Chapter 48: Where things go back to normal ... but not everything.
The guild members as well as the police officers curled together at the abandoned house next to the former shop. It has now become so dark, it probably wasn't possible to get more darker than this. There was no difference between having your eyes closed or not. Nya tried to lit a fire, it was possible to see the fire, but nothing around it. The darkness swallowed the light and left only the fire itself. Even the sun, it was still visible in some way, but only visible as a hard to see, dark purple orb above them. Only Nya, Richard and Amy's mother, because of their species, were able to see in that darkness and were assigned the role of the guild's eyes for the moment. It was not like they could have lead the guild members anywhere, due to the total lack of light, it became incredibly cold very fast. The adventurers could only keep each others as warm as possible and wait. It did not look good, even Hilarius seemed to have lost hope.
"The scarf does nothing!", one of the Pawniard complained.
Mo sat on the ground, breathing warm air into his cloth to keep him warm, Charlotte sat behind him, hugging him tightly and also breathing softly into the back of his fake head, and Aaron curled around them, holding them both with his ribbons and pressing them against his body. This time Mo very much appreciated this form of embracement. The only good thing: The cold made his skin pain not so bad anymore.
"Mo.", Mo heard the voice of Amy's mother. He could not see her of course, but he was apparently right in front of him. "I'm sorry I had my doubts."
Mo waited a little before answering and he breathed into his claws.
"Well, it was not the first time someone called me evil, and I guess it won't be the last time. I think this is kind of funny in some way.", he said in a sleepy voice.
"I don't admit I was wrong when I saw evil inside you. On the other hand, I knew Bao, I knew what was driving him, but I would never have guessed he would go this far.", Amy's mother explained herself. "But I believe I now see what Amy saw in you.
Now Mo did not knew whether to be upset or not. He, again, waited a little before answering.
"And what is it you and Amy see?"
"Willpower. The will to change the world, even if your way may see unorthodox to others.", she told him.
Mo remained quiet. He knew he had ideas, but between wanting something and getting something, but one can't get really far with willpower alone.
"When I woke up after being knocked out, I felt a powerful presents at the Pokémon Square. At first it thought it was you, but it was the aura of somebody else. Somebody who is very similar in soul and mind as you are.", she further told him.
Mo was quiet at first again, this time because he repeated in his mind what she said and if he understood it right. Necrozma?!
"Don't you compare me with him.", Mo said. He now was upset, but too cold and too tired to actually be angry.
"I'm only saying thing could have been worse or better for both of you, depending on what destiny had in mind. Maybe then you wouldn't even be here with us at all, or maybe it wouldn't have even came to this in the first place.", Amy's mother explained.
Maybe ... Maybe ...
"I often don't know whether to be thankful or not, to destiny.", Mo admitted.
"You should be.", Amy's mother said and Mo felt something touching his fake head gently. "You should."
Mo remained silent again. Amy's mother eventually left. They did not talked to each other afterwards again. Mo, despite the cold, reached out with his right claw and touched Charlottes hand.
"Aaron? Charlotte? ... thank you for being by my side.", he said. No answer from them either.
Mo took his claw back under his cloth. Is there really they can't do now? Mo closed his eyes and soon drifted off.
Mo found himself back at the guild, at the entrance hall. No one was there except him and the building was filled with a thick fog, making it hard to see beyond this part of the HQ. From the distance, where the library and the dining hall used to be, a pink object approached him.
"I'm proud of you.", the pink silhouette told him in a childish, girly voice. "My boss told me to choose another one, but I had faith in you, and you did well."
Mo wanted to ask the silhouette who it was, but could not speak out to it.
"Do not be worried. Everything will be fine in the end. You will be happy.", the pink one further said.
Then, the pink silhouette stepped out of the mist and revealed itself. But it wasn't pink anymore all the sudden, instead bright green. A strange looking, matcha cream Alcremie with stars on her head, glowing yellow eyes piercing through the darkness and a purple scarf approached Mo. Mo was confused but knew that something was not right, as if he was not supposed to meet her. She smiled at him, like she did not had the problem and liked Mo very much. Mo began to back off.
"Mo! What's wrong?! Come one, wake up!", Aaron yelled in panic and was shacking him.
Mo panicked for a moment, almost having a heart attack, jumped up and began looking around in shock.
At some point Charlotte just let Mo of go and because he was sleeping simply fell over face first and kept sleeping like that on the cold ground.
"Oh my, for a second I though we lost you again.", Aaron said in relieve.
"Me? Why? What?", Mo answered in confusion and did not know what was going on.
It took a moment for Mo to realise he was able to see Aaron, meaning ... He quickly looked up. From east to west the darkness was disappearing, like a shock wave erasing whatever was causing the sky to turn black. Mo woke up just in time to witness himself the last moments of this phenomenon. In the end, the cold air and the frost on the ground and the plants were the only proofs left of the darkness, and they soon faded away as well when the warmth returned.
Mo slowly turned to Aaron and was now even more confuse.
"What did I miss?"
"We're just as confused as you are.", Gangolf answered him.
Everyone had witnessed the light returning as were discussing what had happened. This all had happened shortly after the guardians left, and now it's over. It all, according to Richard, only took less than half an hour. Worrying something may had happened in town during this darkness, Officer Magnezone sent some of his Magnemite into town to check, with Hilarius sending Gangolf from Team Green as reinforcement, just in case.
"I hope this is a good sign.", Mo said as he checked up everything really was alright in the sky.
"At least we'll not freeze to death anymore!", Ziggy commented aloud. Mo did not know if he answered him or if he said it to his own team mates, he did not looked at him.
While everyone rested down again, or tried to keep themselves warm, Hilarius began to discuss with Officer Magnezone. Something had happened, but no one can say what exactly. Team Red is currently missing again and the portal to Ultra Space is still open, meaning various Ultra Beast could arrive as they please. The question was now what their next step would be. They could not sit around all day, waiting for two kids and a robot to defeat the greatest threat known to Pokémon kind since that time literally everyone was petrified and the world was almost consumed by the sun, to Mo the most messed up Monday of all time and the final straw to him to decide to leave home.
Amy's mother, who was sitting on a rock, quickly got up and began searching the sky for something.
"What's wrong?", Hilarius asked as he noticed her behaviour.
"I feel a disturbance.", she said and pointed to a spot in the sky somewhere in the middle of the Pokémon Square. "Up there, there is something. I can't say what but ... there is something."
Hilarius took her paw.
"Are you sure?", he asked her.
"SIR GUILD MASTER SIR, YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THIS!", Officer Magnezone called out.
Just like when Necrozma arrived and opened the portal to Ultra Space, another glowing, blue cut slowly manifested itself in the air above the Square. Nya and Richard began to panic again, for they knew what happened last time. Mo also began to fear the worst yet again.
"Stay back! Stay back!", Hilarius ordered everyone, not like everyone was already backing off by themselves.
"This is getting out of hand.", Ziggy commented and glanced over to the first portal.
Just as the portal was completed, something already came out with high speed: Tapu Koko holding Steve! They were followed by the purple and the pink Guardian and finally Tapu Bulu, but no sign of Axel and Amy.
"Take cover!", Tapu Bulu shouted out as he left the portal as the last one, or so it first seemed.
Before everyone could properly react something huge and shiningly purple quite literally fell out of the portal at high speed and smashed on the ground so hard, some adventurers, like Mo, were thrown off their feet and a cloud of dirt fogged the whole square.
"Mo, where are you?!", Aaron called out and coughed, covering his snout with his ribbons to not breath in the dust.
"I don't want to anymore ...", Mo nagged and got back up.
"Amy!", Amy's mother called out.
After a short while the fog cleared up, revealing a knocked out Lunala without Necrozma's features, but with Amy and Axel on her back. Axel climbed down and seemed dizzy and confused where he were. Amy rolled off, curled into a ball, her mother above her, checking on her but too afraid to touch her. The adventurers hesitated going near Lunala.
Tapu Koko put Steve down, who approached Axel right away. At the same time, the portal above simply disappeared, leaving no trace of it.
"Where did you came from?! What happened?!", Hilarius approached Axel as well.
"Amy?", Amy's mother asked her and looked at her bruised body.
She opened her eyes carefully and raised her left arm. The Origin Stone!
"We did it, mom.", Amy smiled.
Her mother picked her up and hugged her as tight as she could. The twins from Team Green, Team Blue, even Ziggy, Team Orange and Aaron began to cheer in joy. Richard seemed to be the happiest of the bunch. Mo stood there with Charlotte by his side, looking at the Riolu as her mother lifted her up, Axel and Steve standing beside them, the Voltorb trying very hard not to look proud.
"They actually did it. ... again.", Mo said out loud. The two then approached the others as well.
"MO, YOU'RE OKAY AGAIN!", Steve discovered.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily!", Mo laughed, then changed the subject. "But what about her."
Mo nodded over to Lunala.
Lunala began to twitch, startling some of the adventures.
"Give me a minute ... I need to rest for a while.", she answered.
"Good that we have the Origin Stone back and all, but what about Necrozma?", Ziggy pointed out.
"Don't worry about this!" Tapu Koko answered. "He will not cause any more harm!"
"Cool!", Publius called out. "Is he dead?! Did you kill him?!"
"Well ...", Tapu Koko embarrassingly stated. "He escaped, but he won't be able to create another portal in his state for a while, so we're safe for ..."
Tapu Koko stopped, he noticed the other portal was still open.
"It would be better if he hurry.", the pink guardian suggested.
But it was already to late. Two giant, black claws suddenly reached out of the portal and stretched it to make it larger, revealing the dark Ultra Beast.
"I knew I would find you here again!", he shouted.
More violently and less majestic, but still intimidating, he pushed himself out of the portal and landed on the previously destroyed ground on all fours, his rock like body marked by a recent battle.
The guardians protectively positioned themselves in front of Axel, Amy, her mother, Steve, and Lunala, the adventurers joined in, Team Blue, Hilarius, and Heidi protecting his right side, Team Purple, Team Orange and the twins the left.
Necrozma looked up, looking angrily and the guardians and the guild members.
"It is over, Necrozma!", Tapu Koko announced. "Your army is defeated and scattered, the Origin Stone is the Chosen One's possession once again, and you're clearly outnumbered. Return to the deeps of Ultra Space were you came from, and never return!"
Lunala slowly rose from the ground, her bright, red eyes piercing at the Ultra Beast as he presented herself to him.
Necrozma as well rose from the ground and floated slightly above it like Lunala did.
"You've made a great mistake.", he told them. "Chosen One, Guardians, Adventurers, Lunala, mark my words. One day the Darkest Day will arrive. It will lay ruin to your world. And on that day, you or your descendants will come to me, crawling before me, begging me to help them, asking me for forgiveness, but then it will already be too late. Your world is cursed to become corrupted in the not so far future. I can feel it in the air, the corruption has already begun, and you don't even realise it yet."
The adventurers and the guardians remained silent and prepared for battle, and Mo had no idea what Necrozma was talking about.
Necrozma reached out with his claw, not as an attack, but a gesture of demand.
"I give you one final chance. Give me the Origin Stone, and I will save you all. From yourself and from the Darkest Day."
Axel walked over to the guardians, demanding to them to let him speak to Necrozma. They allowed it and let him through. And so Axel spoke to Necrozma.
"These Pokémon I had meet the during my time in this world are good of heart. I see you don't intend to do evil with the power of the Origin Stone, but we Pokémon can take care of ourselves. And if the Darkest Day arrives, be sure we will stand united. We don't need your leadership, but I would be happy to know if this day arrives, we Pokémon can count on your help as well."
The two looked at each other for an awfully long time. It looked like one of these two would start talking or the battle would start at any second.
"Arceus should have chosen a pawn with more brain cells.", Necrozma finally answered. "You think too much with your heart. ... but maybe this is what this world needs. You will remember what I have said, tell it to everyone you meet, and I will keep your words with me as well."
Then, Necrozma slowly floated upwards, everyone prepared for what may happen now. At the portal, he stopped.
"Lunala ...", Necrozma said to her. "This is not ever yet. I WILL return."
With that, Necrozma turned around, and like he appeared before he disappeared into the portal, much to everyone's surprise, the portal closed behind him and Mo never heard from him again.
The guardians looked baffled at Axel, who just managed to defeat the Dark Lord with words. Necrozma probably realised himself this was a lost battle, who knows.
"Darkest Day?", Nya asked. She looked over to Hilarius. "Didn't we just had that?"
"No, not like that.", Lunala answered for the Guild Master. "It's a storm of titanic size caused by an ancient Pokémon known as Eternatus. It transformed Pokémon and made them go amok. Only two Pokémon, Zacian and Zamazenta, were able to put an end to this chaos. This was a long, long time ago in a far away land, no one had ever heard of one of these three again since. ... I fear we will have to face a even greater foe one day."
Lunala glanced over to the Riolu.
"But this is not the most important task right now, ... Amy."
Everyone glanced over to her as well. She was still holding the Origin Stone and looked around nervously as everyone starred at her.
Axel approached her and looked at her expectant. Amy was hesitating. Ziggy approach her as well from behind and grabbed the right arm. As she looked at him shocked, he had a grim look on his face.
"Don't you dare be like that again.", he told her. Her mother did not liked seeing him treating her daughter that way and pulled the Pikachu up by his scarf.
"Amy, ... please.", Axel begged her and reached out with his tiny hand.
"But ...", Amy stammered and was near tears. "When I give you the stone then you're gone, and when you're gone ... what am I supposed to do?"
Axel smiled a fake smile.
"The same we did every day. The only difference is I won't be around anymore."
"But you are Team Red's leader!", Amy told him. She held the Origin Stone tighter and tears began rolling down her face. "You are MY leader, my best friend, ... you are my brother! ... I love you!"
She wiped her face, but instead of cleaning it, she made it even more and more dirtier. Axel lowered his hand again.
"It's not the end of the world. It will be a new beginning for us all.", Axel tried to reason with her. "There comes a time were we just have to move on."
"HOW am I supposed to go on?!", she shouted at him. "There can't be a Team Red without you! What do you expect I should do?! Become Team Red's new leader?!"
Steve wanted to say something, but at that moment something suddenly may have snapped inside Axel. He quickly took of his scarf, angrily stomped towards and before Amy could react he used his scarf like a whip and slapped her across the face with it. Pokémon gasped in shock, even Amy's mother. No one did anything, Mo thought about stepping in, but rather didn't. Amy was stunned and did not react to it, but it was clear what the Cyndaquil just did was painful to her both physical and psychical.
"YOU wanted to join the guild! It was YOUR dream! And you have more what it takes to become Team Red's new leader!", Axel snapped at her, a real out of character moment. "We already had this conversation before, for Arceus' sake! You are an adventurer, so start behaving like one!"
Amy was apparently frozen in that pose, her dead eyes starring into the crowd around them. From her cheek, where Axel had slapped, she began to bleed. It was then Axel realised what he just did, dropped is scarf in shock and backed off.
"Amy ...! Amy, I'm so sorry!", Axel begged.
Amy blinked. She took a deep breath and approached the Cyndaquil.
"I guess the Origin Stone can't do everything after all. It can't keep you by my side.", she said and brooded over the Origin Stone.
"You not only have me." Axel told her. "You have Steve, your mother, look around you."
"You make us want to try harder!", Hilarius II. called out as his brother stood by his side.
"You're far from perfect, but I expect my great things from you in the future!", Ziggy called out after he was put down again.
Mo took a deep breath.
"You trusted me when no one did, and is only on of the things I am thankful for.", Mo called out as well.
"You're just like your father.", Hilarius said quietly.
"I'm not a part of your world. I did what I came to do, now I don't have a purpose to stay anymore.", Axel finally told her and began to sob as well. "Don't make it harder than it has to be."
Amy turned around to her mother who was watching her, then back to Axel.
"I guess you're right ...", she admitted in the end.
Amy finally reached out the Origin Stone for Axel. That moment, Mo remembered what Buzzwole had said in Ultra Deep Sea and what he had meant. Mo did not know if he should tell everyone what may had happened, that this Origin Stone was probably not theirs. But he was too afraid to do so.
Axel took the stone in his tiny hands and Amy let go. Axel was now in the possession of the Origin, as it should have been.
"Thank you, Amy.", Axel said. Amy picked up his scarf and put it around his neck.
Then, the Origin Stone began to glow in a light, red as fire. Everyone knew something was about to happen, and Mo knew he seemingly was wrong. Never was he so happy to have been wrong, but at the same time a bit sad he did not took the stone for himself in the end.
The light coming out from the Origin Stone expanded over Axel's hands all over his body, making in appear he was now made from the same material the stone was, or as if he and the stone started becoming one. All, except for his scarf.
Amy went down to him and hugged the Cyndaquil tight. His face was too brightened up to see if he reacted to this.
"Don't leave me. Don't leave me.", she sobbed.
The next moment, Amy fell through Axel, only holding his scarf in her paws as she loud surprised on the ground. Above her, Axel began to float and he and the Origin Stone turned into a ball of light, almost as bright as the sun.
"Thank you, everyone!", Axel called out one last time.
In front of everyone, the orb that used to be Axel flew up high into the sky, higher and higher. Above he almost looked like a single red star shining in the sky during daytime, and soon ... he was gone.
Amy dropped on her knees, then dropped the red scarf that used to belong to Axel. She covered her eyes with her paws and let out a blood curdling scream, echoing and shocking everyone around. She broke down on top of Axel's scarf and began to cry uncontrollably, curled into a ball.
The world was save, the story of the Origin Stone had ended, but no one dared to smile, no one laughed that day. Instead everyone present that moment felt grieve.
Mo never forgot what had happened at the old Pokémon Square, a magical and bitter sweet moment that to everyone who was present. He felt empty inside when he saw Axel vanish. To him he never truly made up for that day in that cave, and now he knew he never could make it up to him. It was also at that time Mo knew what he should to. One day, when everything got quiet again, maybe when he got old, maybe have a wife and a child, he would write down this story, so future generations would remember the story of Axel and the Origin Stone, and hopefully also remember him and the misadventures he and Team Purple had.
Amy's mother carefully went to her, picked her up and rubbed her back as she carried the Riolu over her shoulder.
"I take her home with me, at least for tonight.", she told the Guild Master. "It was a long week for us all, you should all rest for the rest of the day."
Hilarius nodded.
"Not for me.", Lunala announced, rose up and flapped her wings majestically. "Solgaleo is still missing and I won't rest until I know he is safe."
She looked over to the heartbroken Amy, her mother, who still held her, and Steve who was heart broken as well and wanted to be by her side.
"Amy, Steve, thank you for everything. I hope we'll see again in the near future.", she said. Amy did not reacted.
Before Lunala could leave, she was stopped by Tapu Koko.
"If you allow it ...", he offered. "We'd like to accompany you. Maybe you need us."
Lunala smilled as the other Guardians gathered around her.
"Very well!", she accepted.
With that the five of them flew up into the sky, similar like Axel did, and together with the darkness that Lunala created they disappeared into the unknown.
"Goodbye to you, too ...", Mo thought to himself.
"Sir Guildmaster.", Heidi asked Hilarius as she hurried over to him. "I suggest the adventurers should seek medical attention. ... I mean professional ... I mean, I can only do this much ..."
Hilarius raised his hand, telling her to stop talking.
"Allowed.", he answered. "Officer, send someone to inform the hospital! Hopefully there is not much that needs to be done. ... also, send someone to look for Gangolf to tell him what happened."
On their way, Mo noticed he hasn't eaten since yesterday morning.
