After spending the rest of the day helping fix up the building his family had decided to claim, Jason immediately went to sleep, even though there was only the dusty floor still.
His dreams were much more uplifting than the nightmare from the night before. This time, he dreamed of him and his team, backed by thousands of restored humans, including the Salintran Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and even the Frontier Brains, challenging the Legendaries, Glitterwings serving as a beacon of hope. But right as Arceus himself lay crumpled on the ground with Jason and Glitterwings demanding he yield to them—
“Jason! Up and at em, son!” Arthur Turner’s voice cut into Jason’s dreams, forcing him to jolt awake.
“Dad? What is it?” Jason yawned.
“The Silverdust family has an announcement to make,” his mother answered. “The bird they send out to bring in their mail just brought in a letter that apparently contains big news.”
“Fine, fine,” Jason grumbled as he got up. His back was sore from sleeping on the floor, but he didn’t have time to deal with it at the moment.
Joining his family, as well as the rest of the Pokémon who had taken up residence in Maresburg, Jason watched as Dusty Dune stepped out of his house, his horn glowing cyan again.
“Attention, everyone!” the elderly unicorn announced, his voice amplified, “We’ve received news that Appaloosa’s got a problem with a sandstorm! We don’ know if anypony’ll come through here fleein' it, but we must hide the two humans an’ the rebelling Legendary! News can’t get out! If anypony comes through here, if ya wanna be human ag’in, don’ let ‘em find out!”
With that, their host returned to his home, and almost immediately, the new residents ushered Jason and Audrey back into the house, with Glitterwings returning to her Net Ball after sleeping outside the night before. Her color had almost completely returned, indicating her power was almost fully restored.
After they sat in silence for a couple hours, growing incredibly bored, Audrey couldn't take the boredom anymore and spoke up.
"Uh, Jason?" She said, turning to her brother. "I wanted to ask you something. How did Eternia evolve into an Obliveon?"
Tears immediately formed in Jason's eyes, and he shook his head. "Please don't make me tell that story," he pleaded. I just can't handle it. It was an emotional roller coaster."
"But, isn't evolution a happy occasion?" Audrey asked, confused.
"Most of the time, yes," Jason sighed. "But not the way Eevee evolves into Obliveon. It's actually quite sad."
"I'll tell it, Jason," a voice said as a Pokéball on Jason's belt opened, revealing the Obliveon in question. "I'll show her our memories so that you don't have to say anything."
"Eternia! She's younger than I am, and it hurts enough for me!" Jason said with a shake of his head.
"She's got a strong spirit, Jason," Eternia replied with a determined stare. "I can sense it. She won't break from this."
"Just be careful, Eternia," Jason warned.
"Ever since I became an Obliveon, I've always been careful," Eternia said gently before making direct eye contact with Audrey. "Now, Audrey, I need you to look as deeply into my eyes as you can." Eternia's eyes started to glow brighter than normal, the red glow reflected by Audrey's own.
As Audrey started to do as the Obliveon requested, thoughts started to flow from the Pokémon to her own mind, her own eyes taking on the same red glow…
The location was the graveyard of the deserted place called Tumbleweed Town.
"Eternia! Use Bite!" Jason suggested.
"Right!" the Eevee agreed as she ran for the Ghost Trainer's Oberdart—a Ponyta-sized horse Pokémon with a translucent dark gray body that allowed full view of its skeleton—clamping down hard, causing the Ghost-type to scream in pain.
"Double-Kick." the opposing Trainer ordered, his nearly monotone voice sending chills down Jason's spine.
"Yessir," the Oberdart replied before dashing for Eternia, spinning around, and bucking her with both hind legs, sending her flying.
"Eternia!" Jason cried out, catching the Eevee before she could hit the ground. She was panting hard, but she was still able to fight.
"Eternia, I'm switching you out," Jason told her. "I can't risk you getting hurt."
"But Jason, I have to win for you, to prove my worth!" Eternia shouted with a shake of her head. "I have to win this myself!"
"But—"
"No buts, Jason!" Eternia snapped, cutting her Trainer off. "I outsped him the last round, so I can do it again. One more Bite, and he should be a goner!"
Jason tried to recall her anyway, but she dodged the recall beam and charged straight at the Oberdart, intent on finishing him off. Little did she know that their Speed was actually equal.
"Double Kick," the opposing Trainer ordered, and Eternia only had time to gasp in surprise before getting thrown high into the air again. This time, there was a sickening CRACK when her opponent's hooves connected.
"Eternia! NOOOOO!" Jason screamed before catching her again, setting her gently on the ground, then shouting, "Wanda! Finish this! It's an emergency!"
The recently-evolved Floodrine joined the battle and took the initiative.
"Hydro Pump!" she shouted before launching a powerful burst of water at the Oberdart, who immediately keeled over, forcing his Trainer to call him back, growl in frustration, and simply toss the prize money at Jason's feet before walking away.
Wanda immediately returned to her Ball, and Jason picked Eternia up in his arms, cradling her small form, shaking her gently. "Eternia! Please! Speak to me!"
The Eevee's eyes weakly fluttered open, her breathing shallow and ragged.
“Jason, I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I wanted to win for you, I wanted you to be proud of me, but in the end, I failed you. I’m not worthy to call you my Trainer.”
“Eternia, don’t say that,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “I’ll get you back to the Pokémon Center and get you patched up. Everyone loses at some point.”
“It’s too late for that,” Eternia managed between labored breaths. “I’m dying, Jason. I’m going to join all the ghosts wandering this graveyard. I’m sorry.”
“No! You’ll live, Eternia!” Jason snapped. “Don’t say such stupid things! You’re my friend! I won’t just let you die!”
“Jason, I’m honored that you still think of me as a friend, even after I failed you,” Eternia whispered, her eyes welling up with tears. “I wish I could stay with you, and fight alongside you to the bitter end, but it looks like it’s over for me.”
Jason petted Eternia’s small form and hugged her close.
“Don’t say that! You’ll live! You hear me?” Jason sobbed. “I won’t let you die!”
“I wish you could stop it,” Eternia sighed, nuzzling her Trainer weakly. “But my spine’s broken, Jason. I want so badly to stay with you, more than I have wanted anything else in my life, but I’m dying, and nothing can stop it now. Goodbye, Jason. I’m so sorry…”
Eternia’s eyes closed as her heart stopped beating and her breathing ceased, and Jason burst into tears, huge sobs wracking his body.
“No! ETERNIAAAAA!!!!!” he screamed to the empty graveyard, dropping to his knees as he cradled Eternia’s tiny corpse. “Please don’t leave me like this!”
Suddenly, Eternia’s dead form was enveloped in a purple glow, and the mists of the graveyard grew thicker and thicker, centering on her still warm body.
“Wha?” was all Jason could manage before her limp form floated out of his arms and hovered in midair.
The mists took shape into what seemed to be spirits and swarmed the dead Eevee’s body, becoming absorbed by her form, and causing her spine to return to its proper alignment. Next, her fur changed to a dark purple color, and her tail thinned out and grew a scythe-like appendage at the end. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, shining with dazzling red light that slowly faded to reveal brilliant scarlet eyes, glowing like a Misdreavus’ beads.
Finally, a white skull-shaped patch of fur appeared on her forehead, and her body doubled in size. At long last, the mists dissipated, and her body floated to the ground, depositing her gently on all fours.
Eternia blinked, and looked herself over in shock.
“Wait, what happened?” she asked in surprise. “I’m supposed to be dead! Why did I evolve? How did I evolve? And what did I even evolve into?”
“I don’t know,” Jason replied, equally shocked. He pulled out his Pokédex and searched for new entries. Finding one, he opened the entry and read the data.
“So, it says you’re an Obliveon now,” Jason announced. “Apparently, your desire to stay with me overcame the chains of death itself, and brought you back as a Ghost-type.”
“Jason!” Eternia sobbed happily as she ran for her Trainer and jumped into his arms, nuzzling him. “Thank you for believing in me,” the newly-evolved Ghost-type whispered, moving her tail to the back of her Trainer’s head before gently rubbing him with the fur-covered back of her new blade. “You gave me the strength to overcome death itself just to be with you once more. I promise, I’ll become stronger for the whole team, Jason. And I won’t defy your orders to return to my Pokéball ever again. It cost me my life, but now I have one more life to give for you, and I promise to stick with you to the bitter end, just like Wanda, Flash and Xavier. We’ll beat Team Verdure together. All of us!”
Suddenly, the vision ended, and Audrey snapped back to the present, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Jason, I never knew—"She choked down a sob, then tried to speak again. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that!"
Jason would've replied, but the sounds of a ruckus from the front of the town drew his attention.
“Please! We’ve been wandering this stupid desert ever since we got chased out of Salt Lick City!” A male voice begged. “We won’t cause you any trouble, I promise! I give you my word as a Gym Leader, and as a businessman!”
The two exchanged shocked looks. They all knew that voice. It was that of one of the most respected men in Salintra: Adam Boom, the President and CEO of Vision, Inc., as well as the Salintra City gym leader.
“i’m sorry, Mr. Boom, but we still can’t let you into Maresburg,” a voice sighed. “You see—”
Jason had rushed out into the street to find the transformed humans were talking to a Nukrenst in a business suit, who had a four Pokémon with him: a Chokking—a Pokémon that looked like one Weezing fused with another one beneath it—a Turran—a gray octogonal Pokémon with a square red pyramidic nose that doubled as her cannon—a Slicor—an orange shark-like Pokémon with his entire body serving as one huge blade—and a Huoril—a hovering, orange, angular, slightly bird-like Pokémon.
“Let him in,” Jason cut in, drawing the attention of the whole crowd, and causing Adam Boom to turn white as a sheet, as well as his four team members.
“Champion Jason Turner?” the gym leader gasped in shock. “How—”
“The Legendary I caught? She helped me keep my human form,” Jason replied as he walked over to Adam. “But you have to keep this a secret from Arceus, okay?”
“Why should I keep this a secret from our creator?” Mr. Boom asked, cocking his head in confusion. "And how did she even do that? Isn't her power lower than that of Arceus?"
“I’ll tell you,” a voice said as the Net Ball on Jason’s belt opened of its own accord, releasing the Legendary who had been recuperating inside. “That senile fool doesn’t want any humans anymore. I’m the Guardian of Humanity, so I oppose him of course. I have the power to not just protect, but also restore humans, Mr. Boom, and that’s why Arceus can’t know about this. He thinks he left me behind on Earth after I rebelled against him. I’m not going to explain how I got here right now, but if you can wait a while, I can turn you back to your original form as well.”
"But, he's still a human!" Mr. Boom exclaimed, still unable to process what he saw with his own eyes.
"I just said that I have the power to protect humans, Mr. Boom," Glitterwings said tersely. "Need I repeat myself? I protected him from the powers that would've transformed him, obviously."
"Very well," Adam said slowly, fiddling with his tie as he nodded his head, still having a hard time processing the information.
It was then that Jason noticed that Gitterwings’ wings had regained their full luster and were the familiar beautiful rainbow of colors once more.
“Nancy, get out here!” Jason called over his shoulder. “Glitterwings is ready!”
“You read my mind, Jason,” Gliterwings giggled as Nancy and her starter stepped outside.
“Hey, Mr. Boom!” she said, waving at the transformed gym leader. “You’re about to see something awesome!”
“How right you are, Nancy,” Glitterwings chuckled. “Now, let’s begin!”
Using the same rainbow light she used on Audrey the day before, Glitterwings began her scan while Adam and his team watched intently.
“Okay, memories are good, now for the aura,” she muttered. “Let’s see if… Nope, still senile, even when trying to be tricky. The exact same ‘encryption’ as before. Okay, Nancy! Time to make you human again, and a Trainer in full once more!”
Glitterwings spread her rainbow dust over Nancy, triggering the same reaction as she got from Audrey, but this time, a baseball cap, a tank top, a pair of shorts, ankle socks and sneakers appeared, as well as a shoulder bag similar to Audrey’s but slung over the opposite shoulder. Finally, a belt with six Pokéballs appeared on her waist, and the light faded, revealing Jason’s best friend as she was supposed to look.
“Incredible!” Adam Boom exclaimed. “If we can find some more people from my company, we might even be able to create a device to enhance the effect of that to help her revert multiples at once! With such a device, we could ease her burden, and the human race would make a rapid comeback!”
“That would be very much appreciated, Adam Boom, you are too kind,” Glitterwings replied, sounding a little dizzy as color started to fade from her wings again. This time, it ceased at the washed out point instead of them turning fully gray. “But first, I need a nap. Jason? Could you return me to my habitat?”
“Sure,” Jason replied before recalling her to her Net Ball.
Turning around, Jason saw Nancy surrounded by six Pokémon: Her Staraptor was perched on her shoulder, one wing draped around her Trainer. Her Seqursine was standing on his hind legs, giving her a firm bear hug. Her Glittreon was nuzzling her legs as he sighed happily, the Light-type had a his eyes closed and wore a huge grin.. Her Waspix was buzzing around happily, the Bug/Space-type nuzzling her Trainer from time to time. Her Bursane had a huge grin on his face, the Water/Fire-type simply jumping up and down happily. And the last member of her team, a Dilopit, hugged her from the back, the Rock/Poison-type fossil Pokémon wearing a huge grin on her face.
Nancy smiled back, sharing in her team’s joy in her truly being their Trainer once more. Once they had finally calmed down, they were returned to their Balls for the first time in a while, granting them the solace each of their personal virtual habitats provided.
“Well, I guess we can continue work on the town?” the man-turned-Aynshunt from before spoke up.
The town agreed, and everyone got back to work, with now three humans hiding away indoors, this time taking a nap.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Legends…
“Donny! Hurry it up!” Voiral snapped at his eldest son, growing impatient. The Continuum Pokémon was in the main plane of existence for the time being, and though he was no bigger than Mew and resembled a purple ball with eyes, a mouth, no visible nose, and orange hands and feet but no arms or legs, he somehow managed to still easily intimidate his two sons, who easily dwarfed him in size.
“I’m trying, Dad!” Donalyra whined as he searched for the intersection of Harmonic and Chaotic magic so he could be in tune with both at the same time. “Ah! Found it!”
With a swish of his split tail, Donalyra slapped the ground, and the opposing energies flowed into him, still separate, but he was now aware of both at the same time.
“You done now?” Cosmaraid huffed as they felt another release of their sister’s power signature far away. “Because sis just restored another human!”
“Almost!” Donalyra replied, finding one more force that seemed to be able to override all other forces. “There’s one extra force! It matches the vibes I got from that pink mare while spying on the ponies meeting with Lord Arceus! I just need to tap into this one, and I’ll be done!”
But as soon as the knowledge of how the pink pony’s odd powers worked started to enter Donalyra’s mind, he started to scream. “GAAAAAAHHH!!! IT HURTS! MY BRAIN IS BURNING FROM THIS KIND OF INPUT! MAKE IT STOP! IT’S TOO MUCH EVEN FOR ME!”
Voiral and Cosmaraid burst into Donalyra’s room to find the comet who was their kin writhing in agony, attempting to use his Cometic Smash move on everything in the room, leaving patches of ice that was so cold that it could somehow freeze ice itself all over the room. Apparently, he was trying to use the intense cold of his signature move to cool down his brain, but it wasn’t helping.
“Donny!” Voiral snapped. “If it’s too much for you, just give up on that force! I have a feeling you don’t need it anyway. The knowledge of how it works should begin to fade after you sever your connection to it.”
Donalyra nodded and immediately broke his connection to the explanation of the inexplicable powers of the pink mare and fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
“So, how long do you think it’ll take for him to have the strength to help us out?” Cosmaraid asked his father.
“Eh, I have no idea, but let’s give him a day or two,” the Continuum Pokémon replied. “He should be good as new by then.”
“Oh! Lord Voiral! Lord Cosmaraid!” a yellow serpent that was jagged like a lightning bolt exclaimed, bowing his head in respect while the two serpents behind him—one redwith her entire body covered in orange flames, the other blue with fin-like ears, a long light blue fin on her back running from the the base of her head to the tip of her tail, which ended in another tail—also bowed.
“Lord Begitrox, Ladies Proicodra and Endikra, you don’t have to be so formal towards us,” Voiral said with a shake of his head—which was most of his body. “In fact, let’s drop all of the formalities, how are the three of you doing? How is life on Equus for you, so far?”
Begitrox—the yellow one—raised his head and said, “We’re already back to maintaining the existence of written history, Voiral.” His sisters nodded in agreement. “I’m still ensuring that the beginning stays where it is and nothing happens to return everything to the beginning.”
Proicodra—the red one—spoke next.
“I’m still governing the present, making sure that it stays on track and moving forward,” she announced proudly.
“And I’m still managing the end, making sure to keep it infinitely distant from the current time period,” Endikra—the blue one— finished.
“By the way,” Begitrox added, “We heard Donalyra screaming in agony and came to investigate. Maybe offer our help if we can. And we also felt a power surge very far away that felt familiar, like one of the greater Legendaries, and were hoping you might have an answer.”
“Donny’ll be fine in a day or two,” Voiral replied. “He tried to tap into the forces of that pink mare from earlier only to suffer incredible backlash from obtaining the explanation of the inexplicable.”
“As for the surge you felt?” Cosmaraid looked around to make sure there weren’t any eavesdroppers before whispering, “Can you three promise to keep what I’m about to say a secret from all non-Salintran Legendaries? Even Lord Arceus?”
The History Trio looked stunned, but they nodded quietly. They knew Cosmaraid outranked them in Salintra’s hierarchy, and they didn’t want to anger him, or his father.
“My sister’s here,” Cosmaraid hissed, causing the three serpents to look very worried. “And yes, she’s still rebelling. That power surge was her restoring a human. If Lord Arceus finds out about this, whatever he does to her won’t be pretty. That’s why we need to find her before he discovers she’s here and get her to come around.
With a sigh, he continued. “I know you three know what it feels like to have your very purpose taken away from you. Rebecca from Verdure did that to you. You did get your purpose back after Jason Turner destroyed the machine holding your powers, but she’s most likely feeling the same thing right now. With no humans, she must feel worthless, so she’s trying to cope by bringing back the humans to regain her purpose. We need to let her know that Lord Arceus can give her a new role in this world, so that she stops turning former humans back into humans. Don’t tell anyone but other Salintran Legandaries about this, okay? And even then, get them to make the same promise you made, first.”
“Understood,” all three said in unison before floating away in another direction.
“Well, that went well, I think,” Voiral remarked. “They won’t tell Lord Arceus. But I hope they remember to check for eavesdroppers before telling any other Salintran Legendaries.”
“Me too, Dad,” Cosmaraid replied nervously before returning to check on his brother, who was out cold on the ground.
“When are you going to be back to your normal self, brother?” the Protection Serpent Pokémon grumbled as he set about clearing all the ice from his brother’s room.