Everyone was silent for a few moments not knowing what to say: Did Ash's girlfriend's mother really just say she's interested in him? How could this woman be so daring?
"Ehem, anyway, now that you've won your fourth badge in your battle against Erika, I guess you plan to go to Fuchsia City to fight Koga, am I wrong?" – Professor Oak said changing the subject.
For the moment it was better to leave this issue aside, as to whether or not Talia's words were true... they would have to prove that in the future, but now was not the right time for it.
"Yes, but first we plan to go to the Ancestral Lake and see it" – I nodded.
"We will also do a guided tour, it can be interesting before Ash battle with the next gym leader" – Celeste said.
"That's right, besides, I've heard that the Ancestral Lake has some beautiful caves" – Roxanne nodded.
"The Ancestral Lake? Don't you know what's going on there?" – asked Professor Oak.
"What do you mean, professor?" – I asked without understanding.
"They have closed the lake for renovations, apparently they have found a new cave and until they finish digging it, they have banned anyone who is not a worker from entering" - said Professor Oak.
When we heard it, we were surprised because we already had plans prepared and we even planned to check if Celeste's grandmother was right about the horn I received from her.
"Is it closed?" – Celeste asked somewhat skeptically.
"Haven't you called to make a reservation? If you do, surely the answering machine will come out saying that it is closed, I know someone who tried" – said Talia.
Surely it is her.
"That's right" - Professor Oak nodded.
"Do you know how long it will be closed?" – I asked curiously.
Maybe they won't stay closed too long, with a bit of luck, I mean.
"The work began 6 months ago and as I understand it, it will not be finished for 5 months more, more or less" – Talia replied.
"Five months?! It's pretty much the time left until the Pokémon League starts!" – Celeste exclaimed.
"I don't know what to say, I'm not the one who sets the rules" – said Professor Oak with a shrug.
"Anyway, we planned to rest at least that day and enjoy seeing the Lake, but we will have to give up for the moment" – I sighed.
It seems that the mystery of the horn will have to wait to see whether or not it can be solved.
"But I don't understand, why didn't your grandmother tell us when she gave Ash that horn?" – Roxanne asked.
"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out on the way to Celadon City" – Celeste said somewhat angrily.
"Horn, what horn do you mean?" - asked Professor Oak.
"This one" – I said as I took the horn out of my backpack.
It wasn't too big a horn, so it fit neatly in my backpack despite the little space I had left in it.
Upon observing the horn, Professor Oak and Talia were shocked.
"This is..." – said Professor Oak.
"Yes, it is, there's no doubt about it" – Talia nodded.
"Celeste's grandmother said it belonged to a Pokémon that Johto inhabited thousands of years ago or something like that, I don't remember it quite right" - I said.
I really don't remember exactly what she said.
"And she's right, they've found a lot of these remains in the Ancient Lake and in some parts of Johto and they're the remains of an extinct Pokémon that Johto inhabited thousands of years ago, however, there's no record of them and since no fossils or anything like that have been found until now, it's impossible to determine what that Pokémon would look like, the only thing we know is that it is possible that the Pokémon itself had two evolutions" – explained Professor Oak.
"How can you know?" - asked Roxanne curiously.
"It's simple, because horns of several different sizes have been found, some small, some a little bigger and some much larger than this one, so we assumed that the Pokémon itself had two more evolutions and that it kept its horn during its evolutions" - Talia explained.
"That's right, but since we discovered that, we haven't been able to discover anything else about that Pokémon" - Professor Oak nodded.
"You speak as if you had been the one who had investigated it" – Celeste added.
"Obviously, I, Professor Elm, Talia, and Professor Spencer Hale were looking into it" - Professor Oak nodded.
"When they found it, the government quickly called us and we started investigating immediately" - Talia nodded.
Wait a minute, Professor Elm makes sense, but... Spencer Hale? Isn't that the name of Molly's father? Molly is the protagonist of the third Pokémon movie: "Spell of the Unown: Entei" and explains how Molly, a girl no more than 8 years old and whose mother is missing and her father too, discovers by chance the Unown who took a particular interest in her and helped her fulfill her "Dream", luckily, Ash and his friends stop her before everything gets out of hand.
*Note: it is a very summarized summary, but it is more or less what happens.
"Curious" – Celeste said.
However, I didn't feel comfortable and I wanted to ask my mother about Spencer Hale, I want to know if he has disappeared or not, although judging by her reaction... it seems that this is not the case. I just hope that the same thing doesn't happen as in the movie or it will be problematic to deal with that problem.
"Hey, Mom..." – I tried to say.
But suddenly, the train beeped and we had to get on it, rather I was dragged by the girls while everyone said goodbye to us, it seems that my questions about Spencer will have to wait, why don't I call her on the phone? Yes, that would have been normal, to call on the phone and have her answer my questions, but the girls and I started chatting about what we should do when we got to Celadon City and I completely forgot.
Meanwhile at the station and after saying goodbye to Ash and the girls...
"By the way, do you know that Spencer has discovered some new ruins? And apparently it has something to do with the Unowns, just what he was investigating" - Delia said after Ash and the girls left.
"Really? Why didn't he tell me? He knows I love that kind of mystery" - Talia said.
"Didn't you specialize in Legendary Pokémon?" – Professor Oak asked.
"Based on my research, the Unown might be more related to Legendary Pokémon than we think, that's why I'd like to investigate one of them" - Talia said.
"Spencer will probably let you investigate the ruins once he's done and don't try to call him, you know he never answers calls when he's immersed in this kind of research" - said Professor Oak.
"I know, then I'll just wait a few days and then call him" – she sighed.
Why hadn't Spencer called her? He knew that she specialized in this kind of field and that the Legendary Pokémon and the Unown were closely related to each other, it was a strange thing...
"Will you go back to Vermillion City in the meantime?" – Delia asked curiously.
"Yes, I'll leave on the next train, after all, I told Koharu that I would be back today" – Talia nodded.
"Give my new daughter-in-law my best wishes" – Delia said with a smile.
"I will" – Talia nodded.
"And bring her to Pallet Town one day, I want to meet her and don't worry about accommodation, you can stay at my house, after all, we are family now" – Delia said happily.
"Of course" – Talia nodded.
The truth is that she was also happy to have Ash as her daughter's boyfriend and future husband, in addition, Ash's mother was a very good person and they were friends since Oak introduced them a few years ago, that's why having Delia as a family, was pretty cool.
However, despite her happiness, no one expected that very soon all this would change completely.