Ash woke up in a bed, he noticed immediatly that something was amiss. He recognized this room it was buried deep in his memories, memories of happier times. This was his room back when his father was still alive.
Looking around he was filled with a deep sense of nostalgia. Hanging on the mirror, he could see the fake medal his father had made him when he had first learned to swim. Standing at the head of his bed was a smaller replica of a pirate ship which bought memories of stories his grandfather used to tell him about his days as a sailor. Looking at the wall he could see a standard size television hanging on the wall, under it he could see the last Nintendo console the company ever made before the Invasion.
Looking down on himself he instantly noticed than his hands were much smaller than he was used to. He got out of bed and rushed toward the mirror and he gasped in shock when he saw himself. He looked like a three years old. As fast as he could manage, he ran toward the window and his eyes widened when he saw the town of Fluoti in all it's glory.
The houses weren't worn down anymore, they looked pristine and lived-in there was no detritus in the streets and he could see people and cars passing throught town as if nothing was wrong. ''What the heck is happening?!''
Then he heard footsteps coming his way and his breath caught in his throat when he saw his Father standing in the doorway. ''Ash is something wrong buddy? You're making a lot of noise this morning.''
Ash took a defensive position. ''I'll not be fooled twice, I know you're not my dad and I don't know how you create this perfect world, but I see right through the illusion!'' The man smile sadly toward him.
''This is no illusion Ash, this is only a dream.'' Ash relaxed at the news, but he also felt kind of disappointed.
''Oh... Yeah that make sense I suppose.'' He looked out at the window in longing. ''Do you think the world will ever go back to being like this someday?''
The dream version of his father sat on the bed and put a conforting hand on his back. ''Maybe, someday another civilisation will rise up and it will be just as great as this one was. But I don't think this world will ever be quite the same anymore, too much has changed arleady.''
Ash looked back at his dad with longing and finally he sighed. ''At first I wanted to kill all the Pokémon but now I'm not sure. I still hate most of them, but I can't hate Sandy and Bolt, I arleady grew close to them after spending a month with them. And I also realised that killing the Pokémon would mess up our planet even more than it arleady is. But at the same time, I don't know how we can rebuild anything if the Pokémon is going to destroy everything again.''
Red smiled at his son. ''I'm sure you will find a way. Humans might not have sharp teeth, claws or the power to shoot lightning at their foes. But we're a species that can adapt to anything. We got caught by surprise ten years ago, but I'm sure with time humanity will bounce back. But first you must wake up.''
''Huh?'' Ash asked questionly somehow at the end it felt like the voice of his dad had changed it sounded almost like...
''Ash you have to wake up!'' This time it definetly sounded like the voice of Lillie! The world around him faded to white and felt himself being shaken awake, quite litterally.
''Wake up Ash!'' The boy woked up with a gasp. His vision was blurry but he could make out the silhouette of Lillie in her human form. He groaned groggily he felt like he hadn't slept at all and his body was cold all over. And there was a strange sort of emptiness he could feel inside of him.
''Did you really have to shake me awake like this?'' He asked with a hoarse voice.
Lillie looked down guiltily at that. ''Sorry but you wouldn't stop saying dad over and over again, I thought you were having a nightmare.''
''I'm fine... I dreamth of my old hometown.''
Lillie looked at him confused and look around. ''Isn't this your hometown?'' Ash nodded.
''Yes, but I dreamt I was back in my house back before the Invasion ever happened... And my father was there, he talked to me in my dream.''
Lillie looked at him sadly. ''I know how that feel, I dream of the Old World often myself. Maybe you don't dream of it as often since you're technically younger than me.'' Ash nodded, it was weird to think about. But Lillie was technically almost ten years older than him. But since she had also been frozen for almost ten years she looked the same age as him. He wondered if that legally made her an adult or not? ''But let's forget about dreams for a moment, what happened to you Ash? We found you passed out on the back of Sandy.''
Ash breath caught in his throath as he finally remembered what had hapopened. ''I saw my dad.''
Lillie nodded. ''Yes we arleady went over this.''
At that Ash shook his head. ''No I saw him in the real world... Or rather I saw his reanimated corpse. I wasn't able to attack him and he drained something from me. I still feel cold and empty since the attack. As if he drained a part of my soul.'' Lillie hugged him which surprised him. He was too shock to return the hug.
''I'm sorry if you had to live throught that. I don't blame you for hesitating, I would probably do the same thing if I saw my own dad. Xofamai said that the undead took a part of your life force away. I don't know what they do with it, but fortunately you were saved before any serious harm happened to you.''
''What my life force was taken?! Does that mean I'm going to die?!'' He asked in a panic.
Lillie shook her head. ''As I said your life force isn't damaged, your body can produce more of it with little issue as long as you rest and eat properly. It's kind of similar to how blood work. Take a bit and nothing major will happen but if you take too much, it can end your life.'' Ash gulped and nodded in understanding.
Both teens heard footsteps coming their way. Xofamai entered in the room and looked at Ash with his usual neutral expression. ''You're finally awake? Good, Lillie since we're sure that Ash will make it. I want to do a little reconnaissance, will you come with me?''
''Hey what about me? I'm ready to go!'' Ash exclaimed, but as soon as he tried to lift himself from the bed he immediatly fell back down from dizziness.
Xofamai shook his head. ''No you still need to recover, don't worry we won't attack any Pokémon tonight. And even if we wanted to it would be suicide to attack at night, if the words of our client is to be believed. I just want to know what we're dealing with exactly.'' Ash pouted at being left out, but he knew that the man was right. He wasn't even able to stand up right now, so he wouldn't be of much help.
''But what if something happen to Ash and we're not here?'' Lillie asked with a concerned frown.
Xofamai looked back at her with an impatient expression. ''Timothy is Ash great-uncle, I'm sure if Ash need anything he will be more than happy to provide. Now let's go before we get too tired to do this.'' Lillie sighed and nodded in acceptance before following the man outside of the library.
Ash let himself fall back on the bed with a groan. ''Great now what can I do? Oh right I should thank her for saving me. Sandy come out.'' A green beam of energy emerged from his pocket and the young Deerling materialised in front of the brown-haired boy.
As soon as she saw him Sandy began to nuzzle him on the face and Ash chuckle. ''Thank you Sandy you're really saved my life back there...I never thought humans and Pokémon could really work together like this, you really proved me wrong. You make me question a lot of things I though I knew about this world.'' He said with a thoughtful look on his face.
The streets of Fluoti Town were abnormally calm at night. Just as Timothy had said all the undead had retreated once the sun disappeared. They still met a few rodents on the way but as soon as they saw the group of one human, one hybrid and two Pokémon they gave them a wide berth.
Lillie was still getting use to see civilisation in ruins everywhere she went. Unlike most people she hadn't been living in this new world for long. Sometime it still felt like only yesterday that every cities in the country was filled with busy people and the sound of cars roaming the streets. Back where she lived in Ringabell City, she also often heard the sound of airplanes in the sky but since she had woken up from her cryo sleep, she hadn't seen a single flying vehicle in the sky.
It was kind of depressing to be honest. She had never really asked how many people had died that day, ten years ago. But judging from everything she saw it had to be at least half of the population and that was a very optimist guess. Humanity were just about to make their first real step into colonizing the stars. But that dream had been extinguished along with most of their civilisation.
''We're here.'' Xofamai said interupting the thoughts she had. The cemetery they came in front of almost looked like something you would see in a typical horror movie. There was a large gate that clanked loudly everytime the wind picked up. The trees in the cemetery looked old and withered despite being in the middle of spring. And the thing that caught her attention the most was all the holes and empty coffins all over the place.
Xofamai glared at the scene in disgust. ''So the Pokémon used the corpses of the cemetery to build it's army, disgusting. That's why I hate Ghost types they have no respect for the dead.''
''Look!'' Lillie said in shock, further in the cemetery they saw dozens of undead all of them forming a massive circle around something. There was a massive shadowy figure in the middle of the circle but neither of them could make out what it was. Some of the undead advanced toward the shadowy being and opened their jaws so wide Lillie thought they would snap in half. Then beams of multicolored lights emerged from the undead mouths and was absorbed by the mysterious being.
''I think we've seen enough. I wish I could have seen what species of the Pokémon it was. But if we come any closer we run the risk of attracting the attention of the horde. Even if we had Ash with us we couldn't take that many at once.'' Xofamai stated with a frown. Lillie nodded in acceptance and the two of them made a quick retreat back to the library...
It was now morning. The three of them had slept as best as they could unfortunately there wasn't enough bed to go around. So Lillie and Xofamai were forced to sleep on couches. Ash had tried to convince Lillie to take the bed but she stubbornly refused saying he needed it more than her after his ordeal.
They were now making their way back to the cemetery. Now that the sun was out it wouldn't be as dangerous to attack their target. ''So... You say the undead gave some sort of energy to a Pokémon?'' Ash asked incrediously.
Xofamai nodded in response. ''Most likely they gave it the life force they had collected to make it stronger. Let's hope the Pokémon hasn't absorbed too much of it or this could turn even more dangerous.'' Now that they knew the town like the back of their hands. It didn't take long for the group to arrived at their destination.
Xofamai looked at Ash then at Sandy who was standing alert for any dangers. ''Ghost types can turn immaterial and avoid most physical attack. You should focus on pelting it with as many special attacks as you can.''
Ash nodded but then frowned. He couldn't recall a single time where Sandy had used a special attack. Hopefully she had one because otherwise they might be in trouble.
As they cross the gate Xofamai made a motion for them to stop talking and they began to look around the cemetery as silent as they could. But they couldn't see the Ghost type anywhere.
''Maybe it's inside this mausoleum?'' Lillie suggested in a whisper. Standing in the back stood a pearly white mausoleum that had stood the test of time. Ash was about to dismiss her after all Pokémon don't know how to open doors right? But then he remembered the Ninetales they had meet at the farm and he wasn't so sure anymore.
''Alright I'll go check it out, you two stay here and be prepared to attack if anything come out of there.'' Xofamai said as silently as he could. The two teens nodded at him and the man dressed in black slowly stalked toward the lone building.
As soon as he opened the door it made a loud creaking noise that resonated in all the cemetery, the trio winced at the sound. If the Pokémon didn't knew they were there, it sure did now. Then they heard something roar from inside the mausoleum and Xofamai ran back toward the group.
''It was in there! Just as you said, be prepared for a fight!'' They heard a loud crash coming from inside the building then another ones as the Pokémon clumsily flew into the wall in it's hurry to chase the intruders and took out a portion of the structure in his haste. The creature had legs but weren't using them to move. Instead it floated in the air as it glared at them.
The creature had an unnatural triangular head with small openings above it where small creatures resided inside and looked at the group with just as a predatory expression as the bigger Pokémon they resided inside of. The creature's tail didn't look entirely solid as the tip of it was slightly transparent and ethereal.
''Draga!'' It cried angrily at them with a furious glare for having disturbed it's sleep. Xofamai face paled as he realised just what type of creature they were facing. ''Holy shit...This is a Dragonling.''
''A Dragonling?'' Ash asked fearfully, he had never seen the man as nervous as he was right now.
''Both of you! Run now! This is way too dangerous for you!'' Xofamai yelled but the two teens were frozen in place. ''Crap, Scorch, Aqua distract the Dragonling!'' The two Pokémon nodded before they blasted the the raging shadow creature with a fireball and a precise stream of water respectively.
Xofamai turned toward Ash and Lillie and shook both of them to get them out of their daze. ''This is not the time to stay still get out of here! I will keep the Dragapult occupied!'' Behind him the battle was raging as Scorch and Aqua blasted everything they had at the Dragon/Ghost type. But then the Dragapult used it's own tail as a springboard and floated over them. The two Pokémon of Xofamai cried out in alarm at this development.
Xofamai turned around but he wasn't quick enough to react. as the Dragonling landed in front of him and slapped him with it's tail. The impact was strong enough to send the man flying into the air and crashing upon the trunk of a withrered tree leaving a large hole in the wood because of the impact.
''Xofamai!'' Both teens yelled in horror, finally snapping out of their trance. Scorched cried out in rage and spewed a torrent of flames toward the Dragonling that had attacked his master. The Dragapult roared in pain before turning toward the Heatmor, it's yellow eyes glowing malevolently toward the one that had caused him pain.
The Dragonling used it's own children as a torpedo and fired them straight toward the giant anteater. Scorch cried out in alarm before he was hit by the smaller dragons and was engulfed into the draconic explosion that followed. When the attacked ended the Fire Pokémon was laying down on the ground unmoving. The only sign that it was still alive was it's faint breathing.
The Dragapult flew toward the fallen Heatmor with a predatory gling in it's eyes but just before he could reach it Aqua attacked the Dragonling with a ball of cold water. ''Leave him alone you demon!'' The Ninetales said defiantly before forming a whip of water out of her own body and slapping the Dragonling with it across the skull.
In retaliation the Dragonling slapped it's tail on the ground again and flew toward it's attacker before landing on her with a large crash. The slime-like fox bursted like a bubble at the impact sending out water everywhere in the clearing. ''Dragaaaaaaa!'' The Dragonling roared victoriously before turning back toward Scorch.
The small little dragonlings had somehow survived the impact from earlier and had now returned within the small holes on top of the Dragonling's head. The Dragapult once again used it's own children and sent them flying toward the fallen Heatmor. Ash had been frozen during all this but as he saw Scorch being shallowed by another draconic explosion he finally snapped out of his daze and decided to try to stop the monster before it could kill another being. ''Sandy help Scorch!'' The Deerling nodded at her master and began to glowed a brightly green color as she summoned a massive amount of energy. She managed to tangle the Dragonling in dozens of vines that she managed sprouted from the ground.
But it made quick work of getting out of the vines and resumed it's assault on Scorch. ''Sandy remember what you managed to do yesterday to protect me from my fa- that thing?'' He said, not able to call the creature that had assaulted him his own father. ''We need that again, throw rocks at it! The bigger the better!'' Unfortunately Sandy was still a pretty young Pokémon. so the rock she managed to throw at the Dragonling weren't that impressive, it only managed to anger the monster even more.
Much to their surprise the Dragonling vanished into thin air then he reappeared behind Sandy and bit her with it's huge razor-like teeth. The Deerling cried out in pain and Ash could see blood coming out of the flank of the poor Pokémon. Ash wasn't able to handle this anymore. ''Sandy return!'' The deer-like creature dissapeared in a flash of green and returned to her gem. ''This is risky, but you're my last Pokémon, come out Bolt!''
The rodent emerged with a flash of yellow and stood ready in front of his master. But when it saw the creature it was facing and it lost all confidence. Bolt instantly went to hide behind Ash, trembling in fear. The boy gulped as he realised that if Bolt didn't want to fight he was completely defenseless. ''Bolt return!'' He said before running away at full speed not even taking the time to see Bolt return in the gem in his pocket.
The ghostly monster growled loudly before giving chase to the boy. Ash realised quickly that there was no way he could outrun this thing not only was it flying after him, it could also used the small lizards that had once again return within the openings on it's head as projectiles to blast him from a distance...Was he really going to die here?
''Leave him alone you abomination!'' The voice of Lillie rang out in the cemetery. The girl used her power to lift one of the various tombstones and threw it at the Dragonling at full force. Ash winced slightly as he remembered how much her power had hurt during training when she threw balls at him, he couldn't imagine how much worse it would be with solid stone.
But even that didn't seemed to slow down the creature much. Because it abandoned Ash and went after the much more dangerous prey that was Lillie. Seeing that she had caught it's attention Lillie tried to push the monster away with her telekinetic grasp. But as soon as the energy came in contact with the shadow creature it fizzled out.
Lillie looked at this in confusion but before she could understand what was going on the Dragonling was on her and it swiped at her with one of it's massive claws. Lillie screamed in agony as she felt her flesh being ripped apart and blood marred her snow white fur.
''Lillie!'' Ash yelled in terror. Without thinking the boy ran up to the monster and jumped on it's back trying to restrain it from doing any more damage. The Dragapult began to shake around like an enraged bull as it tried to dislodge the boy from it's back. Ash made a valiant effort but in the end he was sent flying in the air and fell down in one of the many holes littering the cemetery.
Xofamai eyes opened wide as he finally regained consciousness. His vision was blurry but he could hear a lot of noise from screaming and roaring and the sound of crashing as Lillie tried to keep the monster away from her. But the girl was losing blood and the monster was beginning to gain on her until finally it was only a few inches away. It opened it's mouth and started extracting energy similarly to how the undead had done to Ash.
At this point the girl was too weak to try to fight back. Her wounds, coupled with the cold sensation that was invading her body made staying conscious a difficult task. Seeing the girl in pain and Ash in no much better shape. Xofamai tried to chase away his grogginess away and stood up.
Lillie eyes were turning cloudy there wasn't much time left to save her. Xofamai started to run ignoring the protest of his body. His fist became coated in a purple light and he punched the monster on the face creating a huge shockwave at the impact. Much to the shock of Lillie who layed on the ground in exhaustion. The Dragapult toppled on the ground at the impact of the hit. Not taking any chance Xofamai threw another punched coated in purple energy while it was on the ground and the ghostly dragon was sent skidding on the ground.
The Dragapult didn't take a long time to recover and it opened it's mouth wide to produce a orb of dark purple energy toward the man. He tried to block the attack with his arm still coated in purple shadows and much to the surprise of Lillie he managed to stop it with great difficulty. The shockwave that resulted from the attack made his sunglasses shatter. Xofamai growled and disgarded the broken glasses on the ground.
The Dragonling recoiled slighlty when it saw the eyes of the man. They were glowing red and his expression was wild like an animal. ''You really pissed me off now. Not only do you attack the people I'm supposed to protect. But you also broke one of my most priceless possession, you're going to die!''
Xofamai clothes had become torned after he got attacked earlier. In his rage he disgarded them. Getting anoyed at how they empered his movements. Now that the trench coat laid on the ground Xofamai was revealed in all his glory. He was wearing a riot armor underneath, kind of similar to the one Ash was wearing. But unlike Ash the gear had clearly gone throught a lot as it was battered by years of abuse.
But what was most shocking was his appearance the red eyes were shocking enough. But he also had many non-human charateristics. For one thing his ears stood at the top of his head and they were coated with white fuzzy fur. His arms were also covered by the same fur but the rest of his body had normal skin. He also mostly white hair but with some red at the tips that floated in the air as if touched by an invisible wind.
''W-what are you?'' Lillie questioned too quiet for anyone else to hear.
Xofamai grabbed something on his left side it was soon revealed to be a scabbard. From it Xofamai retrieved a one-hand sword. Taking his weapon in hand the man glared down at the monster who was staring at him with a ravenous expression.
The man closed his eyes and the sword began to shake slightly in his graps before it was engulfed in the same purple energy he had used earlier to punch the creature. ''You think you can take me you filthy beast?! Then come take a piece of me if you dare!'' He yelled, his emotionless expression had completely melt away, it was replaced by a feral look in his eyes.
The Dragapult growled at him as it slapped it's tail on the ground and sent itself barelling toward the man. It's razor sharp teeth snapped toward Xofamai but the man quickly ducked to evade the attack and pierced the creature's skull with his sword. It screamed in agony and began to trash around knocking over many of the remaining tombstones.
As it trash around one of it's claws hit Xofamai's sword and it was sent flying out of his hands as he was sent skidding a few meter away from the beast. Lillie eyes widened in shock as the creature recovered from the blow and cried out in rage. ''It's not dead?! But he just got stabbed in the head!''
Xofamai chuckled before responding to her. ''Don't worry about it, this thing is as good as dead.'' Xofamai said with a feral grin that sent shiver down the girl's spine. Lillie noticed that it seemed like the man hair was begining to grow even bigger and formed floating red tendril of hair behind him. She couldn't help but think they almost looked like tails. A dark mist began to surround him like a sort of unholy cloak. Then without any warning he started to sprint at full speed toward the angry Dragonling who roared in defiance and began to charge at him too.
Xofamai went to grab for his sword laying on the ground. The Dragonling saw that and sent another lizard torpedo that barely missed Xofamai but was enough to send the sword even further away. Lillie gasped at the draconic explosion was coming toward her. She yelped in pain as she was pushed away by the shockwave. She landed a few meters away daze but still okay.
When she regained her bearing she looked over at where Xofamai used to be only to see nothing there. ''Xofamai?!'' She yelled worriedly but then she noticed something moving in the air and she gasped both in surprise and in relief. Xofamai had jumped high up in the air evading the draconic shocwave entirely. He grinned savagely as he looked down on the Dragonling who seemed to think he had arleady won the battle.
The cloak of darkness surounding Xofamai began to move and went toward the palm of his right hand to form a large purple orb of darkness. Then Xofamai released the energy forming a beam of shadow that went straight between the ghostly dragon's shoulders and pierced his heart, assuming the creature even had one.
The Dragonling screamed in disbelief as a huge gapping hole was now in it's back and chest. It's eyes rolled back in the back of it's head and it crash ond the ground sending dirt and small rocks everywhere at the impact. Finally it's yellow eyes slowly dimmed and went dark until the ghostly creature stopped moving entirely and laid lifeless on the ground.
Xofamai stayed defensive for a few more seconds. The body of the Dragapult lit up once again and exploded. Sending out what looked like small rocks everywhere, Lillie ducked her head afraid to receive one of the rocks on her head. When the chaos finally ended, she uncovered her head and looked up and looked at the strange rocks that had come out of the beast and her eyes widened when she realised what it was. ''Are those Draconid Gems?! Why did that come out of that Pokémon's body?'' Without thinking she picked one up and put it inside of her pouch.
The Dragapult body had completely disappeared as if it had never existed. It's children panicked as they realised their parent was gone and flew away with their tails between their legs. When Xofamai realised it was truly dead, he chuckled until it turned into full blown laughter. Lillie honestly couldn't tell what to make of the scene. Then the man stopped laughing and let himself fall on the ground. Lillie gasped and ran toward him.
''Xofamai! Are you alright?!'' The man chuckled weakly but managed a nod.
''Sprouting a second tail took a lot out of me. I'll probably have to rest for a few days but I'll be fine otherwise. More importantly what about your wounds?'' Lillie eyes widened and she checked to see her wounds. The blood on her fur had almost dried up and it looked like there wasn't more coming out.
''My wound arleady healed?'' She asked in shock.
Xofamai nodded with a relieved expression. ''I knew Pokémon, even hybrids ones healed fast but I wanted to be sure.'' It was then that Lillie finally realised she finally had the chance to ask the question that had been burning on her tongue since the fight had began.
''Are you one as well? Are you a hybrid like me?'' She asked her eyes full of curiosity.
''I think that question should wait for another time. We should check if Ash is alright he hasn't moved since he was thrown in that hole.'' Lillie eyes widened in horror as she realised he was right. She instantly ran toward where Ash had fallen and peered down inside the hole. Lillie was shocked when she came face to face with the boy merely inches away from her face. So surprise in fact that she yelped making Ash screamed in surprise and letting his grip slip making him fall back into the pit he had almost gotten out of.
Ash groaned both in pain and dissapointment. ''Crap, I was almost there, I really suck at climbing too.'' Lillie laughed and laughed until tears appeared in her eyes. Ash grumbled at her. ''I'm glad my suffering is at least making someone happy.''
Lillie finally managed to calm her mirth and wiped away the tears from her eyes. ''Sorry I'll get you out of there.'' She said before her eyes glowed with a blue aura as she unfurled her large ears.
''Whoa!'' Ash yelped as he was lifted into the air by Lillie's power. Finally he sighed in relief as he was let down on the ground and finally out of the hole. Then he froze when he saw Xofamai laying on the ground a few meter away from them. ''Umm, Lillie maybe I hit my head too hard. But I'm pretty sure I'm seeing Xofamai with animal ears and fur over his arms and legs and he's looking at me with red creepy eyes.''
Lillie nodded at him. ''You're not imagining things I don't really know what happening either but Xofamai killed the Dragonling by himself.'' Ash gaped at her as if she had grown a second head.
''You're serious?!'' He asked incrediously.
Lillie nodded before showing him a purple gem. ''And when it died it exploded and produce dozens of Draconid Gems.''
Before Ash could point out how unbelievable that was, the voice of Xofamai interupted them. ''Well shit, kids it look like we got company.'' The two teens turned around and both of them gasped in horrors when they saw a huge horde of undead advancing toward the cemetery. They were completely blocking the exit. For a moment the three of them thought they would have to fight all of them. Considering how tired they arleady were from the earlier fight, it sounded like an impossible task. Then one of the zombie began to move in a weird way before he toppled on the ground and vanished in a cloud of ashes. All the undeads soon followed suited and slowly turned to dust until there was nothing left of the horde but particles floating in the air.
All three of them sighed in relief. ''Look like killing the Dragonling made them disappeared too. Good thing, because I don't think I had much fight left in me after this.'' Xofamai said before slowly lifting himself from the ground. He went toward the unmoving body of Scorch and tried to recall him inside his Draconid Gem. The Pokémon's body glowed red for a few second but then it stopped and Heatmor's body was left there outside of the gem.
Xofamai closed it's eyes and bowed his head in respect. ''He's dead.'' He said quietly, confirming to the two teens what they had feared.
Lillie's felt bad and wished she could have done more. ''I'm sorry that both of your Pokémon died. I wasn't strong enough to help them.'' Before he could respond Lillie felt something rubbing against her leg. She screamed when she saw a featureless small blob-like creature the size of a mouse rubbing itself against her.
''Calm down Lillie.'' Xofamai said before picking up the small slime in his hand. ''This is just Aqua.''
Lillie looked at the blob incrediously. ''It look nothing like her.'' She said in an unbelieving tone. Xofamai went to search throught his backpack that he had flung on the ground along with his coat and retrieved a bottle of water. He uncapped it and proceeded to unload it's content into the small slime who quikcly grew in size and took the shape of a very small fox.
Lillie looked at her in wonder. ''It is Aqua!'' She exclaimed happily.
Xofamai nodded in confirmation. ''Her body is almost entirely made out of water so when she exploded earlier she lost almost all of her body mass. As soon as we can find a river or something similar she will be able to regrow to her full size. For now she should be safe in her gem, Aqua return.'' The miniature fox slime returned in her Draconid Gem in a blue beam of light. Then Xofamai started walking toward the exit of the cemetery. ''Well alright then, I guess we should go tell our client that's the job is done and maybe take a small rest before going back to the Ding Dong Community.''
Ash and Lillie nodded before following him. Now that the danger had passed it was like a weight had been lifted from Ash's chest. Sure there might not be much of it left. But this was once his home and he was glad he was able to bring peace to it...
Entry from the Pokédex
Subject: Dragonling
Dragonling is a term that is widely unused nowaday. To most people today a dragon Pokémon is a dragon Pokémon and that's it. But back in the day people mistakenly believed that Legendary Pokémon were all dragons with godlike powers. The reason for this misunderstanding is the fact that dragon Legendaries are the ones that caused the most amount of chaos and death during the early days of the Invasion. They were the ones known to rampage throught entire cities filled with millions of people and killed them all. So obviously, they left an impression.
Most other Legendaries that came to Earth like Mew, Lugia, Ho Oh, Celebi and Jirachi were a lot more furtive and hard to track down. They were the sort of Pokémon that when you realised they were trying to kill you it was arleady too late to escape. It wouldn't be until the Battle of Melody Town that people finally realised not all the gods that destroyed their world were dragons and finally started using the proper term of Legendaries.
But until then the term Dragonling stuck around to describe the dragon types Pokémon who shared a common type with the Legendary Dragons that had wrecked much of the world. But did not quite reached the same god-like level of power of their Legendary counterpart.
