Chapter 29: Paths We Choose
Moon and Sarah hopped back outside of the Ultra Wormhole portal, Erick and Petra were both waiting for them.
"So...you won?" Erick asked.
"Yeah...unfortunately, Cyrus, Dan, and Lavender all retreated. We aren't sure where...but we're pretty sure it's back to Sinnoh." Moon said, crossing his arms. "I guess that means we at least protected Alola...but unfortunately…"
"Don't worry." Petra said. "I'm certain that one day you'll be able to return home."
Sarah nodded her head. "I'm not sure if going home is a good idea." She said. "Many of the cities and towns are destroyed from fighting with Pokemon. Those that remained are simply a part of Team Galactic...which is why the army there is always all over the place."
Some buzzing started to ring, Erick pulled out a rotom phone and held it up. A hologram of Cynthia appeared.
"Moon, Sarah?" She asked. "Oh...thank goodness...you made it back alive."
"Yeah…" Sarah said. "Unfortunately...Cyrus-"
"We know...spies in statements just reported that he, Dan, and Lavender all reported back to the head base in Sinnoh. All of them were disgruntled. They called off their invasion of Alola and are in the process of withdrawing forces as we speak. I don't know how you managed it...but...you did." Lillie's face appeared next to her.
"Hey!" She said, her face brightly lit up. "How are Nebby and Nebula?"
"Both of them evolved into Solgaleo and Lunala." Moon said. "But...if I'm being honest...I don't really want to hold onto them. Lillie, could we maybe...release them into the wild...or maybe...give them back to you?" Sarah said.
Everyone was taken aback. "So...you don't want to hold onto the legendary guardians of the region?"
"Not really." Moon said, "I...don't want to hold onto another Legendary."
Cynthia looked at Lillie, who nodded at her. "Well...it would be unwise to release them. Cyrus still probably has poachers out there looking for them. Besides, if he thinks that you're now the keeper of three legendaries...it would be best if you did us a service. Send their pokeballs to us, and we'll decide how to handle them. Maybe giving them to Lillie and Gladion will be good."
"We'll do," Moon and Sarah handed the pokeballs to Erick and Petra, who both took them with a smile.
"Alright, see you around then."
(One Month Later)
Moon stretched his arms with a grunt as he got out of bed that morning. One month had passed since that day he and Sarah had stopped Cyrus, they had since returned home to train themselves for the Pokemon League.
He got out of bed, stretching his arms and walked into the kitchen, Fabby, Sapphire, and Angel were all still with them, never leaving their true partners' side. Moon's mother was out on business duty with Cynthia, so Sarah had come over to spend the last few nights with him. He sat down as Sarah placed a plate of belgian waffles and bacon in front of him.
"Good morning Moonlight." Sarah giggled.
"Don't ever call me that again." Moon groaned, rubbing his eyes as Sarah sat next to him.
Their Pokemon sat next to the table, looking at their bowls and listening to their trainers.
"It's been five days," Angel said. "I haven't heard anything about their future plans."
"It's a good thing you learned how to control what they hear and can't hear." Fabby said, smiling.
"You said that Sarah was wondering about Moon's future plans." Sapphire said. "Why hasn't she said anything?"
"Moon?" Sarah asked suddenly.
"Hm?" Moon asked.
"Um...have you...do you have an idea of what you want to do...after the Pokemon league?"
Moon set his waffle down. "Well…" he said. "If I win...I'll have to stay and manage the affairs of the region. And...I was hoping...well…" Sarah looked at him with a confused expression.
"Well...you know how...once we turn 15 and receive our first Pokemon...we're technically considered adults."
"Yes?" Sarah asked.
"Well…" Moon's face became bright red. "I...um...I was thinking about...maybe...um…okay...I was hoping I could stay with you." he ignored Sarah's face of shock.
"So...wait...even if I win the Pokemon League...you'd still stay with me?" Sarah asked.
"Well...yeah…" Moon replied. "We've been traveling together for almost a year...I've grown accustomed to being by your side...I just thought that...after the league, if one of us won...we'd continue our relationship. I thought that this was an obvious thought." he looked up at Sarah, who was much too slow to hide her embarrassed facial reaction. His face fell instantly.
"Oh..." he mumbled. "I...um...I need some air..." he stood up from the table and walked outside, Fabby and Sapphire instantly stood up and ran after him. Leaving Sarah at the table, to just sit and stare.
She sat staring down at her plate, just looking into space. Angel looked at her trainer, it was unusual to see her so quiet, even when it was just the two of them, she'd usually speak to her, seeing her just stare into her food was kind of...weird. The Gardevior slowly moved herself to her trainer and tapped her.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
Sarah still sat there, almost as if she was in a trance.
"Sarah? Is everything alright?"
"Angel...what am I...what am I going to do?" she asked.
"Well...Moon wants to stay with you if he wins...don't you want to do the same?"
"Well...I thought that after Moon won...that I would be able to travel by myself...I didn't consider actually staying with him...but...if I would win...he would actually stay with me."
"Don't you want to stay with Moon? I mean...we've travelled together for nearly a year."
"Do you want to stay with them?"
"Of course I do,"
"Well...I'm not sure…" Sarah said, looking down. "I...I suppose if I win the league...I can stay with him...but...I really want to maybe find Mavis...or...travel to a different region."
There was a sudden knock on the door, confusing Sarah, no one usually knockedin their time together, the door was always open.
She walked up to the door and opened it, she was greeted by a male trainer with bright blue hair, the man wore a red robe similar to something a priest would wear, behind him was a strange purple pokemon that looked like a weird cat and alien. It had an awfully weird similarity to Mew.
"Hello." the man said. "This is the residence of Moon Wolfe and Sarah Jones?"
Sarah felt her face go red. "Um...who are you?"
"My name is Crystal." the boy said. "I heard that the two of you would be competing in the Alola League...but...I've kind of been short of time recently… I was hoping I'd get the chance to speak with you and Moon."
"Moon...um...he isn't home at the moment...do you want to wait?"
The man frowned. "I...do not have the time to wait." he said. "If I could just...leave something with you...that would be nice." he took out two weird looking circular objects and handed them to Sarah.
"If you both get the chance, I would like to talk to you about a potential future for the two of you. I cannot explain in detail...but...if you have the opportunity, we know that you both love working with Pokemon...and...as keepers of legendaries, you are seen as worthy in the eyes of Arceus."
"Could you please tell me about it?" Sarah asked.
The man looked at her, he seemed to be biting down on his lip. He turned to his partner. The weird Pokemon nodded his head.
"Okay…" he said. "You and Moon are being tracked by a group of people who specialize in fighting forces like Team Galactic. We were certainly impressed with how you handled yourselves...we usually keep ourselves private...but...your friends Erick and Petra are a part of this, but, we've got some um...strange requirements...Anyway, after the Pokemon League, if you still want to take me up on this deal...you can both contact me."
"Um...what exactly do we do in this…"
"Sorry, but I can say no more." Crystal said. "Please, consider my offer. Come Mewtwo, we must leave." the purple Pokemon nodded and they vanished in a flash of purple light.
Angel looked at Sarah, who was still looking at the weird metallic contraptions.
"So...are you going to tell Moon about this." she asked.
"I...um…" Sarah whispered. "I haven't given this any thought...where would we go from here?"
"Sarah? Are you going to ask Moon, maybe try and figure out what this is?"
Sarah shook her head and placed the metallic contraptions in her backpack. "I can tell Moon about that later...I'm certain that it would interest him enough."
Angel placed her hand on her trainer's arm. "Is something wrong?"
"No…" Sarah said. "I just...Moon made me realize how unprepared I am."
"I don't seem to follow your train of thought."
"I mean, he had a whole future planned out...in his own little world in the event he loses to me in the League. he assumed that I would feel the same way."
Angel shifted uncomfortably. If she had learned anything from living with Sarah, it was that human emotions were not an easy thing for any Pokemon to understand. She had all the confidence in the world that Sarah truly wanted to stay with Moon...but it seemed as though something had just caught her trainer off guard.
"Well, what are you going to do?" Angel asked.
Sarah looked down at the metallic disc. "I'm...I'm going to leave it up to fate." she said. "If I win the League, then I'll take Moon's offer...If I lose...then...I'll take that as a sign to go through the world on my own path."
"You're leaving it up to chance?" Angel asked. "I do not mean to weaken your hopes...but...you know that...technically speaking...you've never defeated him."
Sarah looked at her partner. "Angel, four days from today, Moon and I are going to battle for Alola's championship. I'm going to give it my all in that battle! And when I emerge victorious, that'll show how much I've grown...If I don't defeat Moon in battle, then I simply haven't grown enough as a trainer or as a person."
"So...this is...about proving that Moon didn't carry you through this island challenge?"
"Yes…" Sarah nodded firmly, she looked up at the sky through the window, secretly, she didn't want to leave Moon, but...she made a promise to herself. She had to win, She knew she could.
I know that this chapter is pretty lackluster and short, and for that, I do greatly apologize. I found myself in an awkward position writing past the point of Necrozma and I simply decided that, after nearly a year of writing this story, I should put it to rest as of now. So, with that being said, I've got only two chapters planned for the finale of this series. The next chapter will be Moon Vs. Sarah for the ending battle of champion, and the last chapter will probably be an epilogue that wraps this story up. Also, yeah, I did remove the Solgaleo and Lunala from their teams, I'm not much of a Legendaries person and I wanted Manaphy and Shaymin to be the main legendaries of the story over the Alolan Duo, hope you're alright with that.
PKMN Teams:
Moon Wolfe:
Fabby - Ninetales
Sapphire - Lucario
Jade - Decidueye
Sammy - Furret
Genji - Greninja
Silver - Weavile
Lancer - Beedrill
Gojira - Tyranitar
Sparky - Jolteon
Pandora - Absol
Fluffy - Mew
Joker - Aipom
Whopper - Wobbuffet
Lapis - Manaphy
Sarah Jones:
Angel - Gardevior
Snowy - Glaceon
Scar - Incineroar
Candy - Corsola
Bellatrix - Mismagius
Flora - Lilligant
Delta - Dragalge
Lyn - Baby Kanga
Lucky - Togekiss
Techno - Porygon Z
Pikaboo - Mimikyu
Grace - Shaymin
See you all next time.