Salintra's new Champion defied Arceus when he tried to take the Legendary Pokémon, Giganoth from him. But Giganoth is the Guardian of Humanity, and she'll protect them from anything, even Arceus. This is the tale of their journey through Equestria
NOTE: This fic is not canon to the ANWANW timeline, as it contains Fakemon. Also, check the bottom for something awesome!
Jason Turner, Salintra's new Champion, thought he could just finish the pages of his Pokédex and return home victorious. After all, Team Verdure has been defeated, ending their attempts to destroy all signs of human influence. With the region safe, what could go wrong?
How about Arceus waking up and immediately trying to take a member of his team from him?
Giganoth, the Guardian of Humanity, refused to be separated from her trainer, so Arceus left them behind when he took the rest of the Legendaries to Equestria. But instead of admitting defeat, Jason and his team will help "Glitterwings" perform her duty, even if it means defying the very being who gave her that duty in the first place.
Join Jason Turner and his team of six Pokémon—Wanda, Flash, Eternia, Burst, Adorakill, and Glitterwings—as they travel Equestria to find a way to restore humanity and spread the truth about catching, training and battling, and how there's nothing bad about it at all.
Another note: Yeah, I know that's Rainbow Mothra in the pic, but Giganoth looks quite a bit like her, so that pic will have to do for now.
Now has its own ask thread! Check it out here: CLICK ME!
When Arceus summoned all the Legendaries to meet with him before the transfer, one refused to attend. Giganoth—or “Glitterwings”, as her Trainer Jason Turner affectionately called her—felt the ancient power of Lord Arceus trying to separate her from her Net Ball and resisted his attempt, using her own power that stemmed from humans and their creations to bind herself even more to the device that symbolized her bond with the Trainer who had calmed her rage and earned her trust.
Her virtual habitat of a log cabin village full of virtual humans in a moonlit forest was very much to her liking, and she wasn’t about to give it up just because the Legendary who had tasked her with being the guardian of humanity felt he could separate her from her partner on a whim.
“Jason!” the Protection Moth Pokémon cried out from her habitat that Salintra’s Pokéballs were capable of producing. “Drop whatever you’re doing out there and and hold my Ball shut! A certain geezer just woke up and thinks he can take me from you!”
The new Champion of the Salintra region understood every word due to his rare ability to understand Pokémon, and immediately complied by gripping the Ball’s top with one hand and the bottom with the other, struggling to keep them together as some other force tried to force it open.
“Sorry, whoever you are!” Jason shouted to the open air in the empty field he was standing in. “Glitterwings is staying with me! I don’t care who you are! She’s my friend, and if she wants to stay with me, she gets to stay with me, got it?” There was no way Jason would let anyone take any of his cherished teammates from him. They needed him just as much as he needed them, and he wasn't about to let his connection to any of them be cut.
The Ball shook harder, the force becoming agitated as it met resistance from both inside the Ball and outside it.
Suddenly, a voice entered both Jason and Glitterwings’ minds. A very ancient, very angry voice.
So, you would defy me, Giganoth? the voice asked tersely. Well, I guess making you the guardian of humanity was a mistake on my part. You’ve grown overly attached to them, it seems. Fine. Stay on Earth with your precious Trainer if he matters so much to you. Just be aware that your defiance will result in you being the only Legendary Pokémon left behind. Every Trainer we leave behind will want ownership of the only Legendary left on Earth, so be prepared for your “partner” to be hounded by Pokéthieves for the rest of his days. Farewell, rebellious one. I don’t pity you one bit, for you brought this upon yourself.
“And that would be the ‘geezer’ you spoke of just now?” Jason asked nervously, visibly trembling after being spoken to by what felt like an angry deity.
“Yes, that would be Lord Arceus,” Glitterwings grumbled. “After he was sealed, he grew to loathe humanity, and I had a feeling he’d do something bad once some idiot woke him up with the Azure Flute. Sounds like he’s taking every Legendary with him to another world and leaving this one to rot.”
“But, he created this world!” Jason exclaimed, taking his white stetson off to fan himself as he suddenly started to feel hot. “Why would he abandon the entire world?” Jason just couldn't understand why the creator of the world would just abandon it. The world was like a work of art, with Arceus as the artist. Except this particular work of art continued to grow more and more wonderful as time went on, so why would the mastermind behind the whole thing suddenly decide his greatest creation was utter garbage?
“I don’t know, but maybe Cosmaraid or Donalyra can shed some light on the issue,” she said before using her telepathic link to other Legendaries to call out to the other two members of her trio: Cosmaraid, the Protection Serpent Pokémon who was the guardian of all Pokémon, and Donalyra, the Protection Comet Pokémon, who was the guardian of the planet itself.
Brothers, what’s happening? Glitterwings asked the other two guardians. What is Lord Arceus doing?
He’s taking all of the Legendaries who didn’t resist him with him to another world, “sister”, Cosmaraid’s voice growled. He’ll also be taking many good humans and Pokémon along, but the humans won’t be human anymore where we’re going, thanks to Lord Arceus’ influence.
Why’d you have to be so stubborn, sister? Donalyra’s voice asked, sounding quite hurt. You really prefer the humans over your own family?
After I became Jason’s partner and became as close to him as the rest of his team is, yes, Glitterwings’ voice replied. I’ll miss you, but I’m not about to leave my duties behind. I’m the guardian of humanity. Without any humans to protect, what will I be then? And Donalyra, what about you? You’re the guardian of Earth! If you leave Earth behind, what will you be without the very world you were tasked to protect? I may change my mind at some point, but that’s very unlikely.
Well, if you ever do change your mind, I’ll create an echo of the transferring power in the cave you slept in for so long before Team Verdure rudely awakened you, Donalyra’s voice said gently, also tinged with a slight bit of guilt. I’m doing this because you’re my sister, and for no other reason. Please don’t try to pull anything, okay? Lord Arceus promised me a new guardianship role, and I’m sure he’d give you one, as well.
I’ll try, Glitterwings replied. That’s the best I can do right now.
Very well, sister, Cosmaraid’s voice sighed. Just make sure that in ”trying”, you don’t end up causing trouble.
With that, Glitterwings cut her communication with the other two members of her trio and spoke to her trusted partner.
“Jason, we have to return to Mt. Maiden, where I slept,” she informed him. “My brothers are leaving something for me there.”
“Okay, just a second,” Jason said before releasing her from her Ball. She was a sight to behold: a beautiful multicolored moth almost as large as a Wailord and weighing over four tons, she could easily carry a sumo wrestler on her back and not have her flight impeded, or drag Groudon behind her by the tail with little effort. She was the envy of every Bug/Flying type in the world, for she could do one thing that no other Bug-type that was part Flying could do: actually learn and use the Hidden Move, Fly.
After climbing on her back, Jason said, “Let’s go, Glitterwings! Take us there!”
“On it!” the Legendary replied before flapping her massive wings and heading straight for a mountain shaped like a sleeping woman in the distance.
During the flight, Jason let the rest of his team out of their Balls to allow them some fresh air outside their virtual habitats.
“I overheard everything,” a blue and white bipedal wolverine-like Pokémon called a “Floodrine” growled. “How could Arceus go cuckoo-nutzoid like that? I don’t care if he did make this world. I so want to pulverise him!”
“Easy, Wanda,” a dark purple quadrupedal fox-like Pokémon with a white skull image on her forehead, a skinny tail ending in a scythe-like appendage and scarlet eyes that glowed like a Misdreavus’ beads said. “I’m the one among us who had to die to evolve, and yet you don’t see me that upset.”
“Eternia, Obliveon or no, you weren’t Jason’s starting Pokémon!” Wanda snapped. “Yeah, you had to die in a graveyard and want to stay with Jason so badly that you broke the chains of death to come back as a Ghost-type, but I’m the one capable of Mega Evolution, here! It was awesome enough when I evolved into a Torrajou and gained that sweet, sweet dual Water/Light typing, but don’t forget that I’m also the team Mega now!”
“I was his second Pokémon,” a Pokémon that looked like an eternally burning bush with arms and legs said softly. “Not that it matters, of course.”
“Eh, cut the modesty, Flash,” Wanda chuckled. “Having an Errabush on the team is actually quite useful, y’know? You’re a Fire/Grass-type! You’ve been a huge help ever since you were a little Burseed!” That last statement got Flash to crack a small smile.
“Then what am I, chopped liver?” a teal bipedal dragon Pokémon with ribbed wings with violet membranes and sharp yet disarmingly frilly pink spikes sprouting from his wrists snapped. “Do I ever get any respect around here? Jason respects me, but you guys? Nope, not one ‘thank you, Burst’ from anyone except Jason!”
“Well, you are an Atomic/Dragon-type, you know,” an adorable-looking silvery blue slug Pokémon with fin-like structures ending in finger-like spines near both his head and tail snickered. “Sure, Nukrensts aren’t weak to Fairy and Ice attacks due to your Atomic typing, but what do you have instead? A weakness to Bug moves, and you get slaughtered by your fellow Dragon-types because of a double weakness! When an opponent sends out a Dragon-type, Jason always has to switch you out so I can save your sorry behind for the umpteenth time! Without me, you’d be a complete burden!”
“Can it, Adorakill!” Burst grumbled. “Sure, your Poison/Fairy typing has been very helpful ever since you first joined us as a Blungel, but ever since you evolved into a Dragbloo, you’ve been a total bigshot! I know you’ve saved me more times than I can count, but don’t forget my own benefits! I take almost no damage from Grass, and Fire attacks, I’m the only member of this team that resists Rock moves while we have two members weak to said moves, I’m immune to both Time and Space attacks, my Dragon Pulse helps take down other Atomic-types, and my Atomic moves can help out against special-based attackers by making them sick! And don’t forget that I, like most Dragon-types, have a very wide pool of moves for Jason to choose from to add to my arsenal!”
“Well, I guess you do deserve our thanks, Burst,” Wanda said before hugging the teal dragon. “You’ve saved us a lot of times, and you’ve always thanked any of us whenever we bail you out, even Adorakill, who has let your constant thanks go to his head.”
“Aw, thanks Wanda,” Burst replied before returning the hug for a couple seconds, then letting go. “Hey, Jason!” he called up to their Trainer who was sitting right behind Glitterwings’ neck, “how much farther to Mt. Maiden?”
“Not much further!” Jason called over his shoulder. “In fact, we’ll be arriving in Bridal Town in about a minute, so I’m gonna have to return you guys to your Balls for now.”
“That’s fine,” Eternia said, “I’ll just go to my library and crack open a book until I’m needed.”
The other members of the team mentioned activities of their own that they would use to pass the time in their virtual habitats, and Jason smiled before returning the five of them to their Balls and reattaching them to his belt.
After touching down in front of the Pokémon Center, Jason hugged Glitterwings, then returned her to her own Ball. He then pulled out a can of Max Repel spray and sprayed every inch of his body with it. Finally, he left the town using the road leading to the west, got on his bicycle, and pedalled like mad towards Mt. Maiden.
Once inside the mountain, Jason applied more Max Repel spray and made his way through the cave system, eventually arriving at an empty chamber with a huge pit in the back. On the wall behind the pit, a swirling vortex met his eyes, and he let Glitterwings out of her Ball for her to check it out.
“Yep, this is definitely Donalyra’s work,” she told her Trainer. “I can feel the power of multiple Legendaries in it, so give me a minute while I inspect the energies to see if I can find anything that might hurt you in any way.”
Jason nodded and waited, watching as Glitterwings sent waves of energy over the vortex to inspect it.
After a few minutes, Glitterwings looked back at Jason and shuddered. “There’s something in it that makes humans turn into Pokémon,” she growled. “Feels like a mix of Arceus and Mew’s powers. But they don’t call me the ‘guardian of humanity’ for nothing! Get on my back, Jason, and hold on tight. We’re going in, but I’m going to use my powers to protect you and preserve your form. If I’m joining my family, I want to still have at least one human to protect! Otherwise, my very existence is pointless!”
Jason nodded and climbed on his partner’s back, then flattened his body against her back as she generated a field of multicolored energy over him.
“This is gonna be a bumpy ride, but don’t let yourself pass out, got it?” Glitterwings half-pleaded, half-demanded. “My power comes from humans and their creations, so the only things in that portal that’ll give me strength are our Balls, your outfit, your backpack and everything in it, and you. Humans are a much better source of power for me than human creations, though. So if you black out, I won’t be able to draw on your presence, making it harder to protect you. If you want to stay the human we know and lovingly respect, for the love of humanity, don’t pass out.”
Jason nodded, and Glitterwings flew into the portal.
The area around them crackled with energy, powerful forces buffeting them and disrupting the flight, making it hard for Jason to hold on. But he had to. He just knew he had to hold on. This was worse than anything else he’d gone through, but his team needed him, and they wanted him to still be human.
So Jason dug in his fingers a bit more, provoking a slight hiss of pain from Glitterwings, but no protests besides that. The energy of the tunnel lashed out harder, making it harder for Jason to stay conscious. But just as he felt he was about to pass out, the area filled with light, and they flew out the other end of the gate out the side of a mountain and into the open sky.
“You did it, Jason,” Glitterwings congratulated her Trainer. “You’re still human. Now you can rest. I’ll find a place where we can stop, and I’ll be right by your side when you wake up.”
Jason nodded groggily and fell asleep as the Giganoth cancelled the protective field and swooped down towards an open prairie. Once on the ground, she gently slid her Trainer off her back and onto the grass, then whispered, “Sleep well, Jason Turner. You’ve earned it. It’s not every day that a human manages to overcome the power of the Original One, himself. Even with help.”
Jason yawned and stretched, then opened his eyes to find something resembling a bug-eyed green Ponyta staring right back at him.
“Gah!” Jason exclaimed as he scrambled backwards to gain a healthy amount of something very important to Salintrans that they liked to call “personal space”.
“What is that?” Jason said before getting to his feet and whipping out his Pokédex. Performing an initial scan provided the following message: Unknown lifeform. Neither Pokémon or human. Do not engage in battle, do not capture, and exercise caution. “What d’you mean, that thing’s not a Pokémon?” he screamed at his Pokédex.
“It means that this creature is native to this world,” Glitterwings’ voice replied from behind him.
The sudden appearance of the massive moth startled the green Ponyta-like creature, and it fixed its massive amber eyes on the Legendary, shaking in terror.
“Okay Glitterwings, I’ll take it from here,” Jason sighed before returning her to her Ball. After making eye contact with the creature, he began speaking to it. “Sorry about that,” he chuckled nervously. “Glitterwings is pretty protective of me. That, and she answered my question to keep me from losing it.”
“Wait, you understood that thing?” the creature asked in the exact same language humans use, not some creature tongue that it would take Jason’s gift to understand.
“Yeah, I can understand Pokémon,” Jason replied. “It’s a rare ability, but I have it. Have you encountered any other creatures you’ve never seen before?”
The green creature nodded, and Jason noticed that she had a horn, like a Rapidash. “Some were scared of me, others attacked me, and I have no idea what’s going on!” the creature exclaimed.
“First, do you have a name?” Jason asked. “Mine’s Jason Turner.”
“Mine’s Lyra Heartstrings,” the creature replied timidly. “How come I can understand you just fine, but not any of the other creatures that suddenly appeared today?”
“I’m not one of them, for one thing,” Jason explained. “I’m a human, not a Pokémon. I live with Pokémon and train them to become stronger through battle, but I’m not one myself. By the way, what are you?”
“I’m a unicorn pony,” Lyra answered. “Can you explain to me what’s going on, Jason?”
“It’s a bit hard for me to explain, especially since I have almost no idea what’s going on, either,” Jason admitted. “But I can tell you this: unless you have a Pokémon of your own, don’t even think of engaging one in combat. If one attacks you, run. However, you can stick with me, and my team and I will keep you safe. Whaddya say?”
Lyra smiled and nodded. “I feel I can trust you, Jason,” she sighed in relief. “Now, before we get going, I’d like to ask you some things about this whole ‘training’ thing you mentioned. It sounds a bit cruel.”
Jason groaned. This pony sounded like those morons from Team Plasma he read about in the papers who were causing trouble in Unova a few years back, and even a bit like Team Verdure from his own home region of Salintra. “Some may think that, but that’s only because they don’t understand,” Jason said with a shake of his head before bringing Glitterwings back out of her Ball and climbing on her back, motioning for Lyra to follow. “C’mon. It’s perfectly safe. We’ll talk while we fly.”
After looking from Jason to the moth and back to Jason a few times, Lyra sighed, grit her teeth, and hopped onto Glitterwings’ back, settling down behind Jason.
“Okay, Glitterwings, take us up!” Jason said, the moth gladly complying and flapping her wings to take to the air.
Turning around to face his passenger, Jason cleared his throat to begin his explanation of the truth about catching, training and battling Pokémon, and how there was nothing inherently cruel about it.
As the landscape passed by beneath them, Jason explained to Lyra the truth that he had pieced together from other humans and the words of Pokémon he met, including his own team.
“First of all, Pokémon are perfectly sapient, with intelligence on par with humans,” Jason began. “They are perfectly capable of understanding human speech without needing to be taught any commands to recognize beforehand. They engage in communication of complex thoughts to each other, as well. I should know, since I can understand them, too. They are also capable of logical decision-making, as well as feeling and expressing human-level emotions.”
“But how does that make it any better?” Lyra asked, confused. “What you just said made it sound even worse!”
“Well, there’s still more to it,” Jason continued. “Take Glitterwings, here. She’s absolutely massive and weighs over four tons. She’s also an incredibly-powerful kind of Pokémon that humans call ‘Legendaries’. Do you really think that I, a completely unarmed, virtually powerless ten-year-old human boy could force her to battle for me? Of course not! If she wanted out, she could easily get out. She could attack me, overwhelm me, destroy her Net Ball and escape, and I’d be powerless to stop her. Even small ones often have abilities that could easily overpower me. And yet, instead of overwhelming their Trainers and escaping, Pokémon gladly let us train them and battle with them.”
“But it still doesn’t make sense!” Lyra exclaimed, her expression clearly conveying that she was having an incredibly difficult time wrapping her brain around the concept of Pokémon willingly letting their Trainers battle with them. “Why do they fight for you? Why would they want to do such a thing when they could get hurt?”
“Well, let’s put things together, first,” Jason said while putting up a hand to ask Lyra to wait. “They are completely sapient and sentient, meaning they know the situation they’re in. They also know full well that they have the capacity to change their situation if they so desire it. They are fully conscious of their own power, and with it comes the knowledge that they could easily avoid anything that they don’t want, such as being caught in the first place. But the big question is: Why don’t they?”
Lyra just stared back, unable to form a response, for he had just posed the very question that her mind just couldn’t answer.
“Now, from the human perspective, it’d take a long time to figure out,” Jason added. “Heck, without help, I still wouldn’t have a clue. But I can understand them, so I asked them myself! After talking it over with each Pokémon in my team, I came to a conclusion that opened my eyes to a side of Pokémon I’d never paid attention to before.
“Now, let’s start with looking at the situation from their perspective, okay?” Jason asked gently.
Lyra nodded, and closed her eyes to better picture what he was about to tell her.
“Okay, take a moment and imagine that you’re a Pokémon,” Jason began. “You know what humans do with other Pokémon—you must’ve seen it and been told about it a thousand times before—and, apparently, you’re horrified by the mere thought of it. Are you with me so far?”
Lyra grimaced, but nodded in confirmation.
“Okay. Let’s say a human kid confronts you somewhere in the wild and, by some means, manages to capture you in a Pokéball. You’re then sent out in a battle by this same human. What do you do? Do you just shrug and do whatever the kid wants you to do even though you don’t want to? Or do you breathe fire in the kid's face, destroy the Pokéball you came from and make a run for it? Or, if you're not that violently inclined, just sit down and refuse to fight until you're peacefully released?”
Lyra opened her eyes after Jason finished and stared at him. “I’d take the third option,” she replied. “But why don’t they do it? Is there something about being a Trainer that gives you the power to make them follow your orders?”
“No,” Jason replied with a shake of his head, “An unarmed human child simply doesn’t have the power to force a Pokémon to do anything it doesn't want to, and yet, Pokémon never just rebel against those pesky Trainers unless they do something particularly awful, despite all Pokémon supposedly hating the idea of being caught in general. Does that make any sense to you?”
“No,” Lyra admitted, her ears flattening. “Why don’t they escape when they have the power to do so and you have no power to stop them?”
“Well some people claim that it’s either through mind control or the concept of one Pokémon against many that coerces them to obey,” Jason replied with a roll of his eyes. “They claim that either Pokéballs or badges have some kind of power to suppress free will and force Pokémon to obey and love their Trainers, or that if one tried to escape, that Pokémon’s Trainer would simply use the rest of his or her team to threaten the rebellious Pokémon and make them obey out of fear of being punished by their teammates.” Jason paused for a moment, then broke into a gentle, knowing smile. “On the other hand, what if they aren’t forced in any way to begin with? That instead, they don’t really mind getting caught, don’t mind battling, and actually do genuinely love their Trainers?”
Lyra’s eyes grew huge when Jason said that last part. With an unsure tone, she said, “You know the answer, don’t you? Please, explain!”
“Very well,” Jason replied simply before adopting a lecturing tone similar to the one he’d often heard Professor Maple use while she taught him, his little sister Audrey, and his rival and best friend Nancy about Pokémon before the three of them had started their journey. “If it was mind control, there’d be visible evidence of it: Pokémon would almost never disobey, loving their Trainers without question, no matter how abusive they are, with the rare exception of the Pokémon that pretty much everyone from my world has seen disobeying their Trainer. But if this were the case, the disobedient ones would act as if they had temporarily shaken off the mind control and exhibit signs of despair and be visibly desperate to escape. But no one’s ever seen it happen. I’ve never heard reports of such things, nor have I seen it happen, myself. Disobedient Pokemon don’t act like that. They ignore orders, develop a superiority complex, take a snooze in the middle of a battle, and sometimes even mock their Trainer by using a different move than the one they’re told to use. They only actually try to escape when the Trainer acts like a complete monster to them, such as punishing their team for losing a battle by beating their already battered team with their own fists while the exhausted Pokémon are too weak to protect themselves. Such Trainers often get themselves arrested, and have their Pokémon confiscated as well as having their Trainer cards revoked. Not to mention getting sentenced to decades in prison if the Trainer happens to be an adult.”
“Well, such treatment ought to be dealt with that way,” Lyra replied without thinking. “If what you say about them loving and trusting their Trainers is true, then exacting that kind of punishment on one who repays such devotion with such brutality is simply the right thing to do.” Then Lyra blinked, realizing what she’d just said. “Don’t take that the wrong way!” she spluttered, waving her forehooves frantically. “I’m still not convinced! What about the claim of using the rest of the team to punish disobedience?”
Jason smiled inwardly, knowing he was getting through to her, but simply kept his expression on the outside hopeful. “Okay, I’ll explain that one, too,” he replied before diving right into another lecture. He was really starting to sound like Professor Maple. Well, to his own ears, anyway. “If it was one against many, wouldn’t people see signs of that, as well? I know I’ve never seen a Trainer threaten a member of their team with the power of the other Pokémon on their belt. And even if that was how it worked, there’s one gaping hole in the very first part of the argument that makes the rest of the supporting points to the argument not even matter.”
“Wait, there is?” Lyra breathed in shock. “What would that be, Jason?”
She was sounding more curious than doubtful now, and Jason’s internal smile widened. Bit by bit, she was beginning to understand, and now she was openly asking for help in understanding more! “Well, it happens to be the way most Trainers begin building a team,” he explained. “Very few Trainers start with more than just one Pokémon. For me, Wanda was my first. When I first received her, I’d never actually seen an actual Pokémon until that day besides in pictures. I had no idea what to do if she rebelled right then and there. She could’ve easily attacked me and escaped. But she didn’t. She stuck with me, instead. I even had to send her out into battle almost immediately, giving me only enough time to give her a nickname! And she even had a type disadvantage in that battle!” When Lyra tilted her head in confusion, he added, “That means she was weak to her opponent. Anyway, we won in spite of the opponent having an advantage, and I later learned that she did the whole thing for the thrill of it. She loves the rush of battle.
“Now, there are still points that some raise to try to salvage the ‘one versus many’ argument, so I’ll just address them now,” Jason added. “Even if Trainers did use the rest of the team to intimidate any rebellious member, there would be many ways a Pokémon who wants freedom badly enough could overcome that: If the entire team had fainted in battle except for them, their Trainer would be powerless to prevent their escape, for one. Also, if they had just finished a battle with a wild Pokémon and their Trainer hadn’t returned them to their Pokéball yet, they could easily turn on their Trainer and overpower them before the Trainer had a chance to throw out even one Pokémon to try to subdue them. And even then, what if the others simply refused to enforce the Trainer’s threats? What if they all instead turned on their Trainer as one, overpowered them, and escaped? Not once have I seen or heard of any of those things happening.”
“But why would one like being captured and being ordered to beat up their own kind?” Lyra cut in, still confused, torn between partial understanding and her doubt. “It still makes no sense!”
“To grow stronger, and for protection,” Jason replied. “Adorakill told me that the whole reason he approached me to battle me was he saw me as a skilled Trainer, and he wanted to grow stronger than he could by just staying where he was. Pokémon are competitive by nature, you see. Even without humans telling them to do it, they already battle each other in the wild all the time. He saw the concept of joining my team as a way to ensure his own safety by having others to fall back on if he got hurt.”
Lyra nodded, but still looked torn, so Jason continued.
“In the wild, one has no teammates to switch out for. Also, Pokémon don’t make the kinds of things humans do, such as Revives, Full Heals, Max Revives, Full Restores, Max Potions and the like. In the wild, a Pokémon who gets beat up by another Pokémon has to recover naturally, which takes time. Sometimes, they get too injured to recover naturally, and they end up dying.”
Lyra covered her mouth with her hooves after she heard that, looking completely mortified.
“Humans have created hospitals for Pokémon called ‘Pokémon Centers’ that can heal any Pokémon injury or ailment, no matter how severe, in a matter of seconds,” Jason explained, calming the mare down a bit. “Also, humans are generally better than most Pokémon at formulating complex battle strategies, so the chances of winning to grow stronger increase astronomically with a Trainer calling the shots. There are many benefits to having a Trainer, and most Pokémon understand this. They actively seek us out, hoping to join a skilled Trainer to become far more powerful than they ever could on their own.”
Lyra stared, finally understanding in full. “I see,” she said slowly. “You train them so they can protect you, but at the same time, you protect them and help them become the best at what they want to be?”
“Exactly,” Jason acknowledged with a nod. “You’ve summarized it quite well, Lyra. It’s a kind of symbiotic relationship between Trainer and partner. It’s not slavery. It’s not abuse. It’s teamwork.”
“Most of the Legendary Council are utter buffoons about that, though,” Glitterwings snarked. “Sure, Pokéballs are built to focus on the lack of what makes a human a human to make sure they only capture Pokémon, but that’s because trying to make them instead focus on what makes a Pokémon a Pokémon would be nearly impossible! There are so many different kinds of us, that there’s almost nothing that every single Pokémon has in common! Besides, humans didn’t know of any lifeforms besides humans and Pokémon, so there really wasn’t anything else in our realm that Pokéballs would work on. With that in mind, taking a shortcut like that just makes sense!”
Jason opened his mouth to translate for Lyra, but Glitterwings cut him off. “No need, Jason. Being the guardian of humanity has its perks. If I want to, I can enable all Pokémon and non-Pokémon in the vicinity to understand each other. Of course, where we come from, ‘non-Pokémon’ just means humans, but let’s just say Arceus took some shortcuts himself when he gave me my powers, so he’s not really the right Legendary to ask about the morality of how Pokéballs work, though he’d never admit it. You understood what I said, right, Lyra?”
Lyra was just staring at Glitterwings with her mouth slightly open, not saying anything.
“Oh come on, Sweetheart!” Glitterwings giggled. “I know a giant talking moth is far from normal, but seriously. You must have seen weirder things than little old me, right?”
“Uh… I guess so,” Lyra finally replied, provoking another giggle from Glitterwings.
“Take it from me, Sweetheart,” the Legendary chuckled. “You’re perfectly safe, and me talking isn't going to change a thing.” Looking down, she spotted a town. “Hey, civilization! Say, Darling, do you recognize that town?”
“That’s Ponyville,” Lyra replied after taking a quick look of her own. “Could you let me off here? I appreciate your offer of protection, but I think I’ll be just as safe at home.”
“Sure thing, Sweetums!” Glitterwings replied as she started to gently spiral downwards. “If you meet Jason again, remember this: he’s a Champion, so he can keep anyone safe. I know you’re confused about all of this, and believe me, so am I, but I’m sure everything’ll be made clear soon enough. And as soon as we figure out what’s going on, we’re gonna set things right!”
Lyra smiled at that, and they touched down outside the town long enough to let her off. She turned around to wave goodbye, but looked at Jason in confusion when he tossed her an aerosol can.
“It’s a Max Repel!” Jason called out as Glitterwings started to take off again. “It’s wild Pokémon repellant! Just spray yourself with it, and you’ll be good to go for a while! Take care, now!”
“You too!” Lyra called up to him, once again waving a hoof. “I hope we meet again sometime!”
“We just might!” Jason replied. “Seeya later!”
With that, Glitterwings flew high enough where even shouting couldn’t let Jason’s voice reach the ground, and they resumed flying.
“So…” Jason chuckled. “I noticed you were making subtle advances on our passenger…”
Glitterwings actually stopped moving for a couple seconds before shaking herself and resuming flight, giving off angry vibes.
“I was not making ‘advances’, Jason!” the Legendary snapped. “I don’t swing that way except in my male form: Leo Mode. And in case you didn’t notice, my Stress Morph ability hasn’t changed my Mode at all, so I’m still female, thank you very much.”
“Look, really, I don’t judge,” Jason chuckled again, resulting in the moth actually looking back at Jason and fixing her Trainer with a cold glare.
“Unlike you humans, we Pokémon stick to the old tried-and-true method of ‘opposites attract’,” Glitterwings huffed as she returned her gaze to forward-facing. “I’ll have you know that I’m a widow, myself. I had a husband a very long time ago, Jason.”
“Wait, how can Pokémon get married?” Jason inquired, suddenly very confused.
“Well, we can’t anymore,” Glitterwings sighed sadly, “But we used to be allowed to. It was a very long time ago, Jason.”
“So, what was he like? What species was he?” Jason asked next.
“Jason, this may come as a shock to you,” she sighed, “But my husband was… Human.”
“What?” Jason couldn’t believe it! Humans marrying Pokémon? He’d never heard of such a thing!
“I know, you can’t believe your ears,” Glitterwings huffed. “But it’s true. A long time ago, humans and Pokémon lived together in a different way than they do now. Emmet was a wonderful man, to be sure. But if anyone tried to have such a union today, the Pokémon Rangers would hunt them down and arrest them, claiming that Pokémon are incapable of giving consent to such a union.”
“But, you just said you were married once!” Jason exclaimed. “Couldn’t you have calmed things down?”
“The banning of Pokémon-human unions happened while I slumbered,” Glitterwings admitted sadly. “I was aware of all advances of humanity during my sleep, but I lacked the ability to wake myself, for I had taken to my slumber out of great fatigue brought on by centuries of loneliness and depression after Emmet died. He was actually a lot like you, to be honest. Kind, gentle, determined…” Glitterwings sighed fondly before continuing. “He even had the same gift as you! For all I know, you might be related to him though a sibling of his.” To herself, she whispered, “Or maybe even through her. Wouldn’t it be something if the blood of a Legendary ran through his veins?” The whisper was so quiet that Jason didn’t even notice it.
“So, it’s starting to get a bit late,” Jason noted after looking at his watch. “What are we going to do for shelter? I’d rather us not be exposed to the elements in a world I don’t know. Anything could be here, and it might not be that friendly.”
“Too bad you can’t just join me in my Net Ball, huh?” Glitterwings teased. “There’s an entire village of log cabins in there, with more humans! Well, they’re only virtual humans, but they’re all very nice!”
“Wait, how about that forest?” Jason suggested, completely ignoring Glitterings’ comment as he pointed to a dark forest directly south of the village where they dropped Lyra off.
“Looks spooky to me,” Glitterwings grumbled. “You sure about this?”
“Of course!” Jason chuckled. “If the big, bad Legendary’s too scared of a creepy little forest, I can always have Eternia keep me company while there. I know she’d like it.”
“That’s because she’s a Ghost-type!” Glitterwings snapped. “She’d feel right at home. Me? No thanks.”
“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” Jason replied simply. “The thick cover of trees will provide a kind of shelter from the weather, at least. Not completely, of course, but Flash and Eternia can help me set up a makeshift camp.”
“Fine, fine,” the rainbow moth huffed. “You win, okay? Just don’t take me back out of my Ball until we’re no longer there, okay?”
“You got it,” Jason assured her while gently rubbing her short neck, causing the Legendary to hum in approval. That was one of her most favorite spots for being rubbed, and Jason knew it.
“Okay, we’re approaching the ground now,” Glitterwings announced as they rapidly descended. “I’m touching down outside that freaky forest, okay? I don’t want to be in there except within the safety of my Net Ball. If you have to battle something, you can still send me out into battle, but don’t. Make. Me. Endure. That. Freaky. Forest! Got it?”
“Understood,” Jason replied gently. “If it really scares you that much, I’ll keep you away from it. After all, what kind of Trainer would I be if I didn’t look out for you guys?”
“Probably as heartless as Rebecca,” Glitterwings answered. “You remember her. The Boss of Team Verdure?”
“Of course I remember that horrible woman,” Jason replied as they touched down. “But don’t worry. I’ll never be like her, and we’ll likely never see her again, either. I doubt any of her team got brought along, let alone her.”
After giving Glitterwings a hug and a pat on the back, Jason returned her to her Ball and threw two other Pokéballs, letting out Eternia and Flash.
“Jason, I was in the middle of reading a novel!” Eternia huffed. “It was just getting good, too!”
“What was it?” Jason asked curiously.
“If you must know, I was reading The Mystery of the Niteswift Knight,” Eternia sighed. “And Detective Flannigan’s Beheeyem partner had just found a really important clue! You pulled me out before I could find out what the clue even was!”
“Oh, I’ve read that before!” Jason exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “You won’t believe how it ends! Flannigan—”
“Jason! No spoilers!” Eternia snapped, startling her Trainer. “If you tell me how it ends, what’s the point of me even reading it?”
“Sorry,” Jason muttered, scraping one of his sneakers against the ground. “Well, it’s starting to get dark, and I’m getting tired. Could you and Flash help me out, Eternia? I need a temporary camp for the night.”
“I can do that,” the Errabush replied before looking to Eternia expectantly.
“Of course I’ll help!” the Obliveon giggled. “You know I can’t stay mad at you, Jason. I’ll finish the book some other time. I managed to mark my place right before I left my Pokéball, after all.”
“Thanks, guys,” Jason said, breaking into a fond smile. His team was always so good to him. If only he could help out, too. But without tools, a human is only able to provide moral support and give directions.
“I know that look, Jason,” Eternia said as they entered the forest. “That’s the face you make when you wish you could help out but feel powerless to do so.” Eternia used the soft back of her bladed tail to gently caress her Trainer’s leg as she looked up at him. “You’re not useless. You give our team synergy, you heal us up when we’re hurt, and you play with us to keep us happy. So what if you can’t perform the kind of hard labor we can? Without you, we never would’ve met and gained so many good friends! You’re the glue that holds the team together, Jason. Never forget that.”
Jason nodded, but didn’t say anything. He just found a soft patch of grass in a clearing and settled down to sleep, placing his hat over his face.
“You rest, Jason,” Flash said as he and Eternia got to work gathering wood for both a fire and a temporary shelter. “We’ll take it from here.”
Jason yawned, stretched, and then he was out like a light.
With their Trainer asleep, the two Pokémon quickly started fetching what they’d need for a temporary camp: Eternia used the blade on her tail to cut branches from trees, and Flash gathered them up, being extra careful to not let his own branches touch them and set them on fire.
After working in silence for half an hour, they had all the supplies they needed and Flash set up a campfire while Eternia worked on a small shelter for their Trainer. Using vines she had cut away from trees, she carefully tied the branches together using her teeth and paws. Once the shelter was finished, it resembled a tetrahedron, but with no bottom or front.
“Looks good, Eternia,” Flash told her before yawning and touching the button on his Pokéball, letting it take him inside for the night.
Now by herself, Eternia considered taking to her own Pokéball and taking a nap in the haunted mansion that served as her virtual habitat. But she decided against leaving Jason alone and sat herself down in front of the entrance, staring straight forward, letting her eyes glow more brilliantly, bathing everything in her vision in red light. She then moved her tail so that her scythe was beside her head, its tip digging into the ground by half an inch. Any Pokémon who saw her like that would immediately know what that posture meant: it was the stance an Obliveon took to let all others know that their Trainer was nearby and being protected.
Any Pokémon worth their salt, even a Legendary, would know that the best choice would be to simply back off and keep their distance. For Obliveons were unique among Ghost-types. They had no malevolence in their nature at all. In fact, the very thing that resulted in a dying Eevee being reborn as an Obliveon was the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, making them actually benevolent spirits as long as their Trainer wasn’t being threatened. But an Obliveon would use all of their power to protect their beloved Trainer, for they’d already given their life for their Trainer once. One simply didn’t mess with an Obliveon’s Trainer.
But apparently, something wasn’t getting the message, for Eternia felt something in the dreamscape wandering very close to Jason’s dreams. Snarling, Eternia phased into a more ethereal form and leapt for her Trainer, diving into his mind, and thus, his dreams, leaving a physical echo of herself in the same protective pose she’d been in before sensing the intruder.
Whatever was wandering the dreamscape would soon learn to not touch Jason’s dreams, for they were part of him, making them something Eternia would use her full power to defend, even from Arceus himself, if she had to.
Upon entering Jason’s dream, Eternia looked around her. He was apparently dreaming of Scarletstone Town, where his family lived. Eternia was about to smile at how sweet that was, when she noticed Jason running around, panicking.
“Hello?” he cried out, “Can anyone hear me? Where is everyone?”
It was then that Eternia noticed the streets were empty. Jason checked house after house, coming out of each one more worried than the last.
Eternia trailed her Trainer as he arrived at Professor Maple’s Pokémon lab and stepped inside. In her current ethereal state, Eternia simply phased through the wall to follow him.
“Professor? Are you here?” Jason called out, getting no answer but the hum of lab equipment.
“No, not the Professor too…” Jason whispered as he ran past Eternia, too panicked to even notice her.
Following him back outside, Eternia watched as he entered the house of Nancy Baker, his rival and best friend.
“Nancy? You here?” Jason called, sounding desperate for human interaction. “C’mon, Nancy! Please! You want to race? How about a battle? You love battling me!”
Once again, the only answer was dead silence.
Now looking frantic, Jason bolted from his rival’s house to the only house he hadn’t checked yet: his own.
Eternia watched in horror as Jason found his own home deserted.
“Mom? Dad?” he cried with a shaky voice, “Where are you? Audrey? It’s me! Jason! Your big brother! We can have a rematch for the Champion title, if that’s what’ll get you to stop hiding! If you win, you can even have the title back! Sis?”
Sobbing, Jason dashed back into the street, ignoring the sudden wind that was whipping his cowboy-style jacket around.
“No! Where is everyone?” Jason screamed.
“They were all deemed worthy,” an ancient voice called from the sky, and Jason looked up to see a being that perfectly matched the depictions of the Alpha Pokémon in old storybooks. “Unlike you, Jason Turner. Your defiance of me will not go unpunished!”
Then images of Jason’s family, friends and neighbors appeared in the sky, fast asleep.
“You’ll never see those you love again, human,” Arceus spat. “And you will pay the ultimate price!”
“I don’t think so—” Jason cut off when he realized his belt was gone. “My team! What have you done with them?”
“You will all suffer!” Arceus roared, the very ground starting to crack. “And the seven of you will never see each other again! But as you are their leader, I’ll let you see their fates firsthand!”
An image of Wanda appeared in the sky. The Floodrine was holding the shattered remains of her Pokéball in her paws, tears streaming down her face. Then Genesect suddenly appeared before her, plugged a Shock Drive into his cannon, and started pummelling her with an endless barrage of Electric Technoblasts and Bug Buzzes, causing her to scream in pain and beg for mercy.
Then an image of Flash appeared in the sky. The modest and gentle-hearted Errabush was crying his eyes out as he too looked at the remains of his own Pokéball. He reached for the pieces, only to be stopped by Cosmaraid appearing in front of him, the purple winged and armed snake with an Atomic/Poison typing immediately using a claw to pin him against a tree before using Radiostorm to give Flash radiation sickness, then began mercilessly pummeling him with Sludge Cannon while Flash begged the guardian of Pokémon to stop.
An image of Eternia appeared next, and the real Eternia watched in horror as her dream counterpart actually ran for the safety of her Pokéball, pushed the button to get inside, only for it to be smashed to bits by the foot of Giratina, who immediately started to strike her over and over with Shadow Force, eliciting shrill shrieks of pain from her.
Then an image of Burst appeared, revealing him crying tears of pure anguish as he cradled the remains of his Ultra Ball, only to be interrupted by Palkia and Dialga appearing before him and striking him with Spacial Rend and Roar of Time, respectively, causing him to cry out in agony as his greatest weakness was used against him.
Next to be shown was Adorakill, who was trying his best to escape from Jirachi, leaving the shattered remains of his Dive Ball behind while she pummeled him with Doom Desire and Psychic, provoking blood-curdling screams with every hit.
“And of course, the traitor herself!” Arceus’ voice announced as the final member of Jason’s team was displayed to him. Glitterwings was being punished by Arceus, himself, using the Stone Plate to make his Judgements hurt as much as possible as the guardian of humanity cried out in pain, whimpering as she tried to hold onto the remains of her Net Ball, the only thing left to give her any amount of Legendary power, and the power she had was small, indeed. Her wings had lost their luster, and were dull shades of gray instead of a brilliant rainbow of colors. She kept using her powers to repair her Ball to try to draw on it for more strength, but every time she did, just as color began to return to her wings, Arceus would blast it to pieces again before returning to striking her with Judgement. And every time her Stress Morph started to kick in, the Alpha Pokémon simply used his own Legendary powers to cancel it so it couldn’t copy Mountaineer, the ability unique to the Ice/Bug Frozer evolutionary line that made Rock moves heal them. Basically, he was preventing her from gaining the one ability that would allow her to endure his attacks.
“No!” Jason screamed, dropping to his knees and sobbing. “You’re heartless! My own team! My second family! You monster!”
“And now it’s time for your punishment, Jason Turner!” Arceus announced. “I shall banish you to the Distortion World, where you’ll wander aimlessly until you collapse and die!”
“Enough!” Eternia screamed, getting Jason’s attention. “I can’t watch any more of this play out!”
Jason looked at the image of Eternia in the sky, then back to the real Eternia, confused.
“Eternia, what’s going on?” Jason choked out. “You were just—”
“Jason, none of this is real!” Eternia told her Trainer. “This is all a nightmare!”
“What is this?” another voice asked as a pony larger than the one they had met earlier suddenly stepped out from behind a house. She was navy blue, had both wings and a horn like a Mega Rapidash, and was wearing a crown. “What is going on here?”
“Jason! Get back!” Eternia ordered. Jason immediately complied and ran back to his house before turning around to watch what was going on, confused.
“You have no right to be here,” Eternia growled as she glared at the pony. “No matter who you are, you should know better than to mess with an Obliveon’s Trainer while he or she has taken the protective stance. You were very foolish to ignore the warning of my body language. Leave now, and I’ll let you leave in peace, so long as you never return to my Trainer’s dreams.”
“Nay, thou shouldst leave the dreamscape this instant!” the intruder demanded. “The dreamscape is my domain! I sensed a nightmare and came to correct it!”
“And I already fixed that problem,” Eternia growled. “You have no reason to be here. Leave my Trainer’s dream and never return.”
“I cannot yield to thy demands,” the intruder said with a shake of her head. “Dreams are my domain, and mine alone!”
“Very well,” Eternia said, narrowing her eyes and brandishing her scythe. “It looks like I’ll have to expel you by force. Prepare yourself, invader!” Turning her head towards Jason, she called out to her Trainer. “Jason! This is your dream! As long as you remember that, your imagination becomes reality here! Let’s show her what for!”
Jason nodded, then prepared himself to imagine anything that would help Eternia win.
“Now, before I knock your sorry butt into next week,” Eternia said in an unfittingly sweet tone, “I’ll at least give you my name so you’ll know who showed you not to mess with my Trainer’s dreams ever again.” Putting a paw to her chest, she said, “My name is Eternia the Obliveon, member of the main team of Jason Turner, Champion of Salintra.”
“I am Luna,” the intruder responded. “Princess of the night, regent of the moon, and co-ruler of Equestria. Remember that well, for it is thou who shall be defeated!”
“Well then, Princess… let’s get this party started!” Eternia cackled shrilly as she gave her signature battle cry. “I’ll start things off with my favorite opening tactic! Wish!”
A shooting star materialized in the air and flew over Eternia, showering her with stardust before vanishing.
Luna’s horn lit up, and two swords of teal energy materialized, which swiped for Eternia of their own accord as Luna also fired teal balls of hard energy at the Ghost-type.
Though Obliveons are far from fast, Eternia was perfectly capable of sidestepping the swords and threw her scythe in front of her face to shield her from the energy bullets, her tail flaring up in pain from taking the full brunt of the attack.
“So, not playing by league rules, then?” Eternia cackled as she jumped back. “Big mistake! Removing turns from battle actually augments my fighting style! Take this! Curse!”
A massive nail materialized in front of Eternia, and Luna’s energy swords flew back and crossed themselves in front of her as if she was expecting the nail to launch itself at her. Her eyes grew huge when the nail instead impaled the one who summoned it, then evaporated.
“What couldst thou possibly gain from self harm?” Luna demanded, perplexed.
“Wait for it…” Eternia snickered as she panted from losing half her energy in one move. It would be well worth it, though.
“What?” Luna screamed as sinister energy exploded from Eternia’s body, engulfing the Princess before taking the forms of ghostly entities. “What is this? What hast thou done?”
“Oh, I placed a curse on you of course!” Eternia giggled. “It may have cost me half of my energy, but it was well worth the cost, as now your own energy will drain at a rapid rate! I may not even need Jason’s help for this fight, after all!
“And to top it all off…” Eternia chuckled as the stardust that covered the ground suddenly rose into the air and was absorbed into her body, restoring her lost energy. “That wish I made? It just cancelled out the price I paid to lay a curse on you! No other Ghost-type can pull off such a combo! And now that I’m done with my favorite tactic…” Eternia broke into an eerie grin. “You’ll regret turning this battle into a turnless bout! Shadow Sneak!”
Eternia phased into the ground as a shadow and shot straight for Luna at immense speed, then leapt out of the Princess’ shadow and struck her across the flank with her scythe.
Before Luna could retaliate, Eternia phased back into the ground and sped away to a safe distance.
“Did that hurt? I sure hope so!” Eternia taunted before lunging for her opponent. “Night Slash!”
Eternia whipped her body around to slash the Princess’ face with her tail, but it was blocked by an energy sword, resulting in her being thrown back by the other sword striking her in the side, eliciting a hiss of pain.
“Heh, I haven’t had a battle this intense in a while!” Eternia panted as she landed on all fours, skidding backwards a couple feet. “But I just have to wait for my curse to wear you out! And though an Obliveon’s best power is physical attacks, we’re also built to take quite the beating! Wish!”
The shooting star appeared again, spreading more stardust before disappearing.
“I hope you have some way to heal yourself, Princess,” Eternia giggled. “For this is a battle you can’t win without being able to heal quickly! Obliveons are slow, but we know how to take out foes swiftly!”
Suddenly, the scene of the dream started to change, the sun vanishing and being replaced by the moon, and Luna smirked through her pain before taking flight and charging for Eternia.
“The night gives me strength!” Luna declared as she slammed into Eternia, sending the Ghost-type flying. “It is more than enough to counter thy wretched curse!”
“Then I guess we’ll have to do something about that!” Eternia chuckled as she once again landed on all fours. “Jason, a change of scenery, if you please!”
Scarletstone Town vanished, being replaced by the orbiting city of Astropolis, which was also devoid of its residents.
“In space, it’s never night or day!” Eternia snickered as her Wish took effect and restored her health once again. “Now, I think I need a better move for this. I knew it once, but it’s not in my arsenal. But in a way, it is! Behold! The secret weapon of the Salintra Champion and his team! Memory Spiral!”
A copper-colored field surrounded Eternia, containing the knowledge of the last ten moves she knew that weren’t in her current arsenal. Every use of the move would add one of her choice back to her arsenal, and she could keep doing it until she had twice the amount of moves available to her than a Pokémon could normally know. She’d forget all extra moves after the battle, but it’d be worth it.
Deciding on a move, Eternia pulled the echo of the lost knowledge out of the field, returning it to her arsenal temporarily.
“Now, let’s take this old favorite for a spin, shall we?” Eternia chuckled. “X-Scissor!”
Lunging for Luna again, Eternia prepared to perform a swift double strike with her bladed tail, but she froze in midair, suspended by a teal aura.
“Hey! Leggo!” Eternia screamed at her opponent, who was grimacing from the continual barrage of sinister energy courtesy of Eternia’s curse.
“Nay!” the pony shouted. “Yield! Now!”
“No! This is my Trainer’s dream!” Eternia shot back. “You don’t know what you’re messing with! I died for Jason once already, and now that I’m a ghost, I’ll defend him until the end of time! My desire to stay with him summoned ghostly forces from the graveyard we were in, which helped me break the chains of death just to be by his side once more! I’ll never let you, or anyone mess around in Jason’s head! Not even Arceus, himself!”
“Thy devotion is praiseworthy,” Luna noted, “But regardless, the dreamscape is my domain!”
Suddenly, the light from Luna’s horn flickered and died, dispelling the two energy swords, as well as releasing Eternia from her telekinetic grip.
“What is going on?” Luna demanded. “My magic is gone!”
“Apparently, the dreamer doesn’t agree with your claim to his dreams,” Eternia chuckled as Jason walked towards them. “After all, in dreams, the dreamer is a god.”
Luna dropped to the ground as the curse continued to drain her energy.
“Very well,” the Princess said, visibly trying to hold back cries of pain. “I concede defeat.”
As soon as she said that, the effects of the curse faded away, and Eternia smiled, even though the knowledge of X-Scissor faded from her mind. “Good. Now get out and stay out.”
“Eternia can protect my dreams just fine,” Jason added. “Your services are not needed here. Unless you have other business here, you should leave right now.”
“There is one thing thou shouldst know,” Luna told them as she stood up. “Arceus himself is responsible for all the Pokémon and humans-turned-Pokémon being in this world. Thou art in Equestria, on the planet Equus, now. Arceus decided to move most of Earth’s Pokémon, as well as humans he deemed ‘worthy’ here to Equus so they could ‘live in peace’. My sister is trying to find a way to convince Arceus to take you all back, but for the time being—”
“Um, we actually know some of this already,” Jason cut in. “We’re actually trying to undo this ourselves. At least the transformation part. Thanks for letting us know the name of this place, though. We already knew Arceus was responsible, but not his reasoning. So thanks for that intel, too.”
“How—” Luna started to ask, but Eternia cut her off.
“I’m sorry, but there are some things that we really must keep secret,” the Obliveon said. “If we ever meet in the waking world, we can answer some of your questions then. But either way, don’t come back here, got it?”
“I understand,” Luna sighed. “I shall leave his dreams alone. And if I run across the presence of another… Obliveon?” Eternia nodded in the affirmative, “I shall pay attention to their stance in the waking world, for it would be most irritating to repeat this incident over and over. Farewell.”
And with that, Luna vanished, leaving Jason and Eternia alone in the dream.
“Thanks, Eternia,” Jason said as he dropped to one knee and scratched her behind the ears, causing her to wag her tail in delight. “That nightmare was horrible. And thanks for defending my right to privacy, too.”
“Don’t mention it,” Eternia replied nonchalantly. “It’s an Obliveon’s duty to protect his or her Trainer. If it weren’t for Trainers, Obliveons wouldn’t even exist. So, you’ll always have my full support. Sweet dreams, Jason.”
With a wink and a smile, Eternia left Jason’s dream, returning to her body in the waking world.
Once back, Eternia merged with the echo she left behind and resumed guarding her Trainer. Every time a Pokémon started to approach, one look at her was enough to convince them to take a different path. Even creatures that were most likely native to Equus gave her space, though she had to lift her scythe from the ground and growl at a few of them before they got the message.
But there was one exception. One very unwelcome exception: A Niteswift started to approach her, completely ignoring her stance.
The Phantom Horse Pokémon gave her one look with his ghostly white eyes and scoffed.
“What’s the point, Obliveon?” he chuckled, pawing the ground with a translucent hoof that clearly showed the bones within the leg. “There are no Trainers here. I already got the news while taking a nap. There’s nothing for you to protect anymore. Your ‘Trainer’ is a Pokémon now. Why continue to protect—”
He cut off when Eternia glared at him, her red eyes shining as brilliantly as the sun at high noon, removing all color from the area except for the red her own eyes produced.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Eternia snapped as the Ghost-type horse tried to shield his eyes. “Take one look behind me, and then tell me that my protection is pointless.”
The Niteswift squinted, then reared up in shock. “A h-human!” he gasped. “How?”
“Well, that’s our little secret,” Eternia giggled as the Niteswift began to back off. “But let’s just say, if any human turned into a Ditto, they theoretically could retake their human form. That may or may not be the case with my Trainer, but keep that in mind if you see another human. It could happen.”
Panicking, the Niteswift bolted deep into the forest, leaving Eternia cackling at the sight of such a feared Pokémon turning tail and fleeing. Such timidity could be expected from an Oberdart, but from its evolved form? It was just hilarious!
Sighing, Eternia settled back into her protective posture and let her mind rest in a state of half-sleep for the rest of the night. Thankfully there were no further incidents to require her to take action, granting them peace until dawn at the very least.
Upon waking in the morning, Jason yawned and stretched, placed his hat back on his head, then stood up.
Noticing Eternia half-asleep, still in her protective stance, Jason smiled and scratched her behind the ears, causing her to wag her tail again and sigh happily.
“Thanks again for looking out for me, Eternia,” Jason said, crouching down to meet the Ghost-type at eye-level and hugging her. “You did great last night.”
Eternia yawned and nodded, her eyes half-shut. “No problem, Jason. As I said, I’ll protect you for all of time. Even after you die, I’ll still protect you. And if that means having to fight Arceus, I’ll do it.”
“You guys are too good to me,” Jason chuckled, scratching her behind the ears again. “So, you wanna stay out here, or would you rather get some shuteye inside your Ball? Your choice.”
Eternia thought for a moment, then her body decided for her by forcing her to yawn again.
“Put me back in the Ball,” she muttered. “I can’t really sleep while we’re on the move unless I’m in there, anyway. Not unless you can carry me on your shoulders.”
“Uh, no thanks,” Jason said with a nervous shake of his head. “You move your tail around a lot in your sleep, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of your blade.”
“Then ‘Eternia Manor’ it is, then,” the Ghost-type chuckled before using her tail to push the button on her own Pokéball, letting it suck her inside so she could curl up on her favorite four poster bed.
Jason started to walk in silence towards the entrance to the forest, but froze in his tracks when he heard voices.
“Are you sure you sensed her?” one asked as a glowing light approached.
“I’m certain of it, brother,” a second voice replied. “Our sister took the portal.”
“That makes no sense,” the first voice shot back. “Why would she take it, but not come to the Hall of Legends?”
“She’s still rebelling, of course,” the second voice grunted as two massive serpentine Pokémon slithered into view, startling Jason, who immediately dove behind a bush to avoid them. The second voice belonged to the first to come into view: Cosmaraid, while the first belonged to the second to come into view: a multicolored glowing comet Pokémon with pure white eyes and a tail that split in three directions. It had to be Donalyra, the Space/Ice Legendary who completed the guardian trio.
“But why?” Donalyra asked. “She promised to not cause any trouble if she used the portal!”
“I’ll have to correct you, brother,” Cosmaraid sighed. “She promised to ‘try’. Of course, she’s trying to rebel without causing trouble. She played you for a fool. We should’ve disowned her instead of trying to get her to come around.”
“If only she’d have come to the meeting,” Donalyra groaned. “She could’ve spoken on the humans’ behalf! We wouldn’t even be in this mess if she’d just let Lord Arceus sever her ties with her precious Trainer and attended the meeting! Why, she could’ve reminded him that some Pokémon absolutely rely on humans and their creations for survival!”
“Do you really think Lord Arceus would’ve listened to any of her arguments?” Cosmaraid shot back. “The entire Council would be against her! And if we stood up for her, it’d still be many against three! Not even the other Salintra Legendaries would’ve stood by us! And you know why?” Donalyra shook his head. “It’s because she fully approves of the use of Pokéballs! We both know how Lord Arceus feels about those things! That alone would count as multiple strikes against her! It doesn’t matter how much logic she would’ve used! The fact that Lord Arceus would be biased against her views from the very start would make none of it matter!”
“So what do we do?” Donalyra asked nervously. “Do we let Lord Arceus and the entire Council know that she’s here?”
“No!” Cosmaraid snapped. “Do you realize what Lord Arceus would do to her? Especially if she’s found a way to bring her Trainer and teammates along? He’d either blink all of them out of existence, or strip her of her powers and toss her into the Distortion World until the end of time! She’s still our sister! As such, this is our mess, and ours alone! At most, we can involve the other Salintran Legendaries. They can at least keep a secret if we tell them to. We’re going to find her ourselves, and confront her about this, all without Lord Arceus knowing!”
“Lord Cosmaraid?” a third voice called from behind the duo.
“What is it, little one?” Cosmaraid said gently as he and his brother turned around.
Jason didn’t even bother to pay attention to the rest of the conversation. It was his chance to flee, and he wasn’t going to waste it. He had to get Glitterwings away from her brothers.
Dashing out of the forest, he threw Burst’s Ultra Ball, revealing the Nukrenst, who bore a very confused expression.
Jason hopped on the nuclear dragon’s back and said, “Burst, we gotta get outta here!”
“Isn’t flying us around usually Glitterwings’ job?” Burst asked as he started to flap his wings.
“Yes, but there are Legendaries nearby!” Jason hissed as Burst’s feet left the ground. “We can’t let them see her!”
“Good point,” Burst noted as he took flight and started to fly towards what looked like a desert in the far distance.
“Burst, what are you…?” Jason tried to ask, but Burst shook his head.
“I don’t know, but there’s something about that desert,” Burst replied. “I feel we’ll find something there. Of course, you’re the Trainer, so you have the power to veto me. So?”
“I trust your gut feeling,” Jason replied. “Keep heading that way.”
Burst nodded, and they continued in silence until they passed by a city that was somehow built entirely out of clouds.
Screams could be heard coming from the city, and armored winged ponies started to pursue them.
“Crap,” Jason grumbled. “Burst, can you handle one more passenger?”
“Sure can,” the Atomic/Dragon-type said with a nod. “It’ll be a tight fit, though, so they’ll have to be able to ride on your back, since you take up most of mine.”
“Fine with me,” Jason replied as he opened a Pokéball on his belt, releasing his very first Pokémon and most trusted partner: Wanda.
“Whoa!” Wanda gasped before throwing her arms around Jason’s stomach to keep from falling. “Jason! Why aren’t we on Glitterwings?”
“We had to sneak away from her brothers without them noticing us!” Jason replied. “And now we’re being chased! Think you can do something about those flying ponies?”
“My Poképack’s got my Floodrinite and a Shell Bell!” Wanda replied. “Can you reach your Mega Band?”
“Can do!” Jason said with a nod before touching the stone on his bracelet and shouting, “Mega Band, activate!”
“Yes!” Wanda cheered as her body was enveloped in pink energy which exploded outwards, revealing her ultimate form: a shining white jeweled crown-like structure was now attached to her head, shimmering blue spikes sprouted from her wrists and ankles, and her body was sturdier and sleeker. She was now a Mega Floodrine!
“I love doing this!” Wanda laughed excitedly. “You focus on looking out for more enemies, Jason. I can take these losers out by myself!”
“Go get ‘em, Wanda!” Jason chuckled before turning to face forward.
“No sweat!” she giggled before setting her sights on the nearest armored flier and picking the best move to get him out of the picture instantly. “Take this! Polar Wave!”
A non-damaging wave of super cold air flew from Wanda’s mouth and engulfed the winged pony, who didn’t have time to react before he was suddenly trapped in a giant block of ice, which plummeted to the ground below, shattering upon impact, freeing the pony, but leaving him shivering so hard that he couldn’t move.
“Alright! Who’s next?” Wanda shouted, making a “come at me” gesture with her paw since the ponies couldn’t understand her.
Another flier lunged for her, and before she could attack, he struck her with an electric lance, causing her to shriek in surprise and pain.
“You’ll pay for that!” Wanda growled. “Hydro Cannon!”
After taking in a deep breath, Wanda expelled super pressurized water at the pony who zapped her, hitting him with the force of hundreds of gallons per second, shattering his armor and throwing him back several miles.
Now only three ponies remained, and they looked reluctant to attack after seeing two of their number fall so easily to Wanda’s power. In fact, they stuck to simply tailing them for a long enough period of time for Wanda to recharge after using that much power.
“Now for some real fun!” Wanda cheered, overcome by the euphoria that she got from battling. “Our secret weapon! Memory Spiral!”
The same copper energy field that Eternia had summoned the night before covered Wanda, and she immediately picked a move to add back to her arsenal.
One of their pursuers finally worked up the courage to try to attack, but Wanda immediately employed her regained move. “I don’t think so, bub! Protect!”
A field of impenetrable energy blocked the pony’s spear, startling him.
“Now, for what makes me the star of the team!” Wanda crowed. “My ProtectSpiral combo! Memory Spiral!”
Grabbing another move, Wanda immediately added it to her temporary expanded arsenal and waited for the fliers to try to attack again.
One did, but his attack was slowed by a copper echo of Protect, which didn’t actually stop the attack, but reduced all the damage Wanda took by half.
“Having fun yet?” Wanda giggled. “Because I already am! Aqua Ring!”
The second move Wanda restored to her memory took effect, granting her continual regeneration from a ring of healing water surrounding her.
The ponies attacked again, this time delivering a full impact, causing Wanda to grunt. She was starting to get weak, but though she could always add more moves just for the heck of it, she already had all she needed.
“Prismatic Blast!” Wanda shouted, firing a multicolored laser beam at one of the pursuers, knocking him out of the sky and forcing his other two comrades to dive after him to catch him.
With the battle won, the knowledge of Protect and Aqua Ring faded, and Wanda reverted back into a normal Floodrine.
“What a rush!” Wanda whooped, pumping a fist into the air. “I love how strong I’ve grown to be! I gotta cool off, though. Get me back in the Ball, Jason.”
Jason nodded and pushed the button on Wanda’s Pokéball, returning her to her virtual habitat.
“Okay, that’s all of them,” Jason announced. “We can continue to the desert unopposed now.”
“Great,” Burst sighed in relief. “Because I think I see an abandoned town, kind of like Tumbleweed Town, the ghost town back in our home region.”
“Well, that’ll give us some place to hide, at the very least,” Jason replied. “And boy, do we need a place to—”
“Burst? Is that you?” a voice called from below as an Unfezant flew up to meet them. “And oh my! How is Jason still human? Did he get turned into a Ditto or something?”
“Hey there, Unfezant,” Jason sighed. “You are my little sister’s Unfezant, right?”
“But of course!” the bird replied as she lead them to the ground. “And Audrey’s here, too! Nancy, too! In fact, everyone from Scarletstone wound up in this desert, and we all met up here!”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Jason sighed as they touched down. “I was worried about everyone.”
“Well, the whole town’s here, and the lone pony family who still lives here have welcomed us to stay here,” Unfezant explained before shouting, “Audrey! You won’t believe who I just ran into!”
A mostly black Charizard tromped out of a house that looked like it was in the middle of being repaired, a red raptor-like Pokémon with flames on his elbows, knees, hips and shoulders following her. The Charizard opened her mouth to say something, but upon seeing Jason, the words died in her throat, causing her to choke and gasp, starting to hyperventilate.
“Audrey!” the fiery raptor gasped, grabbing the Charizard in his arms and using Psychic energy to try to calm her down. “C’mon missy! Wut’s wrong? Yah look like ya’ve seen a ghost! An’ Ah mean a dead ghost!”
“B-Bontor,” the Charizard gasped. “I’m seeing things!”
“Huh?” the Bontor looked in Jason’s direction and also started to gag. “That-that ain’t possible!”
“Sis?” Jason asked carefully. “Is that really you?”
‘I wish that really was you, Jason,” Audrey choked out, “But it’s impossible for a human to be here and still be human!”
“Let’s just say, I have my ways,” Jason chuckled before releasing Glitterwings, resulting in Audrey turning white as chalk.
“But, she’s a Legendary!” Audrey gasped. “How is she still with you? And what do you mean by, 'you have your ways'?”
“Simple, Audrey Turner:” Glitterwings replied. “I defied Arceus. I’m pretty much an exile from the Legendary Council, now. Jason and I were actually left behind, but my brothers left me an echo of the power Arceus used to transfer all of you, and I used it to get here.”
“But why is Jason still human?” Audrey asked the Legendary.
“Because I shielded him from the forces that would’ve transformed him,” Glitterwings explained. “I’m not the guardian of humanity for nothing, you know.”
"But, I thought only Arceus had that kind of power!" Audrey shot back, still trying to wrap her head around the concept of her brother still being human when every other human had turned into a Pokémon.
"Well, I've been asleep for centuries and only woke up a few weeks ago," Glitterwings replied gently. "Humans had forgotten the full extent of my powers, so my ability to transform life had been long forgotten. What kind of guardian would i be if I couldn't preserve the form of a being I'm tasked to protect?"
"Okay, Glitterwings, I believe you," Audrey said after thinking for a few seconds. "I mean, what would you have to gain from lying?"
“What’s goin’ on here?” an elderly voice demanded as an orange unicorn stallion with a white mane and beard stepped out of the only house in good condition. “What’s all the ruckus fer?”
“Dusty Dune, my brother’s here!” Audrey announced before grabbing her big brother who was now shorter than her and hugging him tight. “Everyone!” she shouted to be heard by the whole town. “Jason’s here! And you won’t believe what he is!”
Pokemon of all sorts, including a Sceptile with a green bear covered in dark flowers beside her dashed out of the houses, but stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Jason’s form.
“How is he still human?”
“Did he turn into a Ditto?”
“Wait, isn’t that the Legendary he captured?”
“Why is Giganoth still with him?”
“Everyone! One at a time!” Jason shouted. “But before I answer any questions, I’d like some time with my friends and family. Mom? Dad? Nancy? Professor Maple? Could you all please join us over here?”
A Nidoking, a Nidoqueen, the Sceptile, and a Zeim—a vaguely mummy-like yellowish-brown Time/Psychic type—approached him, with the green bear covered in flowers tailing the Sceptile.
The Nidoking spoke first.
“Jason, it’s me, your father,” he said. “How did you manage this?”
“Well, Dad, Glitterwings helped,” Jason said after Audrey released him and they all sat down on the ground. “She defied Arceus.”
The whole group gasped, shocked that anything, Pokémon or human, would dare stand up to Arceus, also still having trouble believing that she had such incredible power to prevent Jason from being transformed.
“Actually,” Jason looked over his shoulder to where Glitterwings was conversing with Burst and Audrey’s Unfezant, “Glitterwings? Could you explain how we managed to do what we did?”
As soon as Glitterwings joined the group, the bear next to the Sceptile spoke up.
“Lady Giganoth, what compelled you to defy Lord Arceus?” he asked.
“No need to call me that, Seqursine,” Glitterwings insisted with a shake of her head, startling the Grass/Dark-type. “I’m an exile from the Legendary Council, so please don’t call me ‘Lady’. Also, don’t call me ‘Giganoth’. I’m Glitterwings. Jason nicknamed me that, after all.
“Now, as for why I defied that senile, backwards fool…” Glitterwings paused to let that statement of her opinion of Arceus sink in before continuing. “Back when he still cared for humans, he tasked Mew and the Continuum Pokémon, Voiral with creating three guardians. Of course, I was one of the three. But Arceus himself gave me my powers and told me to keep humans safe forever. I can’t very well fulfil that duty without humans to protect, now, can I? So, I refused to be separated from Jason. Arceus was furious and left me behind, as well as Jason and the whole team. But my brothers left me an echo of the transferring power in the form of a portal in Mt. Maiden, so I took it, using my own powers to protect Jason from being turned into a Pokémon. We seek to undo what Arceus has done to the humans. If any former human would rather remain a Pokémon, I’ll gladly allow them to do so, but as for any former human who doesn’t want to be a Pokémon, I can turn them back into a human.”
“Wait, you can turn us back?” the Sceptile asked hopefully, the voice giving away that the Grass-type was actually Nancy.
“Yes, Nancy Baker, I can,” Glitterwings replied. "Just like how I was able to preserve jason's form, which I can tell you're still having your doubts about even though he's standing right here as bonafide proof. But with only one human in this realm and the only human creations being what he has on him, I don’t have much power, and will have to recharge my Legendary powers after reverting one of you, so I can only revert one.”
“Please, Glitterwings! Restore my husband, first!” the Nidoqueen pleaded, her voice clearly identifying her as Jason and Audrey’s mother.
“No, restore her first!” Mr. Turner pleaded.
“Professor Maple, you’ve been oddly quiet,” Glitterwings noted as she addressed the Zeim, who jumped at suddenly being addressed.
“Well, you see, I don’t know what to make of this,” the Professor sighed. “Of course I want to be human again, but I don’t want you to weaken yourself so much for me. Besides, this feels even more like a dream than when I first got dumped here.”
"Everyone, I assure you that this is no dream," Glitterwings announced. "This is very real. Jason is here, and he's still human. I mean, I'm the guardian of humanity! Why would I give up on humans just like that?"
"You actually make a very good point," Professor Maple said, provoking nods from all the transformed humans able to hear the discussion. "But I still don't want you weakening yourself for me."
“So, you’d rather wait, then?” Glitterwings guessed.
“Yes,” Professor Maple said with a nod. “I think I’ll leave you all so you can discuss this while I let the others and our hosts know what’s going on. That way, you won't have to answer the same questions over and over.” Turning to Jason, she added, “We’ll do our best to hide you and Glitterwings as long as possible, Jason. It’ll eventually become impossible to hide the fact that there’s a location where humans are being restored, but I’ll be darned if we don’t give it our all!”
After the Professor left to speak with the new residents of the town and the ponies playing host to them, Glitterwings looked at each transformed human very carefully.
“Arthur and Bethany Turner, I see that each of you wishes that your spouse be restored before you are restored, so I cannot restore either of you at this point, for the one I restore will become upset. As such, I have two options: Nancy Baker, Jason’s rival and best friend, or Audrey Turner, Jason’s younger sister and the former Salintra League Champion. I’ll let you two girls discuss this among yourselves.”
Audrey and Nancy blinked, then quickly leaned their heads together and started whispering. Jason couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Glitterwings already knew what they were discussing: both were trying to convince the other to be the first to be restored.
After several minutes, the two nodded, and Audrey stood up straight, fumbling with her Charizard claws nervously. “I…” Audrey looked to Nancy, who nodded, then swallowed a lump in her throat. “I’m presenting myself to be the first.”
“Very well,” Glitterwings said with a gentle smile. “Now, relax and let me do all the work, Sweetheart. This won’t hurt a bit.”
Audrey took calming breaths and squeezed her eyes shut.
Shaking her head, Glitterwings flew up into the air and used her antennae to send waves of rainbow energy over Audrey and started muttering.
“Boy, that old coot really did a number on you, you poor thing. There’s no human DNA anywhere!” Growing more determined, Glitterwings increased the intensity of the waves of energy, “If I can’t use your physical essence, maybe I can use something else. I could easily transform you into a human, but I want a blueprint so I get the original you just right. This isn’t like the time I turned a pair of Beheeyem into humans for a few days to teach them to stop abducting people, this is actual restoration! Let’s see… memories are a good start. Okay, your memories have a very good depiction of yourself in them. That’s good. Now, to get some more information so I don’t botch the process at all. Ah! Your aura! Of course! Oh, dear…”
Jason noticed the worry in Glitterwings’ voice, and unfortunately, Audrey did, too.
“Glitterwings? Is something wrong?” Audrey asked, her voice shaky.
“Um, I’m sure it’s something I can fix, Dearie, don’t worry!” the Legendary said, trying to keep the eight-year-old former human calm. “Your aura’s somewhat altered. It’s still mostly human, but there’s a bit of that of a Charizard in there. It’s only a minor setback, though, I promise!
“Okay, if her Charizard aura pieces are like that, and her human aura pieces form that aura structure, then logically, the Charizard parts would have to be like this to match… No, that’s not right. That doesn’t match after all. Hmm… looks like the use of ‘A is to B as C is to D’ doesn’t apply here.” Glitterwings crossed her eyes in concentration, trying to look at things from a different angle. “Wait… Just maybe… It seems crazy… But it just might be the key! Well, it’s worth a shot!”
More rainbow energy washed over Audrey, and Glitterwings smiled triumphantly.
“Yes! That’s it! That’s the answer!” Glitterwings cheered. “He may be senile and backwards thinking, but boy, that old codger can be really tricky when he wants to be. It’s almost as if he anticipated someone trying this! For lack of a better term, the old coot ‘encrypted’ your aura! Now, Audrey dear, I’m done scanning. I have all the details I need. You’ll be back to how you were before Arceus transformed you, from your hairstyle down to your shoes! Now, this won’t hurt. In fact, it’ll feel wonderful!”
The huge rainbow moth flapped her wings, and rainbow dust started to fall on Audrey, coating her form entirely with the sparkling substance. Before their eyes, her form glowed pure white, just like an evolving Pokémon, and started to shrink and change shape. The wings were sucked into her form and vanished, her head changed to be just like a human’s, her hairstyle of pigtails grew out of her head, the lizard-like legs shifted to be straight, the feet changed to that of a human’s, the tail vanished, and while her body still glowed, the form of a dress appeared over her body, as well as knee-high stockings and sneakers. A shoulder bag appeared slung over her right shoulder and resting on her left hip, and the form of a belt with six spheres appeared over the dress. Finally, the light faded, and Jason ran for his little sister, human once more, complete with her belt for the portable homes for her team.
“You can open your eyes now, Audrey,” Jason whispered as he hugged her tight, tears streaming down his cheeks.
His sister did so, and immediately checked her hands, which were human once again. Feeling all over her body, she grew more and more emotional at every familiar part of her original form, which was hers once more.
Then she felt the belt at her waist, and the six Pokéballs on it, and burst into tears before looking up at Glitterwings.
“Thank you Glitterwings!” she cried happily, hugging Jason back.
“You are most welcome, little one,” Glitterwings replied warmly before she suddenly started to pant for breath and fell to the ground.
“Glitterwings!” Jason gasped before running to the fallen Legendary’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Jason,” she replied, but Jason noticed her wings had turned gray.
“If you’re fine, why are your wings a bunch of dull grays?” Jason demanded.
“Please don’t worry about that, Jason,” Glitterwings said softly. “I just used up my entire pool of Legendary power. I just need to recharge, that’s all. And now that there are two humans, I should be good to go in about a day’s time. Please, return me to my Net Ball for now.”
Jason nodded and did just that, and immediately after he did so, everyone in the town heard an ancient voice in their heads. One that Jason had heard speak to him very recently. But this time, the voice wasn’t angry.
Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new, the voice began. I am Lord Arceus, creator of the creatures that you have seen over the past few days. You have no reason to fear me for I come in peace.
I am the one who brought the creatures you see to this world, the voice continued. They are known as Pokémon. I have my reasons for bringing them here, I will be holding a summit with the world's leaders so that they can help inform their citizens the best. For now I issue a warning; Even if some do not appear as such, the Pokémon are just as intelligent as any other creature that calls this world home. Since they are MY subjects I will not tolerate their mistreatment or abuse. Treat them as you would your own neighbor.
Pokémon who have awoken in this new world, do not seek to harm the natives of this world, the voice added after a short pause. To the Pokémon that experienced certain... Changes... when you arrived; You are the ones who proved that not all of your kind deserved vengeful retribution, consider this your reward. To live new lives, free of the burdens of the old world, a chance to start anew. As sentient beings of varying intelligence, the laws of the respective countries you now reside in apply to you, and only those laws.
That is all for now, the voice said, drawing to a close. The Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite. If you have any qualms with what I have done, I reside in a temple located within the Everfree forest and welcome all who would like to speak, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.
Goodbye for now, the voice said in closing. Though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.
Several of the former humans in the town turned pale, some even fainting. Arceus himself really had torn them from their homes and not even let them keep their bodies!
“How is that any kind of ‘reward’?” A man who had been turned into an Aynshunt—a Ground/Time Pseudo-Legendary that resembled a large statue placed at the entrance of tombs—demanded, brandishing the massive blade that was in his fist. “I don’t want to be an Aynshunt! I preferred being human!”
“And I hate being an Electrode!” a former human woman whined. “I miss my arms and legs!”
“Ev’ryone, jus’ calm down!” an elderly gold-coated pegasus with a blue mane and tail snapped as she joined the stallion who was obviously her husband. “Ye saw wut that moth can do, right? Jus give ‘er time! Ah’m sure she kin turn y’all back t’ normal!”
“But Miss Sunny Skies—” a boy who had been turned into a Scardun—a serpentine Normal/Dragon-type that was the evolved form of Dunsparce—began before Dusty Dune cut in, speaking over the boy.
“Don’cha remember that only the Professor an’ the girl’s raptor are allowing us t’ understand ya’ll?” the elderly unicorn snapped. “Yer makin’ this hard fer ‘em!”
“Yes, can’t we all discuss this later?” Jason asked, drawing attention back to himself. “After Glitterwings has finished charging, she can put up her translation field! She recently demonstrated it to me, and it didn’t seem to use much of her power at all!”
The crowd sighed, but nodded. After they all dispersed, Jason was about to join his family when the two elderly ponies trotted up to him.
“So, yeh kin’ understand Pokémon on yer own?” Dusty Dune inquired.
“Yes, sir,” Jason replied. “I don’t know how I got the gift, but I’ve heard it’s very rare.”
“Well, that makes yeh special in a good way!” Sunny Skies said with a smile. “Ah’d like ta introduce ya t’ my family, but ya should really check on yers first. We’ll be waitin’!”
“Kay, seeya in a bit!” Jason called as he walked towards the rundown building his family had gathered at.
After arriving at the building his family was apparently fixing up, Jason watched as Audrey hugged each of her team members, who were all crying tears of joy that she was their Trainer once more, eagerly letting her return them to the portable homes they thought they’d never see again.
“So Jason,” his father said as they all sat on crates. “Do you think you could tell us what happened since you arrived?”
“Sure thing, Dad!” Jason replied before diving right into recounting everything that had happened in such a short time.
About fifteen minutes ago, in the Everfree Forest…
Donalyra and Cosmaraid stopped dead in their tracks when they felt an immense release of power from very far away. They only noticed it because they recognized the source instantly.
“It’s her,” Cosmaraid sighed as Donalyra gaped in shock.
“What’s our sister doing?” the Protection Comet Pokémon whispered.
“Remember when she punished that pair of Beheeyem by turning them human for a few days?” Cosmaraid huffed.
“Yes, what about it?” Donalyra asked in confusion. For being the oldest and supposedly wisest of the three guardians, he was acting incredibly naïve lately. The change in guardianship roles was the most likely cause. He was now tasked with protecting this new planet, and he was still getting in tune with all of its forces so he could read potential danger as well as he had while protecting Earth. The new ‘magic’ was really throwing him off.
“That felt very similar to the release of power she gave off back then,” Cosmaraid explained with a roll of his eyes. “She’s restored a human!”
Donalyra gasped and started muttering, “Lord Arceus isn’t going to like this…”
“That’s why we can’t let him find out!” Cosmaraid snapped. “We have to trace the energy back to its source, and make sure no Legendaries from a region other than Salintra knows what we’re doing. Even Dad will keep it a secret! You know we can trust him!”
“Then let’s get back to the Hall of Legends,” Donalyra said, turning around. “We have to get on this right away! “Come on, brother! If I can just figure out the force of magic, I can properly tap into this world’s essence, and then locating her will be a cinch!”
“Fine, lead on,” Cosmaraid grunted. “And let’s hurry.”
“…And then Audrey’s Unfezant found us, and she led us to the town,” Jason finished. “By the way, what is this town’s name, anyway?”
“Maresburg,” Audrey replied. “It was a silver mining town a long time ago, apparently. The Silverdust family are the only ones who didn’t leave after the mines ran out of ore, and their descendants are the family letting us stay here.”
“Oh! That’s right!” Jason exclaimed, startling his family as he suddenly stood up. “I was supposed to talk with them! Later Mom! Later Dad! Take care, Sis!”
And he was suddenly gone, on his bicycle riding towards the house at the opposite end of the town where the Silverdust family lived.
“As full of energy as always,” Bethany giggled. “Even becoming Champion didn’t change our son one bit.”
“No it didn’t,” Arthur replied, laughing alongside his wife.
“Mom! Dad! I was Champion, too, you know!” Audrey huffed, able to understand her parents because Bontor’s Psychic translator was still in effect.
“Jason and his team defeated you, though,” her mother reminded her.
“You were such a good sport about it then,” her father added. “Why are you suddenly pouting now?”
“I’m not pouting,” Audrey sighed. “It’s just that you two were so proud of Jason, but I barely got a mention, even though I became Champion before he did!”
Her parents looked to each other, then took their daughter in a group hug, being careful not to crush her, especially since they were still a pair of physically-strong Pokémon while their daughter had returned to being a small eight-year-old human girl.
“Audrey, I’m sorry we didn’t pay attention to your accomplishment,” her father said. “There’s no excuse. You’re my daughter, and I love you. Can you forgive me?”
“I’m sorry, too,” her mother added. “Can you forgive both of us for being so foolish?”
“Of course, Mom, Dad,” Audrey said with a warm smile. “Now, I think it’s time my team and I got some proper Trainer/team bonding in for the first time since we ended up here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Maresburg…
Jason made a hard turn and put out a foot as his bike skidded to a stop in front of the Silverdust family’s house.
After folding his bike back up and returning it to his bag, he knocked on the door once, and it was engulfed in a cyan aura and pulled open. The aura matched the color of light emanating from Dusty Dune’s horn.
A large group of ponies started to surround Jason after he stepped inside. Some were small enough to hold in his hand, others looked about half-grown, having longer legs and larger builds, but still looking young, a group of four fully-grown couples were also there, and finally, there was Dusty Dune and Sunny Skies, both looking far older than the rest.
“Sakes alive, ev’rypony!” Dusty exclaimed as Jason found the large group crowding him. “Ah doubt he likes the whole scad of ya smotherin’ him like that! Back off!”
The large group of ponies backed away and took seats all over the room, all of them looking at Jason.
“Sorry fer our family, there,” Sunny sighed. “They can get really excited sometimes.”
“It’s fine, ma’am,” Jason replied with a smile. “Thank you for letting everyone from my hometown stay here, by the way.”
“T’wern’t nuthin’,” the old mare chuckled. “They were quite sore ‘bout wut happened to ‘em, though.”
“I can understand that,” Jason sighed. “Glitterwings is really mad about Arceus’ actions, herself.
“If I ever get back to full power, I’ll storm the Hall of Legends myself!” Glitterwings’ voice screamed from her Net Ball. “But not until I have a large number of Trainers restored first! Arceus may be able to beat me one-on-one, but with enough combined power, he can be beaten! Taking him down a peg or two should knock some sense into that old loon and tell him to get with the times! Maybe I’ll even use one of Jason’s Master Balls on the old Gogoat! That’d show him! The most powerful Pokémon in existence, in a habitat that’s been compressed to fit in a capsule the size of a baseball! Of course, he’d immediately use the internal trigger to open it from the inside, but it’d teach him some humility, at least!”
“Glitterwings!” Jason snapped, pulling her Net Ball from his belt and holding it up to his face. “Don’t use my Pokéballs as weapons!”
“I make no promises, but for you, I’ll try to hold in my temper, Jason,” Glitterwings replied.
Grinding his teeth in frustration, Jason returned the Ball to his belt and noticed that every single pony in the room was staring at him, their mouths agape.
“Eheh… Sorry about that,” Jason chuckled in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.
“No harm done,” Dusty chuckled good-naturedly. “Now, It looks like ye’re under a lotta stress, son. We’ll introduce ev’rypony by name later. Fer now, we’ll jus’ show ya how many are in our family.”
“Firs’, we have our two sons an’ their wives,” Sunny said, nodding towards two stallions: one, a pegasus, the other, a unicorn. The pegasus had an Earth Pony mare with him, while the unicorn was apparently married to a pegasus.
“Next, our two daughters, an’ their husbands,” Dusty added, nodding towards two mares, both Earth Ponies. One was married to a unicorn, the other to a pegasus.
“Now, we have a lot of grandchildren,” Dusty chuckled, motioning to the smaller ponies all around the room. “The youngest is five, an’ the oldest is thirteen. There’s twenty of ‘em in all. All of our children each have five of their own.”
“Now, we’d ask ya t’ stay fer dinner, an’ even invite yer family, but yer looking really fidgety right now,” Sunny noted.
“Yeah,” Jason said with a nod, trying to keep his feet still as he felt a huge urge to tap his feet. “I think I’d better leave for now.”
“Well, come back soon, y’hear?” Dusty called after Jason as he left the house.
“Sure thing!” Jason replied as he got on his bike and started to cycle back to his family.
However, he didn’t make it all the way to where they were staying, for his sister met him halfway on her own bicycle, the two of them skidding to a halt to avoid a collision.
“Jason, I really need to ask you something,” Audrey said, her voice steely.
“What is it sis?” Jason inquired, confused by his sister’s unusually serious attitude.
“My friends and I want a rematch,” Audrey replied. “Bontor used his Psychic translator so I could understand him and the others, and they want to rematch you. It doesn’t matter if you put your title on the line or not. They all heard what Glitterwings was screaming, and they want to help. They don’t care if we don’t win. They just want to be sure they have enough strength to be able to help Glitterwings out.”
“Sis, I—” Jason began, but Audrey cut him off.
“Jason, if you won’t accept my offer for a friendly battle, you’ll force me to challenge you for your title,” she said firmly. “You know that a League Champion isn’t allowed to turn down a challenge from a Trainer with all eight badges.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her Trainer Card case, opened it, and revealed that her eight Salintra League badges had also been restored. “Either way, we’re battling so my friends can prove themselves. Please don’t make me force your hand. Every former Trainer from Salintra who got brought to this world will see you as a beacon of hope, but if they learn you lost your title, they won’t be as inclined to put their faith in you. Please Jason! A friendly battle?”
Jason sighed and shook his head sadly. “Audrey, I wish we could, but Glitterwings—”
“I’m fine, Jason,” Glitterwings’ voice suddenly cut in, coming from her Net Ball. “I may be recharging my Legendary powers, but my battle strength is unchanged. Besides, the energy from you two functioning as Trainers in battle will speed up my recharging process. Humans are an even greater power source when they are fulfilling their part of the Trainer/Pokémon relationship. Battle her, Jason. Do it.”
Jason nodded, then smiled at his sister, causing her to grin, too. “A friendly battle it is, then,” Jason said as he got off his bike.
Audrey did the same, and after the two siblings put away their modes of transportation, they nodded to each other and walked to opposite sides of the street to provide plenty of room.
Pokémon—both former humans and those who had been Pokémon all their lives— started to pour into the dusty streets to watch the battle. Even the Silverdust family left their house and spread out so they could all watch, for they’d never seen a Pokémon battle before.
“Single, Double, Triple or Rotation?” Jason asked as a slight wind picked up. “Your choice, sis.”
“Single,” Audrey replied after thinking for a moment. Suddenly, her eyes grew huge as a realization hit her. “Wait! How will the loser revive their team? There’s no Pokémon Centers or healing machines here!”
Professor Maple stepped out of the crowd right then and said, “One of my lab assistants got turned into a Blissey. She can help whoever loses.”
Audrey breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to face her big brother again, pulled the first Pokéball from her waist and cried, “Go! Unfezant! I know you can do it!”
The bird Pokémon emerged from her Pokéball and said, “Well? Who you gonna send out, Jason? We’re ready for anyone you have on your belt!”
“Go! Burst!” Jason cried as he threw the Ultra Ball. “You’ve got this, buddy!”
The large, if somewhat disarmingly cute dragon emerged from his Ball, and gave the Unfezant huge puppydog eyes.
“Please don’t be too hard on me, okay?” he pleaded.
“Ugh! You know that that only worked the first time, Burst!” the Unfezant groaned. “We all know how dangerous you Nukrensts really are by now! Give it a rest!”
“Fine,” Burst sighed. “Let’s get to it then, shall we? Jason! What should we kick it off with?”
“Take her out with one shot!” Jason suggested. “You know the move.”
“Oh, yes I do,” Burst chuckled. “Sorry Unfezant, but this is going to be the Champion match all over again. Thousand Volts!”
Burst’s entire body glowed yellow as it crackled with electric energy, and he placed his claws together before launching a beam of highly condensed electricity from his claws at the bird.
“Oh dear,” was all she managed to get out before the blast connected. However, she dropped to the ground, dug in her talons, and fought to endure the most powerful Electric move, in spite of it having the strength of Hyper Beam.
Burst was panting for breath, a triumphant look on his face, which quickly faded when he saw the Unfezant take back to the air, panting just as hard, looking like she could drop out of the air at any second.
Jason shook his head in disbelief. “Wait, you’ve been using Pokémon Amie?”
“Yep!” Audrey chirped. “It helped you beat me, so I decided that besides just battling with my friends, I should play with them, too! And just look how it paid off! Great job, Unfezant! Now get him with U-Turn!”
“On it!” the bird panted before flying straight for Burst, who was too exhausted to dodge. The move he’d used had drained him quite a bit.
“Gaahh!” Burst cried out as one of his few weaknesses struck him, the bird flying back to her Trainer, who returned her to her Ball before throwing out another.
“Go! Dratic! You can do it!” Audrey shouted as she threw the Ball, which opened to reveal a forward-leaning bipedal insect-like dragon with a blue exoskeleton, four long and thin orange spikes at the end of her tail, black and red arms and legs ending in claws, eyes with orange irises, a sharp and long yellow horn jutting straight forward from the top of her head, somewhat tall triangular ears, and a pair of violet-topped wings with green membranes.
“Heya, Burst!” the Bug/Dragon-type said, waving a claw in greeting. “Boy, you look tired!”
“Not you again…” Burst groaned.
“Aww… That’s no way to greet an old friend!” the Dratic said sadly. “If you want mercy, you gotta be nicer than that!”
“Do your worst,” Burst sighed.
“Audrey?” the Dratic asked, looking over her shoulder at her Trainer.
“Well, he said to do your worst,” Audrey giggled. “So give him your worst!”
“Yes, ma’am!” she replied with a nod and a salute. “Sorry dear. Outrage!”
The insect-like dragon rushed for Burst, striking him hard with his greatest weakness, eliciting a cry of pain that echoed through the town and caused the ponies to cringe and the Pokémon to all watch with baited breath.
“Ugh… Is… Is that the best you’ve got?” Burst coughed as he got back up, also having used his bond with his Trainer to gain the willpower to barely hang on.
Jason nodded and said, “Burst, get back! You did well!” Once Burst was back in his Ultra Ball, Jason detached a Dive Ball from his belt and threw it, shouting, “Adorakill! You got this!”
The Ball opened to reveal the Dragbloo, who didn’t waste time trying to use his cute facade to disarm his opponent. He didn’t need to. The Dratic knew she was screwed.
“Hey there,” was all Adorakill said before the Bug/Dragon-type gulped, her rampage stopped by Adorakill being part Fairy. “We’ve been here before,” Adorakill chuckled. “And you know what’s coming. Just say the word, Jason!”
“Get her!” Jason said excitedly.
“Say no more!” Adorakill laughed. “Shimmering Swipe!”
His front “fins” glowed a brilliant pink before he raked them across the Dratic’s stomach, producing a loud hiss of pain as the Fairy move struck extra hard.
“Sorry, but I’m not powerless against you like I used to be!” the Dratic said, her voice shaky. “Audrey? Do we switch, or do I attack?”
“Let’s have someone else take over for now,” Audrey replied before returning her to the safety of her Pokéball and throwing out another, shouting, “Steelix! You can do it!”
The Ball opened to reveal the named Steel/Ground type, who took one look at her opponent and laughed.
“A Dragbloo? Is this some kind of joke?” she scoffed. “There’s nothing a Dragbloo can do to me!”
“Jason?” Adorakill whimpered. “She’s right. My Brick Break won’t be enough to get through her defenses before she wrecks me!”
“I understand,” Jason replied. “Get back, Adorakill!” The Dragbloo was returned to his Dive Ball, and then Jason threw out a Pokéball, shouting, “Wanda! You can do this! I believe in you!”
The named Floodrine emerged from her Ball and chuckled. “So, you ready to get schooled?”
“I won’t lose to you again!” the Steelix shot back, electricity crackling from her jaws. “I’ve learned some new tricks since last time!”
“Yeah, whatever,” Wanda sighed, waving a paw like it didn’t matter and sounding extremely bored. “I’ll Mega Evolve, and you’ll get crushed, just like last time.”
“My Sturdy ability’s all I’ll need to change your tune!” the Steelix shot back. “Just watch!”
“Oh, really?” Wanda giggled. “Now this I gotta see. Jason! I’m ready for Mega Evolution!”
“On it!” Jason responded before touching his Keystone and shouting, “Mega Band, activate!”
“Woohoo!” Wanda cheered as she once again took on her ultimate form. “Now, let’s see if you can handle this! Prismatic Blast!”
“Shoot! A Light attack!” the Steelix exclaimed before the multicolored laser connected and dealt incredible damage to the Steel-type, reducing her all the way down to just barely conscious, hanging on due to her Sturdy ability.
“Well, here we go!” the Steelix announced after Audrey gave her a nod and a thumbs up. “Thunder Fang!”
“Crap!” Wanda exclaimed right before the metal snake’s jaws clamped down on her, leaving behind the obvious signs of paralysis.
“Awesome! Now we have more time!” Audrey cheered. “Jason’s gonna have to heal that, so…” Audrey reached into her bag and pulled out a Full Restore. “Here you go, Steelix!” she said as she sprayed the massive snake with the spray, producing a sigh of relief. “Good as new!”
Jason grimaced, but did the same for Wanda, spraying her with a Full Restore and rubbing her shoulders before sending her back into the fight.
“Thanks, Jason!” Wanda called over her shoulder.
“No problem!” Jason replied with a thumbs up of his own. “Now, let’s do it again!”
“Sure thing!” Wanda replied. “Prismatic Blast!”
“Steelix! Great job!” Audrey said as she returned Wanda’s intended target to her Ball and pulled out another one. “Time to meet your best with my best! Go! Bontor! I trust you all the way!”
The Fire/Psychic raptor Pokémon from earlier emerged from his Ball and snickered as the multi-hued laser connected, but did no damage at all.
“So sorry, missy,” he chuckled. “Looks like ya’ve gotta face meh ag’in! An’ this time, Ah ain’t losin’!” Looking back at Audrey, he chuckled, “Let’s show ‘em wut Ah kin do! Jus’ ta remind em!”
“Mega Band, activate!” Audrey shouted as she touched the Keystone on her own Mega Band, enveloping her own first Pokémon with pink light, which exploded outwards, revealing his own ultimate form: He now had tubes connected to his skull, running from one part to another, all around his brain. In addition, the flames on his body burned solid white, and he was coated in a violet aura, emanating immense Psychic power. He’d become a Mega Bontor.
“Now it’s Mega vs Mega!” the opposing Mega snickered. “Ah kept tellin’ ya Ah’d bust ya up good one of these days, an’ that day’ll be today, missy!”
“Wanda—” Jason said nervously, preparing to return her to her Ball.
“Jason, I can do this!” Wanda snapped. “We’re weak to each other, but he’s built for power and speed, while I’m built to be balanced! I can take him! Don’t force me out of this battle! If I can beat Nancy’s Seqursine in his Mega form, I can beat Audrey’s Bontor, too!”
“Okay then, just remember he’s faster,” Jason replied, still nervous.
“I’ve never forgotten,” Wanda chuckled. “And his speed isn't gonna stop me now!”
“Are ya sure missy?” the other Mega chuckled. “Cuz Ah’m gonna nail ya in one hit! Psychic!”
Wanda screeched in pain from the assault on her mind, but managed to endure the attack just enough where she could have enough energy to set up for a big combo.
“Memory Spiral!” she shouted before the copper field appeared and she added Protect to her arsenal.
“Now ta finish ya! Psychic!” the Mega Bontor laughed as he launched another assault on Wanda’s mind.
“Not gonna work!” Wanda giggled. “Protect!”
“Not this ag’in!” her opponent groaned. “Ya always do that! Ev’ry time!”
“If it works, why bother changing how I battle?” Wanda replied before shouting, “Memory Spiral!”
The copper field appeared again, along with the echo of Protect. As she returned the knowledge of Aqua Ring to her arsenal, she felt the mental assault of Psychic and grunted from the pain. Though the attack was weakened by the echo, it still hurt. In fact, she didn’t have enough energy for using Aqua Ring without getting knocked out.
“Jason! I need a Max Potion!” Wanda called over her shoulder to her Trainer, who immediately pulled one out and sprayed her with it. “Thanks for the assist!”
Jason smiled and nodded, but Wanda immediately returned her focus to the battle at paw when her opponent shouted, “Jus’ go down already! Psychic!”
The attack struck hard, but Wanda still had a little bit above half of her energy remaining, meaning she could take the risk of attempting Aqua Ring.
“Psychic!” the Mega Bontor shouted, trying to finish her off, but only succeeded in forcing her to her knees as she had barely any energy left.
“Aqua Ring!” Wanda choked out as a ring of healing water surrounded her, restoring some of her energy.
“Now, ya stop that this instant, missy!” her opponent growled. “Ah’m not lettin’ ya pull this trick ag’in! Not after what ya did with it in the Champion battle! Half the team fainted cuz of ya!”
“Then you’d better stop me now,” Wanda chuckled before saying, “Jason! Another Max Potion, if you please!”
“On it!” Jason replied, spraying her whole body with the soothing medicine, healing her to full again.
“Ah know he’s got deep pockets,” the Mega Bontor scoffed. “But ya can’t keep it up forever! Psychic!”
Wanda groaned as she once again was struck by a powerful move she was weak to, but she held her ground.
“Yer goin’ down!” her opponent chuckled. “Psychic!”
“Protect!” Wanda said as she threw up the bubble shield again.
“Dadgumit! Stop doin’ that!” her opponent growled. “Ah’m almost outta energy fer Psychic!”
“No,” Wanda replied. “If you didn’t have any PP Ups or PP Maxes used on you, that’s your problem, not mine. Memory Spiral!”
This time, Wanda grabbed the final piece of the combo: Substitute.
Once again, her opponent struck her with Psychic, but it was once again weakened, giving her the opening she needed.
“Substitute!” Wanda cried, expending some of her energy to develop an energy clone of herself to use as a shield.
“No! She pulled it off ag’in!” the opposing Mega groaned. “Ah’m done fer, now! She’ll jus’ keep usin’ Hydro Cannon from behind her little shield!”
“Exactly!” Wanda giggled. “Sorry, but it’s over for you! Hydro Cannon!”
“Bontor! Get back!” Audrey exclaimed as she quickly returned her starter to the safety of his portable home. “Go! Drenchuku! You can take her!”
The next Pokéball opened, revealing a large ball of seaweed with a mouth, eyes, arms and legs.
The attack connected, but though it was incredibly powerful, the new opponent’s Grass/Water typing made the damage easily handleable.
“Sorry, honey, but you know you can’t beat me,” the Drenchuku giggled, a huge grin on her face. “And now you have to recharge, too. What a pity.”
Wanda ground her teeth in frustration as she continued to hide behind her energy clone shield. As with most moves of that caliber, it expended a lot of energy to use it.
“I have no such problems, though!” the Drenchuku laughed. “That shield’s as good as gone! Energy Ball!”
A ball of green energy struck Wanda’s duplicate, destroying it in one shot.
“Wanda, I know you want to continue, but you and I both know you can’t beat her!” Jason said firmly. “Please listen to reason and let me recall you! I don’t want you to get hurt!”
“No!” Wanda snapped. “Jason, another Max Potion, and I should be fine!”
“Wanda, we have to conserve our medicines at some point,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “The portal may still be open, but I don’t think Earth’s in a very good state right now. We can’t simply return there to shop, you know.”
Wanda sighed, then nodded. “Okay Jason, send her out.”
Jason nodded, then returned Wanda to her Pokéball, then grabbed the Net Ball at his waist, then threw it into the battle, shouting, “Glitterwings! It’s your time to shine! You can do it!”
The massive moth emerged from her Ball and immediately took to the air. Color had already started to seep back into her wings, but the normal brilliant rainbow of colors that made her one of the most beautiful Pokémon of all were washed out and faded.
“Well, Jason, I’m ready,” Glitterwings announced. “Give me a command.”
“Oh no,” the Drenchuku gulped as she stared up at the Legendary. “Audrey, don’t call me back. I’m going to take one for the team. We know she isn’t faster than me, so I can get in one shot. We need whoever takes over for me to come in at full strength.”
“But…!” Audrey began to protest, but her Pokémon turned to her and smiled, cutting her off.
“Steelix can handle this,” the Grass/Water-type told her Trainer. “She’s got Thunder Fang and Stone Edge. But Glitterwings is a beast. It’ll take more than one of us to take her down. I’m willing to take one for the team.”
Audrey nodded, tears in her eyes, and said, “Okay, hit her with the best you can throw at her!”
“On it!” her Pokémon replied before putting both hands in front of her and crying, “Blizzard!”
“Gah!” Glitterwings grunted as she took a heavy hit from the Ice-type attack. It didn’t help that the move hit her where it hurts most, dealing extra damage.
But before Glitterwings countered, her Stress Morph kicked in, turning her wings into neon oranges and sky blues. Still washed out, but it was obvious that she had just taken one of her strongest modes: Eternity Mode, which imitated Serene Grace.
“Sorry Sweetie Pie,” Glitterwings said before shouting, “Scale Storm!”
Flapping her wings with incredible force, Glitterwings whipped up a gust of wind filled with silvery scales. But unlike Silver Wind, the gusts intensified, turning into a scale-filled tornado, which struck her opponent with incredible force, knocking her out.
“Drenchuku!” Audrey gasped as she returned the fallen Pokémon to her Pokéball. “Steelix! Don’t let us down! Drenchuku said to put our faith in you!”
A Pokéball from before was thrown out again, revealing Audrey’s Steelix once more.
“Don’t worry, Audrey,” the Steelix assured her Trainer. “I got this. Just continue to support me, and I can take her down.”
But just as Audrey started to smile at that, Glitterwings took on a silvery glow for a few seconds, and it became obvious to all that she had become twice as strong in all categories.
“Well, this just got harder,” Steelix muttered. “But I’ll still beat her!”
“We’ll see about that!” Glitterwings shouted, her wings regaining a little more color with every passing minute. “Prismatic Blast!”
“Drat, forgot she also has the exact same Light move as Wanda,” Steelix groaned right before the move connected, then screamed, “Why did they make that move a TM?”
Steelix lay on the ground, breathing hard, but thanks to Sturdy, she was still in the fight. “You’re going down first, big shot! Stone Edge!”
The Steel-Type summoned sharpened stones and threw them at Glitterwings, eliciting a groan of pain as they dealt heavy damage in spite of the moth’s bolstered defenses.
“Enough, both of you,” Glitterwings panted. “This battle doesn’t need to continue any longer. Audrey has proven her strength. It may have looked like her team was getting demolished, but that’s not the point. She stood strong and didn’t let their pain drive her to surrender, nor did she not care for them. She is everything a Trainer should be. I’m declaring this battle a draw.”
“What?” both siblings and most of the town exclaimed.
“I absorbed quite a bit of power from Audrey during that battle, just as much as I did from Jason,” Glitterwings explained. “There was no need for all of their Pokémon to take part in that battle. “Oh, and to the both of you, a gift: I’ll personally heal all of your Pokémon, myself included, with some of my regained Legendary powers. it’ll set my recharge back by about half an hour, but it’ll be well worth it. That way, Professor Maple’s assistant won’t have to figure out how to act as a Blissey.”
More rainbow light covered the area, causing Glitterwings’ wings to fade a little as they also returned to a faded version of their normal color scheme.
“Now that that’s done,” Glitterwings sighed tiredly. “I’m going to put up my translation field. I’ll also be taking a nap out here, so if any of you need to talk to me, you’ll easily find me.
Another wave of rainbow energy washed over the area, and Glitterwings settled down on the flat roof of an abandoned hotel to rest, leaving the bewildered town to puzzle out her reasoning for ending the battle right in the middle on their own.
Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Legends…
“Yes, I think I’ve got it,” Donalyra mused as he continued to glow a brilliant white. “So that’s how magic fits into everything!”
“Hey, you two, how’s Donny coming along?” a voice asked from outside the room. The two looked to see the one Legendary besides Arceus who was allowed to call Donalyra ‘Donny’: Voiral, the Keeper of the Time-Space Continuum, servant of both Palkia and Dialga, as well as the father of the guardian trio.
Well, “see” isn’t the best word for it, they more “sensed” him, and saw his sparkling golden aura in the area. He was apparently monitoring the space-time continuum at the moment, placing him in a parallel plane of existence for the time being.
“Hey, Dad,” Cosmaraid replied, waving in the general direction of where the Continuum Pokémon’s voice was coming from. “Donalyra’s almost ready to take up his new protection role, as well as…”
“As well as what?” Voiral’s voice asked, his tone clearly indicating that he wouldn’t take “it’s nothing” for an answer.
“Well, y’see…” Cosmaraid chuckled nervously. “Donalyra thought that sis might come around, so he left a portal for her…”
“You WHAT?” Voiral’s voice exclaimed. “She may be your sister, but she’s also my daughter! If she came through—”
“She did,” the two brothers sighed.
“You two imbeciles!” their father snapped. “Unless she has a change of heart, Lord Arceus will destroy her! Or worse! I won’t let that happen to my daughter, no matter how rebellious she’s being right now!”
“That’s why we’re trying to find her,” Donalyra explained. “Without Lord Arceus knowing. If we can’t persuade her to our side, we’ll send her back to Earth. Please don’t let any non-Salintran Legendaries find out, Dad! They’ll take the news right to Lord Arceus! The Legendaries from Salintra can keep a secret if one of us tells them to, but the others would tell Lord Arceus, and he’d send as many Legendaries as possible to subdue her!”
“I know, my sons, I know,” Voiral replied. “I’d come out of the continuum right now to help you search, but the entrance is in my room, and it’d take a while to get there. But once I’m done with my patrol, I’ll join the two of you in your hunt for Giganoth. Just don’t do anything rash.”
“Yes, Dad,” the two brothers said in unison as their father’s aura left, moving to another part of the continuum.
“If Dad finds out that she’s restoring humans, it’ll get even worse,” Cosmaraid noted. “Don’t let it slip, brother.”
“I didn’t intend to,” Donalyra huffed. “Now, I just need a few more minutes to get properly in tune with the magic of this world, and I’ll be ready.”
Chapter 6: Salintra's Best Three, Ready for Action
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.
Jason yawned and stretched, finding it was dark out. His watch read that it was four AM.
Deciding to let Nancy and Audrey stay asleep, Jason carefully left the building for the empty streets of the sleeping town.
What should we do? He thought to himself. Adam seems eager to help, but we’d need to find his employees, first. Wherever they are. Probably also somewhere in this huge desert.
“Big Brother?” a voice suddenly spoke up, cutting into his thoughts.
“Audrey? Why are you up so early?” Jason asked, surprised to see his little sister also awake.
“Not just me,” Audrey replied. “Nancy’s up, too. Just give her a minute. We’re awake because of when we fell asleep yesterday. It was late in the afternoon.”
“Ugh, I’m still a bit tired,” Nancy groaned as she exited the building as well. “And we slept for eleven hours!”
“Jason, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Glitterwing’s voice said as the Net Ball on Jason’s belt suddenly opened, allowing the moth to join them, her wings once again indicating she was fully charged. “But we have a problem.”
“What would that be?” Jason asked nervously.
“I can sense my brothers’ powers. More accurately, Donalyra’s. He’ll be able to track me no matter where we are. I think we’re about to come to blows soon. Thankfully, I can also sense that he’s currently recharging from something. But as soon as he’s up to it, he’ll be heading for us. I think we should speed up our actions and get to work finding Adam Boom’s employees right now. I know Vision Inc. is full of sharp minds and hard workers. They should be able to develop something for me to store my powers of restoration into so we’ll be able to move around. If we stay here for much longer, well… The other Salintran Legendaries are far from being pushovers, and you had gotten us ready for capturing the others to complete the Dex. Not duel against multiples at once.”
Jason gulped, then turned to his sister, then to his rival.
“So, you all ready, then?” he asked before adding, “It might be best if we split up to cover more ground.”
“I’m ready,” Nancy replied, her jaw set. “What about you, Audrey?”
“Let’s do this!” Audrey replied before throwing out a Pokéball. “Unfezant! Come on out!”
The Normal/Flying-type emerged from her Pokébal, stretched as Audrey climbed on her back, and then they were off without a word.
Nancy released her Staraptor from her Ball in a similar manner before climbing on her back, also leaving for the sky.
“Okay, Glitterwings, let’s go,” Jason said determinedly. “We’ve got some scientists to find.”
Glitterwings nodded as Jason climbed on her back, then they also took off.
After an hour of scanning the desert very carefully, Audrey and Unfezant still were unable to find any signs of any Pokémon.
“Audrey?” Unfezant asked, “I think we might’ve taken a pointless direction.”
“No, we have to keep going,” Audrey replied with a shake of her head before addressing one of the Pokémon on her belt. “By the way, thanks for the translator, Bontor.”
“Don’ mention it, missy,” the Fire/Psychic-type’s voice replied from inside his own habitat. It’s a mite tougher with mah Pokéball in the way, but Ah know Unfezant can’t carry both of us an’ still have room for anyone we pick up.”
“Back on topic,” Unfezant sighed. “Audrey, there hasn’t been a single—”
“Down there!” Audrey suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a tall, thin, human-shaped Pokémon with pale purple skin, blonde hair, a body that resembled a long red gown, and rather large lips.
“What’s an Avalips doing out here?” Unfezant wondered as they watched the Ice/Psychic-type dragging herself along the ground, apparently in pain from the heat of the desert sands.
“I don’t know, but we should check it out,” Audrey suggested.
“Fine, let’s talk to her,” Unfezant sighed. “She is a Psychic-type, and she’s the final stage in the Smoochum line, so that makes her definitely smart and powerful.”
“Excuse me?” Audrey called out as they reached the Pokémon, who stared up at them with a dazed and pained look on her face.
“A human,” the Avalips muttered, “I must be seeing a mirage, all of us got turned into Pokémon.”
“Um, miss? I’m no mirage,” Audrey said gently. “I only recently returned to being human with the help of Giganoth.”
The former human nodded, too exhausted to even ask how that was possible. All she said was, “So hot… Only able to move at night… And even then, it’s still hot. Why did Arceus make me an Ice-type and dump me in a desert?”
“I don’t know,” Audrey admitted. “But,” she broke into a gentle smile. “We’re looking for Adam Boom’s employees. He showed up at where we’re staying yesterday, and he needs his assistants to help him. He has a plan to help Giganoth restore humans at a faster rate.”
“Wait, Mr. Boom?” the former human gasped in shock. “I’m his chief lab technician!” She shakily pulled herself to her feet and stood up. “Please take me to him!” she pleaded. “I’ll help in any way I can!”
“Sure,” Audrey said as she made room on Unfezant’s back to carry a second passenger. “Come with us. What’s your name, miss?”
“Heather Nichols,” the Avalips replied as they took off again, heading back to town. “And how can you still understand me? Also, how are you human?”
“Well, I can understand you because I have a Bontor with me on my belt,” Audrey replied. “He’s supporting a Psychic translator. As for why I'm human again, I had help from the legendary Pokémon, Giganoth. It'd be easier to have her explain it."
“Ah, of course. I'll wait until I can talk to her for a better explanation.” Heather said, nodding in understanding. “So, since he’s still aware, that means you’re a Salintran, right? Before the… incident, the 100% perfectly humane Pokéball was still only being manufactured in Salintra.”
“Oh! You’re a former Champion!” Heather gasped. “Even a former Champion is a highly-respected individual! Everyone knows your brother took the title from you only an hour after you earned it, but I heard the battle with the Champion before you, Oliver Johnson, was quite intense!”
“Oh, it was!” Audrey replied. “His team of Light-types was far from easy to defeat! His Serageist was especially incredibly difficult to beat! Not to mention that he Mega Evolved her as soon as he sent her out! Ghost/Light is a really annoying type combo to deal with.”
“Nancy, every Pokémon we’ve run into so far was always a Pokémon!” Staraptor huffed. “Even that Exorvose actually managed to reach her final stage all on her own! And the Exoran line takes what feels like an eternity to reach the third stage, and that’s with a Trainer’s help!”
“We just have to keep looking,” Nancy countered. There’s gotta be some former humans around here somewhere.”
Spotting a Magmortar, they swooped down to speak with him, causing him to jump when he saw Nancy.
“How are you still human?” he started to ask before shaking his head. “Bob, she's probably a mirage. And even if she somehow isn't, you won’t get an answer out of her. She can’t understand—”
“Um, sir? I can understand you,” Nancy cut in, surprising the obviously former human. "And before you ask, I'm human again because of the Legendary Pokémon Giganoth. She'd be far better at explaining how I got my human form back than I am, though."
“How can you understand me?’ the former human named Bob asked, still confused as to how Audrey got her humanity back, but willing to wait for an explanation.
“I have a Glitreon on my team,” Nancy explained. “He may not be as good at it as Psychic-types, but he has a translator set up for us.”
At that moment, a Pokéball on Nancy’s belt opened of its own accord, letting out a white fox-like Pokémon with a prismatic gem on his forehead, pure gold eyes, a gold ring at the base of each floppy ear, and a coat that, thought pure white, sparkled in seven colors, just like the gem on his forehead.
“Hello, sir,” Glitreon said with a voice that seemed to emanate peace, “Is my translator up to your standards? I apologize, but our team lacks an actual Psychic-type.”
“Well, since she can understand me…” the Magmortar nodded. “It’s good enough for this to work out. I might as well introduce myself, then. I am Bob Foreman, Chief designer for Vision Inc.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Nancy informed him. “We’re out here looking specifically for Vision Inc. employees. The Legendary Pokémon, Giganoth, is on the side of the former humans, and she is trying to restore everyone who wants to be human again. Your employer, Adam Boom, has an idea to amplify her powers to speed things along. Will you come with us, Mr. Foreman?”
“If Mr. Boom has a plan to get us out of this mess, of course I’ll help out,” Bob replied. “He’ll need some hard labor done, I’m sure. And though I’m not exactly in the right kind of body for physical labor anymore, I can still perform any physical task Mr. Boom will require of me, for I’m also good with blueprints. Let’s get going. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Nancy,” she replied with a smile. “Nancy Baker.”
“Wait, you’re one of the three Trainers who helped protect Vision Inc.’s Pokéball factory from Team Verdure’s attempt to level it and the main HQ to the ground!” Bob exclaimed in realization.
“That’s me,” Nancy replied as she made room for their passenger. “It was mainly the idea of my rival, Jason Turner, but I couldn’t let him have all the fun saving the day!”
Glitterwings was already carrying six Vision Inc. employees—two designers who had been turned into a Typhlosion and an Infernape, two lab technicians who were now a Gothitelle and a Reuniclus, and two electricians, who had been transformed into an Ampharos and a Heliolisk—and they were preparing to head back, seeing as the sun had already risen a while back, and Jason had caught a glimpse of Audrey and Nancy meeting up midflight while returning to town.
Glitterwings was sick of explaining how Jason was still human, and wanted to got back to Maresburg to avoid having to answer another passenger. Some of her passengers had even doubted that any of what she was saying was real, convinced that they were dreaming. Luckily, the presence of their coworkers dispelled most of those doubts, for it would be very unlikely for them to all be having the same dream.
They had been out there for six hours, making it past ten, but the two electricians kept begging Jason to stay out there for a little longer, claiming they both had a gut feeling that something important was still out in the desert.
And then they all saw another Pokémon wandering the desert: an Electivire. Even from so high up, they could vaguely tell that the Electivire was a she, even without Jason needing to have his Dex do the work on that.
They circled downwards until they were right in front of the Electivire, who screamed as soon as she saw Glitterwings. Or, more accurately, the human riding on her back.
“Jason Turner!” she shrieked, hyperventilating. “That’s not possible! How—”
“Miss Taylor, is that you?” the Ampharos said, jumping off of Glitterwings’ back and walking up to the Electivire, the Heliolisk by her side.
“Yes, I’m Vanessa Taylor, chief electrician for Vision Inc.,” she replied warily. “How did you two know it was me, and how is Jason Turner a human after what Arceus did?”
“We heard your voice at work so many times, we just knew it had to be you!” the Heliolisk replied, a huge grin on his face. “We’re electricians from Vision Inc.! As for how he's still human? The moth with us is the Giganoth! But she prefers to be called 'Glitterwings', now. She protected him from being transformed. You can ask her for a more in-depth explanation later, since she's sick of answering the same questions over and over.”
"Wait, what’s going on here?” Vanessa asked, very confused.
“We’ve been searching for Vision Inc. employees for the past six hours,” Jason replied. “You’re the last one who’ll be able to fit, and Adam Boom’s most likely going to need your help for what he has planned.”
“Wait, how can you—” Vanessa started to ask before Glitterwings cut her off.
“I’m the Legendary once known as Giganoth, now nicknamed Glitterwings,” she explained. I have the power to make all humans and nonhumans within my vicinity able to understand each other. Now, let’s get going. Your employer has a plan to amplify my power in some way or another to help me restore humans at a faster rate.”
“Say no more!” Vanessa exclaimed as she grabbed the two electricians and pulled them along before jumping on Glitterwings’ back. “If it's for Mr. boom, I'll gladly help! He's going to need me. I just know it! Take me to him! We have to get started right away! I don’t want to be late for a company meeting, ever!”
The others laughed a little, and they took off again, heading back to Maresburg.
“Ah, Miss Taylor!” Adam exclaimed as he walked up to the third and final high-ranking staff member of Vision Inc. after she got off the giant moth. “All three of you are here! Now, with some planning, we have already developed some blueprints, but with just Mr. Foreman, Miss Nichols and myself, we haven’t made much progress.”
“Say no more, Sir,” Vanessa replied, shaking Adam’s hand. “We’re here to help in any way we can.”
“Well, we already have the materials we need,” Bob explained as he showed Vanessa the rough draft for the blueprints. “We’ve managed to secure a large amount of scrap metal from the abandoned mines, and we’ve found one of each evolutionary stone, which if we manage to meld them into a single crystal, should be able to store and replicate Glitterwings’ power, though it will eventually need recharging.”
“Well, in theory it should be able to store and replicate her powers,” Heather interjected. “We’re still not quite sure if it’ll work, since she’s a Legendary, and very few studies have been conducted on Legendary Pokémon to actually gauge their power, and even then, most of those were performed by criminal organizations similar to Team Verdure, meaning those who have abided by the law in attempting to study the powers of Legendary Pokémon have gleaned little.”
“I am willing to submit myself for intensive study,” Glitterwings announced, flying up to them with Jason walking beside her. “If it’s for the good of the human race, I’ll do anything for those I’ve been charged with protecting.”
“Very well,” Heather said as her two lab assistants joined her. “Please find a place to settle down, and we’ll begin studying you. We’ll have to substitute Psychic-type abilities for our usual equipment, but it should still get the job done.”
Glitterwings nodded, then looked around for a while before locating the remains of a plaza. “Follow me,” she told the three Psychic-types before leading them through the streets to the plaza.
“Okay, Mr. Foreman,” Vanessa said, tapping her foot. “I know every single evolutionary stone, and I want to make sure you didn’t even miss one. Now, I’m going to list them one-by-one. Just say ‘check’ if you have one. If you don’t have one…” her lips curled into a mischievous grin. “A simple ‘whoops’ will suffice.”
Bob rolled his eyes, but nodded afterwards, so Vanessa got right to the point.
“Fire Stone?”
“Check.”
“Water Stone?”
“Check.”
“Thunderstone?”
“Check.”
“Leaf Stone?”
“Check.”
“Shiny Stone?”
“Check.”
“Dawn Stone?”
“Check.”
"Dusk Stone?"
"Check."
“Sun Stone?”
“Check.”
“Moon Stone?”
“Check.”
“Last one,” Vanessa said before asking, “Star Stone?”
Bob opened his mouth to say “Check,” but blinked, facepalmed and said, “Whoops…”
“How does a Salintran native forget the evolutionary stone first discovered in Salintra?” Vanessa shouted. “Bob! That stone is what first put our region on the map! How could you possibly forget to grab a Star Stone?”
Audrey ran up to them before things could get any worse and handed them a copper-colored crystal from her bag that was shaped like a five-pointed star.
“Here, just use one of mine,” Audrey said with a roll of her eyes. “I have over twenty of them. I can easily spare one.”
The Magmortar and Electivire stared at her in shock as she turned around and walked away.
“You’re welcome, by the way!” she called over her shoulder at the dumbstruck pair, snapping them back to the present moment.
“Oh, uh… Thank you?” they said in unison, provoking a giggle from Audrey before she resumed walking away.
“How did she—” Vanessa started to wonder, but Bob cut her off.
“She’s an ex-Champion, Miss Taylor,” he said with another roll of his eyes. “To even become Champion usually requires really deep pockets.”
“Okay, fine, now back to the matter at hand,” Vanessa huffed as the two electricians and the two designers joined their respective superiors. “Now, back on Earth, Vision Inc. had a powerful machine for fusing gems, evolutionary stones included, into super crystals for projects like these. But we don’t have one here, and even if you remember the blueprints for it exactly, it’d take us forever to create another.” Vanessa sighed. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Could we possibly be of any assistance?” a male voice rumbled from under the ground before two massive stone snakes popped out of the ground: a male Steelix, and a female who appeared to be a molten, misshapen Onix, making her Onix’s other evolved form: Magmix, a Rock/Fire-type that was built more for speed and power than for winning battles of attrition.
“Were you two human once?” Bob asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Correct,” the Magmix replied, nodding her head and causing small drops of molten rock to fall from her lower jaw to the ground. “As a Magmix, I could turn them into liquid crystal by squeezing them, and my husband, since he’s now a Steelix, could take them underground until the pressure fuses them together and re-solidifies them.”
“Please do,” Vanessa said with a nod before Bob picked up the pile of evolutionary stones, carrying them over to the couple, then placing them on the ground next to the Magmix. “In the meantime, we’ll begin work on the machine’s main body and the electric power system.”
Bob nodded in agreement, and the two immediately got to work with rubber, steel and copper, leaving the two snakes to their own devices.
Without a word, the Magmix nodded to her husband and coiled around the stones, squeezing hard as she pushed herself to produce more and more heat.
“Zeke, I think it’s working!” she announced as the pile of stones started to soften.
“Keep it up, Patricia!” the Steelix said encouragingly. “We have to prove that we can help, too!”
“Hey, Mom, hey, Dad,” Nancy said as she walked up to her now massive parents. “What are you doing, Mom?”
“Helping,” Mrs. Baker told her daughter as she squeezed the stones even harder. “We’re helping out Mr. Boom’s employees with the device to help Glitterwings.”
Patricia let go of the evolutionary stones, revealing a glob of molten multicolored rock, which she then used her tail to push towards her husband.
Mr. Baker took one look at them and nodded. “Great job, honey. I’ll be back in a jiffy with the completed crystal!”
With that, he took the molten crystal in his mouth, wincing from the heat, then burrowed underground, heading straight down.
“Interesting,” Heather mused to herself as she jotted down some more notes in a notebook one of the colts from the Silverdust clan gladly let her borrow. “Glitterwings, could you apply just a little bit of your scanning power on my assistants? Now that I’ve got the proper sensing fields set up, I should be able to read your powers properly so we can fine-tune the machine to replicate the way the powers are used.”
“Sure thing, Sugar,” Glitterwings replied before focusing her powers on her antennae, launching harmless waves of rainbow energy at the other two Psychic-types, bathing them in the energy.
“Okay, hold it for a minute,” Heather requested as she began to probe and inspect the energy with her mind. It was a bit complicated, but it seemed that if she looked at it from the correct angle, everything added up and made sense.
“Okay, you can switch it off, now,” Heather told the moth, who did so and waited for the next request.
“Okay, if we do that, a super crystal should be able to release energy in the same format,” Heather mused, once again to herself, “And even recreate the energy, though it’ll produce it at a slower rate than it’ll be consumed, so we’ll need you to come back about every three days to recharge it.” the last statement was directed at the Legendary.
“That seems acceptable,” Glitterwings said with a nod. “Now, what next?”
“Your ‘blueprinting’ power,” the Avalips suggested.
Glitterwings nodded, then let similar waves of energy wash over the pair before her. They were identical in appearance to the previous waves, but the energy and function was entirely different. Human body designs started to form in her head, complete with hairstyles, outfits, and sometimes even possessions. She doubted any of these blueprints were accurate, though. She hadn’t really done much scanning, so these images were rough estimates.
“Okay, I’ve got that one down, too,” Heather announced. Glitterwings shut off the energy in response and waited again while Heather figured out how to get the machine to be able to pull off the same thing.
“Yes, that’ll work quite nicely,” Heather muttered before giving one more request. “Okay, please show us your restoration powers.”
“Very well,” Glitterwings replied before she flew up into the air, hovering over an empty spot and releasing rainbow dust from her wings, which slowly covered the ground like a small dusting of polychromatic snow.
Heather’s eyes grew huge from the information she was picking up. It was so different from the other two. This one was actually capable of reshaping anything down to the sub-atomic level, meaning she could transmute one element into another!
Quickly trying to wrap her head around the information, Heather focused on the immense input she was getting. Were she not such a powerful Psychic-type, her mind could’ve been turned to mush from gaining the knowledge in such a method.
“Okay, I’ve got it,” Heather announced.
Glitterwings returned to the ground and asked, “Is that all that is required of me?”
“Until the machine is complete? Yes,” Heather replied.
“Good. I’ll be with Jason until then,” Glitterwings announced before taking wing again and flying towards the building where Jason’s family was staying.
“Okay, we’ve got all the notes we need,” Heather replied. “Now we just need to wait for everything to be finished.”
As the sun started to set, Adam Boom examined the machine carefully. It was similar in structure to a police searchlight, but instead of a light, the machine had an impressive polychromatic crystal in its cylinder. Something seemed a little off, though.
Finding it, Adam surprised everyone watching—with the exception of his employees, who had expected him to find a way to improve it, as he always did that with anything they made—by disconnecting some of the wires and connecting them to different wires, changing how the electricity would flow and improving the internal generator in the process. In addition, he turned the super crystal 45 degrees, making it glow slightly.
“There, now it’s perfect,” he announced before turning to Glitterwings. “Lady Glitterwings, please aid us by pouring your energies into the rehumanizer so we can benefit from your aid even in your absence.”
“Why do you insist on calling me ‘Lady’?” Glitterwings huffed. “I’m an exile of the Legendary Council.”
“To me, you are the only one who deserves such a title at the moment, Lady Glitterwings,” Adam replied, dropping to one knee. “You are standing up for and helping the human race survive, while the other Legendaries all want it to disappear. We don’t need a Legendary Council, for we have you.”
Gliterwings was dumbstruck for a few minutes before tears started flowing from her eyes.
“Adam Boom, I’m touched by your words,” she choked out. “If I’m the only lady that you feel you can put your faith in, then I shall be Lady Glitterwings for all of you. And yes, I shall lend you my power.”
The crowd of Pokémon, ponies and three humans cheered as Glitterwings released the three powers that made up her restoration ability into the machine one by one. When she was finished, she addressed them again.
“Give it until tomorrow morning before you begin using it,” she warned as color was already returning to her wings. “My powers are quite fickle at times. They’ll need to adjust to their new means of operation.”
The Pokémon nodded in understanding, and Glitterwings flew over to Jason.
“Let’s get some sleep,” she said with a yawn. “We’ll need to start moving tomorrow.”
Jason nodded, and he and the two restored humans retired for the night.
Meanwhile…
“Uh… Dad?” Donalyra asked nervously as he watched his normally incredibly disarmingly-cute and harmless-looking father stomping around the room, his face that took up the entire front of his body contorted with rage.
“What’s gotten into that girl?” Voiral growled, ignoring his son who had just finished recovering and now just needed some sleep to be good as new. “Is she trying to get Lord Arceus to notice her?”
“Dad?” Cosmaraid said, trying to get his father to snap out of it.
Ignoring his other son, Voiral continued his rant. “She released more power than she did when she used her powers to make herself compatible with Emmet so she could have a child with a human being! Sure, Martha was a sweet girl, and she had her mother’s beautiful wings on her otherwise mostly human body, but the amount of energy she released back then sent her temple into a panic, making those poor priests think the humans had done something to anger their protector! We’re lucky that most Legendaries won’t recognize her signature and just be confused for a bit then shrug and move on, but Lord Arceus—”
“Hello, Voiral, am I interrupting some family time with your sons?” the last voice any of them wanted to hear said, causing all three to stare at Lord Arceus, immediately hiding their horror behind smiles that they hoped would be genuine enough to, if not fool the old god, at least get him to leave them alone.
“Um, sort of?” Voiral replied, provoking nods from his two sons.
“You can drop the act, Voiral. It’s unbecoming of you,” Arceus sighed.
“What do you mean, Lord Arceus?” Voiral asked, trying to play ignorant.
“You three were discussing the fourth member of your family,” Arceus sighed. “It’s obvious you miss her. Everyone here can see that.”
Relieved that Arceus had completely misinterpreted their actions for the last few days, Cosmaraid spoke up, forcing tears to his eyes to try to push the appearance in the direction of what Arceus believed, letting his smile crumble into what he hoped was a convincing look of sorrow, as did his brother and father.
“L-lord Arceus,” Cosmaraid sniffed. “You’re right. I m-miss my sister. We all do.” The other two nodded in agreement, keeping up the appearance of a grieving family.
“I noticed,” Arceus replied, inclining his head slightly and sighing. “And Donalyra, I didn’t miss you setting up your portal, either.”
Donalyra put on better show than his brother and his father at that moment, appearing to break down while tears of ice from his pure white eyes flew everywhere. “I-I thought she’d change her mind!” he bawled. “That she’d realize that what she was protecting was a lost cause! Even ask you for a new task!”
Voiral spoke next, making his lip tremble a bit. “Lord Arceus…” He looked up into the god’s eyes with the best appearance of a grieving father as he could present. “Will I ever see my precious little girl again?”
“Well, I banished her from the Council and left her on Earth out of anger,” Arceus began. “But with Donalyra’s portal, there’s a chance that, after giving her enough time, she’ll come through it out of love for her Trainer and her partners, even though the portal would sever their technological bonds and transform her Trainer. Had she done so before today, I most likely would’ve destroyed her or stripped her of her powers just out of my anger towards her. I almost destroyed the portal, you know.
“But I’ve heard about the state of Earth from Giratina,” he continued. “The planet is rapidly falling into chaos. Giovanni is once again trying to conquer the world, while Rebecca of Team Verdure has pieced her followers back together, and they rule the Salintra region with an iron fist. Or, what’s left of it, anyway. Most of the residents were good people, so less than five percent of the inhabitants are left. And by using the power of the Pokémon they conditioned to be filled with hatred and vile thoughts, even those who were degenerates are fleeing in terror, now. Salintra has gone from the most peaceful region, where even laws forbidding Pokémon/human unions didn’t exist, to one of the most dystopian regions on the planet. And they’ve been destroying as much technology as they can with devices made specifically to make technology fail.
“With Giganoth, her Trainer, and her precious teammates caught in the middle of such horrors, she’ll most likely give in and flee just to save those who she still can,” Arceus sighed. “Looking back, I could have handled things better. I know that had Giganoth attended, she would’ve tried to speak on behalf of the humans, but it is unlikely that I would’ve listened to her. But were she here right now, maybe, just maybe, she could have something to say to convince me to give at least some humans their forms back. At least some of the Salintrans. She has the power to make the impossible happen, after all. She did use her powers to make herself compatible with her husband, Emmet, and her child was the only Pokémon/human hybrid. Why, if she could give me a good reason to restore some of the humans, I’d allow her to use her powers to make Pokémon and humans compatible. But that’ll have to wait, for she’s not here. Don’t give up on your prodigal sister and daughter, you three. You just might see her again.”
Smiling, Arceus left, and the three sighed in relief.
“Okay, so if we can just get her to listen, there’s a chance we can convince her to come back here with us,” Donalyra sighed after Arceus was out of earshot. “But I doubt it’ll be that easy. That release of energy felt like she was creating a vessel to replicate her powers or something. If that’s the case, then she’s probably set on doing things her own way.”
“Well boys,” Voiral said, a small smile gracing his face. “It seems Lord Arceus just might not destroy her after all. But we still can’t let him know that she’s already here.”
The other two nodded, and they separated to their respective rooms, ready to begin planning the next day.
