"Ash," Misty whispered, her eyes misting. "Ash, you can't be dead!" she yelled. She removed the sword from his torso, then started pounding on his upper chest in desperation, not caring that she was covering her hands in blood.

It was as if a dam had broken. Pokémon and human eyes right and left began releasing tears in utter abandon. Even Charizard was crying. The tears all met in a swirl in the air, then, as if carried by a strange breeze, moved along in a path. First, they touched the block of ice containing James, melting it. Next, color was brought into the face of Jessie, then of Meowth. The Three suddenly gasped as life came back to them.

Mew began to recite one final rhyme.

Their lives they gave willingly—
That was the deed done by the Three,
But Deceit pierced the heart of he
That they had saved so selflessly.

Tears coming from one's soul
Often can take on a role
Other than just expressing sorrow
That someone can't see another morrow.

And so when tears freely fall,
Good can prevail over all,
If the Phoenix is shown harbored within
And the Guardian's Tear is shed again.

Misty closed her eyes and tried to pour all of her powers into Ash, trying to save him somehow. Was that what she was supposed to do? Try to help him? She concentrated with all of her soul. She had to bring him back.

Nearby, the Shield of Truth flashed, and Pikachu, though his vision was hazy from his tears, thought he saw a phoenix pass across it.

A lone tear trickled down Misty's face, at last dripping off her chin. In that instant, all of the tears floating around in the air sped to join her single released tear, and when they all hit Ash, there was a flash of light and smoke which threw all nearby backwards.

An enormous pile of ash stood, which everyone stared at, but Ho-oh most of all. She seemed to know something everyone else didn't.

Finally, the ash stirred, and a confused head belonging to a young boy popped out. He blinked. "What happened?"

"Ash!" Misty yelled, flinging herself at him. Pikachu wasn't far behind with his own yell of "Pika-pi," and Flamekist rushed up with a cry of "Hound-houn!"

Ash grinned as events came back to him. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?"

Misty took in a deep breath before yelling, "Don't you ever do that to me again, Ash Ketchum!"

Suddenly indignant, the dark-haired boy then proceeded to get into an argument with her.

Brock grinned at Ashura knowingly. "Looks like they're back to normal."

Ash and company waved good-bye to the Legendaries, including Mew, whom Ash had promptly released after leaving Dark Island. Now that their job of keeping Giovanni's Dark Pokémon away from him was done, they had to go their separate ways. Mew said that after about a week the strange new features the Bonded Ones had gained would disappear due to distance between the pairs, including the new moves. If a Bonded pair was brought together again, however, all features would return to that pair.

"You had better visit again sometime," Ash called after them.

He could have sworn he saw Ho-oh turn and wink at him.

"Well, guys," he said, turning to look at his two human friends and his father and his many Pokéfriends, "let's go home."

That's the most sensible thing you've said all day, the little mouse said.

Flamekist gave a toothy grin. He certainly isn't sensible very often.

"Hey!" Ash protested, holding up a fist. "I resent that!"

The Houndoom yawned pointedly, so Ash stuck out his tongue at her.

You're immature, Hound-houn, she told him.

"But you love me anyway, right?" the youth smiled.

Right, Flamekist said after a moment's pause. She looked at Pikachu, but instead of seeing the slightly annoyed look she expected, she was rewarded with a smile.

She had a feeling that this was where she really belonged. Immature boy, high-strung electric mouse, and all...