Chapter 36:

As a child and well into her adult years, Iris had always relished in the victory the came after defeating a particularly difficult opponent. There was always a thrill that came when the opponent's last Pokemon fell and she could finally appreciate all the arduous hours of reviewing strategy and training her Pokemon on specific move combos. After the battle at Plasma Mansion last year, the same surge of pride and accomplishment had come to her only soured slightly by N's escape. Looking back on it now, she realized she could only enjoy that victory because she had turned the responsibility of Team Plasma's aftermath to Alder once he'd been freed and that there were so few people hurt during the attack that it was almost negligible. But this… this was different.

The crystalline javelines of ice skewering the black trees ringing the decimated clearing served as a reminder of her home covered in ice. It brought back memories of all the icy Opelucid civilians she had seen frozen in their tracks as they ran from neo Team Plasma's attack. Scattered along the charred ground between the splintered branches were the bodies of both neo Team Plasma members as well as countless Unovan and even Sinnoh Pokemon.

Iris watched as a small Deerling that couldn't have been more than a week old stumbled through the debris on wobbling feet. It clumsily tripped over the bodies and over to a Sawsbuck lying motionlessly on the ground. The Deerling gently nudged its nose against the Sawsbuck and squeaked urgently; it did this several times always hoping for a response but only being met with silence. The Deerling's squeaks became more urgent and baleful as the small Pokemon finally came to the realization that the Sawsbuck would never again get up to lead the herd. On the far side of the clearing a young Deino anxiously swung its head blindly back and forth while giving a shrill cry and waiting for a response from its clan not yet knowing that they'd all been killed during the battle. It was like this throughout the Giant Chasm with the Pokemon nuzzling each other or mournfully calling out for fallen comrades. Iris shook her head: no… this was nothing like any victory she'd ever experienced. It was cold and bitter and only warmed with the reassurance that they'd stopped neo Team Plasma from causing this same harm to the rest of Unova.

"Champion Iris," a soft melodic voice sounded snapping Iris from her brooding. She glanced away from the crying Pokemon and destroyed field to see N nervously standing a little ways from her. When she made eye contact, he quickly averted his eyes in shame and nervously shuffled his feet before whispering, "I-I'm sorry. F-For everything. I-If I hadn't run… none of this… I-I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to the League and now… I…" N trailed off and reverted to staring solemnly at his shoes and didn't finish.

Anger roiled through Iris' veins as N said this. No amount of apologizing would bring back all the people that he'd inadvertently killed, the ruined state his actions had left Unova and League both times, all the lives destroyed by Ghetsis and N's lies. But as Iris stared at his matted green hair, his haunted eyes as he nervously glanced up at her, and the way his body physically tensed in response to the abuse he thought he'd receive, Iris felt the wave of initial anger gradually recede. She suppressed any negative responses she envisioned screaming at N and reminded herself that any reaction like that would only be hurting one of Ghetsis' victims rather than Ghetsis himself, the man who had ultimately caused all this destruction. Iris took a calming breath before saying, "N… running from the League was a mistake and it hurt countless people including yourself. Lying to the League about your identity and intentions is what caused all this destruction to begin with and no apology will ever fix that mistake."

N looked away from Iris once more and whispered, "I know…"

Iris gently placed a hand on N's shoulder and continued, "That being said, all of us do things that we wish to Arceus we could change, and by the looks of it, your choices have put you through a living Distortion World. I can't imagine what Team Plasma put you through before or during your time on the Plasma Frigate or how Ghetsis influenced you to make the choices you did, but I hope you don't keep letting them influence you. I can't speak on behalf of Unova, but N… I forgive you." Iris firmly gripped N's shoulder causing him to hesitantly look up at her as she said forcefully, "don't make me regret that decision by you following in your parents' footsteps. I expect you to be a much better person than they ever could imagine."

N nodded solemnly as Jonathon walked over with Kyurem lumbering at his side. Jonathon paused beside N and said, "We must be leaving soon before the Unova League reinforcements arrive. Go to Ivory and together bid your final farewells to your friends before we leave." N looked startled and frightened by this, but he wordlessly nodded and turned to walk to the far side of the field where Ivory, Bianca, and Black stood talking to each other.

"Thank you for your help," Iris said to Jonathon once N was out of earshot, "we couldn't have done this without you."

Jonathon smiled sadly as he glanced around the ruined field and the mournful Pokemon, "I only wish we could have done so before all this destruction befell your Region. Fortunately, though our powers may be destructive, they can also be used to heal and restore." As Jonathon said this, golden hoops once again reappeared surrounding the clearing and in descended countless flying Shaymin each emanating an aroma that quickly filled the entire area. Dozens of Shaymin landed on top of Pokemon including the gods themselves much to Iris' surprise. She watched as at least fifteen Shaymin settled across Kyurem's arched back and began to radiate aroma therapy causing Kyurem to croon and close his yellow eyes. Lugia himself spread out his wings to allow as many Shaymin to land on him as possible and the wild Unovan Pokemon's cries gained a more cheerful edge as their injured clan members were healed. The bright light of several Pokemon evolving to fill the role as new clan leader soon filled the area and the few orphaned Pokemon remaining, such as the small Deino Iris had seen earlier, were taken by the Celestas back to the Sinnoh Region.

The Shaymin didn't stop at healing the Pokemon though, they circled the smoke-filled sky and absorbed the toxic air and quickly purified it until the air was clear once more. They did the same for the blackened trees and charred ground even managing to cause a few buds of green to poke through all the decay though the majority of plant life still remained dead. The Mandibuzz that had previously been circling the air and waiting for the right opportunity to dig into the abundant corpses beneath them respectfully landed in the few upright trees to wait for the Shaymin to finish healing instead of attacking them as Mandibuzz instinctively would have done.

Dozens of Rotom also spilled out from a golden ring and erratically shot towards the fallen frigate, "We'll have to destroy any and all research Team Plasma ever conducted on N and Kyurem," Jonathon explained as he watched the Rotom enter the frigate. "The Rotom will destroy all files, online data, and hard drives Team Plasma may have here as well as in their P2 laboratory. It's best if humans know as little as possible about us and our abilities. All remaining members of Team Plasma will have their memories of this battle removed as well as anything linking them to the Celestas. I ask you to keep that in mind when you and your League interrogate them."

"And what about him?" Iris practically spat as she glowered over at Ghetsis who had been hauled to his feet by a couple of Celestas. Before Jonathon could respond, she marched through the debris of the field and over to Ghetsis who was still gripping what remained of his shattered cane. His green hair was in disarray, his red eyepatch cracked, and he glowered at Iris hatefully as she approached.

"Come to gloat have we, Iris. I must say it isn't very-" Iris didn't let him finish as she punched him square across the jaw causing him to topple to the ground. The Celestas who had been guarding him simply chuckled and made no attempt to stop Iris from adding another kick to her assault.

"That's for Opelucid City and all of Unova you son-of-a-Herdier," Iris hissed. Iris spun around to Jonathon who had followed her over to Ghetsis and said, "Promise me that whatever the Distortion World you do to him it'll be Arceus awful."

Jonathon smiled darkly, "Trust me, Iris. Our punishments for breaking the Celesta law are not very forgiving and are far more shall we say… unique… than typical human punishment." He turned to Ghetsis who had once more been dragged to his feet by the Celestas, "For exploiting Celesta and the gods' powers, for manipulating and torturing royalty, and for causing countless people to lose their lives, your punishment, Ghetsis Harmonia, will be your greatest nightmare. Take him away."

A golden ring appeared behind Ghetsis and the Celestas forcefully dragged him through it before it closed all together. "What did you mean by that?" Iris asked. "What's his greatest nightmare?"

Jonathon shrugged, "I don't know. You'll have to ask Darkrai what it is since he'll be handling the punishment." Jonathon's aura shifted to an icy blue as he turned to Kyurem who was staring at them with his head slightly cocked to the side, "Besides, Opelucid City needs to be freed from its icy confines. Kyurem, if you will."

Kyurem roared in acknowledgement as a golden hoop generated directly in front of Jonathon and Iris. Jonathon gestured towards the hoop and said, "You don't want to miss this." Iris hesitated for a moment as she stared at the bright light pouring through the hoop before cautiously stepping through to find her instantly stepping into the center of Opelucid City where she'd been earlier the night before after neo Team Plasma's attack. The rising sun's rays glinted brightly off the icy spires making the entire city glimmer and seem more surreal than it had been previously. Then to add the oddity of the scene, balls of bright blue light slowly pieced themselves off the tops of the buildings and floated upward before disappearing all together. Soon the entire city was filled with this blinding blue light that slowly ate away at the ice revealing the city beneath.

"How… how… how is this possible?" Iris asked dumbfounded as she stared at the phenomenon in front of her. "How can Kyurem reverse his own attack?"

Jonathon sighed, "I'm not as acquainted with human scientific terminology, but I'm assuming you're referring to your laws of thermodynamics. That energy has a natural order in which it falls. A Pokemon that's used a move once cannot suddenly reverse its effects, something burned must remain charred and cannot return to its fromer state. The gods operate within the boundaries of entirely different laws than mortals do. It requires a great deal of energy and they reverse the effects by accessing the Distortion World and… hmm… perhaps this explanation is a bit difficult to understand. Would you simply accept: it's magic?"

Iris laughed, "Magic huh… why the Distortion World not after everything I've seen." She stood there for a moment, basking in the light as more and more of her city was freed from its icy prison. As the light moved further down, windows started opening and the citizens began happily shouting praises to Arceus. Soon enough, the blue light had completely enveloped the city and the ground. When it finally diminished and faded to nothing, the Opelucid citizens were running outside and sobbing both from joy as they embraced their loved ones and others from sorrow when they found their friends and family who had been on the street and died in the blast. Again, Iris felt the bitter and the sweet of this victory.

"Iris!" Iris heard a familiar voice call out. She looked through the crowded street and saw her familiar burly white-bearded father.

"Dad!" Iris shouted as she sprinted across the street to where he stood only to run straight into a tight Bewear hug. "A little tight there, Dad."

"I thought I'd lost you," Drayden whispered—his voice cracking slightly with emotion. "If it hadn't been for my Haxorus protecting me from the blast I would've… I… I just want you to know that I love you, Iris."

"Love you too, Dad," Iris whispered as she buried her head into his shoulder. "When I saw the city… I just assumed… thank Arceus you're alive."

"How did you do it, Iris? I've never seen anything like that before… and there's no trace of the ice at all."

Iris glanced back over at Jonathon only to see that he was gone. Iris smiled slightly, "Magic, Dad. And a lot of help from the gods."

"This is goodbye isn't it," Bianca whispered as we watched the last orbs of blue light fade into nothing and Kyurem silently slink off into the dark recesses of the Giant Chasm's forest. Reshiram and Zekrom had given a final cry before they too had sprung to the air and flown in opposite directions to a secluded and secure area for them to revert back to the Light and Dark stones respectively. Lugia and Ho-Oh had already left along with the majority of the Shaymin through Hoopa's rings and the Plasma Frigate was being torn apart from the inside out by a bunch of hyperactive Rotom. The remaining members of Team Plasma were sprawled on the ground with Cresselia hovering over them to erase their memories and all the remaining wild Pokemon had returned to what was left of their ruined home.

I gripped Bianca's hand tightly and didn't reply. I didn't want to… I knew that this would inevitably come long before I bonded with N, but the actual moment of saying goodbye was worse than I had ever imagined. I didn't know if I'd ever see Bianca, Black, or my parents again. I'd live in a place I'd never seen before with strangers I hardly knew aside from N. I felt N's own anxiety and fear mounting as he thought about the future while simultaneously regretting his past and I could already feel him start to tremble from all the trauma he'd experienced these last few months. I leaned my head against his shoulder and wrapped my arm around his waist to pull him close to me.

Black looked over at me, "You're going to visit, aren't you? I mean, you have to say bye to Mom and Dad and… and… we'll meet up again in years to come."

"Black… what would I say to Mom and Dad if I met them?" I whispered refusing to make eye contact with him. "Hey guys I'm a Celesta now and I'm going to live with them and my boyfriend who's also my ward now so see ya?"

"You could say you're studying in Sinnoh," Black said defensively with a hint of anger entering his voice, "and you'd just visit during the holidays or something. It could work."

I silently shook my head, but I wasn't forced to answer since Red, Yellow, and Red's Charizard had returned to the field where Charizard landed beside the other Pokemon Masters and Celestas who had remained to guard Team Plasma. "We didn't find Colress anywhere in the Giant Chasm," Red told us. I felt N immediately tense and involuntarily press his hand against his throat even though he no longer had his collar since a Rotom had destroyed it. Red turned to N and smiled, "But we did find someone important."

A black puffball jumped off the Charizard and quickly bounded over to N as he said, "Trixie! I was so worried about you!"

Trixie leapt into N's arms and affectionately nuzzled her head beneath his chin, "I'm so sorry I couldn't stop them… I… I'm sorry that I let them hurt you." She fiercely looked up at N and growled, "If I ever see that slimy, amoral, crappy hairstyle freak, I'm gonna blast his freaking head off."

"It's okay Trixie," N said as Trixie curled into a ball against his chest, "I'm just glad you're alright." He looked up at Red and whispered, "Thank you for finding her… do you think you can find Dr. Colress before he does something… horrible?"

Red smiled and said reassuringly, "He won't make it very far before we catch him."

"Especially since a few of our aura users know his aura," Yellow added, "no matter how far he runs, they'll always find him."

"I'm more worried that he still has that Pokemon control device. Even if Kayla damaged it during the battle, who knows what he'll do with technology like that," Pearl said worriedly.

"All the more reason for us to find him before he can do any of the Regions harm," Ruby said. "Um… speaking of Regions… the United Regions is coming to help Unova and Iris just called from Opelucid City to say that the Elite Four and League reinforcements are coming to arrest Team Plasma and go through whatever is left of the Plasma Frigate," He glanced over awkwardly at Yellow and the other Celestas, "just so you… uh… know."

Kayla nodded curtly and turned to the other Celestas, "It's time we leave." This caused the remaining Rotom, who were now outside the frigate and possessing hard drives, computers, and random lab devices while playfully shooting bursts of electricity at each other, to immediately leave their technology and sporadically zip though the air to a ring that had appeared beside them. She turned to Barrion who was still next to Cresselia looking over the sleeping Plasma members, "And Barrion I better not find that you've planted memories in those humans. If I learn that you did, you'll be banned access to the Dream Realm for nearly a month."

Barrion turned back to Kayla and said, "But Mother, imagine how funny it'd be if the humans started spouting out stories of how Ghetsis Harmonia ran down the ship like a Mankey! It'd be hilarious!"

"No," Kayla said flatly. She turned to the Pokemon Masters and quickly bowed to them, "We thank you for your assistance in this endeavor." She finally walked over to us and said, "It won't be long before the League arrives. I ask you to keep your farewells brief and when you are finished, enter this portal," as she said this, a golden ring appeared with blinding white light spilling out of it.

"W-Wait!" Bianca cried shrilly, "You can't be leaving so suddenly. Uh… the king… he's not back so… so maybe you have to stay longer."

Kayla shook her head, "He has already left to speak with the gods privately. He'll return directly to the Sinnoh Region rather than here. Besides, you're all exhausted from the night's battle and it's time to leave."

"But… Ivory needs to say goodbye to everyone! She can't leave like this," Bianca floundered.

"I know you will miss your friend," Kayla said gently as she lightly placed a hand on Bianca's shoulder who quickly shrugged it off and looked away to hide the tears forming in her eyes, "but you know that this cannot last. It would be difficult for Ivory to even bid her farewells to her parents since the League will report Ivory Greystorm as another of Team Plasma's causalities."

"You're just going to say she died!?" Black now demanded, "You're going to force her to live in isolation away from her family just because she's a Celesta now!? Why can't she visit? Or… or why can't she live with you part time or something? She doesn't need to leave!"

"Black," I shouted and turned to face them. "It's okay. I chose to do this long before I became a Celesta and bonded to N. I'm sorry, but… it really is for the best. Even if I could visit you, you'd never know what I did, and it could be dangerous for the Celestas and you if I did visit. Please… if this is the last time I ever see you, I don't want it to be like this. Please."

Bianca was now crying in earnest and she grabbed me in a tight hug, "Oh Ivory… you… and… Cheren… oh Arceus. Ivory, you're my best friend and I love you so much. You're more like a sister I never had than anything else. We've been through so much together." She looked up at me then—tears streaking down her now puffy cheeks and her eyes swollen and red from crying, "I thought we'd be together forever after this… even with college and everything we kept in touch and now… now…" Bianca again buried her head into my shoulder, "Now I'll never see you again. And it's all happening so fast. Cheren… you… I… don't think I can handle this."

"Yes you can," I whispered as I tightened my embrace around her, "because the people we love never really leave us. I… I just want you to know that I think of you as my sister too. I couldn't imagine going on my journeys without you by my side. I love you, Bianca. And I want to say you're the bravest person that I know. You're so much stronger than you think."

I turned to Black who was still shaking in rage and desperately wiping his eyes. I opened my arms to him, and he quickly accepted the hug. He held me tightly and didn't say anything for a long time. "Ivory… I'm sorry I wasn't a better big brother. I spent way more time thinking about myself than I ever did you. I was so caught up in the idea of being a Pokemon Master and having everyone know my name that I didn't see the most important things in this world were there in front of me the entire time. Arceus I'm starting to sound like Mom aren't I." He squeezed me tightly, "You know this isn't over. We're going to see each other again. It'll be like old times except you'll be super powerful and can kick some serious ass. I love you Ivory."

"I love you too, Black, and I think you're a great older brother. And you know what, I hope you become a the best Pokemon Master there ever was." And because I couldn't bare to say goodbye to him I whispered, "See you later, Black," before I slipped out of his hug.

Black let me go and said, "See you, Ivory." He affectionately rubbed Nightstar's head, "I'll miss you too buddy. Take care of Ivory okay."

"Of course, Black," Nightstar said as he jumped to Black's shoulder and then onto his head to make his hair stand on end from the electricity just like he used to when we were kids. Nightstar jumped back to my shoulder, "I'll miss you."

"Good luck with your new life, N," Black said turning to N, "guess you really were a king this entire time and not just because Team Plasma said so."

"I'll miss you N," Bianca said as she hugged N, "but at least you'll be around people like you. And just think of all the amazing things you'll learn about yourself with them!"

"Thank you," N said quietly, "and I can't thank you enough for bringing down the Plasma Frigate."

Then came the moment, the pause where we all knew it was time to go. I grabbed N's hand and gripped it tightly before finally saying, "Black, tell Mom and Dad that I love them, and don't you ever forget that I love you. Bianca, I love you… I… I hope you become a Professor like you've always wanted. I love you both."

"We love you, too," Bianca insisted, "and we'll never forget you, you know. Not in a million years."

"I know, and I'll never forget any of you," I said as I brushed the tears that had started blurring my vision. I glanced around the Giant Chasm a final time, took in Bianca and Black, the Unova Pokemon, thought about my parents at home probably worried about me and Black, I even took in Team Plasma and all the horrible things they did to us. I took it all in because I didn't want to forget a single moment. N gently squeezed my hand, and with a final goodbye to Bianca and Black, N and I stepped into the glowing light from Hoopa's ring and into the Sinnoh Region.