And so here it is.
Thanks to Chris the Com for beta-reading.
The Retelling of Pokémon Colosseum
Epilogue: About Time!
Weeks after the events at Realgam Tower, a party was underway in Duking's house in Pyrite. Most of the guests consisted of members of the Kids Grid from both Pyrite and The Under, and the adults of the group were comprised of Duking, a few of his friends, Silva and Johnson. The police officer was currently offering his homemade collection of pastries but everyone else was wise enough to either graciously decline or dispose of the treat discreetly once his back was turned. The child Marcia had even made a game of trying to sneak the pastry under his tall police hat without Johnson noticing, which was proving to be easier than she had expected.
Balloon and confetti populated the living room they were all currently in. A large banner proclaiming 'GO US' made by the children spanned the bookshelves, and a large piñata of a chubby Es Cade hung from the ceiling. A company had the masterstroke idea of making them shortly after the mayor had been arrested; the new product had proved immensely popular especially when it had turned out that amongst the mayor's other investments had been the Loan Sharks, the group that so many in the region hated.
Johnson's Magikarp had meanwhile been left in a bucket of water by the door.
"Plusle plus plus!" (I like buckets too but they don't taste very nice!) Duking's Plusle told the fish Pokémon happily, jumping up and down so that the Magikarp was sure to see him every second or so.
"Hey," Nett said suddenly as the group conversed, "the news is on!" Duking grabbed the television remote and turned up the volume as the rest ceased their chatter. Nobody had been really interested in the news but today's event was why they were having the party in the first place. The usual obnoxiously cheerful tune of the program played before the woman presenter cleared her throat and shuffled papers to pretend she had a lot of important things to say, despite the fact half the pages were blank and the other half were advertisements for paper.
"Welcome back to the 5:30-" she began, only for the news jingle to start again. She waited for the sound to end before opening her mouth to speak again, but was once more interrupted.
"Do you mind?" she shouted to the side. Meanwhile the cameraman got bored and started to sway the camera side to side.
"Shwooosh," he said. "Swoooossssh... swooooossssh!- uh, sorry," he muttered as the reporter glared angrily at him and moved the device back to its upright position.
"Thank you," the reporter said shortly as the music jungle stopped abruptly a moment later.
"Huh, they seem to be better than usual," Secc said drily to Nett who nodded his mock agreement.
"This time they didn't have to present the news with sock puppets, after all! Well, yet anyways."
"Today in Phenac," the reporter began, "a large parade was held to salute all people credited in the cleanout of Cipher. This was followed by a smaller one in Pyrite, which had been delayed due to a lack of stock of the town's emblem; quiche." The television screen then displayed footage of said parade in the former location.
"About time they got those in stock," one of Duking's friends grumbled as he adjusted his quiche-shaped hat.
"There we are!" Marcia shouted, pointing eagerly at them walking past Phenac's plaza fountain. The kids grinned happily – it had been quite fun even though the musicians in the parade hadn't been very good and most only knew how to play 'Mary had a Little Lamb', and the fact that a jogger with a Castform had shouted loudly at the organisers because he had been unable to perform his 'usual duty' in running around the fountain.
"The parade also served as a sending off for the policemen sent from external regions. As special thanks the current stand-in mayor of Phenac presented them with discount coupons to hotels in Orre should they ever return," the news reporter continued, as footage showed Andrew and his fellow colleagues boarding a plane as reporters tried to extract a few last words from the group.
"Sir, what do you think about going home?" one shouted.
"Which flavour of cheese-flavoured snacks do you prefer!" another queried as the plane door slammed shut and Andrew shouted 'Step on it!' from inside. The pilot seemed to respond quickly as the aircraft sped down the runaway with the reporters giving chase whilst continuing to ask inane questions. A bunch of coupons could be seen hastily chucked out of a window before the plane took to the air. The footage then returned to the reporter, only with the camera zoomed in far too much so only her mouth appeared on the screen. She hadn't appeared to notice however and so continued on.
"The policemen returned today as their work had been officially declared finished by Sheriff Sherles." Now an overlay of Sherles' moustache appeared above the mouth. "They have spent the last few weeks with Sherles and the two heroes Wes and Rui rounding up remaining Cipher agents across the region and retrieving Shadow Pokémon. Places cleared out include an additional Colosseum within The Under. The Under is now the subject of evacuation discussions on whether after several health issues were raised."
"It is good to hear that it is all over now," Duking remarked. "Now I can go back to running the Colosseum!"
"The former mayor and other members of the now-believed finished group Cipher have also been moved to a jail with improved security after people had repeatedly broken in to make fun of them, and in cases even ask for advice on how to start their own criminal organisations. And now for the next news story: Are Wailmer hiding underneath your bed? William is with us for this next investigation."
"BORING!" the children shouted as one, prompting Duking to switch off the show and turn on some music instead.
"Pity Wes wasn't here to celebrate with us, I suppose," Duking remarked. "Should I save some potatoes for him and Rui when they get back from Agate?"
"Plus!" (No!)
A far larger group, albeit only due to the sheer number of Pokémon present, was meanwhile gathered around the Relic Stone in Agate Village. Most were Shadow Pokémon that had not yet been fully purified, with many of those recently claimed from Cipher agents at the tower or across the region after the showdown against Nascour and Es Cade. Having checked the records finally obtained by Nett when he had hacked into Cipher's files, they were content that they had obtained all forty-eight Shadow Pokémon that had been in Orre, and also obtained a few more that had been put up for auction on the internet.
The Shadow Pokémon were watched by Wes, Rui and Sherles' other Pokémon in case they got too aggressive against one another and accidentally destroyed the Relic Stone, but the calming effect of the forest seemed to lessen that danger considerably. The three people had one other person in their company in Tom; Sherles explained that due to strange legal issues, although Wes had snagged the legendary beast, Tom had ownership of the Pokémon after having held the Ball for the required minimum length of time of five minutes and four seconds.
"Ah, it'll be good to take a break after tonight," Sherles said softly, looking at the Pokémon around him seated on the stone path. "But before we do this, I will ask you Tom; whatever do you intend to do with your Raikou?" He then glanced at the yellow Pokémon who was lying down next to the Entei and Suicune, which were under extra surveillance from Hariyama and Espeon.
"...Espi Espeon," (...I much prefer Entei when he's quiet, )Espeon conferred to his fellow partners.
"Umb!" (Agreed!)
"Illy been realy leashy!" Tom responded with a stern nod and a frown.
"...Release it? But why?" Rui asked with a small frown.
"Too biggy," Tom answered. "Andy he... takey ma drinky! No politeys!"
"Well... that's fair enough I suppose," Sherles responded with a shrug. "After all, we're also going to release Suicune into the wild again and let it find its own way back to Johto."
"Wait, did you tell Eusine about Suicune?" Rui asked curiously.
"No," Sherles replied. "Took a while to distract him so we could bring it to Realgam Tower before, and here now as well..."
"Then..." Wes said slowly, pondering this news. "Then I will also release Entei." The man nodded as he finished his statement and smiled. "It's nice to have a legendary and I'm sure it'll be far easier to control when purified, but... it doesn't really feel right to own it after all this. And besides, I'm sure I'd still be one of the very few in the world to be able to say that I had a legendary Pokémon!"
"Alright then, we'll release them together then after we're done, if we're successful," Sherles said.
"And as you said, you didn't find anyone who claimed to own our current Pokémon before they were snagged, right?" Wes continued. "Meaning we can keep them."
"Yes, that's correct," Sherles said, smiling at his statement. "The rest will go to their original owners or be released into the wild, but luckily the Pokémon you used a lot were among those that weren't claimed."
"Hello, people!" Miror B exclaimed as he suddenly waltzed into the clearing and marvelled at the place. "My, what a perfect place for some calming meditation," he added as he switched his radio's music to a calm and soothing tune.
"Greetings, Miror B," Sherles said, walking forward and offering a handshake as Tom took a few steps backwards uncertainly. "I'm glad you were able to respond to our request. After all, we thought you might be able to handle a number of instruments."
"Oh, anything for you, after all the trouble I'm sure I gave you in Pyrite," Miror B responded. "Now, where is this Time Flute you mentioned?"
"Here it is," Rui said, gently handing over the object they had been given by Vander, as well as the book about the Relic Stone flipped open to a specific page. "It'll supposedly disappear after you play the song and Celebi appears, so don't be too surprised about that. And this is the tune you're meant to play apparently..."
"Oh, how delightful!" Miror B exclaimed. "Strange choice, but delightful! Shall I play it now?"
"Might as well," Wes commented. Miror B smiled and raised the object to his lips and began to blow air through the flute, producing a clear series of sounds. Umbreon subconsciously bobbed his head to the tune of 'I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts'.
"You know, I think I might know why this is the song that summons Celebi," Rui said after a while of watching Umbreon.
"Oh?" Wes asked, raising one eyebrow. "Why is it then?"
"It's a timeless classic," she giggled. Both Wes and Sherles tried and failed to suppress laughter at the remark but were interrupted when a bright green flash was emitted above the Relic Stone. A moment later a Celebi appeared. The small fairy-like legendary was a pale green colour and had small clear wings. It hummed to itself softly before it opened its eyes and jumped a bit in the air in surprise to see so many visitors. All people stopped laughing and stared at the Celebi. Rui's mouth hung open slightly and Tom considered whether he should offer the newcomer a drink.
"Cel...Cele Celebi," (Hello... I am the time traveller Celebi,) it said softly.
"Fere. Feraligatr?" (Hello. Why do you have eyeliner?) Feraligatr asked a moment later, breaking the silence from everyone.
"Celi... Celebi!" (Oh, that... it'll be in fashion in a few years!) Celebi said quickly, rubbing at its face anxiously, seemingly embarrassed by the question.
"Espeon! Espeon Espi?" (That's not important! Anyways we would like you to purify these Pokémon here if it's not too much trouble?) Espeon asked politely, bowing his head before his fellow Psychic legendary. He made sure that the humans also understood this part of their conversation.
"And," Miror B said quickly, "what is the music scene going to be like in say, a few years?"
"Celebi..." (That's a lot for one request...) Celebi remarked, frowning slightly. It then turned to Miror B. "Cele bi." (Disco will be in.)
"Disco, huh..." the music man mused as Espeon rolled his eyes at him.
"Umbreon," Wes said quietly. The Dark type sighed slightly.
"Umbre..." (Oh fine...) Umbreon muttered before stepping forward and looking at the Celebi intently. "Umb!"(Oi!)he shouted. The legendary Pokémon turned to him and gave a squeak of surprise upon seeing Umbreon's Mean Look attack, despite an inevitable 'Aww' from Rui.
"Celebibibi!" (Okay then I'll do it!) it shouted. It then flew around each Shadow Pokémon, spreading a strange green glow behind it upon the creatures as it flew rapidly. Once each Shadow Pokémon was covered to its satisfaction it raised its short arms and clapped twice. Rui gasped; all the dark purple auras vanished suddenly as the green engulfed them. Each Pokémon gave a contented sigh as well, as if they had been carrying a large weight upon their backs for a day and could finally take it off.
"It's done," Rui beamed. "Thanks, Celebi!" she said as she turned around, but it had already disappeared.
"So, what now for you two?" Sherles asked as they later sat together on a cliff edge in Agate Village with Espeon and Umbreon sitting on the teenager's laps. They had already dealt with the other Pokémon and were watching the sunset as the three legendary Johto Beasts ran off towards the warm glowing light together, sand billowing behind them as they sprinted through the desert. Sherles noticed that the two teenagers were holding hands quite firmly at the moment and chuckled softly.
"Well," Wes began as he hugged Rui softly, "Rui's going back to her family, and I suppose I'm following. I've no other attachment to this region after all."
"Fair enough," Sherles replied. "Ever think you'll be back?"
"Well, who knows? Maybe," Wes said. "After all..." He pulled out a bunch of coupons from his pocket and examined them. "These things aren't limited to one-use-only and can stack, so technically any hotel in the region would have to pay me to stay!"
"Espeon," (Always the scourge,) Espeon commented drily.
"And I may come back another time to visit my grandparents too," Rui said. "Hopefully if that's the case I won't get kidnapped again."
"Indeed," Sherles laughed.
"But for now," Wes continued, standing up and shaking Sherles' hand, "I suppose we'll be gone for a while..." he paused and pondered what to say and clicked his fingers in an attempt to jog his memory. "How should I put it..." he wondered. "You could say that it's..."
"Umbre?" (The end?)
THE END
Thanks for reading, guys! It's good to see that I've finished my first fic finally, four and a half years after I started and while juggling modding, other projects and real life stuff. Better late than never I suppose! =p Thanks in particular to everyone who ever reviewed; whether the comments were short or long, I've appreciated them and it's nice to know that the story has entertained a lot of people across the places I've posted this (and continue to post on for that matter).
And thanks to people who have happened to have done extra things; be it advertising it on their youtube Let's Plays... twice, voting it for sppf's fanfiction awards for a few categories and netting a few awards in the process (such as funniest fic, scene and character), or making a tvtropes page for the fic without my knowledge and contributing to it, writing a review for it on the main PE2K website, or for making various amusing pictures. (List/links on sppf/pc).
Thanks also to cieux of sppf who made the main banner for my fic. Lord knows it was better than my own attempt in Paint at the time... also displayed in the epilogue on sppf/pc.
Thanks also to Genius Sonority (and The Pokemon Company) for making the game! After all this parody relies on that creation, one with a number of flaws but a good deal of fun in it too. Worth picking up and trying out if you never did before.
Lastly and most certainly not least, special thanks to Chris the Com - a good friend of mine who has beta-read the latter half of the fic and offered ideas such as DAKIM PUNCH - and Hype_Chao who also offered ideas such as Miror B's Umbrella Afro in the Miror B battle chapter.
It's not quite the end for this fic; I'm in the process of doing minor edits to older chapters as I post them in other places as well, but in the grand scheme of things, this is finished. Glad to have entertained, and hopefully any other fics I may do shall do the same.
To end, I think it only fitting to link to the credit music of Pokemon Colosseum. youtube . com/watch?v=JHq2Ahc0zMw
