her brother was a science-obsessed shut-in who was always immersed in his inventions and experiments, so she felt incredibly bored.
As a result, she decided to follow Serena and the others back to the hotel and spend the night there with them.
"Bonnie, don't cause everyone any trouble, okay?"
Standing outside the electrical repair shop, Clemont warned his little sister helplessly.
"I know, I know! Brother, you're so annoying. Keep this up and you'll never find a bride in the future!"
Bonnie stuck out her tongue and made a mischievous face at him.
"Bonnie?!"
Hearing his little sister's words, Clemont's entire face instantly turned bright red. He was simultaneously embarrassed, flustered, and annoyed.
Once they returned to the hotel, Ash did not make any special effort to spend time alone with Serena, Clarissa, or Misty, since all his friends were there.
After exchanging a few simple greetings with them, Ash returned to his room.
He let Pikachu, Greninja, Pidgeot, Fearow, Gyarados, Milotic, Venusaur, and Fennekin play among themselves while he took a large cushion and placed it in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
Ash began his daily cultivation of Aura.
"Ho-hoo~"
Just as Ash was about to enter a meditative state, a Noctowl suddenly flew rapidly past the window through the falling snow.
The Noctowl was carrying a glowing red crystal in its beak.
"Hmm?!"
Ash's Aura cultivation technique was the meditation method known as [Listening to All Things].
During cultivation, he released his Aura outward and used it to listen to the sounds around him, reconstructing the corresponding scenes and images within his mind.
So even though Ash had only just sat down and had not yet begun his meditation, he could clearly sense the Noctowl flying through the snow outside the window.
Even if he had already entered deep meditation and begun cultivating his Aura, Ash would still have been able to clearly detect the Noctowl.
After all, from Ash's Aura perception, the Noctowl that had just flown past the window was extraordinarily unusual.
For starters, Noctowl was a "native" regional bird Pokémon from the Johto region. In distant Kalos, it was not a Pokémon one encountered very often.
More importantly…
Within Ash's Aura-enhanced Psychic perception, he sensed an extremely unusual Aura coming from this Noctowl.
Or rather, it was not merely Aura.
There was another kind of power emanating from the Noctowl—an energy signature that Ash had never felt before.
The Viridian Forest stretched across both Kanto and Johto and occupied a considerable area in each region. Pallet Town was located right next to the Viridian Forest, and when Ash had been cultivating his Aura back home at night, he had encountered Noctowl on numerous occasions.
Noctowl were nocturnal bird Pokémon, and there were quite a few of them living within the Viridian Forest.
During his nighttime Aura meditation, Ash had encountered plenty of them.
Some had been weak and low-level, while others had been powerful Pokémon with considerably higher levels.
As a Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon, the individual Aura signatures of Noctowl naturally differed to some degree.
However, there was no fundamental difference between them when viewed from the perspective of their species and typing.
As an Aura user with Psychic abilities, Ash possessed more than enough ability to distinguish such differences.
Yet the Noctowl he had just sensed was completely different.
The Noctowl carrying the glowing red crystal possessed an Aura that was vastly different from that of an ordinary Noctowl.
And it was not merely a difference in the quality or characteristics of its Aura.
Ash had also sensed an extremely special energy signature emanating from its body.
As a Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon, the energy within Noctowl should logically consist of Normal-type and Flying-type power.
But Ash had sensed something else from this particular Noctowl.
Another kind of power.
A power completely unfamiliar to him.
That was precisely what caught Ash's attention.
With his strength now at its current level, combined with the fact that he was a dual Psychic, Ash considered himself quite knowledgeable about the various powers that existed within the Pokémon world.
Although this world was a civilization jointly created by humans and Pokémon, Pokémon were the ones who possessed the overwhelming majority of supernatural powers.
Therefore, the primary forms of power existing in the Pokémon world came from Pokémon themselves.
At the most fundamental level, Pokémon power could be classified according to their types.
There were Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Bug, Flying, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Psychic, Ghost, Poison, Dark, Steel, Dragon, and Fairy.
At Professor Oak's research laboratory, the backyard contained Pokémon of many different types.
Ash had already experienced the energy signatures of all eighteen known Pokémon types.
His Aura had memorized the characteristics of each of these types of energy.
Yet the special power he had just sensed from that Noctowl was clearly not one of the eighteen known types.
And it was not Mega Evolution, a Z-Move, Dynamax, Gigantamax, or Terastallization, either.
Although Ash had not personally experienced most of these advanced powers apart from Mega Evolution, he possessed an inexplicable intuition.
Something deep within him was telling him that the strange power he had sensed from the Noctowl carrying the red crystal was not any of those known forms of power.
…
"If I temporarily rule out powers belonging to the Pokémon species themselves, then could it be a power belonging to the human race?"
Although 99.9% of the supernatural power in this world was controlled by Pokémon, there were still humans among the remaining 0.1%.
Psychic users among humans also possessed certain powerful supernatural abilities.
And Ash was one of them.