Chapter Twenty-One: Selfless
For a moment, Lunick's world was a nightmare. A twisted flurry of colors, sounds and sensations, like a vortex of time and space, one that he was right in the middle off. It was like he was in a freefall, yet there was neither a bottom or a top for the fall anywhere. It just continued… and continued… and continued…
However, without warning and a fraction of a second after Lunick gained control of his senses, he fell on the damp grass, managing to catch his fall with his hands instinctively, avoiding hitting his face. The small exit portal he appeared from crackled and fizzled away above him, the light of the energy dimming, revealing the darkened Safari Zone around him.
Lunick was back, but saw no one. Kris had promised to follow him, but now, Lunick had no hope of knowing what came of her battle against Domino. But he then shook his head. Kris wouldn't want him to worry about her. Kris would tell him to look for the others. Wesley, Iris, Blaine, Lyra, the professor… none of them were anywhere to be found. It was just the Safari Zone, but no Pokémon, no people, little light sources except one provided by the moon and the lampposts scattered infrequently around the area. The sun had set while the group was stuck in Ultra Space.
It was an awful feeling. For all he knew, Pryce could still be out there and all of his friends could be dead. To alleviate his anxiety, Lunick took out Luxray and Sceptile from their Poké Balls. The two Pokémon flanked Lunick, with the star-shaped tip of Luxray's tail glowing and providing some light. Lunick smiled at it, remembering the Manectric he had lost in Johto so long ago.
Except for him, it was only maybe half a year. Lunick spared the thought about his friends back in Alph Valley. He was just another child whose mother didn't survive the birth, quite common at that time, while his father was nowhere to be seen, most likely killed in one battle or another long before. Taken in by the monks at Alph Valley, Lunick was trained to be a warrior. For the first 18 years of his life, that's all he knew. He may have thwarted some robbers and fought off wild Pokémon attacks in his time, and made some connections to the monks and the townspeople, but he never felt like he was doing anything groundbreaking with his life.
Walking through the Safari Zone, Lunick took a good look at the flora around him. That had always been the most important thing to him - nature. Lunick was reminded of his time wandering the wilderness near Alph Valley after going to and coming back from his various assignments. That had always been the time he had valued the most. Even as cities and towns were built in the place of the forests and meadows he once traversed, Lunick felt joy looking at the trees around the Safari Zone, believing that if the people of this time were still willing to protect areas like this, they still had hope for them.
Kris had called him naive for his ideals many times. Lunick smiled at the thought - maybe she had a point, but if he hadn't been so steadfast in his ideals, Team Aqua would have never recruited him, and he would have never met Kris.
~o~O~o~
Location: Summerland Docks, Fiore
Many months ago…
Lunick was letting his new Luxio drink from his water bottle by the docks. The sight of all that seawater which could not be drunk had made the Pokémon quite thirsty. The sun was setting and Lunick had just finished escorting a shipment of new Capture Stylers to the Summerland base. All that was to be done was to wait for a ship to arrive to bring him back to Almia for a good night's rest.
But, as fate would have it, someone else was out that late by the docks. A vehicle pulled over not too far from Lunick. He had already learned not to be shocked by these machines, but what did surprise him were the white uniforms the people emerging from the vehicle - a truck, Lunick reminded himself - were wearing. Just as the outfits that principal Lamont had pointed out to him.
Go-Rock Squad, Lunick thought to himself.
At this point, Lunick had a few options. He could alert the Summerland base, hope that help would appear in time, most likely in the form of the overzealous Solana.
As Lunick witnessed the Go-Rock Squad members dumping the truck's cargo of broken Capture Stylers in the sea, however, all the other options became irrelevant. The only thing he could do was to march over to the truck and demand the gangsters to stop dumping waste into the sea.
Their response was to whip out their Power Stylers, exactly what Lunick had hoped them to do. The Ranger handbook was a bit different from the warrior code Lunick was used to in his own time, but there was always a specific rule: all other rules regarding Pokémon and their use in battle flew out the window when it came to protecting yourself and others.
The Go-Rock Squad members didn't know what hit them - literally, as Lunick ordered Luxio to blind them with Flash before taking out his extending baton and attacking the grunts. One by one, all of them fell off the truck as Lunick striked, moving too fast to be stopped or even grabbed, jumping gracefully around the truck, hitting the grunts one after another.
The few grunts that managed to escape were stopped by Luxio's Thunder Wave, and within a few minutes, all the grunts were neatly bundled in a package, ready for the Area Rangers to collect and sentence.
But Lunick was alerted by the sound of clapping coming from behind him. Readying his baton, he turned around and was confused to see two people dressed in strange, blue pirate-esque gear: a tall, dark-haired woman and a very muscular man without a shirt, both applauding him.
"What do you want?!" Lunick snapped. "Are you with them?"
"You takin' a piss, bruv?" the woman said, which Lunick couldn't quite understand. "We saw you givin' these blokes what for and came to congratulate you!"
"Oh! Bro, that was so cool," shouted the muscular man in a much higher voice than what Lunick expected. "Can you tell me how you did that?! Ooowahhh!"
"W… what?"
"Ignore 'im, mate, he's just too stoked about our latest recruit," said the woman. "Name's Shelly, and this 'ere's Matt. We're from Team Aqua. We're an..."
Shelly took out a piece of paper she started reading from in a more official tone.
"..,an organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of the world's seas and oceans," she said. "Basically we wollop any polluters or other gits tryin' to mess with the sea… like those dirty Team Magma cu-"
"HOOOWEEE!" yelled Matt. "What's your name, bro? I gotta tell the boss about this!"
"...it's Lunick. I work for the Ranger School."
"Yeah, that's cool and all," Matt said and nodded. "But don't you want to do something more. You're clearly the type of guy who really cares about the sea, just like us? Do you really feel like you fit in here with these Rangers?"
Lunick frowned. It was as if this strangely dressed guy had read his mind. Sure, Lunick enjoyed the Ranger lifestyle and principal Lamont had been very helpful in easing Lunick into this time period.
But whenever Lunick had suggested more direct ways of dealing with criminals, poachers, polluters and other undesirable individuals in the Ranger Union, he was mostly ignored. These people were not fighters, they were too passive.
But these two, these 'Team Aqua' people, not only encouraged and praised Lunick for his actions, but wanted him to be one of them. When it came to the Ranger Union, Lunick just appeared there. But these people were actively interested in him.
"Sleep on it, lad," Shelly said and waved at Lunick. "We'll be 'ere the whole week. Come talk to us once you've made up your mind, mate."
~o~O~o~
Present day, at the Safari Zone
Lunick laughed at his own nostalgia-colored memories. Team Aqua had turned out to be a bunch of delusional thugs, led by the biggest, most delusional thug there was, Archie. But if Lunick hadn't joined the Team Aqua operation at the Granite Cave, he'd have never met Kris, and he would have never had the adventures he would forever remember.
Lunick was distracted by something. A strong glow of light was coming from the bushes nearby. After everything he had seen, Lunick hesitated to go check it out, but his curiosity got the best of him. Every step he took towards the ball of light made his heart race faster and the pressure in his throat grow, but he couldn't stop his feet either.
Finally, as Lunick cleared the grass out of the way, he gasped. The source of light was a meteor, or to be more precise, something glowing inside it. The rock of the meteor was shaped almost like a baby's cradle, and what Lunick saw inside made him almost pass out.
It was a small white Pokémon with stubby limbs, lying inside the meteorite almost like a baby. The Pokémon had a large, golden, star-shaped head ornament which was emitting the glow, with blue tags hanging from each point of the star. The Pokémon smiled at Lunick gently, while Lunick could only stare with his mouth slightly open.
"You did it," said a voice nearby. "You found it"
Lunick's head snapped up. Hoopa was floating above him, back in its small, widely grinning form, unable to physically interfere. Something about its grin felt forced compared to before, however.
"You found Jirachi," Hoopa said. "Go on then. Make a wish!"
"Jirachi…" Lunick murmured as he looked down at the Pokémon again. Jirachi gestured at a tag hanging from its head.
"Deoxys, unleashing me from the bottle, coming to the Safari Zone," Hoopa listed, "everything was to prepare the conditions for Jirachi's arrival. This meteor landed in the Litleonid meteor shower, but it didn't open until now. If you take that tag and make a wish, it will come true."
"A wish for anything…" Lunick said quietly.
"Buuut," Hoopa said as Lunick's hand reached for the tag almost automatically, "even wishes have their limits. I know what you are thinking, Lunick."
Luxray hissed at Hoopa and Sceptile prepared a fighting stance, but Lunick looked up at the mischievous floating Pokémon again.
"Your greatest desire," Hoopa said slyly, "is to return to your own time, isn't it? This is what it's all been about? You believe you were brought here for a reason, and once you fulfilled that reason, once you've completed your destiny, your reward is a return to your own time, isn't it? Well, don't be devastated, but I got some sad news for you…"
Hoopa turned upside down mid-air and approached Lunick as it said to him:
"The past is past, Lunick."
Lunick swallowed and looked down at Jirachi again. Jirachi's smile was gone, almost as if it was confirming what Hoopa was saying.
"Deep down, you knew it," Hoopa continued. "Even Jirachi can only make something happen right now, in this present day. Everything that happened almost three hundred years ago… that's history. Your loved ones from that era are not here anymore. Alph Valley is now a pile of ruins, and nothing will change that. You can only change what's to come."
Lunick closed his eyes. Of course that's how it was. Hoopa was cutting straight to the core, but ultimately, Lunick didn't disagree. And even if it was somehow possible, how was Lunick going to stop what happened? How could he ensure that things wouldn't just repeat themselves again and again?
"But I," Hoopa proclaimed as it rotated upright again, "I can make it happen! In my Unbound state, I can alter reality itself! You've seen my power! The world is no longer bound by the limits of time and space! At the height of my power, I can open a portal that will send you back in time."
Lunick stared at Hoopa. It was true, he thought. The things Hoopa had done when at full power… no other Pokémon Lunick knew about had ever done that.
"You're now stronger and smarter than before!" Hoopa ranted, coming closer to Lunick. "You have two powerful Pokémon by your side. You can go back to the past and save everyone, go back to the life you lost! And all you need to do…"
Lunick's eyes dampened. If there was a chance he could see his Manectric again…
"...is to make a wish," Hoopa said and looked down at Jirachi. "Wish for the Prison Bottle to be destroyed. You only have one wish, so you have to be specific! Jirachi cannot rewind time and it cannot bring back those who have perished, but it can destroy the Prison Bottle! And then I can do anything you want!"
Would it really be that simple?
"I mean, come on!" Hoopa raved. "What do you care about what happens here? You've helped those others far enough! You need to worry about your family, your friends, the people that you've sworn to protect, warrior! Let them worry about the future, you worry about your present! One that you will lose forever if you don't act now."
Lunick took a deep breath. "I wish…"
"Yes, that's it!" Hoopa whispered. "Do it, Lunick! Do the right thing!"
"I wish," Lunick said and glared at Hoopa, "that you, Hoopa, will forever be trapped in your bottle, never to be released again!"
Lunick took the tag from Jirachi, who smiled again. Hoopa's grin was finally wiped from its face as the tag began to glow and floated out of Lunick's hand. Jirachi also glowed brighter and closed its eyes and spread its arms.
A gust of wind suddenly appeared, but it only seemed to affect Hoopa. Screaming as the invisible force pulled it away, Hoopa could do nothing but struggle aimlessly as the wind sucked the impish Pokémon back into its bottle, its body twisted into a vortex of colors as it vanished towards the EXO facility where the bottle was kept under locked doors. The people inside would certainly be puzzled by this.
And then, Jirachi gave one last look at Lunick before the whole meteorite began to glow. And then, in a blink of an eye, the meteorite closed and vanished in a bright flash of light, leaving just a small crater in the ground. The Safari Zone suddenly grew a lot darker without Jirachi's glow.
"You people…" said a hoarse voice from the bushes, Lunick turning to look at the source, "just can't help but to ruin everything for me."
It was Pryce, a dagger in his hand. Though his pose was calm, his face was twisted in anger as he stared at all what remained from Jirachi, the small crater and the paper tag, now blue and Lunick's wish scribbled on it.
"You did it," Pryce said, shaking his head. "You used up the wish. It will be a thousand years before anyone can do anything like that again."
Lunick got up, facing Pryce together with Luxray and Sceptile.
"The world cannot be changed by wishing alone," Lunick told Pryce. "It was the first thing I could think of to ensure nothing like this will ever happen again."
"Well, you did save me the trouble of having to find someone to seal that bottle again, it's true," Pryce said as he spinned the dagger in his hand. "But all that is meaningless when the last missing piece of my dream was just stolen from me."
"Luxray, Thunderbolt!" Lunick yelled quickly.
But Pryce deflected the attack by punching the ground, causing a wall of ice to materialize between him and Luxray. Pryce then quickly ran around the wall and grabbed Luxray by the head, the Pokémon suddenly beginning to freeze solid.
"Sceptile, Leaf Blade!"
But Sceptile's attempt to rush to its fellow Pokémon's aid was cut short as, while still holding Luxray with one hand, Pryce used his other hand to cause an ice blade to materialize. Before the Leaf Blade hit him, Pryce slashes Sceptile's leaf with his own blade, causing Sceptile to scream in pain while Luxray froze into an icy statue.
"Don't go too close, Sceptile!" Lunick yelled as he unsheathed his sword. "Leaf Storm!"
But Pryce was already on the way to counter the attack, moving faster than any normal human. Before Sceptile could even aim, Pryce had reached the grass-type, holding a hand on its stomach and starting to freeze it like he had done with Luxray.
Lunick gave out a roar as he charged at Pryce with his sword, and to his surprise, managed to cut at Pryce's exposed skin, making a large cut to the shirtless man's side. Pryce took a step backwards, stopping his attack on Sceptile and holding his side.
"You're done!" Lunick yelled at him. "Stop while you still c-"
But with his free hand, Pryce had caused an icy projectile to materialize. While Lunick ranted at him, Pryce tossed the projectile at Sceptile like a throwing knife, hitting the Pokémon in the neck and causing it to fall. Lunick's eyes widened.
"BASTARD!" he screamed as he charged at Pryce again, sword at the ready.
~o~O~o~
Elsewhere on the Safari Zone, on a clearing not too far from the entrance, Kris fell out of the portal, everything a blur to her just like with Lunick. Unlike Lunick, she wasn't alone. Croc soon followed, falling right next to her with a loud impact sound.
"There she is!" she heard a voice shout… a panicked, quivering voice. The professor is okay, she thought.
"Kris!" shouted another voice, one that caused her eyes to snap open.
Lyra was the first one to rush to Kris, helping her stand on her feet and grabbing her into a bone-crushing hug. Unsure of what to do and feeling sharp pain in her body from the fall, Kris just patted Lyra on the back as she looked around her as people gathered towards her from every direction. Professor Elm, Iris, Wes and Blaine, the latter holding a barely conscious Barry up. Everyone was fine, except-
"Where's Lunick?" Kris asked.
Lyra let go of Kris, looking at Iris sadly. Iris shook her head.
"We got separated, the portal threw us all in different places," Iris explained. "Now that we found you, Lunick's the only one missing."
"Fear no more!"
Everyone turned to look, Kris quickly grabbing a crossbow she had dropped during the fall. Two people emerged from the bushes and arrived at the clearing. One was Pryce, blood coming out from his side and mouth, shambling out together with Lunick, whom he was keeping in a stranglehold and forced to walk beside him. Pryce's nails had turned into sharp, icy blades which he pointed straight at Lunick's throat. Kris frowned, as the message was clear: one wrong move and Pryce would either sink the nails into Lunick's neck or cut open one of his arteries. Croc exposed his teeth at Pryce, but stayed still, managing to read the situation.
Pryce didn't have to say anything more. Kris dropped her crossbow, and Iris, Wes and Blaine dropped their weapons as well, as if on cue. Once again, Pryce had stripped them of their weapons. All, except one.
"You're not leaving here alive," Kris told Pryce, eyes locked with the old man.
"Kris!" Lunick gasped, Pryce tightening his grip on him. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't talk!" Kris said sharply, her focus on the wound in Pryce's side. "You're gonna be fine. Looks like you already did your share of hurting him."
"Give it up, Pryce!" growled Blaine, who dropped Barry on the grass without hesitation. "You're outnumbered and barely alive. This stunt isn't gonna get you anything."
"You people don't learn," Pryce sighed, as if he was trying to explain a scientific concept to an impatient toddler. "This wound will not stop me! I've gained so much power, I'm no longer a mere human!"
"Good," Kris remarked coldly, "then I won't feel an ounce of guilt ripping off your head."
Pryce laughed harshly. "Here's what we're gonna do," he said. "I walk out of here a free man, and he gets to keep his blood inside his body. Deal?"
"No," Kris said as she glared at Pryce. "What happens is that you let go of him and go to jail for the rest of your life. Or you die. Those are the options."
Pryce's eyes darted around the clearing, clearly looking for a way out.
"Pryce, be reasonable!" Elm wailed. "There are EXO and Aether Foundation troops all over the Safari Zone. They have this place on lockdown! If they catch you, they'll dissect you to find the source of your power and make you a lab rat! It's a lot worse than jail!"
"Or they'll just shoot you," Wes told Pryce. "Reckon it's gonna suck for you, anyway."
"Just give up!" Iris said. "If you hurt him, what will happen to you is far, far worse than anything you can do! At least go down with dignity!"
"They're all telling the truth," Kris said. "Your flunky Domino is not coming back. You've lost."
Pryce took many deep breaths as he glared at Kris. "Then…" he rasped. "Then I have nothing left to lose. Didn't I tell you before, Kris? For me, this was never about Deoxys, or Jirachi, or Hoopa or any of this. Your friend used up my wish to trap Hoopa in a bottle forever. But the main reason that you and I are here… that's still happening."
Pryce's face was suddenly adorned with a twisted smile, exposing his blood-smeared teeth.
"I will have vengeance," he said. "This is all I need to do. I'm not killing you here tonight. I'm destroying you."
Pryce suddenly grabbed Lunick's head and twisted it roughly, breaking his neck.
And then, at that moment, Kris felt a sting in the back of her head. Something woke up inside of her. Something primal. All she had were Croc and Domino's knife. What happened next, she wasn't so sure about. She yelled at Croc to follow her and lunged at Pryce with the knife while Lunick's body fell limply to the ground. Croc followed behind her, roaring triumphantly and pointing its claws at Pryce, who assumed a fighting stance.
~o~O~o~
Ranger School, a few weeks ago…
It was an empty classroom after classes were over. Thanks to Lunick's guidance, Kris had finally mastered the usage of the Capture Styler. She managed to make the Capture Disc flawlessly fly around the room, make a loop around a Clefairy plush and return it to the Styler. Kris cheered for herself while Lunick clapped.
"Finally!" Kris said. "The tournament is in two days!"
"Well done, Kris!" praised Lunick. "See, with some hard work and focus, you can achieve-"
"You mean with someone who actually knows something telling me what to do," Kris said and gave a faint smile at Lunick. "I couldn't have pulled this off without you!"
"I don't know what you wanted to pull, but I'm sure you would have succeeded without me. I've seen what you can achieve once you really give it your all, Kris! In Hoenn, in Sinnoh, in the battle against that Li fellow - you're unstoppable! I mean it!"
Kris couldn't control breaking into an actual grin, even showing her teeth, but quickly tried to hide it from Lunick.
"I think," Lunick continued, noticing Kris was getting embarrassed by the praise, "I finally figured out what I'm meant to do here. Or what I think I should be doing here."
Kris turned to look at Lunick. "What?"
"I'm still here, almost three centuries away from everything I knew for all 18 years of my life," Lunick said wistfully. "When I look at you, I see someone meant to do great things. Maybe I'm meant to help you get there. If you want me to, of course."
Kris laughed and nudged Lunick in the shoulder. "Of course I do! You've helped me a lot already!" she laughed and turned around. "You're a good friend, Lunick! I'm going to tell Iris about this! See ya!"
Lunick just waved as Kris stormed out of the classroom. Looking after her, Lunick sighed, but not sadly. There would never be a relationship between him and Kris. He knew it was not meant to be. But, the thought of being there with Kris and seeing her achieve something great, playing his own part in this wondrous story, it made him happy.
~o~O~o~
Present day
Kris woke up to a lot of noise and artificial lights, the serene emptiness of the Safari Zone replaced with hustle, yelling and the sounds of vehicles moving in and out of the clearing. As expected, there were people shouting at her face and asking her questions as soon as she awoke. The faces of Iris, Lyra and Wes were the closest to her, with Blaine and professor Elm standing close by as well.
"Kris!" Elm panicked as he saw the girl pull herself up in a sitting position. "Please, lie down, you're not-"
"What," Kris said harshly, "just happened?"
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly, except for Lyra, who could be relied on to give it to her straight.
"You charged at Pryce and you and Croc... finished him," she said, making a disgusted face when she said 'finish'.
Reacting at hearing its own name, Croc, who had been laying unflinchingly next to its unconscious master, greeted Kris by licking her face happily. Mustering a pained smile, Kris pushed Croc away, noticing her hand was bruised and covered in little cuts. Based on the pain, her face was most likely in a similar state.
"We'll spare you the details," Blaine said before Lyra could go any further, "but he's over there. EXO was quite pleased that he's at least in one piece."
Kris looked at where Blaine was gesturing. There was a stretcher on the ground with a white sheet with many red stains spread over it, a human-shaped lump motionless under it.
"Croc did most of that, though!" Iris was quick to say. "But, um, you were very encouraging. It was all over pretty quickly. It's like you didn't hear anything we said, and by the time we tore you away, it was over and you passed out."
"So Pryce is dead," Kris said, the realization slowly sinking in. "What about Lunick?"
Everyone looked awkward again, even Lyra biting her lip to avoid saying anything.
"Just say it!" Kris snapped, making everyone flinch. "I deserve to know!"
Elm sighed. "Err, Kris, you must understand," he said. "You saw what happened. Pryce broke his neck. Now, the EXO personnel were here in just a few minutes and took him into a medical chopper. Now, they said there's a chance, they have the world's most advanced medical technology available, but the odds are… erm…"
Kris stared at the ground. She remembered nothing. Her world was nothing but red, spliced in with images of violence, carnage, the wrinkled face of Pryce crumbling by the hands of her and Croc, Kris wielding her crossbow like a hammer as well as memories. Memories of Lunick. As she remembered him. At the Ranger School, saving her life in Hoenn, in her dreams…
And now, Lunick was nowhere to be seen. There was no time for goodbyes. A wave of unsaid things were rushing forward to Kris' mind, threatening to open the floodgates. Kris squeezed the dirt underneath her to stop herself from breaking down, but the thought was too much to bear - she couldn't stop the tears.
Lyra grabbed Kris' hand and squeezed it tightly, forcing Kris to turn away. It was weird, no one would blame her for crying in this situation, yet Kris couldn't help but to think of embarrassment in front of the very same people who just witnessed her using her Pokémon to brutally kill someone.
"What," Kris muttered, trying to keep her voice from breaking, "happened, exactly?"
"I owe you an explanation, Kris!" said the sharp voice of Hilda.
Kris lifted her head to see a whole entourage approaching her. Hilda was walking briskly towards her, Leaf walking behind her with the aid of a crutch. And, after exchanging some words with the men and women in white uniforms investigating the stretcher Pryce's body was on, Dr. Kaminko and professor Juniper followed suit.
"Feel something weird at the back of your head?" Hilda asked with an almost forced casualness. "Yeah, that's uh… remembered when you blacked out in the plane on the way to Orre?"
Kris nodded, something dawning on her.
"I took the opportunity to place a prototype EX Chip in you," Hilda said with a sigh. "It… it boosts your adrenaline levels, raises your alertness and reduces pain in certain situations. It's meant to be used by our Operatives once completed, but it needed a test run. Which we gained, thanks to you."
"What the hell!" Wes shouted. "You said you were trying to resuscitate her back then!"
"How could you do that to her?!" Iris yelled. "That's like… you were violating her!"
"I'll take over," Kaminko said strongly, causing Hilda to fall silent instead of arguing back. "Ms. White was just acting on my orders. And I humbly apologize for not communicating this with you, but we needed solid data. As intended, the chip broke down to biodegradable nanomachines after use and will leave the body through natural means."
Kris rubbed the back of her neck. The stinging was gone, but Kris could still remember the sensation.
"The actual version of the chip that we've nearly finished is without pain," Kaminko explained, as if it fixed everything. "And will not require any external reactions, but in fact will be entirely controllable. Since you were not aware of the chip, we had to introduce an external reaction."
"When Lunick was in our care, we installed a paired chip in him," professor Juniper said, looking apologetic. "Should anything happen to him, the signal from the chip and your own reaction of distress and alarm would trigger the one installed in you."
"Which we did not wish for, of course," Kaminko said seriously, "but given his propensity for taking risks and his obvious affection for you, Kris, it was more than likely. Rest assured, as with your friend Dawn, we'll do everything we can to help Lunick. All is not lost."
"...thanks," Kris could only mumble, her brain overloaded with information.
"Kris," Kaminko said and knelt closer to the girl, looking her in the eyes grimly, "I know you've been through a lot today, but I would like to hear your answer. We've given you the contracts. You know what joining us would entail. Enhancements, grueling training and separation from everyone not in the organization for months. All your needs will be met, of course, but don't expect to get flashy interviews or articles written about you. For the time being, this operation is conducted hidden from the public. We have funding from official channels, of course, but apart from us, no one is to know anything about our operations."
"Forget it!" Wes yelled in Kaminko's face, prompting Hilda to take a threatening step towards him. "We'll never become your slaves! Are you listening to yourself? Invasive surgery? Isolation from the world? You're going to… to… brainwash us into state-worshiping husks or something!"
"You're being crazy!" Juniper said sternly. "Why would we go through all this trouble only to do that? We want you to join us because you are the best possible candidates!"
"There's some other sinister motive then!" Wes yelled. "You wanna… uh, steal our organs, or our data, or our Pokémon, or use us to silence some 'undesirables' or-"
"I'll do it," Kris said firmly.
Everyone fell silent, Wes' shoulders slumping.
"Some of what Wes said kinda has a point," Kris said, her glazed eyes looking blankly forward. "But I don't care anymore. You want us to fight against evil, right? Against any humans or Pokémon connected with Giratina or something equally bad? To make sure nothing like this ever happens again?"
"That is exactly right," Kaminko said.
"Then I'll do it," Kris simply said and held out her hand.
Juniper passed Kris' copy of the contract to her. She had already read it after the Deoxys incident, so she didn't even bother going through it again, she merely signed the line above her name and handed it back to Juniper without a second thought.
"Kris," Wes warned, "Lunick wouldn't have wanted to go through with… with this!"
"Probably not, yeah," Kris said flatly. "But he's not here anymore. I owe it to him to make sure someone else doesn't end up that way."
"But…" Iris said weakly. "Pryce, Greevil, Drake, Domino… they're all gone. We don't need to worry about them anymore!"
"That's what we thought during the thing with Cyrus," Kris reminded her. "And we know there is still one more member of the Circle left."
"Your actions definitely bought us a lot of time," Kaminko said, "and we have confirmed that Lunick's wish did what it should have. The Prison Bottle cannot be opened again. But there are several forces out there that still require attention from us."
"Including," said a familiar voice of a woman arriving to the clearing, "the Ultra Beasts."
"Madam president," Kaminko said to Lusamine respectfully as she walked gracefully to the scene, flanked by two Aether Foundation personnel and her assistant, "everything is under control, we assure you."
"Yes, I ensured that myself," Lusamine said calmly with a smile on her face. "Kris, I just wanted to tell you that you've made the right decision. I look forward to working with you all, as does the Aether Foundation! That creature you fought in there, Xurkitree? It was one of the Ultra Beasts. And, as you suspected, Dr. Blaine, you did not enter the Distortion World. You were in the Ultra Space, the dimension between worlds. No human being can enter the true Distortion World."
"Yes, the study and capture of these Ultra Beasts is our next step," Kaminko said. "One of many."
"Now, the rest of you," Lusamine said as she looked at everyone else, hands on her hips. "You are free to make your decision, but please do it as soon as you can."
Lyra was the first one to reach out for Juniper for the contract, signing it without hesitation like Kris.
"I want to be with you," Lyra told Kris. "To be a part of this thing. You won't be alone in this."
If Kris had trouble holding back before, she was definitely tearing up now as she nodded at Lyra. Sighing, Blaine grabbed his contract next and signed it.
"I already made my decision when I visited your digs before," he grunted as he handed the contract back. "You can't do this thing without my help, anyway."
Professor Elm signed his contract next, not saying anything, just smiling and nodding at Kris. Leaf took her contract with slight hesitation.
"Why me?" she asked Kaminko. "I didn't even ask to be a part of this…"
"From everything I've heard, you have a promising research career ahead of you," Kaminko said. "Our science team needs new people, particularly those with knowledge of Pokémon biology. We have many projects underway already, one which your friends Elm and Blaine will head. And he has joined as well."
Leaf nodded in understanding, even though no one else knew what they were talking about. As she signed her contract, all eyes turned to Wes. Realizing the attention was on him, Wes scratched his chin and furrowed his brow in annoyance.
"Well, uh…" He looked at Kaminko. "Do I need to pay for food?"
"All of your needs will be met in regards to accommodation, food, leisure activities-"
"Okay, fine, I'm in," Wes said in frustration and hastily scribbled a signature on the paper Juniper was handing to him.
The last paper was intended for Iris. While the girl took a glance at it, she eventually shook her head and took a step backwards from everyone else.
"Guys, I'm really sorry," she said, looking at Kris, Lyra and Wes in particular, "but I will have to turn this down. I'm needed at the Gym. And to be honest, I really don't think I'd fit into this organization, with chips and whatnot in me."
"It is your choice," Lusamine said, "but I have to say, a young trainer with your abilities doesn't come by very often."
"I'm flattered," Iris said seriously, "but the answer is still no."
While this news was slightly saddening to Kris, she acknowledged Iris' decision by nodding at her and managing a weak smile. She had made her decision the moment she woke up. Truth to be told, she had made it back when Hilda told her about the organization on the plane to Orre. Even if Lyra, Wes, professor Elm and the others hadn't joined, she would have. She owed it to Lucas, Isaac, Lorelei, Blake Hall and to Lunick.
"Come on then," Hilda told Iris, her hands casually in her shorts pockets. "I'll give you a ride to One Island and we'll get you to Opelucid City."
"And as for the rest of you," Lusamine declared as Hilda and Iris left, "congratulations for your decision! The Aether Foundation welcomes you as one of our own. I'll be mostly in Alola, but from now on, your activities will be based in a different region, in the EXO HQ, where Dr. Kaminko and professor Juniper will see to it that you get top-of-the-line training! More than that, each and every one of you has just chosen to help humanity in their fight for a better world!"
Despite Lusamine's words, the mood remained hollow, as rain was beginning to slowly fall from the dark sky and EXO personnel carried Pryce's body away, no doubt to be experimented on. Kris and her friends followed Kaminko and Juniper to their transportation in a silent queue. Where it would take them, they didn't know. But Kris was sure it would be the beginning of a new life.
A/N: Thank you all for reading! This is the final chapter of this story, and probably my favorite of the bunch. It's 11:30 as I write so no time for detailed author's notes, but i want to thank DoctorWhale, Katarena and Cyanosis the Numeric Dragonair for their feedback. The next season will be called "Dawn of the Ultra Beasts", and the first chapter is already posted!
