31. New island

Ash, Pikachu, Riolu and Mewtwo appeared out of thin air on the shores of their destination, which was New Island.

No sooner had their feet touch the sandy ground that the crystal given to the raven haired trainer dissolved into blue sparkling particles that also vanished completely after a couple seconds.

"Guess it was a onetime thing," commented Ash while Pikachu nodded in agreement.

"Hmm, quite a spot we teleported to," remarked Riolu, catching their attention. It was then that they noticed that the area they teleported into was a secluded beachfront with high cliffs surrounding them a short distance away from their position.

"I see a single path up the cliffs," notified Mewtwo, pointing in the direction the trail began.

"Then let's follow it," said Ash as he began moving towards it while Pikachu remained on his shoulder.

Riolu quickly followed after him and moved to walk beside him on his right. "Yes, we should see what Lord Arceus has prepared."

"Agreed. Let's see what other changes lay in store for us," said Mewtwo as he walked beside them on Ash's left. The group walked on, away from the coastline towards the path the psychic feline mentioned. Drawing closer to it, they saw it was a rocky dirt path. "We should just teleport to the top and not waste time," remarked Mewtwo.

"We could, but I think since it's our first time here and a lot has been changed because of Arceus, we should take things slow and learn about the island. What better way than to actually go through it like this?" suggested Ash.

Mewtwo thought about what he said and couldn't find any fault with his reasoning. "You have a point. Alright, the slow way it is. Try to keep up though."

Ash nodded. "Don't worry about me. It's not my first time doing this you know."

"Whatever you say." Mewtwo led the way while the rest followed after him. It took them a bit of them going up the makeshift path through the cliff until they reached the summit. Immediately they were greeted with a vast forest filled with many different types of berry trees.

There was only one open path where the dirt road they were following on continued as it cut through the forest with the sun directly above not obstructed in any way.

Walking along, the four of them kept moving their gazes around to take in their surroundings and to see what there is on the island. One thing that three of them noticed was that the island was very different compared to before when Mewtwo was using it for his base of operations when he wanted to rule over the world.

Glancing at the psychic next to him, the raven haired teenager decided to say something about it.

"It's pretty different than the last time we were here, huh Mewtwo?" asked Ash.

Mewtwo didn't reply with words but by nodding. He was surprised that the island was completely changed from when he had last seen it. Of course when he left, he disabled all the electronic equipment on the island but left everything pretty much intact. Yet, his old fortress and battlefield were long gone, with no trace of them ever existing.

It seemed to be more of a tropical island since all they saw was many berry trees and the open dirt path they were following.

They continued walking for a little while longer, hoping to find something when they finally came upon a clearing. And in the clearing there was a black spiked entry gate that was connected to white stone walls on both sides which extended pretty long on both sides.

Drawing closer to the gate they were able to make out a design in the middle of it. The image was that of the fully evolved forms of the Kanto starters in a group. Venusaur on the left, Blastoise on the right, and Charizard in the middle and a little behind the other two, with its wings spread out.

After appreciate the quality of the design, their group approached the gate, pushed it open through the middle and walked in. What they saw next made most from the group gasp.