The last stop on the road to fame.
This was it. The moment had arrived, and Rosa was just as scared of what lay ahead as she'd always imagined she would be.
"Don't worry," Nate said, as if he had confidence in her. "You just have to beat one more opponent, and your journey is over."
"But Nate," Rosa whined, and pointed at a mountain of stairs leading up to the Champion's area. "The stairs!"
"Rosa." Nate pointed to something off in the distance. Rosa followed his finger, then brightened considerably.
"An escalator! Why didn't I see that earlier! Come on, Nate, one more battle and we can go back to Aspertia City!"
But the escalator only took one thing off Rosa's mind, and she spent the entire ride healing, rearranging, and hugging her Pokémon, often through their balls.
Once the humans stepped off the escalator, Greg released himself to stand by his trainer, one enormous hand on her shoulder to show her that he believed in her. She smiled weakly.
"I know you guys believe in me," she admitted. "It's my own confidence that has issues. I'm sure you'll do your best."
The Emboar growled at her, as if he were telling her that she would be ok and not to be stupid. It was a lost cause. She knew, subconsciously at least, that the strength of a Pokémon was dependent on the strength of a trainer, and that was why Pokémon let themselves get captured. But it was hard for her to think of that when other things were more imminent.
There was laughter from up ahead. The Champion did have a visitor, after all. A guy and a girl, both laughing, entertained by something unknown.
"I hate you," the girl giggled, clearly meaning otherwise.
The guy knew this, and his voice was gentle. "No, you don't."
The two heroes entered the room, and the laughter instantly ceased. The Champion and the visitor spun around to face the new arrivals, both looking rather ashamed of themselves.
The girl was Iris, wearing a gown and tiara with her hair up in a style even more impossible than the last time they had seen her. The guy was somebody Nate and Rosa had never seen before, but they were overwhelmed by the greenness of him. Green hair, green eyes, a big green bow tie, paired with what seemed to be a waiter's uniform.
Rosa was the first to speak. "Um...Champion?"
It turned out that Iris had been Champion all along, having taken over from Alder almost a full year ago. The young man standing with her was a good friend of hers, a former Gym Leader of Striaton City. Iris had introduced him as Cilan, but he had fallen into near-silence as he adjusted to the presence of the others. Rosa didn't care. He wasn't her opponent.
Nate was surprised, but looking back, he figured he shouldn't be. Iris had found them wandering more than once, each time being called away for important business, and Champions usually did stuff like that. "So...the Elite Four are four grown men and women...taking orders from a twelve-year-old?"
Iris bared her teeth like a wild Mightyena. "I'm fourteen!" she hissed. "I'm just short!"
Nate held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry."
Cilan held Iris back, looking instead at the pair. "Are you here for battle?" he asked softly, and Rosa quickly took her place at the challenger's side of the field. Iris, taking encouragement from her friend, plucked out her own Pokeball and released a Hydreigon.
The dragon fell to Greg, though it wasn't without a fight. The next in line was a Lapras, taken down easily with Ampharos. Druddigon didn't last long against Altaria, either.
Iris wasn't giving up, even after losing half of her team. "You've prepared, Rosa. Let's see if it was enough. Archeops, let's go!"
Rosa had the perfect counter for Archeops, and called Altaria back. "Azumarill, your turn!"
"Archeops, start with Dragon Claw!"
Azumarill's cry echoed through the room, but Rosa had a plan for this.
"You start with Attract!" she commanded, knowing that the Archeops species was predominantly male. The attack hit, clearing the way for an Aqua Tail.
Iris growled. "Not on my watch. Archeops, here's a Full Restore!" she stated, spraying her Pokémon with it. It didn't cure his attraction to the water bunny, but it was enough to annoy Rosa.
"Aqua Tail again!" Rosa ordered, and Archeops seemed not to hear his trainer call for an Endeavor, and one Bubblebeam from Azumarill finished him off.
Iris plucked another ball from her belt. "I see your strategy. Why don't you try a female Pokémon next? Aggron, go!"
Aggron had taken down both Azumarill and Ampharos, but had fallen to Greg. Greg himself had lost to the Champion's Haxorus, and both Zoroark and Julian had been used as 'necessary sacrifices' to use her Max Revives on Greg and Ampharos. She felt a bit guilty about using her friends as living meat shields, but they knew she still cared.
But this was it. Haxorus and Greg, once again. The first one to hit would win the match.
Iris gave the first order. "Haxorus, use Outrage!"
"Hit back hard! Hammer Arm!"
The Emboar's movement collided with the dragon's. Both of them fell at once, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Iris and Rosa held their breath, waiting for the remaining Pokémon to surface. Rosa still had Ampharos, but if Haxorus was down...
The dust cleared. Both Pokémon were sprawled on the ground, unable to fight. Rosa was the winner by default.
She now had the title of Champion.
Iris called Haxorus back, too shocked to go on. "I don't believe it," she whispered, staring at the ball in her hands. "I thought I was the strongest trainer in Unova. I even beat Alder. But this..." She blinked, then shook her head, quickly regaining her composure. "It's all right. I knew I'd have to lose sometime. Thanks for cheering for us, boys," she added, glancing over at Nate and Cilan, "but you have to stay here. Rosa still has to see the Hall of Fame."
"Iris, I wanted to beat you," Rosa said, unable to keep her nerves under control. "I didn't want to take your title. Won't the Hall of Fame make me Champion?"
"Yes." Iris shrugged. "And no. Replacing a Champion is a complicated process that varies depending on who currently holds the title. Alder had a tournament to replace him when he stepped down, but most of us go for choosing someone in the Hall of Fame. All this will do is put you in the running for when I want to quit. Come on," she added, pulling the other girl through doors Rosa hadn't noticed at first.
Later on, Rosa wouldn't be able to remember much of what happened in the Hall of Fame that day. She could barely remember her own name at the time. She could only see the Pokémon she had brought with her, their images flashing on a screen as their balls were scanned.
Altaria, beautiful and practical, captured last but certainly not the last in Rosa's heart. Zoroark, proving that she had nothing to fear from the dark, or at least Dark-type Pokémon. Julian, kind and mischievous as any little boy, brave enough to take on a Hydreigon and Ghetsis himself. Azumarill, the good friend that had helped her find a way to cross the water to the Team Plasma ship. Ampharos, her first capture, who had seemed to know exactly what Colress was even back in Castelia City, when Rosa herself was still blinded by promises of science and lollipops.
And Greg, the mighty Emboar. She wondered if this would have been any different if she'd chosen Oshawott or Snivy. Sure, her battles with Hugh might have gone better, but if she hadn't chosen the cute little piggy with the fiery breath, Toby might have gone back to Nate when he'd called him, and Nate would never have encountered Bianca or the other kids with stupid hair. And if it hadn't been for Nate, Rosa wouldn't be where she was.
"I should actually give Professor Juniper a sincere thank-you, I suppose," she whispered, fingering the red and white ball. She recoiled when the healing machine started going off, but Iris just laughed.
"It's healing them. Just go with it."
Collecting their Pokémon, the two left the room to rejoin Nate and Cilan. And Hugh, as it turned out.
"Hey, Rosa!" Hugh called, bursting through the door. "The Elite Four let me pass when I told them I knew you. I brought something," he added, tugging on a rope that Rosa hadn't noticed was in his hand.
The creature at the other end of the makeshift leash was something similar to a horse. No, a unicorn, with a large horn poking out from its forehead. Rosa had no idea what this thing was, but that was unimportant compared to what the creature had in its teeth.
"My bag!" Nate cried, surprising Iris and Cilan. He handed the camera to a visibly concerned Cilan, gave him orders not to drop it, and approached the unicorn-like creature, pulling rubber gloves out of his pockets and putting them on as he came closer.
"I won't hurt you," he promised it. "I won't hurt you, I won't try to catch you, and you'll be going on your way as soon as I'm done. I just want whatever's in this bag back..."
The creature held on tighter, and when Nate grabbed the bag, the thing pulled back.
"You might want to be careful with that," Iris warned. "It's Keldeo, a Pokémon similar to Virizion and his friends."
"All of whom Nate and I encountered on our journey," Rosa sighed. "Trust me, he's going to let Keldeo keep the bag. Do you have a sack or something that he can carry his possessions home in?"
Hugh had a question for Nate alone. "What's with the gloves?"
"Huh?" Nate was momentarily distracted, but didn't loosen his grip, much to Keldeo's irritation. "Oh. Terrakion peed on my bag."
A look of utter disgust crossed Keldeo's face, and it immediately let go of the bag, just as Nate gave one big tug. The boy fell over, all his spare Potions and Pokeballs falling out on top of him. Surprising no one, all of the food was gone.
Keldeo, having had his fun, broke free of Hugh's leash, shot water into his mouth with a Water Gun from his hoof, gargled, spat it out on Nate, and bolted.
Rosa blinked. "That was weird. The other three all attacked somebody."
And that was when Keldeo burst back in, kicked Hugh in the shin, and took off once more.
Hugh, having lost his balance in the attack, just threw an old Potion at the place Keldeo had disappeared from. "That little jerk."
Nate, Rosa and Hugh traveled back to Aspertia City together, going through each and every city that they had passed through on the way. They went back to Humilau because Nate wanted to go through the Marine Tube again, and of course ended up hanging out with everyone's favorite freaky fish guy. Marlon congratulated them on defeating Team Plasma, gave Rosa extra congratulations for entering the Hall of Fame, and sent them back through the Marine Tube.
"I still say he's a merman," Nate told her bluntly as he led her down the path. Rosa just rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the side, and Hugh didn't bother to ask.
When they made it to Opelucid, the ice had all but melted, and Drayden accepted their offer to help thaw things out. Greg and Toby actually were able to melt all that ice, now that time had passed and Kyurem was no longer held captive by Team Plasma.
They caught a plane ride from Lentimas Town with Skyla, and Rosa was a little afraid when she saw, for the first time, the girl from the Strange House. But Nate managed to convince her that it was all in her head, and since the girl had vanished by the time Hugh looked, there was nothing to prove otherwise.
They arrived in Mistralton City at nearly midnight, but continued on their way bright and early the next morning. They were led by Clay through Chargestone Cave, congratulated once more on everything they'd done, and brought over to Rood. That was an awkward experience, but Nate and Rosa managed to convince Hugh to listen to what Rood, Anthea and Concordia had to say. The girls had been pleased to hear that their adoptive brother had returned, though a bit disappointed that the girl with the Serperior hadn't come back with him, and agreed to help Hugh convince his sister's Liepard to come out of its ball.
They left Qwilfish-boy with the reformed original Plasmas, since they figured Unfezant could always bring him home, and Hugh had said that he'd try to work on judging them for their current actions rather than their shady pasts. They met with Burgh at one of Elesa's fashion shows, and he gave them a ride through a parade that the citizens of Castelia City had organized after hearing the news. Rosa had been thrilled to see her father in the crowd, and had waved much more confidently when she'd spotted him. She'd give him the whole story later.
Taking the boat back to Virbank, Rosa told the captain to wish Roxie good luck at her next concert as she hurried home to see her mom. But there was one more stop between there and Aspertia.
They met Cheren and Bianca at Alder's house, where the Gym Leader and the ex-Champion were having the battle Cheren had waited two years for. Bianca was cheering loudest of all once Cheren's Emboar took down Alder's Excavalier, and Rosa gave her a suggestive smile.
"So, you and Cheren, huh?"
Bianca turned red. "Sort of," she admitted. "He hasn't exactly come out in the open about it, but he's not one to lie. If someone asks him about it, he'll tell them."
Rosa went silent for about twenty more seconds. And then: "Hey, Cheren! What's going on with you and Bianca?"
Cheren gave her a Look. "What, can't you tell?" he called back, before swapping out Emboar for Stoutland.
Bianca shook her head. "It's not polite to ask him in the middle of a battle, Rosa. Wait until it's over."
Rosa didn't have to. By the way Bianca hugged him at the end of it all, once the match had been declared a draw by Alder's grandson, there was definitely something there that wasn't there before.
When they finally returned to Aspertia City, the pair suddenly found themselves stopped in the middle of a forked road. One road broke off to Nate's house, the other would take Rosa back to her mom. But which mother got to see her child first?
"How about we meet at the lookout point tomorrow?" Rosa offered. "I'm going to go to my dad's in a few days, but we can have until then to hang out."
"Sounds like a plan," Nate said, shifting his camera to his other hand. "You can go be with your mom tonight. My parents are going to want to hear and see everything already," he added, making a face.
Rosa laughed. "Don't forget, we still have a date planned," she reminded him. And then, surprising even herself, she hugged him once again. "Goodbye for now," she whispered. "It's been fun."
She heard him laugh and felt his arms wrap around her, too. "It was fun," he agreed. "But I wouldn't do it again."
"Definitely not."
Breaking apart, the two waved goodbye and headed to their respective homes. Rosa's mother was waiting for her by the door. The two shared no words as they walked inside together, and Rosa hung her visor on the hat rack by the window.
"I take it you're glad to be home?" her mom asked, smiling slightly.
"Yeah. You could say that."
Rosa pushed open her bedroom door to find it just as she'd left it. She dropped her bag onto the floor before going righ to the window. After a moment of consideration, she pulled the pillows from the windowsill and threw them onto the bed, knowing her mother probably wouldn't let her sleep on such dusty things.
She'd regret that in the morning, but for now Rosa threw the old baby blanket on top of the pillows and tucked in the edges, and headed out the door one more time to tell her mother the whole story.