Epilogue

The chisel picked at the rock.

Up and down it came and went, gently and nervously tipping away the ever so delicate ore. The evicted debris fell hastily on the way side, as the mount of dirt beneath her feet began to inch up bit by bit. The flashlight flickered under the intense darkness of the cave clearing. Her gaze settled on a sharp tip of exposed artefact. It didn't make its nature immediately obvious, but the gradual prying slowly dug into its surface. Sweats dripped down her sharp features, and caught onto her modest grey locks. She wiped them away in annoyance, before returning to the meticulous process. Little by little, the ore revealed its secrets. A piece of rock on this site could be anything from crusted dirt to fossil, and she hoped it the later.

Presently, she slumped.

The object of interest turned out to be nothing more than a mere unusual combination of mineral and soil. Forty minutes of scrupulous work down the drain, she sighed deeply in frustration. The temperature climbed under the summer heat, and she realised staying inside any longer proved inadvisable. Saved from the sun as she may be, the possibility of light fainting was high, and it would take her quite a bit of way to get back to camp. She decided to leave, and turned her heels. The mid-year sun greeted her at the entrance. She shook her head at the boiling atmosphere, and climbed onto her jeep.

The dessert was lonely and aimless. She asked for the chance to explore this newly discovered dig site, and she was getting exactly what she deserved. Frustrated, Dawn checked her phone.

"Five missed calls?" She murmured to herself, and dialled back the familiar number.

"Dawn," an excited voice greeted her. "Where are you? I've been trying to get hold of you for so long."

"I was on site. What do you want?" The car sped up. There was not another soul around for miles. The only she could see was her camp on the distance.

"I have a special thing to show you," Lucas continued. "A birthday present."

"I'm 19, Luke." Despite saying so, she smiled in appreciation. "Besides, my birthday isn't until another three days."

"This can't wait. I need you to fly to Sandgem, like right now," he pleaded.

"Luke, what's going on here?" She wasn't sure whether to be hopeful of a present or cautious of a prank. Either way, she doesn't get good news that often, so she'd take it either way.

"It's a surprise, just come here."

"It's not a surprise if you told me beforehand."

"It will be once you get here, now hurry up," he finished. "Be safe."

"See ya."

Dawn arrived at the camp no more than ten minutes after. Leaving the jeep in the dust, she scrambled for her trainer belt. She had always preferred the looks and pacing of travelling by vehicle, but times like this she had little choice. Her togekiss sprouted from its ball, and lovingly nudged her at the side. Dawn smiled, and tenderly rubbed its white, avian body.

Presently, she was in the air. From Sinnoh's east coast to Sandgem would take no longer than forty minutes, but it gave her plenty of time to wonder. She thought of Lucas' excitement. Her first guess would be he had found a great breakthrough of some sort, but he said that this had to do with her birthday, so that couldn't be it. Perhaps he had invented some type of advanced scanning device, which would make her job a lot easier. She would appreciate that. The last time she saw him was when he turned nineteen himself a few months back, and wondered what he had in stored for her.

Dawn landed in front of the old Pokemon Research Lab. It held many memories, she recalled. The old wooden retro blue and brown look of old had been replaced with a much more modern and state-of-the-art white concrete and clean energy slanted roof. She knocked on the door. Almost immediately, it burst open.

"Dawn!" Lucas practically jumped in excitement. "You're here."

"Alright, Luke, what's going on?" They greeted each other with smiles, as she entered the lab. Her eyes caught a woman she had not seen before. "Who's that?"

"Pleasure to meet you." The woman graciously stepped forward, extending a feminine hand. Her dark, formal dress hugged the never-aging contour as it swayed with each stride. "My name's Penny, world traveller."

"Dawn, archaeologist." The girl shook the woman's hand cautiously. This was far from what she had previously expected. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting."

"Oh no not at all." Penny waved off the girl's worries and retreated to a seat. "Lucas will explain everything."

"Of course." The boy came up, not missing a beat. He swiped a small box at the table, and handed it to Dawn. "Open it."

She obliged. Inside sat a perfectly spherical orb, with smoothness so impressive she could scarcely believe it wasn't meld. The weight alone proved that to her.

"Isn't this…?"

"It's the Lustrous Orb." Lucas positively beamed at the opportunity. "It was sent to me on my eighteenth birthday."

"From whom?" Dawn raised an eyebrow.

Lucas took the question in great surprise. For the first moment he meant to answer, but his own judgement stopped him. Dawn, however, did not relent on her inquiry, and he was forced to respond. "Roseanne."

"Roseanne?"

As the answer sunk in, Dawn felt her blood pressure boiling with every passing second. The boy hurried placed his hands on the shoulders in an attempt to calm her down.

"Chill, Dawn. I don't know where she is. Now is not the time to get angry."

"Fine." The girl obliged begrudgingly. Exhaling, she turned to him. "Is that it?"

"That's part of what sparked the idea. I realised that an artefact of this power could be harnessed to accomplish something truly magical. However, just this wasn't enough." He made sure she wasn't going to freak, then scrambled for another box. "Enter Ms. Penny here, who was gracious enough to come to me immediately upon stumbling across this artefact during her travels."

Dawn found the counterpart to the timespace orbs, the Adamant Orb, in the other box. She looked at him incredulously.

"What do you do with these, aside from summoning Dialga and Palkia?" She asked.

"Practically anything," Lucas bellowed. He then turned to Penny, apologetic. "I'm afraid what comes next is to stay top secret, but we shall not forget your gratitude, Ms. Penny. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, it's always a pleasure to do my part." The two exchanged a grateful bow. "My companion is waiting, I'm sure she appreciates my early leaving."

"Best of luck on your trip." Dawn politely returned the gesture.

"As to you." The woman waved them goodbye, before disappearing behind the lab door.

"Lovely woman, now back to work." Lucas wasted no time in moving deeper into the facility. Its size had expanded greatly compared to the original. "Over the last two years I've been trying to build a machine capable of harnessing the untapped power of these artefacts."

"Did you do it?" Dawn, curious, followed his every step.

"I barely managed, yes." A smile of genuine satisfaction crept on his face. "Until today, however, I wasn't able to test it. Now with both of the timespace orbs, I finally can." He stopped. "Here we are."

Before them, against the smoothly tiled wall, sat a greenish machine of complex engineering. Its digital screen ran calculations of the highest magnitudes, which flew over her head. To its sides were two pedestals, connected to the engine with a giant power cable.

"That looks familiar," Dawn remarked.

"It's the basic principal which Team Galactic used to harvest the power of the Lake Trio long ago," Lucas explained. "I managed to reverse engineer their technology, and came up with this."

"It looks cool; I'll give you that." Dawn inspected the marble pedestal closely. It didn't make sense as a conductor. "What do you plan to do with it?"

"It's meant to harness the power of space and time, Dawn, it can do anything."

Lucas exposed his empty palms. Taking the cue, she handed him the orbs, which he placed on the two pedestals. Like clockwork, Lucas began to work on the main engine. His fingers moved through the keyboard like magic, leaving her guessing still. Five minutes passed before he cracked his knuckles and abandoned the post.

"Is it done?" She asked, tired.

"Yes."

He moved forward, and pressed the red button in front of the machine. The pedestals began to vibrate. Unlike what Dawn expected, power coursed from the machine to the orbs, as indicated by the movement of the indicator. The energy bank built up, and spark could be seen flying out from the orbs. Lucas took note of the situation, and urged her to take refuge on the other side of the lab to steer clear of any mishaps, which he also did himself. They watched from a twenty metre safe zones as the timespace orbs began flashing alien colours. Lightning burst from them, and reverse to the base of the machine. A strange time portal emerged from the collision, and began to grow. As it did, Lucas' engine growled as well.

"Get down!" He screamed, as the two ducked beneath a nearby table.

An explosion encapsulated the entire space. Dawn was reminded of the void energy she had experienced three years ago, as it crept to every part of the establishment. At this moment, the machine failed, causing the chaos to inertly consume itself back into the point of collapse. Smoke filled the room, and limited visibility to the point of unobservable. When energy returned to the orb, the upset balance within caused both of them to shatter. They kept their head down low, until the smoke began to clear.

There was a cough.

She turned to the boy next to her, and saw he was already staring. Goggles on, he observed the grand result of this volatile experiment. He shook her by the arm, and urged her to get up. She did as he advised. The unidentified coughing began to laugh louder. The smoke began to clear, as she stood frozen. It was not a dream, it was not a trick, it was nail tugging at her heart string sent from the cruel hands of fate. There was someone inside the smoke who wasn't there before.

"Hello?" A sultry, feminine voice called out from behind the clouds. "Where is this place?"

Dawn stood up, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Happy birthday," Lucas whispered to her.

The sound of gliding heels hitting the ground drummed up her heartbeat. She witnessed a dark silhouette emerging, coated in a black, elegant fur coat. Her visions blurred as blonde, luscious tresses came into the clear air.

"Dawn?" The female inquired; sharp, grey eyes darted up and down the vicinity. "Is that you?"

The girl couldn't manage an answer. She just ran as fast as she could forward, into the loving embrace of a familiar face she had never forgotten.