Parting Shot

Five explosions surrounded Ray, and that's all it took for a line of pokémon to divide us. Ray's army appeared formidable, including the sableye, haxorus, and tentacruel I already knew he commanded. Joining them were an aegislash—sort of a sentient sword wielding its own shield—and an absol, a pokémon almost feline in appearance with a sickle-shaped horn on the side of its head. And then Chakana descended right behind all of them, that sigilyph in possession of extraordinary power and coordination—the beast that spied on me unbeknownst to my team and reported back to Ray all to facilitate the hidden, destructive purpose of Team Omega.

Reggie was already following me, so I pulled three pokéballs from my satchel. To Brooke, I said, "My training was limited past a Triple Battle."

"I can handle a Triple Battle," she agreed. At least that meant between the two of us, the teams would be even. "But I've seen Ray battle. He beat me and all the Elites earlier when he was vastly outnumbered. Evening the teams won't make a difference."

I frowned. "We can't think like that. As long as we're able to hold our defenses and focus on one of his pokémon at a time, we can take him down. Trust me." Popping their pokéballs, I summoned Siggy, Conch, and Clara to join me. In a flash, Brooke had her lupeddy, her golareece, and her sonixion ready for battle.

Before I even called out a command, the tentacruel began strewing Toxic Spikes around the entire room. "No prep time. The battle is already started," said Ray. He might as well have stolen a preemptive strike against us. His haxorus began raging around the room while the aegislash hurled a Gyro Ball. Brooke's centaurish sonixion bounded in front of all of our less-prepared pokémon and cracked into the floor, raising a piece of stone debris just enough to turn around and kick it into the air with his hind legs. All of that happened at the same moment Ray's pokémon began their attack, almost like the sonixion Detected the onslaught. The slab of broken floor intercepted the Gyro Ball, raining down broken bits of rubble everywhere. The debris momentarily deterred the haxorus rampage. But the sableye's ghost-like movements were more difficult to anticipate as it slipped into thin air and reappeared behind us to clock Conch in the back. The Fake Out hit right at the base of his spine, too, sending Conch reeling.

Meanwhile, the absol stood in the back performing a Swords Dance with the focus on that sickle aside its face. I'd have to keep an eye on that.

Brooke started out commanding her pokémon while the haxorus resumed its Outrage. I used the noise as a cover to tell Clara, "Use Inverse." I kept my words quiet to hide them in the event Ray somehow knew what it meant. Loosing an anxious whinny, Clara reared and emitted a blinding, disorienting light from her already lustrous fur. The energy raced through the room in a single pulse. For a fleeting moment, everything came to a halt.

"Too bad. I can still see," said Ray. His pokémon endorsed his claim by launching heavy attacks across the room.

"Grand Growl!" I barked when I saw the haxorus lumbering toward us like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park. Reggie recognized the command and roared to release a ring of flames straight at the dragon. The arrogant smirk on Ray's face didn't escape my attention when he believed I was wasting a move. After all, his tentacruel and aegislash were waiting in the rear to provide backup. But his dragon didn't brush off the fire like it normally would. Its scales didn't repel the flames. Instead, the flames pierced that draconic exterior and seeped deep into its organs. The unexpected pain caused the haxorus to stumble, which tripped up the tentacruel and the aegislash flanking it.

"Sweep up with Surf," I told Brooke. She looked confused, but when she saw my look of conviction, she lost her questioning tendency and told Lykos to "Use Surf."

The lupeddy leaped forward, its body looking sleek and wet—more so than usual. That was just to build energy. When he swung his finned tail around, it was intended to create enough centrifugal force to spin him. Mission: accomplished. Sliding across the floor dragged enough moisture behind that—combined with the energy Lykos channeled into converting moisture already present in the air—a wave sprang from the floor and washed over the three fallen pokémon.

After the wave hit the ground, the splashback created a second wave, which Conch rode to gain the height he needed to make his Dive technique worthwhile. His watery tackle brought the whole of his bulk into contact with the submerged haxorus. At my urging, Brooke had her golareece hurl a Grass Knot right into the haxorus's spiked crest.

I had told Brooke on our way down from the emperor's chambers what Valence had said about Inverse. Although she didn't know such a power existed, she chose to believe me that Clara was one-of-a-kind. In this Inverse Battle we waged against Ray, she took many cues from me. Wrapping her head around the complexity of inverse typing was too much for spur-of-the-moment battle. If she'd had more time to study and plan for it, then she'd be a force to contend with.

Ray's tentacruel and aegislash got up off the ground wearily but successfully. The haxorus, however, was unconscious. "What's wrong with you?" he asked. He snarled, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. His dragon was struck with fire, water, and grass attacks. All three of those were defensive strengths, yet the haxorus suffered immensely for it. I don't know if Ray figured out the trick right in that moment. There's no way! I mean, even a Pokémon Champion can't instantaneously adapt to Inverse Battles when he's never even heard of it, right?

With a scowl plastered to his face, Ray recalled his haxorus. "Five pokémon is plenty." He lifted his chin ever so slightly. It was subtle, but my paranoid brain figured he had chosen Clara as his target. Even if he didn't know what caused his dragon's sudden weakness to the basic elements, Ray knew that Clara was being protected for a reason. Unfortunately for my team, Clara's Inverse power was the best chance we had at beating him.

"Reggie, use Grand Growl."

"Lykos, use Crunch!"

Space in here was limited and closed quarters may actually work to our advantage. Ray had already proved the dominator when battling upstairs in a wide-open space whereas we were doing well against him so far when his pokémon had limited room for movement. And so far Clara's power had him flustered. His pokémon continued to land attacks that might normally inflict tremendous damage but instead were unimpressive in the light of Inverse. And our pokémon did the reverse. Brooke picked up on the pattern quickly, almost like reversing her knowledge of pokémon typing was as simple as switching to an alternate language. Luckily her father lacked that ability. Or perhaps more likely: He was too mad to focus on the problem right in front of him.

At the moment Conch and Lykos teamed up for another Surf-Dive combo, the aegislash jumped in front of the crowd and transformed from a moving sword into a moving shield. The unique technique called King's Shield gave it the power to reject all the aura that rushed toward Ray's pokémon regardless of weakness. As far as defensive maneuvers, it was amazing and flawless. I could think of no more powerful skill to have during a battle.

"You got it?" I asked Siggy.

But before Siggy gave me an answer, he turned and burbled toward something behind me. He rushed in that direction, but he was too late to defend—verily, I was too slow even to notice the threat to—Clara as she suffered a devastating Foul Play with Sableye's one hand resting on her haunches while the other sucker punched her in the head. A moment later, Siggy collided with the ghostly body just before it faded away and reappeared behind the glowing steel shield.

Suffering as she was, Clara's energy dipped and she dropped the Inverse. I felt a noticeable shift in the air as all auras returned to their normal effectiveness. Reggie spat a heavy Fire Blast, but the tentacruel intercepted it, absorbing some of the damage with its wet skin before releasing a spray of Scalding water back at my immolion. Reggie endured the water well after all that swim training he and I shared, but the pain was obvious in his face.

Ray looked pleased. "Looks like that little psycorn really was the culprit in this mess," he grumbled.

Brooke's sonixion Sully jumped up and unleashed Battle Anger, sending powerful and directional shockwaves against the opponents. The floors and walls all around us cracked and shifted, but nothing collapsed yet. Ray's whole team shook with ours. It looked like the perfect takedown attack until Sully was hit with Psyshock—the first direct attack I'd seen from Chakana the sigilyph in a long while. I guess it made sense that he didn't have to worry about the ground-based attack since he was airborne the whole time. But the more devastating news was seeing how that Psyshock was powerful enough to knock Sully out cold in a single strike. I got the feeling Chakana somehow unleashed more than one attack at a time to deal that much damage.

But while Brooke recalled her pokémon, Ray had to recall his tentacruel. Between suffering that ground attack just now and the water attack while Inverse was in effect, the jellyfish lacked the stamina to keep going.

One by one, we were whittling down Ray's team.

And Ray had every intention of repaying the favor. That absol that hadn't done much more yet than jump around and spasm all over the place? It suddenly charged straight through our crowd and selected Clara for a finishing strike. I wasn't sure which technique it had in mind, but after sharpening that sickle so much, I panicked.

"Mirror Move!"

Siggy did not panic. Truth be told, Siggy was even more prepared than I was. Before the words were even complete, Siggy's foam spread into the shape of King's Shield just in time to intercept the absol. While it plowed through a wall of bubbles over Siggy's head, Clara sidestepped so her assailant landed missed entirely. Absol recovered quickly and tried again only to encounter another wall of bubbles while Clara darted away. Stubborn little thing, Absol tried again and found another barrage of bubbles diverting its vision. Finally frightened enough to fight back, Clara didn't run, instead shooting both her hind legs straight back in a bone-cracking Double Kick. The force carried Absol into the air, but it couldn't go far because the room wasn't large. With a word from me, Siggy pounced on the falling sickle-headed pokémon three times in a foxy Brick Break.

Absol wouldn't be finished so quickly, though. The sableye suddenly materialized in front of the absol and generated a Will-o-Wisp in its hands—just enough distraction for Absol to recover and bound away.

"Sigurd, Foamy Punch!" I called out.

This was that little trick I learned while studying triple battles: Since I had difficulty commanding three pokémon simultaneously without betraying my entire strategy, I trained them to respond to group commands. My foam fox typically went by the name Siggy, but calling him by his full name was a trigger word for him and my other pokémon without alerting my opponents to my plan. After hearing the name Sigurd and not actually knowing the move Foamy Punch, each pokémon unleashed a specified move in a combo attack: Specifically, Conch spewed a Sludge Wave while Reggie ignited the poisonous fluid with his Fire Blast. Meanwhile, Siggy unleashed his Assist technique. It was a bit of a gamble since the technique was unstable, but Siggy would mimic one random technique he had seen his teammates use. The instability lay not in his ability to remember the physics of each technique but to recall the feel of the aura.

When Siggy rushed into the thick of things, I thought he would kill himself inside the poisonous flames. But he ran tight circles in the center of the room until a thick Hurricane built up, carrying the sludge and fire longer and farther than the natural combination of techniques. Brooke and I had to stand back with Clara and take cover behind Lykos and his Aqua Ring to avoid suffering personally.

As the Hurricane faded, not one of Ray's pokémon fell from the air to the ground. It had been impossible to see through the flames how Aegislash used King's Shield once more to protect all of its colleagues even against that combo attack. Its energy had blocked the whirling winds as effectively as an iron wall. And while I was distracted figuring that out, Chakana's Psyshock knocked out Conch. He never did take too well to psychic attacks. Grudgingly, I recalled him. My poor planning left him vulnerable.

I felt disadvantaged without a pokémon to replace him. There was no way to summon Elly in a room of this size. Beyond that, Siggy was looking woozy. It was an uncommon reaction. He never used to get dizzy with his Rollout technique, and Hurricane was no worse as far as spinning goes. I had to assume he ended up absorbing too much poison. I considered leaving him in the battle for exactly the two seconds time he was there before Absol charged at him. Brave Siggy endured the attack, but his foamy protection was worn and fading, and so I was compelled to recall him.

"As soon as Reggie is gone," spoke Ray, "my pokémon will end you." Chakana's giant eyes looked straight at me as if to volunteer for the dirty deed.

"I feel like you're losing focus."

"Is that what you think?"

"I'm sure that's what your absol thinks." In the time that Ray gloated over his near domination of me and my team, Clara joined forces with Brooke's psyraph to cross the streams on Dazzling Gleam. Their double-barreled attack interwove into the form of a larger beam that almost pierced straight through the absol's body. But the real kicker was when Rambo—The Elder's golareece, given to Brooke—plowed into absol's prostrate body with a spiraling Megahorn. Absol may be crazy deadly, but it didn't have the same protective layers that many pokémon have.

Just like that, Ray was down to three pokémon.

The tactical advantage I felt to having only Reggie and Clara with me—namely that I only had to command two pokémon instead of four—was echoed by Ray… or more specifically by Chakana, who now had only two soilders to relay instructions to. Brooke was still the best armed among us, headcount-wise. Ray quickly sought to change that. Turning its attention to Rambo, Chakana spewed a cloud of steaming, hot air toward the ball of grassy fluff. The way the air rippled and steamed, I recognized the move as Heat Wave. Lykos was quick to intercept the heat and counteract it with his Surf. I noticed the water level was weaker when the technique was used defensively.

And then that sneaky sableye appeared again. He appeared out of thin air carrying a misty fireball in his hands. He thrust the Will-o-Wisp into Rambo's snout, burning him straight away without struggling to get through layers of golden fleece. He disappeared again just before Brooke's psyraph could hit it with a Dazzling Gleam. To stick his insult in someone else's beeswax, the aegislash hurled a gyro ball into the mix, which collided with the psyraph and pinned her to the wall.

As he moved for another strike, I hollered, "Smokescreen!" Reggie blew smoke straight at the ground and watched it spread quickly to fill the room with just enough thick gas to obscure everyone's vision. Unless aegislash had metal eyes, too, it would have a much harder time locating my sister's pokémon. Even so, I heard the sound of metal scraping against stone. A puff of smoke fled the direction of a sword-shaped pokémon slashing hard across the chest of an angel pokémon. A second later, the angel turned red as Brooke recalled her into her pokéball.

When the smoke cleared, the floor was connected to the ceiling via a giant, mobile tree with lush foliage, a solid trunk, and legs like raw wooden power. Tranqyad was an imposing figure of pure, unadulterated dryad ice. She almost took up the full room when she stood erect. I summoned her during the smokescreen as my final trump card.

Wait a second. Dryad ice?

"Are you kidding me?" Brooke screamed. "Did you forget that your pokémon was frozen?"

"No. I just forgot that she would stay that way. I kind of thought going into the pokéball would thaw her out."

Ray shook his head and clicked his tongue. I was more embarrassed by his unwillingness even to comment out loud than I could have been by any retort his foul mind could formulate.

Luckily I was already prepared with the perfect cure for the largely-uncommon cold. "Reggie, use Fire Blast, but target Tranqyad!"

Ray's pokémon instantly moved to intercept me from my strategy. Aegislash leaped ahead of him and slashed at the air in front of Reggie's snout, missing by only the width of a drop of sweat. He was guarding my pokémon! Boy, how strange this battle ended up. Before the flames ever escaped his tongue, Reggie froze up. It was like an invisible hand gripped him by the throat and stopped him from exhaling. No doubt it was Chakana, and he was setting Reggie up for a sneak attack by that sableye—I was sure of that even if I couldn't see the little bugger right away.

Suddenly Lykos leaped onto Chakana and pulled him from the air to the ground, chomping as hard as those canine jowls would allow. "Gus told me all about your fighting style," said Brooke. "I'm betting you can't fulfill your role-"

"Use King's Shield!" Ray interrupted. His pokémon in a separate scuffle put up a flashing energy shield a mere instant after Reggie spewed a heavy stream of fire.

Meanwhile, Brooke was annoyed that she was interrupted during her snide, somewhat cliché remark. Giving her biological father a powerful, teenaged sneer, she screamed, "Let me finish my quip!" Then she scoffed. "Whatever. Just keep Snarling." Lykos held Chakana pinned to the floor, barking and snarling right in his face, angry dog slobber spewing everywhere. Like trainer, like pokémon, I guess.

The thing about Reggie's Fire Blast was his lung capacity was impressive and might have thrown more fire than the average Fire Blasting pokémon could produce. But Ray's pokémon was no slouch, either; Aegislash may only make its shield visible in its immediate vicinity, but not one lick of flames managed to pass by the shield either up top or around the side. It was an even more solid defense than when Mann's mr. mime used Wide Guard or when Burton's alakazam used Protect. Any clash with King's Shield was doomed to fail.

And I think the sableye was counting on that being a surprise to me. It materialized right behind Reggie, ready to engage in some form of Foul Play, when it was instantly zapped by a Thunder Wave. At my command, Clara successfully inflicted a paralyzing attack upon the ghost. It turned those giant, glittery eyes on her furiously, but then its attention drew to Rambo as he charged in with that horn crown gleaming for another Megahorn attack. Sableye was deft enough to fade out and avoid the attack, except it didn't. The Megahorn connected, and the force hurled the puny ghost across the room and out through a hole in the wall. It turns out that being paralyzed inhibits cellular control and makes disappearing into thin air more of a challenge.

"Use Thunder Wave again on that one," I said, indicating Aegislash as Clara's target.

Ray retaliated by proclaiming the obvious outcome of our duel: "I will fall!" I mean, duh! Amiright? But then again, he might have called for a Gyro Ball instead. It was hard to be sure. Brooke's frustrated ranting drowned out Ray's voice a bit. And sadly for Ray, Aegislash didn't have any ears from the start. Without Chakana to call the shots and predict the form of the battle, Ray's pokémon were susceptible to the same means of slowing down the rest of us were. As soon as the steel sword was paralyzed, its shield faded and it suffered from an incurable amount of fire to the face. The same fire licked at Tranqyad's ice, just as I had hoped.

I kept my wits about me, but my excitement grew and I allowed myself a subtle celebration in the form of two balled fists held over my head like a ball player who just scored a contested goal unit.

Brooke agreed with me about how subtle it was. She even remarked, "Subtle," as she shook her head.

An explosion of force sent Lykos flying away from Chakana. A moment later, the sigilyph had wrapped its…feet?...around Ray's midsection and flew out of the room and into the sky.

"He's getting away!" shouted Brooke as she recalled all her pokémon.

I quickly recalled the three of mine and then pulled out a fourth pokéball. "Not today." Chakana might be fast, but at his size, he would never be faster than a fully-grown volsgard. I opened the pokéball just outside the hole in the wall and watched the electromagnetic energy transfigure into Elly, clinging tightly to the castle walls. She had to correct her grip twice as stones crumbled beneath her weighty talons. I jumped over her head and grabbed onto a couple of spines on her neck, casting a glance in Brooke's direction. She was already astride her algesus. Safe to say she didn't need a ride.

"Let's go get them, Elly!"

So I know I was confident we could overtake Chakana with no problem, but I instantly lost sight of him and Ray. All the way up here at an altitude of, maybe, ten thousand feet, everything just looked like sky to me. Not totally clear, of course-some scattered clouds and a flying island behind us-but so much blue it was tough to spot anything else. Luckily Elly was a predator, driven to her prey by motion: She spotted them (maybe literally) a mile away. I had to press my head against her scales to avoid whiplash and hold on for dear life as she took off like a winged bullet.

As I suspected, Elly's speed overtook Chakana in a matter of moments. As soon as he saw us, he tried to take evasive maneuvers. It worked to a degree, at least with the goal of slowing his capture, because Elly had a harder time making U-turns and barrel rolls than a sigilyph whose flight was bolstered by telekinesis. But those attempts to evade us also slowed everyone's forward progress, which gave Brooke and her algesus plenty of time to catch up. I wanted Elly to catch Chakana in a Cyclone, but the first time I had her try, Chakana slipped away with ease and put incredible distance between us, so I dropped that effort. The six of us wound around one another in what I like to think was a brilliant display of aerial acrobatics on par with what I witnessed in the air show back in Wolfram Village but was probably more akin to a swing set with all the chains tangled into a single mass.

"Climb real high and dive like a Draco Meteor," I suggested. Elly pulled up and climbed another thousand feet or so before turning into a nosedive aimed for Chakana, or where he was. Maybe that jerk was psychically listening to her thoughts or maybe a volsgard just isn't capable of sneaking up on its prey all stealth-like. He avoided her by simply sliding out to the right. Elly rolled over hoping to change her direction, but instead she lucked out and clipped Chakana in the back with the talon at the end of her spiked wing. He suddenly shot back toward the island—toward the smaller, forested section instead of the castle side.

"We got him!" I shouted to Elly. I felt her rumble pleasantly beneath her scales as she changed direction to follow. Brooke was right behind us.

Ray and Chakana didn't simply land on an open field: They set down and weaved in under the trees. Doing so is the only reason Elly couldn't catch the initiative with a Heavy Slam. As soon as we were on the ground and I hopped off her back, Chakana's Psyshock emanated from the woods and seeped into Elly's head. She endured noticeable discomfort as she resisted. She blew a Fire Blast into the forest, but all she did was incinerate a few trees: There was no sign of Ray or Chakana. She was struck again and appeared to suffer more the second time.

Suddenly a barrage of Air Cutters sliced through the trees Chakana was using for cover. Brooke's algesus cut through the trees right where the two opponents were hiding. She must have had a better view to spot them from the air and decided to clear a path for us. Elly recovered almost instantly from the psychic attacks to whip up a Cyclone. Her draconic energy ripped through the air and ensnared the elusive sigilyph within the assault. The whirlwind battered Chakana from all sides seemingly at once. It was one of the most focused and narrow Cyclones Elly had ever used. Keeping it small made it deadlier because the eye of her storm was small and made for useless refuge.

I couldn't believe that Chakana hadn't fainted yet. As the Cyclone died off, he was still upright. The only difference was he alighted on the eroded dirt and slumped for a moment as if to expend all of his remaining power Roosting to catch his breath. I had never seen Chakana so worn out, but then he was basically trying to fight an entire war all by himself! Brooke stayed back with her algesus using Agility to get himself ready for a quick response to whatever was about to come our way.

"Still not quitting?" I asked Ray. "I mean this battle. You've already announced you're quitting on life. Apparently nothing will change your mind there."

Ray never gave any quip or snide response. It seemed he was losing his patience, and Brooke and I reaped the benefit of his sloppy battling. Plus, he'd torn his hat in the craziness of that aerial battle.

Suddenly I noticed something in the woods behind him. The Air Cutters had torn through enough foliage for me to catch a glimpse of what looked like a large mound of dirt. I had assumed some trees were just taller than the others, but they only appeared so because they grew out of the mound. It wouldn't have meant much to me except for the constructed entryway formed out of some sort of eroded metal, like possibly copper or gold.

"What's under the dirt pile back there?" I asked.

Finally Ray reacted. "That's Floatstone Barrow," he said softly. "That's where the very first float stone was discovered. It's the largest quantity ever found in one place. Several pieces of it were scattered around the island after its uses were determined. You know why the Hydrogen Empire was considered larger than life?"

"The king ate a lot of pastries?"

"The castle could fly." He completely ignored me, which is just as well because this was information I wanted to hear. "It was built on top of a flying fortress armed with weapons thought capable of destroying the region. Of course, that's just a legend exaggerated for effect. The weapons were powerful, but they paled in comparison to pokémon or even to the Team Alpha's aura soldiers. Protium Island was deadly in just one way: That float stone powered the entire fortress, and if the machine utilizing its repulsion were reversed, it can shove the island straight back down into the ground."

I chuckled, unsure what he meant and a little confused by the wording. Brooke asked, "Straight back into the ground? Like a meteor or something?"

"Technically, any meteor that enters the atmosphere becomes a meteoroid," I said.

"And once it hits the ground, it's a meteorite," said Ray, "the kind that hits with the equivalent force of a nuclear explosion."

"But wait. We're currently right above…"

"Hydrargyrum City," he agreed. "This will be even better than merely dropping the island. Got any plans to stop me now?"

Chakana unleashed a Heat Wave. Elly took the brunt of the damage for me, and Gusto whipped up enough of a Whirlwind to dissipate the flames before Brooke could be affected.

"If he's crazy enough to turn this island into a meteorite…" started Brooke.

"Meteoroid."

"…then why not do it from the start? Why plan to drop the island?"

"He's deranged. Every plan he and Valence meticulously arranged fell apart, so now he's harried and winging it. If we can take down Chakana, then Ray will be basically powerless and we can end this."

She gave a nod. "Then let's do it."

But then Chakana unleashed a second Heat Wave more powerful than the first. Gusto's whirlwind wasn't strong enough to counter it, and he suffered a burn from it. Meanwhile, Elly lurched and dropped to her knees before spewing her own Fire Blast right back at her opponent.

Suddenly her own flames turned back on her. I panicked and raised a pokéball slower than I should have. Splashing backward like a wave being overrun by the tide, the flames engulfed her only to close up on all sides like a glass ball. I had seen something similar before—when Chakana fought with Salamorder and used a telekinetic sphere to trap Lauren's water aura and soak the fire dragon. She was attempting the same here, hoping to melt through Elly's steel defenses by soaking her in fire.

But Chakana was worn and couldn't hold the sphere as long this time as he did against Salamorder. Maybe he wouldn't need to since Elly's overall power was dwarfed by that of a legendary pokémon. And I had proof, too: What Chakana thought was plenty to take down Elly left no more mark on Tranqyad than to turn her leafy hair crispy… and to melt the ice encasing her body. Once she regained enough strength, Tranqyad burst her way out of the ice prison with a rumble that sounded like the toppling of a mighty oak.

Chakana wasted no time lashing out with a Psyshock attack, but Tranqyad stomped the ground and a wall of sod sprang forth from the ground to shield her. I'm not sure if psychic attacks get blocked regularly by walls, but Tranqyad seemed pretty safe. She Hammer Armed the wall to knock a hole in it so she could hurl a Grass Knot, which Chakana countered with another Heat Wave. He didn't have quite the power to overrun her attack entirely, but he did dissolve it enough that the attack fell to the ground short of reaching him. As a taunt, he hovered even higher off the ground as if bragging that no ground attacks would ever reach him.

Suddenly a pointed rock shot through the air, sparkling like a diamond but projected like a rocket-propelled missile. It struck Chakana dead-on in the center of his round body and exploded in a shower of glitter. Chakana hit the ground before I could even identify the source of the attack. It came from Gnomoder, by the way, if not fully under Brooke's control then perfectly amenable to her nudging.

Brooke and I each stood there, eyeing Ray while figuratively armed with two legendary pokémon. "What now, Father?" asked Brooke with condescension in her tone.

Ray stood there silently for a moment. We were only separated by ten yards or so. It would have been easy to have Tranqyad rush him and restrain him in her branches or something until Jack could officially and legally arrest him. But I decided against it. Maybe it was pity for a guy who had lost everything he worked for in a matter of an hour—which was admittedly difficult to mourn for too long considering he wanted to destroy reality. Or maybe I was still nervous about getting too close to someone who was so sneaky and devious.

"You gonna answer the lady?" I asked.

Suddenly something shifted in Ray's expression. He wasn't simply going over his options in his head: He was listening. Something he heard or detected intrigued him. I got a bad feeling in my gut and shouted for Tranqyad to use Trancemaker on him.

I was a second too late.

A gale-force wind struck the spot and exploded so powerfully that it blew everyone to the ground. I felt like I'd been hit by a blanket weighing a ton. It wasn't enough for the force to throw me to the ground, I was pressed into it continually until my joints popped, all feeling faded in my skin, and my head popped off. Or maybe not the last part, but it was terrible. Also, it only lasted, like, three seconds. But it was so strong it felt longer!

Indusylph shot down from the sky and tackled Tranqyad so fast that I wouldn't have recognized the legendary sylph pokémon if not for its luminescent purple tail feathers. At a total height of less than a foot, the bird wasn't too intimidating to look at. Then again, Gnomoder looked like an old man with arthritis but he packed the punch of a herd of tauros. Especially where legendary pokémon were involved, looks could be lethally deceiving. That little sylph was worse than a woodpecker as it toppled Tranqyad with that blow—it's deadliest attack, known as Jet Stream, which appeared to be a combination of Quick Attack and Iron Head.

I had done just enough research to know why Indusylph was unaffected by that head-on collision: Her hollow bones were surrounded by an aura of steel. No full-scale biology tests had ever been attempted in the short time it wasn't sealed away, but theories surmised from its behavior and the way it reacted to external stimuli that its bones may be coated in actual steel. And it was so fast! As Tranqyad lay there stunned, Indusylph was already building up speed for a second attack.

Her defense came in the form of a giant, rocky gigas. It sprang from nowhere and stood in front of Tranqyad, slashing its claws viciously with a sort of Stone Edge attack, but Indusylph shattered straight through the entire stone form in a single blow. An identical Gnomoder Substitute once grappled on even footing with the giant Caan, and this tiny bird just tore straight through it. At least the gigas was enough distraction for Gnomoder to launch a successful Gem Missile attack into Indusylph's airborne trajectory. The impact of the collision was devastating and hit me with a shockwave almost as bad as Indusylph's Whirlwind attack had been.

"If we stay here while they battle, won't we mutate?" I called to Brooke.

"How should I know?"

"But if we leave, Ray might kill everyone in Hydrargyrum City."

"So let's stay and beat him."

I called Clara back out of her pokéball. The only way I knew of to gain an advantage over Ray was to implement Inverse again. It could get confusing sometimes, but steel auras had so many natural defenses that Inverting the energy would make Indusylph weak on multiple fronts.

"Not this time," called Ray. "I figured out your little strategy. The energy from that psycorn somehow changes the fundamental reactions of aura. Fire is strong against water and so on." I couldn't believe that as flustered and distracted as he was, Ray figured out the key to a skill that was completely invisible to the naked eye. Simply by noticing a pattern among reactions, Ray learned Clara's big secret just like that! There was no exaggeration when he claimed, "That won't work twice against me."

I considered for a moment not even having her engage her power. Indusylph was still weak to Tranqyad's ground attacks, and Gnomoder's rock and fighting techniques would continue to deal hefty damage as long as they connected. Maybe we didn't need the additional trickery. But in the moment I had that stream of thought, Indusylph altered its course and set Clara as the new target. I could see it all coming too quickly to do anything about it. Gnomoder would need time to arrange another Gem Missile, and Tranqyad's clay wall didn't even slow the dive of the steel-boned pokémon.

It was all so suddenly predictable. Just like that, Clara would be out of the battle—taken down by a pokémon strong enough to kill her.

Oh, right. There was exactly one event I didn't anticipate: Reggie leaped into the air and snatched Indusylph within his jowls. As sharp as his teeth were, they could only pierce the skin and no further harm the legendary sylph, but his outside force completely disturbed Indusylph's inertia and she came down nowhere close to Clara. All of a sudden I felt tremendous pride at how much time we spent chasing and stalking the pokémon around the Wolfram Village Bird Gym.

"Way to go, Reggie!"

But the problem with holding a legendary pokémon in your teeth is that you can't avoid it when said pokémon decides to hurl Spikes down your throat. Don't ask me where a bird that size even hides spikes in its feathers, but I can definitively say that ingesting the Spikes of a legendary pokémon did not end favorably for Reggie. First he gagged, then he coughed out Indusylph, then he vomited, and then he drooped significantly, barely able to remain upright. I rushed to his side while Indusylph flew off. When his fur began to ignite—caused by activation of his Blaze ability—I knew he was in the danger zone.

"I don't get it," said Brooke. "How is he controlling Indusylph without saying anything?"

"Chakana may not be fully unconscious," I grumbled. Ray never recalled his sigilyph, after all. All I could say for certain was the pokémon did not move from the ground.

"Or maybe he's bonded with that pokémon so well after this long that they don't need words," she suggested. That was a frightening thought. It would be less scary to find out Indusylph had mutated Ray enough to make him into the psychic one. I paused and stroked an imaginary beard as I pondered that possibility. But no. I'd already seen Ray's battles go sideways whenever Chakana was attacked. That was too great evidence that the sigilyph was the actual brains in the battle.

"Trancemaker!" I shouted.

Tranqyad lashed out with its root-like tendrils and brushed against Indusylph in the air but was unable to fully rein her in. A second lash sent the bird diving low to avoid the attack, and that's where Gnomoder jumped in and landed a Sonic Boom—I mean, a Focus Punch. But seriously, the air broke and snapped and exploded into millions of pieces while the bird slammed into a crater that suddenly appeared in the ground. While it was down, Tranqyad managed to wrap her tendrils around the stunned bird and shake loose all the dust and pollen stored up in her foliage. It was a small storm of sleep particles that should have put Indusylph straight to sleep.

Should have.

Instead, a massive Whirlwind blew out of the crater and scattered the Trancemaker spores everywhere except where they could affect Indusylph. Brooke and I took cover with Clara and covered our mouths. I felt incredulous at seeing how resilient and resistant that stupid bird was. It somehow controlled the air so well that it made sure to smother Gnomoder and Tranqyad with her own pollen. Gnomoder got noticeably drowsy, although it was difficult to be sure if it worked the same way on Tranqyad herself. Either way, Indusylph hopped to her feet and preened herself for a moment, pulling sticks out of her feathers to ensure uninterrupted flight.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Brook. "I mean, what else can we do?"

"Nothing," said Ray, likely trying to be exactly as helpful as he was. "You've already lost to Indusylph's speed and durability."

I shook my head. "We're not done yet." Patting Clara on the haunches, I said, "Use Thunder Wave."

As expected, Indusylph fluttered straight into the air to escape. But it turns out it's harder to run away from electricity when your bones are coated with actual steel. All the electric particles drew straight to her no matter where they originated, and within seconds, the speed of that legendary pokémon was drastically reduced as she could barely stay aloft.

"Secret move time," I said. This time, my words were directed to Reggie. "Final Burst."

Fur ablaze and nearly white-hot, Reggie forced himself to stand. He flattened himself into a big, orange, murder-pancake, wiggled his butt just a little, and then he roared so hardily a massive ring of fire emerged from him like a heavy-duty Grand Growl. Indusylph was caught in the ring as the fire ignited and expanded around her. Thing is, Reggie's Blaze ability made his fire attacks bigger and more powerful. I could see the disappointment on Ray's sneer because Indusylph's steel defense was useless against fire.

And then Reggie lunged through the middle of the fire ring, his body on fire and weighing down fully on top of his prey. The same way Indusylph combined two techniques to form Jet Stream, Reggie and I figured out how to combine Grand Growl and Flare Blitz into a Final Burst. And just as Flare Blitz is devastating for the user, Final Burst drained the rest of Reggie's stamina, true to its name. It was a move we only ever worked on in practice, near a pokémon center or a revitalizing machine so he wouldn't have to suffer long. He couldn't even use it until he was nearing the point of faint. I had hoped never to need it in battle.

As I grudgingly recalled Reggie into his pokéball, I took solace in one thing: Indusylph was unconscious. Regulus—a normal immolion—had managed to land the finishing blow on a legendary pokémon. Right then and there, I realized the Hydrogen Emperor was right about one thing: It didn't matter that two other legendaries were unable to accomplish the task. Even regular pokémon can grow strong enough to battle with the best.

Not only was Indusylph looking faint, Tranqyad had recovered. Gnomoder was also unconscious, but he looked more like he was asleep than in any kind of pain.

"You're wrong about the way things are," said Brooke to her broken father. "I know it can be frustrating when it feels like things run in consistent patterns. Like when someone does something stupid, appears to learn from it and apologize, and then does something even dumber."

I asked, "Are you talking about me?"

"But the cyclical nature of life is not the same as nothing changing. Things that are popular today will dwindle in popularity only to become retro sometime in the future. And yes, every champion eventually loses to make way for a new way of battle."

"You haven't beaten me yet," said Ray with a growl. He injected Indusylph with a shot of Full Restore in a motion so swift he may have actually had his hand on the pokémon's side the whole time we were talking. I would seriously never want to face that guy in a shoot-out.

The second Indusylph's vigor was restored, its ire focused one hundred percent on Tranqyad. Despite the enormity of her endurance, I feared a confrontation against a recharged opponent would not end in our favor. With only Clara and a weakened Tranqyad left to defend me against Ray's bloodthirsty warrior, I could envision no other end to this confrontation than Brooke and me hobbled on the floor while the island crashed into the surface below.

"Ray."

The word turned Ray's rage into annoyance as he turned around. Valence stood behind him, framed by the forest of trees. His suit had seen better days. Honestly, I was surprised to see him wearing it considering his identity cat was long since out of the bag… except that Brooke had never actually seen him in pokémon form. Until that moment, with Valence's shroud dangling from his jacket pocket like a lingerie kerchief, she had only had my word to go on. Right then she had the first-person opportunity to see Valence's form as a spiritomb-like pokémon for herself. His ghastly appearance left her expression aghast. I pushed her chin up to close her mouth so she couldn't swallow her tongue or anything by accident.

"Valence," said Ray. He sounded far less hospitable than he ever had while speaking to Team Omega's founder. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find you alive. No amount of rocks sliding can do you in, huh?"

"Ray, cease this gesture. Team Omega is disbanded. Our goal is dissolute. Reality needs not be destroyed." Swiftly snatching Indusylph from the air and finding himself immune to its attacks, Valence forced the tiny bird's transformation into electromagnetism and pinned down a pokéball until it was sealed inside.

"Come again?"

"A new path has forged for us. We regret having manipulated your feelings into chasing a selfish dream. Your loyalty is appreciated even now, but we wish for your absolution. Alter your current course and that of Protium Island before the suffering is magnified."

Ray pursed his lips. "Are you kidding me? Your motives may be selfish, but the goal here is not. You lived for a thousand years. You know I speak the truth about the way things are. This kind of cyclical behavior is the mark of insanity. Ending the world is a mercy."

Valence was silent for a long time as he and Ray stared down one another. Finally Valence nodded in understanding. "We see that now. Mercy can only be granted by ending it."

I braced myself for a tag team event to batter me and my pokémon into pieces, but an event far different transpired. Valence lunged forward and stabbed his ghostly hand straight through Ray's heart. It was a gruesome scene to see blood spill over the dirt. Ray struggled to fight back, but the injury rendered him almost immobile. The best he could do was to reach out for Valence's face.

"You were not meant to end the world. We see that now." Valence turned sharply and hurled Ray into the forest. He turned to Chakana and held up his outstretched palm in response to the sigilyph's expression of alarm and panic. "A pokémon of your valiance and nobility must not be torn down by hatred. You are freed from the dark influence of one who has abandoned the world and betrayed his existence."

Chakana stared motionless for a moment. Without a word or a twitch, he suddenly zipped straight into the sky and disappeared from sight. I couldn't help wondering if I'd ever see him again.

Brooke and I were both speechless, but her gaze was glued to the trees where her biological father lay upon meeting his demise. He was gone now, but if she chose to do so, she could go find him. I couldn't blame her for being affected by the event, even if he was an evil scumbag. He crushed Nelson and the Elite Four and was just about to run us down the same way had his invulnerable ally not stepped in to end the madness. But as powerful and dangerous as Ray was, I couldn't help wondering whether things would have ended differently if Valence had never recruited him in the first place.

Valence glanced briefly in our direction. "Please accept our apologies for tardiness." Without awaiting a response, he left us to step inside the Floatstone Barrow. Unable to wait patiently, I hurried behind him and witnessed the unimpressive interior of the barrow. It was nothing more than a den of stone support structures surrounded by a dome of dirt and clay, all to protect a large pile of dodger-blue stones that almost seemed to glow. The machine that controlled the float stone lode formed a large circle encompassing the ore with dozens of cable connections to it and a single kiosk near the door. I couldn't see behind his misty form the exact sequence of buttons Valence input into the kiosk, but before he even finished, the entire island shook and rumbled. Gradually we picked up speed in a southerly direction.

"We have programmed the propulsion units to drift south on the float stones energy. The coordinates will force the island to touch down in the sea very near where it had remained sunken for so long. If our calculations are correct, the equipment will overload and the float stones will lose power shortly thereafter, forcing the island to sink once more."

Valence turned his attention to me. "Gus, future champion of Perioble: Please end our misery while your psycorn's Inverse power retains its effect. It will take but a single command to any of your pokémon for our weakness is full." Stepping up to me, he grabbed my right hand and pressed the pokéball bearing Indusylph into it. The power flowing through it felt overwhelming, so I immediately dropped it into my satchel. Reggie pushed his face into my hand and Tranqyad stepped into the room, admiring the shimmering stone.

Clara snorted and began to shine. I felt her power flow into the air once more, reversing the flow of aura. She was responding to Valence's will, perhaps against her intention… or maybe as a mercy—one pokémon answering a plea from another.

I hemmed and hawed for a moment. "I don't feel right killing you."

"Our millennium of torment must end. We thought it only possible with the Davros Bomb, yet a thousand years and we yet discovered a new power in the Inverse—harmless to those around us while fulfilling our desire. Grant us this favor, and then go out and seek all the wonders this world has yet hidden."

Edging my way backward, I said, "This is kind of a gray area, ethically. For sure, you want to die, but still it's—Oh, my god!"

While I waffled, Tranqyad whacked Valence on the back of the head with a heavy bough. He dropped like a curtain falling off the rod and folded right up. It was difficult not to freak out externally because internally I was already screaming at the sight of a dead body. Or, a re-dead body, I guess. How many levels of dead are there?

Brooke and I stood frozen for a moment. Neither of us was sure how to react.

"Is he really dead?" she asked.

"I think so. Touch him and find out."

"I'm not touching him! You do it!"

"No way. We don't know where he's been. A thousand years old, he could be carrying bubonic plague or something. I don't need that. You touch him."

"You're despicable."

"Just find a stick or something."

Tranqyad rumbled something and then reached out to poke Valence's clothes with her tree-like appendages. The clothes compressed instantly and completely as if there were nothing at all in between the fabric.

"That works, too." I sniffed the air, wondering if maybe I could catch a whiff of a dead ghost pokémon. "Looks like his body just dissipated into the air, maybe the floor or this suit. Which isn't a bad suit, come to think of it, minus Ray's blood on the sleeve."

"Don't you dare, Gus. I will literally never speak to you again if you wear a dead pokémon's suit."

"Relax, I was only kidding. That shroud is totally not my style." I pointed the Ultra Ball at Tranqyad and withdrew her to its safety and security. I'm not sure how Brooke felt about it, but the dryad pokémon had just killed Valence. Even if he was a pokémon and not human, the knowledge freaked me out. I knew more than ever that she couldn't just wander freely. As I dropped the ball into my satchel, I stole a glance at the pokéball Valence handed me containing Indusylph. Now I had two very important decisions to make about what to do with these very real pokémon once thought to be nothing more than legend.

"You think anyone will believe us when we tell them what happened?" asked Brooke.

I nodded. "They will. Especially when the island lands safely in the sea."

Taking her hand, I began walking from the room. Brooke's reluctance to follow signaled to me an issue I had anticipated. "Will you be alright?"

Her response was brief silence followed by a nod. "He was my father, no matter how evil he was. I can't say I felt any affection for him, but knowing that he helped produce me makes me wonder if I'm supposed to end up the same way."

"You will only match him to the extent you choose to," I replied. When she looked to me for further explanation, I elaborated. "No matter who contributed to your birth, The Elder is your real father. He raised you and shaped the reasoning skills you possess. The future is entirely up to you and the decisions you make."

Brooke smiled softly at me. "You're right. Let's get out of here. Someone still has to explain the waterfall incident to The Elder and issue a formal apology on my behalf to all of Natrium Village so that my exile can be revoked."

"What?"

She laughed. "Relax. I'm half-kidding. He already knows what happened at the waterfall."

I had forgotten how cold it could be to go digging through the snow. Going at it for almost six hours without taking a break didn't help. The only thing keeping me from hypothermia was Reggie's space-heating fur. The thick gloves on my hands were so useless that wearing two of them did nothing for me, and the winter coat was like wearing a blanket—but not so much a comforter as like a woven afghan.

"If you're that cold, you should have just rented the ski suit," said Anthony. As the cold seeped into my clothes and numbed everything from my toes to my brain, I had almost forgotten he had joined me on this expedition. He had been wise enough to don the full winterized outfit, but then, he also owned it already and didn't need to spend money renting. Apparently he skied often.

"I'm not cold," I lied.

"Not a very convincing response when we can hear you muttering to yourself over there," called Eve. She, too, had much heavier gear equipped already, at least on her torso. She wore multiple layers of leggings, knee-high boots, and little else to protect her lower half. When she stood erect, her body looked like a Popsicle.

Scoffing at them both, I said, "I didn't want you to think I spent money extravagantly."

Anthony smiled. "Gus, my company is sponsoring you as a trainer. Even though you are, for all intents and purposes, my younger step-brother: If I were concerned about the way you spend money, your account would be restricted by now."

"So you say to my face. But the second I spend a bundle of money, which is equivalent to two piles of money, you'd be all Gripes Dickerson."

"Believe it or not, your personal story has earned my company a sufficient income to offset your expenses."

I flinched. "Wait. Really?"

"Have you ever Googled yourself?"

"Only in my private time." Eve hit me with a snowball right in the face. I deserved it. But then I immediately buried my face in Reggie's fur until the snow melted and I regained feeling in my skin... which was stupid because that just made the cold air suck even more!

His expression turned to one of mild disgust. "Crude. Perhaps you should spend more time reading up on yourself. See how your journey has been translated into the story of a burgeoning, thus-far-successful trainer. Honestly, I am quite surprised you haven't noticed it by now. Ever since your participation in the downfall of Team Omega, your views have skyrocketed."

"Really? Who's viewing me?"

"Everyone, I suppose."

"Girls?"

He balked. "Why, yes, I assume some to be female."

"Where do I find them?"

Eve hit me with another snowball. "Hey, Romeo. I think Scarlett may have something for you."

"Is it a cure for snowball-face? Because I seem to be coming down with it."

"No and yes. She can't cure Teenage Boy Syndrome, but she discovered a heat vent over here."

I scrambled across the snowy field to her location and Reggie paced me off to the side. Every step he took seemed to melt away the snow and form an open ravine in his wake. I grumbled, "You should run in front of me."

The heat vent Scarlett found was essentially a small opening between two crags of the Rubidium Pass where hot air escaped from the space below. After checking the map that Scarlett put together on her tablet—the one where she traced the path of the magnet train against the topology of the mountains—it was clear we were right above the mountain underpass where the Salamander Temple was hidden. Er, rather it had been hidden. At present, it was far from secret. A new school of fire trainers had opened up there with Connor and Blade teaming up to teach pokémon powerful, heavy-duty fire attacks that had the added benefit of heating up the city. In essence, they took Elliott's old plot to abuse Salamorder for monetary gain and tweaked it so that the city enjoyed a controlled and voluntary heating system. The hot springs weren't back in full swing yet, but the temperature was rising. It wouldn't be long before Argentum City was the hot vacation spot for simultaneous winter and summer action once again.

"Hang on." I brushed away a bunch of snow and then checked my Hermes for the notes Topher provided me.

"On your phone?" asked Eve. "You think it'll be so easy to match that tiny image with the rocks in front of you? You should have brought the full-sized notebook."

"First," I said and blew a raspberry toward her. She took it with a smirk. "Second, my eyes are spectacular, so electronic information is plenty. Don't underestimate Topher's dedication to geological worship." That may be overstating his appreciation for his chosen profession, but there was no denying Topher's notes on how to identify volcanic activity were spot on.

When I had approached him about examining the Rubi Pass, he had said, "That volcano has been extinct for three decades. There's no way that caused the magnet train to crash." When asked if he had another suggestion, he said, "Almost literally anything else is more likely." And then he had given me the information I needed to confirm or deny his claim for myself.

And here it was. While the rock formations were volcanic—ya know, because of the volcano—they were not consistent with the composition of true igneous rocks. Instead of being formed by the solidification of lava, they were sculpted and shaped by explosions of fire. Samples of each were present in Topher's notes.

"What does that mean?" asked Anthony.

When I announced to everyone who cared enough to listen that I was going to Argentum City and, more specifically, to the Rubi Pass to explore, Eve was the first and only one to volunteer as my guide. Having been best friends with my parents before their deaths, Eve understood my desire to investigate better than anyone. People tried to tell me that the area had been investigated to death by crime scene analysts and engineers alike, but none of them saw visions during Quantum Sleep. When Resowisp had hit me with that waking nightmare into the moment of my parents' plunge, I had noticed little details that went unmentioned in all the reports on record.

"My hypothesis is that the presence of Tranqyad on that magnet train weakened the seal on Salamorder, disrupting the ecosystem and resulting in volcanic-similar activity. Possibly that's the moment Salamorder broke free of the pokéball. Notice the scorch marks inconsistent with cooling lava? And the location of the temple lines up with the magnet train tracks perfectly."

Eve continued, "After perusing the crash reports, we compared the information gleaned to the position of the train when it jumped the track. While the pseudo-volcanic itself was unlikely to have shaken the track to such an extent, we learned from Topher's expertise that extreme heat such as awakening Salamorder could influence the behavior of magnets, potentially explaining the inexplicable way his parents' train hopped right off the rail."

Anthony missed the entire exposition of our foray into the snow. He only caught up to us preparing and planning to search the Rubi Pass. He claimed to be in the city on business, but I couldn't help noticing his "business" often sent him to vacation resorts. If he is to be believed, that's just how business is conducted. Makes me wonder how much palm grease is on the money that pays for my training expenses.

"Such a fascinating theory," said Anthony, sounding genuinely impressed. "How did you come to by this hypothesis of yours?"

"When the fire trainers took up residence in the Salamander Temple, the revival of the springs brought Alm, a biologist friend, back to Argentum for further study. As a favor I'm not sure he owed me, he reached out to Drew, a meteorologist friend, to bring up historical data on the Rubi Pass. Although to a lesser extent compared with what we saw recently, the date my parents died witnessed massive atmospheric fluctuations at these exact coordinates consistent with the expulsion of energy from one or more legendary pokémon."

It wasn't an ironclad investigation by any means. I'm only sixteen; what did you expect? But the explanation was ninety percent solid. As far as I was concerned, a freak confluence of nature involving the eight Legendary Creation Pokémon was what killed my parents. I found comfort in simply knowing.

I was thrilled when I stepped into the Phosphor Pass to see smoke coming out of the window of that tiny hut, shaped a lot like a mushroom hollowed out as a tool shed. Only one person lived out there, and only one person was crazy to stay. It meant Ray hadn't killed Old Max back then, even if he threatened to do so.

Old Max gave me the same glare he always did. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. You deserve something."

"Oh? You here to bring back my drinking buddy Tranqyad?"

I made a face. "You gave alcohol to a legendary pokémon? Or to any pokémon, for that matter?"

He laughed like a car with a flooded engine. But that was his only response.

"No, I didn't bring her back. I felt you deserved an explanation. I decided the best place for Tranqyad would be to stay on Quicksilver Island with Professor Zamia."

Old Max nodded. "A sensible choice. I understand."

"It's just that there's this troubled girl there named Zero who has a hard time connecting with people, but she has a kinship with pokémon. Tranqyad always seemed good for her developing psyche. And I trust Professor Zamia and Lisa to take good care of them both."

"Did I say 'I understand or 'keeping talking'? Because I meant to say 'I understand.' I know enough about Zamia to accept your decision. You will get no objections from me."

"Sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to be agreeable on anything relating to Valence and Team Omega."

A sly grin crossed his face. "Is that so." It wasn't a question. "Rumor has it Valence finally met his maker when that floating island crashed. Of course, anyone who believes him to be immortal might be suspicious of that claim."

"Even the most powerful foes have their follies."

Max began laughing again, this time sounding like he was on the verge of spitting up an organ. "It's good to hear that." He spat out something so thick and black it could have been a small animal living in his cheeks.

I suggested, "Maybe you could go home."

"I am home."

"No offense, but you're up there in years. You don't have to hide out here to protect Tranqyad anymore. Having someone to watch over you might keep you alive a little longer."

"I've lived long enough. Besides, I'm no longer welcome inside the borders of Natrium Village. Same reason as you, give or take a few details."

"Blame it on me," I said. "I just finished pleading my sister's case. They finally accepted her return after a year of nothing super bad happening." Before Max could ask, I said, "Not me, though. They're still superstitious enough to think I'm bad luck. They're not wrong."

Old Max spat out another cannon ball. "You've still got something with you."

"You're sharp. Valence gave me Indusylph before he died. I haven't decided yet what to do with it. My friend Nova is trying to break up a religion in Wolfram Village that worships this tiny little bird. I'm considering heading there to help her out after I make one more stop near here."

Chewing something invisible to me, Max asked, "You looking for a piece of advice?"

I paused for a moment, but the honest answer came easily as I shook my head.

"Good. If you really want to be the champion one day: Trust yourself. Now leave me alone and go run your errand."

The gym looked just as I remembered: a lengthy sea of perfectly groomed grass with an occasional bush or tree sprouting in a fertilized field situated in the middle of the indoors. The only place I ever got bug bites from taking a walk on the inside. It still smelled of wet grass where the panpour watered recently and the pansage followed behind to nurture the plants. A few trainers were down at the end of the row duking it out with their pokémon. The average challenger might stop and ask them to point me to the gym leader, but I already knew where his office was.

A gentle rap on the glass announced my presence before I turned the knob and opened the door. The gym leader had his back to me, but his body shape was still recognizable combined with his curly hair. He said, "Who was at the door?" He was referring to the alarm signal he received in there any time someone entered the gym.

"I was."

He must have recognized my voice. Garfield stopped fiddling with his file cabinet instantly and whirled around to see me.

"Air Snubble. You've come back." I had almost forgotten his tendency to call me by dog's names. No doubt remained whether he remembered me.

"I promised I would. It's finally time for me to challenge the Pokémon League."

He hummed. The way his eyes locked onto mine, I got the impression he was assessing my growth strictly through reading me emotionally. I held firm but relaxed, trying to seem as cool and collected as I could.

"Tell me: Did you learn anything useful on your journey?"

Smirking, I said, "I learned that I learned that ghost-type pokémon have the creepiest of origins and should probably be laid to rest than electromagnetically tagged and forced into battle."

"Huh." Garfield seemed impressed. "That may be the most useless tidbit I've ever heard." Then again, maybe he was only impressed by how unimpressive my trivia was.

"Makes all the difference in the world, but kind of a niche market for that knowledge."

"Fair enough."

When he didn't say anything more, I spoke the obvious: "I'm here for the Potassium Badge."

"I suspected that was the case, Balfrou. How many?"

"Just one will do."

He glowered at me.

"You're the defender. You tell me the stakes and I'll rise to the challenge."

"Six pokémon each, battle to incapacitation without a necessary knockout. My very best will grace the field this time—none of that level scaling I offer to first-time trainers. Do you still accept?" I nodded. "Very well. Let's see what you've learned since you left."

Oh, my god, this chapter ended up taking so much longer to write than I thought it would. But overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I did not wrap up every single thing in this chapter. Some of that is intentional to allow for theorizing parts of the story that are not explicit, and part of that is what I found unnecessary since the focus of the story is Gus and less about the minor characters. What loose ends did you hope to see tied up?

I wish to thank everyone who submitted a character for inclusion with this story. Many of you helped shape the way certain events unfolded simply by sparking an idea when I read the descriptions of your character. But more than that, I have to thank everyone who continued reading the story through to its conclusion. Random reviews and PMs during the course of this endeavor is what kept me going. You folks called me out on the clichés and encouraged me through the rest of it, both the fun chapters and the difficult portions. In no way do I pretend the whole of this story resembles a work that has been thoroughly edited and reviewed, but you all helped me keep it going to the end even when things aren't 20th-draft perfect.

Thank you all!

Trivia: Golareece = Golden Fleece + Ares, because of the fluffy armor and Ares is a ram.

I'm blanking on appropriate trivia to provide right now. (I am in need of a short break before I start writing my next story.) What kind of information are you interested in? Would you care to see my planning notes so you can tell how horribly underprepared I was for this project?