He ran as fast as he could through the dense underbrush of the forest near his home, the veil of night made darker by a bevy of clouds raining down a wild storm. His foot kept snagging at every turn of a tree by the numerous branching roots that felt like they were grabbing at his leg. Sliding down muddy hills, he could feel the sharp rocks jabbing at his back from beneath the debris layer of leaves and plants. He could clearly hear the yells of his parents behind him desperately calling out to him while they tried to chase him down, although being unable to keep up due to the ever-shrinking jungle of branches and impassible walls of overgrown ivy.
Only his small body allowed him to navigate those treacherous conditions. Only he could help the voice that cried out in the middle of the storm, faintly yet desperately asking to be saved. This was something he needed to do.
Since he'd been born, the boy had always had a strong sense of justice. A physical desire to be the one to help others. But it hadn't been until that very night that his resolve had been truly tested for the first time.
The rain and wind pushed against him with all their might. With his vision obfuscated by the forces of nature, it was becoming more dangerous by the second now that the trees began to bend heavily at the strength of the storm, threatening to snap on top of him. In the distance, he heard one of them break altogether, creaking from its fibers ripping apart.
At that moment, the cry from before had grown bloodcurdlingly pained.
The boy just about flew through the mess of trees in his haste, pushing his body to the limit from the adrenaline. Finally, he found the source of the voice. It was a small brown fox. The tree had fallen atop one of its legs rendering it stuck underneath the impossibly heavy trunk. Yet somehow, the boy had found the strength to lift it enough to allow the fox to pull itself out and escape.
As if by some divine providence, lightning struck there and then, surging through the tree before he could let the log down again. The electricity passed through his arm and he would've been done for had he allowed himself to pass out from the pain of charred flesh that had run down the length of his entire back, but he remained... still standing.
Standing. Standing... and standing he remained for almost ten minutes.
It had been the little Eevee he had saved that ended up saving him in turn, having traveled far on its broken leg to find the adults in order to guide them to where the little hero had been petrified.
Emile awoke to the final part of the dream where he saw the boy being rushed into the hospital alongside that little Eevee. He knew how that story ended. The one of the would-be hero and his bid to save the world.
He sighed a rather heavy sigh. What good did it do to remember the past? The past was gone, and the future was uncertain. He needed to learn how to live in the now.
He looked around to see the room he was in. Two familiar faces greeted him in the way of Fluttershy who had been tending to a now fully awake Eevee, and Twilight as she paced up and down muttering to herself. Emile wondered how many more times he'd have to black out and reawaken in front of them before he could get a grip on himself.
Eevee was the first to notice that he had awoken and ran up to him, crying its little distinct cry to get his attention. The two ponies sprang up in their surprise having not noticed it themselves until he had finally removed the white silk sheets in order to hug the little fox. Twilight had been beside herself with concern and she teared up at the sight of him sitting up. Before either of them could say anything, however, Emile was the one to ask a question first.
"Last I saw Eevee, it had become a Leafeon again... I missed out on a whole lot while I was asleep, didn't I?"
"A day and a half worth of stuff, yeah." Twilight said sheepishly, quickly rubbing the moisture out of her eyes. Seeing this, Emile couldn't tell which one of the two mares in the room was the more delicate one. He had a pretty good idea of why this had been her reaction, and not Fluttershy's.
He guessed that Eevee had awoken much early than he had, and his buddy was able to tell better than anyone there that he was going to be okay. It was logical to think that Fluttershy had understood this too from Eevee's easygoing attitude towards Emile's recuperating unconsciousness. While it all sounded too specific to 'guess' at, this had happened before on a number of occasions. You could just as easily say that Eevee and him were just that danger prone. It's not like he sought out danger. Dangerous stuff was just happening around him all the time, and if his dreams of the past were anything to go by... it was that he had a pension for sticking his nose where it didn't belong as a reckless wannabe hero.
On the flip side of the coin, Twilight was the type to get inside of her own head and not come out. Much like he was, funny enough. She certainly hadn't so much as factored in Eevee's clues. In part because of her lack of experience being around animals and the fact that she clung to her own preconceived conclusions. She had come to expect that Emile would awake shortly after being passed out from the anecdotal evidence of the past two times he had gone under, so you could imagine her worry as almost two days passed by and nothing. She was definitely the type to keep worrying even after being comforted and reassured by her friends.
More than that, however, he sensed that there was something else she was deeply concerned about, and Emile being under for as long as he had only served to make her that much more anxious. As he recalled the events from before, Emile remembered seeing her reach out towards a weakened Celestia. It seemed the Princess meant a lot to Twilight, so he couldn't imagine why she was here with him now. Especially now that he was extrinsically linked with the creature that had almost brought ruin to everyone she loved.
"How is everyone? Your friends and the ponies of Canterlot, that is... And the Princess." He asked quietly, making sure to be extra gentle with the topic.
"Nobody was hurt except you Emile. You were severely injured you know." She sniffled back the remaining tears and composed herself again. Her words were a huge relief, since he disregarded the topic of himself entirely. "The Princess had a lot of her power sapped, but she is recovering steadily. Much faster than you, at least." She smiled cheekily.
"I see. I'm glad. That's a huge relief." The moment he said it, Twilight's face furrowed into a stormy disapproval. This was the first time he was seeing her seriously angry about something. That something being him.
"No! You could've died, Emile! What were you thinking?! We told you didn't we? If you ever needed our help with something... you could've relied on us. You should've let us handle it. That power of that thing... Do you have ANY idea how scared I was when it tried to attack you?" The kettle inside Twilight had boiled over in fever-pitch. At that moment, Princess Celestia walked into the room alongside the rest of the familiar ponies who were helping her walk. You could see how much she had been affected by Arceus' resurgence. Even the color in her mane had yet to return. But even in this state, her grace was undeniable as she stood tall above everyone.
"Well met, Sir Emile." She bowed to the boy who was still in the middle of being chewed out. Twilight didn't even so much as flinch at her arrival and just kept on staring at him angrily yet remaining silent in respect of the Princess. Every pony had overheard the conversation possibly from a room right beside them, and they all silently nodded their approval at Twilight's words. Even Fluttershy's brows had creased to show her displeasure as she had been nodding to everything the purple mare had been saying.
"Hello, your majesty." Emile tried sitting up for her only to be hit by a dense wave of sore muscles and a whole lot of other pain he couldn't pinpoint. He was immediately forced back onto the bed by several pairs of hooves and even the two paws of his little buddy.
"Please, rest up, Emile. We have a lot to discuss so it's better if you're comfortable. Besides, I don't think my little ponies will let you do anything too reckless at this point."
"You've certainly got me there, your highness."
"You can also drop the formalities too. They're stifling, are they not?"
"I suppose so, ma'am." He finally answered with something passable, allowing her to continue on with the conversation.
"I just hope you understand where Twilight was coming from when she yelled at you. It's an important lesson you'd be wise to learn."
"I get it. But you think I would've learned this lesson by now after having lived nearly two lifetimes."
Not a single pony laughed at this joke. In fact, they were quite annoyed at it. Tough crowd.
"Like it or not, you're their friend now, Emile, so they care about you. They want to see you be okay, to see you come out of something okay."
"Yeah..." Emile became quiet as he recalled what had happened in the courtyard.
In his head, the scene that played was the one he had seen right before he had confronted Arceus... seeing everything destroyed, and all the ponies and his Eevee defeated... The guilt had not left him for even a second. He had every reason to feel like this was his fault. If he had just told them all about why and how he got to this world, maybe he could have prevented it. What would it have changed? He had his suspicions before, maybe if he trusted his gut, he could've known what the egg was. How would he have known? Maybe... maybe if he had never tried to face down Arceus to begin with, then this world would've remained safe. Then who would save his world?
He began to sit up right only to be met with some resistance from the ponies. He waved them off by shaking his head and signaling with his hands for them to stop. This is what he wanted.
"But that's the thing right? Are we really friends? Do friends hurt one another? Are friends walking cataclysms we have to constantly look after? Did you shut your eyes and close your ears at what just happened? Did you not listen to what It said? To what I said? You should have understood by that." His teeth clattered at the growing feeling welling up inside. "The curse that I put you under!" His voice shook in his throat as he yelled out those words with all the frustration and hatred that he had for himself. He could not look at anyone in the eye, even his Eevee. He forced his eyesight onto the ground below where his feet met the floor.
His Eevee cried out its concern and licked his shaking fist in the silence of that room while he trembled all over. They had inadvertently tripped the biggest landmine that had been cooking in his heart. The self-hatred that came with a failed hero. It was not the fault of the poor ponies in the room. They already had their hooves full dealing with the disaster that had befallen them, and now they were having issues with his unreasonable self.
He understood well that he was not helping matters at all by being this way. And maybe he could've blamed his new child-like mind, or forgiven himself after having dealt with so much sorrow that no one could've expected him to continue to be reasonable... But Emile was fully intent to shoulder every single burden before him. To accept the responsibility for his failure even if he had to do it alone. Just like that reckless little boy who had nearly lost his life during that storm. Just like that reckless adult man who had faced Arceus not once, but twice now.
It was just like him. Haunted by the scene of ruin at the courtyard. Haunted by his Eevee's suffering. Haunted by Luca's sacrifice...
"I'm sorry." He said in a quiet hushed voice after finally calming down, still too afraid to look at every one. "I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. I don't have the right to admonish any of you. Or question you. But it's the truth, you see? The words I said to Arceus... that creature... I fought It before alongside my buddy here in order to save my world. But it seems I doomed yours as a result..." He pushed himself off the bed so he could stand. Although a bit awkward at first, he found his footing. He got to his knees and extended his arms their entire length to support his body as he put his forehead to the ground in the absolute most sincere way he knew to apologize, the ultimate sign of regret from his hometown, a dogeza. "I'm truly, deeply, sorry. This is all my fault. This is my responsibility to fix. I will do everything in my power to protect this world, even at the cost of my life."
It was a bit of a shame Emile hadn't the capacity or the practice with dealing and learning from other people's emotions, as far removed as he had been from social situations like this. He hadn't really understood at all what had made the ponies angry to begin with. The life of a wannabe hero was a hard one, and needed the kind of conviction and mentality that spoke "I'll take responsibility. I'll sacrifice everything for this. This is all on me." It was exactly this kind of thinking that they had been trying to tell him to drop and forget about as it was a dumb idea to begin with. But you can't change a person's heart overnight. It would take a lot of effort and patience in part of the multi-colored friends. This talk had made them painfully aware of that.
Getting up off the floor, he still refused to look at anyone in his shame. "Well, uh, if you don't mind, I'm going to go cool my head outside for a bit." He said awkwardly and very gingerly now that he was feeling the piercing stares on the back of his head. He got to the door with no one stopping him and turned the handle slowly, then stepped outside almost robotically. Looking back to close the door behind him, he caught a very quick glimpse of some many rather fuming faces. He exhaled a very long breath he had inhaled after the door closed entirely.
"Well, that went well." He patted his thighs and looked over at his Eevee trailing behind him. His Eevee let out a happier cry while it wagged its tail in amusement. "I just hope this break for some fresh air does everyone some good, ey Eevee?" The little fox was now picking up on everything Emile was saying and seemingly snickered at his little joke.
The castle was big, and the inside might as well have been a labyrinth of its own. He had to ask for directions from the royal guard stallions stationed around the castle multiple times to find where the garden was so he could go outside.
Once they got there, Eevee immediately made a dash for the fountain at the center of the garden so it could play in the water. The greenery and decorations painted quite a pretty picture all throughout the garden's clean walkways, only occasionally broken by debris and rubble that had been broken off from Arceus' Magnitude 6. He sat down on a marble bench overlooking where his Eevee was playing and let his mind drift into the cold musty wind of the clouded sky. Weather had a mysterious way of reflecting how he felt, he thought as he lost himself in the billowing fluff.
Then he heard silence. Not a single breath from any pony. Not one splash from his Eevee. Not even the faint howl of wallowing wind. He tilted his head to look at Eevee to see what was going on. Eevee was deadly still like a statue, with only its ear twitching in a consistent pattern. It was trying to hear something in the long distance.
All at once, the nauseating feeling from before hit both of them instantly. But this time they were not driven to their knees or felt the immense pains of the feeling from before, as though they had overcome it for some reason. Perhaps adapted to it?
Subtly, as if there was something wrong with reality itself, there was a slight shift to the very space before them. Emile knew he had felt this once before... back in his world...
Three ripple-like holes formed in front of him. Holes that reminded him of the Celestial Trio, yet something was distinctly different about them. For starters, they were too small to house the Trio. About as tall and wide as him in fact. There was also the way the holes bent the space around them. He couldn't say he was remembering it very well since that was a phenomenon he had only had the chance to see less than a handful of times from the Celestial Trio themselves, but theirs bent space around them like a gravity well in a funnel-like pattern. These holes, however... they we're twisted every which way. Like a massive tied-up knot full of chaotic energy. Eevee had already made it a point to return to Emile's side since they could both tell that something was terribly wrong with them.
Sure enough, what eventually crawled out of the holes was nothing like the Trio either. Out came three distinctly different human-sized Pokemon engulfed in the fury of the chaotic energy from the portal that swirled all around them too. One was a large green serpent with two yellow patterns across its body. To its side was a red boar standing on two feet with the mane around its neck made of pure fire. And lastly, there was a large blue quadruped with a horned shell covering the length of its back and arms that reminded him of blades in the way that it wielded them.
The chaotic energies themselves looked as if they were affecting the Pokemon too. They stared menacingly at him and his Eevee while preparing to battle. His Eevee stood its ground in front of him, ready to protect him. It felt like he was repeating history with Rainbow Dash, and he hesitated to call out to the Eevee because of it.
They could both tell this was going to be a very serious battle by the energies of these Pokemon. The intensity and bloodlust in the air were palpable... They intended to fight to the end. He felt himself gulp in fear, and a cold sweat formed on his hands. He wiped them on what remained of his shirt. He hadn't noticed that he was missing a lot of his effects, so he didn't even have his Pokedex on hand to see what these Pokemon might be. No doubt the events from before had destroyed his clothes again and his stuff had been confiscated by the ponies for safekeeping. He cursed this terrible state of affairs at such a dire time.
The best he could do was guess that these Pokemon, based on their colors and design, were Grass, Fire, and Water types respectively. Again, he opened his mouth but ultimately hesitated to call out to the Eevee in front of him as he felt the pangs of fear and regret well up in his chest. Emile didn't think his heart could handle being rejected by Eevee here and now again.
Then the serpent Slash'd at Eevee. The little fox hadn't the time to process the speed of the attack, taking the hit head-on and being sent back a few feet yet still standing.
"Eevee! Are you okay?!" The little fox responded back to him with a confident yelp. Emile slammed both of his open hands to his face in order to slap himself out of his fears. "Eevee. You with me bud?" It cried out in response, finally and truly, recognizing him as its master.
Both he and his Eevee dodged backwards in unison when the serpent made another swipe at them using Dragon Tail. The boar immediately followed upthe green one's attack with a fire punch that they only barely managed to avoid when it connected with the ground and sent a flurry of flames all around it. When they finally got some distance, Emile could see that the blue one hadn't budged one bit. It was as if it were waiting for the fight to be over from either side so that it could step in. It was powerful. More so than the other two.
"Eevee, Sand Attack on the green one!" The little fox followed his command. Emile understood that the blue one would not involve itself in this three-way fight, so he'd asked Eevee to debilitate the green serpent as he considered it to be the bigger of the two threats. It was far speedier and more accurate than the boar. Unfortunately, the serpent didn't even flinch at the attack. Instead, he could see its eyesight become sharper the moment it used another Dragon Tail with far more precision, with Eevee only avoiding it by using a Quick Attack to get away. He had seen a similar ability on the likes of Shuckles and Spindas, and he guessed that this was something known as Contrary. The power to reverse the effects of stat changes. He bit his lip as things had now become that much more difficult. "We're in a bit of a pinch, buddy..." His Eevee looked over at him with worry in its expression. "These Pokemon are powerful, possibly in their final evolution. If only we could take out that green one... Maybe with a bit of fire moves. Think we can get them to attack each other?"
The little fox nodded its agreement to the plan as Emile commanded it to use Quick Attack to bait and provoke the boar. Eevee gauded the red boar to Fire Punch this way and that until it became so infuriated that it lit its entire body in flames in order to use Heat Crash.
"Now Eevee!" The fox quickly dashed over to the serpent as the boar chased after it in a fury.
It was seeing red. It had not stopped its advance even near its ally and collided with it, creating a big explosion made of flames. Eevee had already been several feet away when it happened, and what came out of the smoke was a now defeated and fainted serpent and a severely weakened boar. He knew Heat Crash was the kind of move that left recoil damage on the Pokemon that used it, but not to this extent. Emile laughed when he realized that this must've been the effect of an ability known as Reckless. "Sorry bud, but there's only one room for the reckless type." Emile said when it only took Eevee a single Tackle to bring it down in a faint.
At that moment, the blue one let out a deafening roar. Its voice shook its long, mustache-like whiskers. It was strong no doubt, and incredibly intelligent having learned from the trickery they had used earlier. It let the pointed shells on its arms fall to its grip and grabbed them like blades. As it prepared for battle, the tension was unbearable. When it finally did start the battle, the speed and power of its attacks were far too much for the little unevolved Eevee to handle. It got caught on a few Slash'es and Aqua Jets, only remaining standing out of sheer willpower in doing its best not to fail Emile, despite Emile's shouts telling it to run. Emile could tell that this was a battle they didn't have a chance of winning like this.
Before he could formulate a plan of escape, however, the horned shell atop the blue pokemon's head began to glow in the very distinct light of an incredibly powerful move. A fighting-type move that would no doubt severely hurt his Eevee. He found himself running over to the little fox without thinking much of the consequences. The blue pokemon brought down the full might of a Sacred Sword down onto his crossed arms from having shielded the little fox. He felt the bone in his left arm shatter in the impact, and he held back the pain. Thankfully, that was as much as he had gotten away with since the blue pokemon moved away from him. It was only interested in fighting his Eevee, it seemed.
His Eevee immediately started crying out in its worry for him, noticing Emile holding back the hurt in his arm with everything he had. The fight was still not over evident by the blue pokemon roaring its frustration at having its battle interrupted. Eevee itself had been wounded and tired from the attacks earlier, but it turned to it once more to face it down. This time, incredibly angry. So much so that you could feel the little fox's anger itself. As though it was materializing in the form of a blinding white light all over its body.
For all the strange hands that fate had dealt him... For all the seemingly impossible things that had happened in just a short moment since his arrival to this world... Even meeting Arceus for goodness' sake! None of them felt as impossible as the moment he witnessed his Eevee evolve into a Jolteon at will in front of him.
Emile could only watch in stunned amazement when the quilled yellow creature sent out a lightning bolt towards the blue pokemon. It roared in pain and it struggled to compose itself after having been struck and paralyzed in that move. As a testament to its intelligence and battle prowess however, when Jolteon sent another round of lightning its way, it caught it with the tip of its shelled horn and redirected the lightning down into the ground just as quickly, even through its paralysis.
This Pokemon was immensely powerful considering how much off the paralysis it was shrugging off. It closed the gap between them with an Aqua Jet only to immediately cancel the move right before it connected to follow up with two simultaneous Slash'es from both of its arms, making a dust cloud when the two attacks landed on the Jolteon.
The boy was being taken for quite the emotional roller coaster, for when the dust parted, it showed an Umbreon having sustained the brunt of that attack by casting a wall of green light from the move Protect. Umbreon sent it reeling backwards with a Dark Pulse in order to gain some space. In the silence of the showdown between the two Pokemon, Emile could now feel the blue one's confidence waver as it realized this fight wasn't going to be so straightforward. It charged at the fox with another Sacred Sword, and the Umbreon began to change again.
When the light of Eevee's evolution died down, he could see the blue pokemon's glowing horn be parried by the familiar green glow of a Leaf Blade... Emile really couldn't believe what he was seeing. It flew in the face of everything he'd ever known about Pokemon. Sure, there had been thousands of mysteries still surrounding Pokemon and especially the Eevee species with its unique and numerous evolutions, but to see it change at will like this was... Impossible. Had the events with Arceus caused this? Was it some strange effect of this world? There was no way he could guess as to the reason for this. The only one that could have a clue as to why this was happening... well that one was now fighting as a Leafeon, meeting the shell blades of the blue pokemon at every strike with its own Leaf Blade.
Emile snapped out of his trance when the two pokemon managed to connect an attack on each other, sending them both backwards and severely weakening them both. By the damage they had sustained, both of them only had one clean hit before being KO'd. At this moment, Emile finally took the rein again and he shouted at his Leafeon for his attention. "Alright buddy! This is the final stretch. You ready?" It howled back at him in Leafeon's distinct cry.
He felt his heart elate at the response and he couldn't help the great big smile on his face form. As if reflecting his mood yet again, the cloudy sky parted and rays of sunshine began to fill the courtyard. He whispered to the fox his next set of commands. The little fox began to gather energy into its body in preparation. Having noticed this, the blue pokemon immediately made a dash for Leafeon with another Sacred Sword only to be met by another Leaf Blade. With the two pokemon struggling to break through each other's guard, Leafeon's tail began to glow in a familiar rainbow hue. The plan they had made was almost to its fruition, but he could tell his Leafeon's guard was dropping exponentially faster than the blue one's in its exhaustion, and it was only a matter of seconds before it'd be defeated. Without warning, a very small sphere of energy exploded onto the blue pokemon from behind. A miracle? There was no way to tell, as the heat of the moment did not allow him to look away. Whatever it was, it had given them the precious seconds necessary to finish this.
"Now, Leafeon! Solar Blade!"
There was no guarding against a sword made of pure energy to the dismay of the blue pokemon. His Leafeon brought it down on top of it, and just like that, the battle was over now that the three pokemon lay defeated. The legs of both him and his Eevee gave out and he fell down onto his butt. Emile began to laugh the heartiest laugh he'd had in so long and made a reach to grab his little fox friend to hug him. The feel of its leaves and fur... it was like he had never left.
However, even between the jovial, playful moment as the two bounced with celebration, the Leafeon began to glow again and reverted back to an Eevee. Emile didn't let it bother him. For some reason or another, he now had a very special Eevee on his hands. Its form didn't matter at all since it was the same little creature he had always loved inside. The two flopped to the floor and Emile was left to contemplate what had just happened. Those strange wormholes, the pokemon that came out of them, his Eevee's new power, and the miracle that saved them at the end of that battle...
"Man oh man, I had always heard the stories but...! That was certainly unlike anything I've ever witnessed, even on TV! Not even considering Eevee's special powers, those moves were stunning! I almost felt my heart drop when you took that Sacred Sword yourself."
Emile turned to the unfamiliar voice as quickly as he could and sat back upright. It was a rather high-pitched voice, as though it had come from an adolescent girl. Sure enough, he was met by some distinct bright blue eyes, a puffy curly looking hairstyle tied up in a ponytail, and a hat very reminiscent of his like if Rarity had been the one to craft it. It was a human girl.
"Huh?! I-I uh..." She had startled him from being up so close, and from the way she looked intensely at him with stars in her eyes. Her knees were bent to reach his height from where he sat up from the ground.
"Oh! Sorry for the scare. Uhm... Can I say? I'm a huge fan!" She grabbed his hand forcibly and shook it.
"Who... are you?" Emile said, still very much startled. Only seconds ago, he thought he was still in the world of Ponies. So what was another human doing here?
"I'm Hilda. Absolutely wonderful to meet you! I came here with my Pokemon Professor a few days ago, then I heard about what happened from the uh... Ponies, right? Yeah. Oh yeah, the professor was the one that uh, helped the ponies heal your wounds and stuff. When she told me she had a suspicion of who you were I was totally like 'No way not possible, that kid?' and she was like 'Yeah way, I mean, look at what happened to us. It's possible.' and THEN I saw you battle and I was like... Oh yeah, it's gotta be."
Emile was not keeping up at all. She was talking a mile a minute with things he didn't quite understand. Thankfully, at that point, she was interrupted by some familiar voices.
"There you are, Hilly!" Pinkie said when she spotted the girl. It seems they had gotten acquainted while he had been under.
"Emile!?" A lot of them said in unison, with Twilight's voice being the most prominent as the anger in her voice gave way to concern when she looked him up and down to see his broken arm. "What happened? What is all this..." Twilight's voice trailed off at the scene of a rather messed up royal garden. Some of the grass had been burned to charcoal, slashed at by blades, and slammed by the serpent's tail.
"Okay... I know this looks bad, but uh... Eevee and I managed to calm down some Pokemon that appeared out of nowhere."
"Oh! I saw it all go down! I even took video of it! Look look, girls, come over here." Hilda beckoned all of them over to a device she had used to record everything. Probably a phone. As they began looking at the video, Princess Celestia and another human walked over to him. This one was a much older one, a woman around her thirties he guessed. She wore a long white lab coat like those of Pokemon Professors and her hair was tied in a big swirly bun. Emile hadn't the strength in his legs yet to get up, and Celestia signaled him to stay where he was when she saw him make an attempt.
"Um. Can I ask what's going on, ma'am?" He said and bowed his head to the two before him.
"Emile, was it? It's good to meet you. 'At long last' I should say." The human woman said while tilting her head in a respectful bow back at him. "Pardon my assistant, she is quite excitable. As for me, you've probably heard my name before. I am Professor Juniper. We've met once before via video and call."
A sudden realization struck him. The Unova region's Pokemon Professor... Professor Juniper... "Say, do you happen to be one of Professor Oak's contacts? But... you don't look as old as..." He said it carefully as if not to offend her. She smiled and nodded.
"Emile!" They were interrupted by an involuntary yell of both anger and concern from Twilight. Her eyes were still glued to the screen of Hilda's phone a distance away from them. They must've reached the part of the video where he likely thought they'd disapprove of his actions.
"You might not remember this, but Twilight and Princess Celestia here helped me heal your wounds back at the castle earlier yesterday. Magic is quite something, isn't it? I'm sure our world could have all sorts of useful applications for it. But, I would be remiss for bringing it over to our world, as there are all sorts of unsavory types that would misuse it."
"Come Professor, our world is not without its share of woes." Princess Celestia followed up. "For now, we don't have to worry about that. Luna and I have studied the anomaly extensively. The flow of energy seems to be one way." Emile and the Professor looked towards the direction the Princess had now set her eyes on as she eyed the three Pokemon that had appeared before.
The portals were now gone but the energies of the portal still clung to them, albeit much fainter now that the portals themselves had dissipated. At that moment, the three Pokemon began to glow and change. They began to shrink in the white light of evolution. What was left behind were small pokemon reminiscent of the ones from before. A small little snake, a pudgy little piglet, and a speckled white and blue otter.
"Ah, that's another phenomenon we've been seeing from the transition over." The Professor chimed in after they watched it happen. The others had finished watching the video and they too started to funnel into their conversation, everyone looking at the enigma of De-evolution. "It seems that for anyone who crosses over, their age reverts just like that. You noticed that I wasn't the old woman you saw in that video call all that time ago, right? Never felt sprier than I do now. I feel like I'm back in my twenties."
"Me too! I turned twenty myself a few months ago and now I feel like I'm thirteen all over again!" Hilda cut in.
"It seems like it differs from person to person then... I think my time reverted to ten years old, Professor Juniper." Emile said as he pulled up his shirt to show her his back. "I was supposed to have a large scar from when I first started my Pokemon journey at ten years old, but it's not there anymore."
"Oh my gosh! It really is him professor!" Hilda cut in before Prof. Juniper could say anything with all the excitement in the world in her voice.
"Guess you weren't kidding about being famous, ey?" Rainbow Dash hit him on the shoulder of his good arm.
"Are you kidding, Dashy?! He's only like the most famous Pokemon Trainer of my lifetime! He's THE Knight of Order! The legendary hero, Red!"
Emile felt himself become deaf at the sound of that name as Hilda continued to talk about all the times he'd won the Pokemon Leagues throughout the many regions. It seemed like he only needed someone to address his name directly to finally unlock that part of his memory. In that moment, he realized that maybe he had placed a lock on it subconsciously as that name was associated with every failure and sacrifice he had endured in his attempts to be that 'legendary hero' everyone said he was. Now though, as he heard it come out of Hilda's mouth and the mouth of every pony present, it felt so distant and lonely, like it was no longer who he was as a person.
"So uhm, what did... Red, do to be considered a hero?" He heard Fluttershy ask after he finally came back to his senses.
"I can take it from here, Hilda, if you don't mind," Emile spoke up. She nodded in approval and sat down on the ground next to him. The others followed suit with the exception of Princess Celestia and Professor Juniper.
"The first-time people thought Red was a hero was back in his home region, after he had single-handedly brought down a nefarious organization known as Team Rocket!" Emile's theatrical style of storytelling was back in full swing and he gestured with his arms the story of how he had fought against the boss of the corporation and ousted the villains at every turn. He felt quite embarrassed as everyone listened in intently at his own achievements, especially Hilda since you could FEEL her starstruck excitement. She could've given Pinkie Pie a run for her money. "And that is when Leafeon and Red faced off against their most powerful Pokemon, an artificial lifeform known as Mewtwo!" The oo's and awe's allowed him to continue despite his shame. Still, though, their reactions entertained him endlessly. "It disappeared after being defeated the first time, but he met it again at an island. It had called many powerful trainers and previous champions onto the island in order to copy and test the power of its new artificial Pokemon army, but after a very difficult ordeal they were finally able to convince it to live in peace in our Pokemon world with the help of a rather special Pokemon."
"Really? What Pokemon was that?" Hilda asked, seemingly not having heard of this part of the story despite how much she idolized him. For some reason, as he recalled that part of the story, there was another mental block in his head since he couldn't quite picture what that Pokemon was... A cat perhaps? It hurt just to think about it so he decided to continue on.
"It was so long ago now that I don't really remember, sorry. But it definitely happened! I think."
"If anyone's testimonies of those stories is true, it's mostly likely his no?" Professor Juniper backed him up.
"Anyway, after that..." He recalled the tales of his misadventures in Johto and his showdowns against the legendary dogs and birds, the illusive Ho-oh in all its might, and the mystic Lugia. He spoke of the times he had gone against Team Magma and Team Aqua back in Hoenn, and how he faced the forces that ruled over the very land and water. Then he described his fight against the mass of power that was Rayquaza, as he had met it on a number of occasions. Like in the time that it chased after a panicked Deoxys through a metropolitan area. Then he described one of the most harrowing parts of his entire journey as he spoke about the Sinnoh region.
"Even after calming down the Celestial Trio, the damage had been done..." His tone dropped now that the story was coming to a conclusion. "The past has a way of catching up with you it seems. The villains of the past... They found, copied, and perfected the blueprints that Team Galactic had made. The red chain..."
They could all feel the seriousness in the air by the shift Emile's voice.
"Red he... if only he had been smarter and made sure to destroy those blueprints earlier... if only he had been a little faster at dealing with all of that then maybe..." They were all a little afraid of tripping another landmine, so they stayed quiet as Emile composed himself enough to tell the rest of the story. "What resulted was the red chain being abused all over the world. They were used to incarcerate and control the very guardian Pokemon themselves and all of their power. In the madness that ensued, a friend of mine and I poured over every bit of literature we could find in order to stop the impending catastrophe. A prophecy had foretold those events in the glyphs and markings of some ancient tablets. Tablets made up of the very essence of Arceus..."
The mood had turned very serious indeed now that the story was pointing directly at all of them. They could all feel where this story was leading...
"In the end, all the would-be 'hero' Red managed to do was shorten the lifespan of the very world since he was the one to bring the prophecy to life. It was Arceus' original plan to destroy the world to take back the power the humans had stolen from it. The power that their Pokemon companions had helped the humans steal. Those very same tablets of prophecy." He sighed. "Tried as I might, I could not find all sixteen of them, as they were all seemingly scattered throughout the world in ancient coves so far forgotten. When the chaos and madness struck all around us, we could feel the world's time running out. I made the desperate decision to confront Arceus about it with the few tablets I did have on hand. They allowed me to weaken it enough to try to make him change his mind, but to no avail. One thing led to another, and I found myself here, in Equestria with all of you. Hell... I don't even know if I managed to save the world. I'm no hero, alright? I should've never involved your world in this..."
"Stop that this instant! This isn't your fault!" Twilight stomped her hoof as she got up. It had been too unreasonable to hear him shoulder all of that burden himself. Everyone else got up too, leaving the boy looking up at their frustration. "You're an idiot if you think you alone should have to handle all of that!" She yelled and finally told it to him straight.
"It doesn't need to be your responsibility, dear. You did what no one else would've done and tried to stop it. How is that fair?" Chimed in Rarity.
"Yeah! It doesn't make sense! If it's anyone's fault, it's the humans of the past. And those meanies who took advantage of the chain!" You could almost see Pinkie Pie's fumes coming from her ears.
"Pinkie is right! Also, that thing whatever it was, Arceus too! Unreasonable! Talk about overreaction much? Next time I see him I'm gonna give him whats for." Rainbow Dash followed.
"You love your Pokemon and you did your best to save everyone multiple times... uhm, I don't think anyone like that could be bad. So don't blame yourself... please." Fluttershy said as loudly as she could, trying to yell but failing.
"Fluttershy's got you dead to rights, sugarcube. I think you need to get your head on straight since you can't see how not in the wrong you are here." Applejack might've been the calmest of the bunch, but she was definitely expressively annoyed with his mentality.
Hilda was the one to speak next, her voice fragile with emotion. "I've looked up to you since I was three! Since I could first walk, I watched you on TV. I started my Pokemon journey because of you. You're everyone's Knight of Order! Our hero. So please don't say such sad things like this being your fault. You have no idea how many times we were all saved by your actions! Do you know how glued we were to our TVs? Do you even know how anxious we all were? How hard we prayed and hoped for you? When they broadcasted what happened to you before you left for Spear Pillar... We mourned with you." It seems it wasn't just his pony friends that felt this way. This information took him aback. He didn't realize that he had been in the public's eye back then... "You probably don't even know how devastated we all were... Me, my family, my friends, my town, the whole of the pokemon world! When we watched Mt. Coronet explode, it tore at everyone. All that was left was a massive crater. Then, nothing. No word from you. For two years, the world believed you were dead!" Hilda brushed away her tears as she had let the emotion of the moment get to her.
Emile fixated on her words particularly. There was a lot to process, but the chronological order of the pieces where finally beginning to click in his head. He turned to look at Professor Juniper wide-eyed. She just smiled and nodded at him.
"Oh, don't look at me like that. I would've told you sooner, but it didn't seem like the right time to intervene." Professor Juniper said. "It's as you can guess. If two years happened to pass by after that event, then the logical answer and the truth of it is that you did indeed save the world."
Emile slowly laid his back down on the ground to look up towards the sky. There was nothing going through his head. No thoughts, emotions, nothing. He was just... staring at the clouds, unable to even feel anything about all the talk that had transpired. He felt his body relax and he exhaled every bit of breath that had built up in that moment. As his Eevee, pony friends, and Hilda crowded around his face, they blocked his line of sight to the clouds, and he slowly began to let his thoughts seep in again.
He found the strength to stand back up again and pushed himself up with his one working arm. Standing. Standing... and standing he stayed for a solid few minutes until someone finally spoke up.
"How are you holding up, Red?" The Professor asked.
"Uhm. Dandy. Emile is fine, actually. In fact. I'd prefer it." He said, the muscles on his face rapidly twitching to form all sort of expressions since he couldn't find the right way to FEEL again. "Princess? Professor?" He asked the two.
"Yes, Emile?"
"Yeah, I think I need some more rest after all." The boy said and blacked out again.