"Better late than never, we always say."

"You...you're someone special."


Protector of Silence

Epilogue

Arceus glided through the endless white clouds, rolling and overlapping each other. It's golden pointed hooves split the white fog around his legs as he came forwards, making his way towards the platform of cloud with the sun's golden rays seemingly exploding out from behind it.

Arceus stopped, it's red and green eyes narrowing slightly. There was something standing on the platform. Arceus grew closer and it's eyes widened.

The stranger was a young boy, barely 10 years of age. His hair was quite messy and resembled fine soot, whilst his eyes were indigo in colour and his skin olive. His clothes were aboriginal and the same colour as his eyes and he wore a brown headband with two feathers, red and yellow respectively, poking out of the side of it.

Arceus' eyes narrowed further. It knew this boy, but why would he come here now?

"What are you doing here?!" Arceus asked in a half-snarl.

The boy dipped his head with a smile and recited something Arceus had never heard before, but guessed was a prophecy:

"Lightnin' strikes de forest, a ray of warmth shall absorb it, at Ho-Oh's Howe. Fire burns de seasoned earth, a ray of warmth shall smother it, at Ho-Oh's Howe. Water floods de swayin' fields, a ray of warmth shall evaporate it, at Ho-Oh's Howe. Eons soar across de darkenin' sky, a ray of warmth shall sooth them, at Ho-Oh's Howe. Birds fill de sky with dread, a ray of warmth shall bring hope to dem, at Ho-Oh's Howe. A legacy es born, a child es lost, a ray of warmth shall bring peace to all, at Ho-Oh's Howe."

Arceus glided forwards a little, now riveting with anger.

"What is this nonsense?! By what do you mean coming here?!"

The boy didn't answer. Instead, he turned and walked away, vanishing into the light. As he walked away, he began singing something, surprising Arceus greatly which his words.

"A howlin' gale will save our worlds, de sun and moon will continue to protect it, a pale-furred guardian will brin' a new beginnin' to all vorlds, a summer breeze shall save what has been lost."


A hoe flew forward across the dirt, landing on the other end of the patch. The farmer pulled the hoe back toward him, breaking up the soil. Now the village kids had left he had an hour or so before night fell to get started on his some-what project.

"Little late in the season to be planting, isn't it?"

The farmer didn't recognise the voice, but he was on a tight schedule before the twilight ended so he didn't turn to face the owner of said voice behind him.

"Better late than never, we always say" the farmer responded.

The stranger laughed. "Mind if I sit here?"

Not quite sure what the stranger meant by 'here', the farmer stopped to wipe his brow and shrug. He heard the stranger sit down with a sigh, and he took note it wasn't a very old voice - rather high-pitched as if it hadn't broken yet, but somehow he had a feeling it wasn't a particularly young child he was dealing with.

"How long have you been tending this land?"

"Well, my grandfather bought the land and the adjoining house - my family never saw a reason to leave" the farmer explained, getting back to hoeing.

"Not even through the war?"

It was a strange question to ask, but the farmer took it in his stride. "It never spread down here - and I reckon Fiore took the worst of it."

"That may be the only thing the Fiorians agree on."

Another strange comment. The farmer frowned as he continued working. "Are you from Fiore then?"

He couldn't help but think of the Fiore ranger that had staggered onto this farm twelve years ago.

"Oh, well I was born somewhere far, far away, probably. But I was fostered in this area."

"Really?" the farmer raised an eyebrow, still not turning around. "I have a son like that. He's away at Ranger School at the moment." He sighed. "Hope he's happy there - he never seemed to be happy here."

"How so?"

"Well, he was always going on about his real family - said he wanted to find them" the farmer answered, pulling up a weed and tossing it over his shoulder. "I don't know if he was ever happy with us."

"Well, to go to Ranger School he must be a caring and intelligent young man - clearly you raised him well."

The farmer paused for a second before continuing with his work. "You think?"

"Most definitely. And maybe he really does feel happy being a part of your family - he just needed a good shock to realise that."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and he'll probably tell you that himself when he comes to terms with it."

The farmer almost laughed. "Well, he won't be telling me anything. I'm afraid he's been audibly challenged for as long as I can remember."

"Oh. Mute?"

"I believe the technical term is 'audibly challenged'" the farmer explained "No logical reason for him to be so though."

The stranger sighed. "Well I suppose a lot of psychic beings have trouble speaking in the first decade or so of their life."

The farmer was about to respond when he realised something. "How did you know he was a...?"

He finally turned around, but ended up dropping the hoe in shock. Sitting on one of the large rocks at the entrance to the farm was a very familiar face. Though he was slightly taller and had darker brown hair and he was wearing a green cloak the farmer had never seen before, it was blindingly obvious who this 'stranger' was.

"Kellyn?" the farmer was in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

The boy rose to his feet, looking rather sheepish to say the least. "Hi...Dad."

Still in disbelief. "You're—"

"Not 'audibly challenged', yeah I know" Kellyn finished for him. He seemed almost quite flustered - his sweating hands clutching onto his sleeves and his chin refusing to remain up for more than a second. "S-Sorry it took so long."

"So long?" the farmer...the father...was confused "Son, it's only been a year. That's how long you were—"

"No! No, not that!" Kellyn quickly cut him off "I mean...for what I said before, I mean," he bit his lip and took a breath "For...for not realising I...I had a family already." A smile worked it's way back onto his face, but it was a nervous one. "I...I'm sorry."

The father just smiled and brought his son into a hug. "You realise now. That's all that matters."

Kellyn swallowed and almost felt tears run. "Thank you...Dad."


A shooting star whizzed across the sky, bright flashes of white and yellow streaming out behind it in its wake. The seven-year-old knelt up on her bed, peering out her bedroom window with the window thrown open so she could stare up at the sparkling stars. Her dark-green eyes lit up even more when she saw the shooting star falling to earth - and it looked like it was going to fall close to her house!

"A shooting star!" she gasped.

She swung herself off the bed, pulling the window closed as she did so (Daddy was always being told off for leaving windows open by Mummy and she was determined to be better than him) and raced over to the door. She carefully opened her bedroom door without a sound so Mummy and Daddy wouldn't hear her and tiptoed along the corridor. Peering down the stairs before she crept down them, she took her coat from the wooden peg shaped like a Sunkern and quietly opened and closed the front door behind her.

Now out in the open air, she could see the stars dusting the black sky, and the bright light falling from the sky. Hurrying out to the Partner Farm, she craned her neck back to watch the shooting star: falling from the heavens straight towards her!

'I could reach out and catch it!' she realised, holding her hands out.

She noticed the star wasn't very big - probably no bigger than a capture disk - and was falling a little to the left of her, so she quickly sidestepped so she was back in it's path. With an explosion of silver and yellow sparks and a ripple of comforting warmth, the star flew into her hands, feeling like a warmed stone in her hands but not hot enough to inflict pain.

"Wow!" the girl gasped, jade eyes sparkling. She cupped the star in her palms, still sparkling with light as bright as a mini sun. But the light seemed to flicker and dim at times, and a sad aura seemed to eminate from it.

"Are you alright?" she asked, frowning with concern.

"N-No" a small, tired voice whispered, and the girl was sure it was the star speaking.

"You can talk!" the girl gasped with a huge smile "Where are you from?!"

"...A long, long way away" the voice whispered again "Another world. Another dimension. I was part of a group, but was cast aside. They never really liked me, but now they want me gone for good. I didn't have anywhere to go so I just...fell."

The girl felt a sadness in the pit of her heart as she realised the light was almost crying.

"Are you sad?" she asked. Best to ask after all.

She didn't get an exact reply. But instead she got a question: "W-Who are you?"

The girl perked up, grinning. "My name is Summer! Nice to meet you!"

"You...you're someone special."

Summer wanted to glow with pride upon hearing that. Sure, her daddy told her it all the time - but this was a star! Or at least, she thought so. But it fell from the sky - surely it had to be a star!

"Maybe...maybe you're who I've been waiting for..."

"Huh?" Summer didn't understand what this meant.

"Please...please can I stay here? So I won't be alone?"

"Sure!" Summer smiled "If it makes you happy!"

"Summer, if you ever need help, I'll always be there. This will never be forgotten. Thank you."

Summer cupped her palms together, encasing the 'star' between them her hands as light escaped through cracks between her fingers and palms. She felt it soak through her skin into her body, filling her with happiness and peace. Placing her now empty hands still over her heart, Summer closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of it's warmth spreading throughout her body, eternally grateful for its new resting place.

"A shooting star is a sign of greatness some day" Summer found herself saying in words she didn't think were her own "A sign of a great destiny." She smiled up at the stars, watching them turning the sky from black to silver "And someday, our destinies will be the greatest of them all."


Someday, this world and all others would be saved and protected by the heroes standing beneath this blaze of stars...

...But that's another story