Welcome to the final chapter. And unfortunately, I haven't been able to think of an epilogue for this story, so it'll have to end on an uneven chapter number. But if I do think of something, I'll add it. Also, something I forgot to mention in the previous chapter; the reason Volo attacked Rei in chapter 6 was so that he could plant a fake mark on his head. I can't think of a way in which he managed it however, so come up with your own theories, I guess. Sorry. But anyway, enjoy the conclusion to the story.

CHAPTER 11

Sickness and Health

Adaman was immediately brought to the recovery centre in the Galaxy Team headquarters. Once he was there, it was determined that his coma wasn't induced by Darkrai leaving the world, but simply due to a mix of his fall and he used an enormous amount of energy and strength during the battle. While Irida had used the same amount of strength with Palkia, and was severely weakened afterwards, Adaman was already weakened from his fall. And the pain from his arms certainly didn't help. But by the looks of it, the timing of his lapse of consciousness and Darkrai being forced into the portal was coincidental, and the healers reassured everyone that Adaman would reawaken eventually.

But that didn't stop people from worrying. It was impossible for Irida to visit Adaman without members of the Diamond clan being there as well. It had become a running joke among the Galaxy team to place fake bets on who visited him more; his sister Mai, or Irida, who visited "As a sign of respect to both a fellow leader and a comrade in battle." No one bought that, of course. There were many tales coming from the Pearl Clan settlement of the sounds of worried pacing or light sobbing coming from Irida's tent. And whenever she was in Jubilife, you could bet your life that she'd be in Adaman's room, waiting to recover.

But with Adaman out of commission and Irida essentially being a shut-in, the only people who knew what had happened up on Mt. Coronet were Rei and Akari. Everyone expected Kamado to refuse to let them talk about it, but that didn't stop some people from asking. But, to everyone's surprise, about a week after the ordeal, Kamado made an announcement in from of the Galaxy Team HQ and revealed everything that happened up on Coronet.

It took all of two minutes for the news to sink in. Then, uproarious celebratory screaming erupted all over the town. The news of Volo's death travelled so fast, that the whole of Hisui was celebrating the news within 20 minutes of Kamado revealing it. up and down the region, feasts and parties were being planned and organised, and Rei and Akari were requested to visit every town and village to tell everyone what happened. They were all too happy to oblige and used many of those travels to spend as much time as possible, now that Rei didn't have Volo's vengeance weighing on his mind.

The only person who wasn't in a partying mood was Irida. She spent every waking moment fretting about Adaman. She told everyone that she was impatient to resume the combining of the two Clans, but Arezu and Palina knew the truth. Everyone else suspected it. but she also felt bad for Mai, who had taken temporary leadership of the Diamond Clan.

The Clan was in chaos. They couldn't believe that mighty Dialga had returned to them and aided their leader. But they were also worried about him, because he had been in his coma for two weeks now. There were even a few arguments breaking out between wardens (although it was mostly between Mai and Melli) over who would take over Adaman's position if he died. Irida tried to help Mai out whenever she could, but it was difficult due to her own obligations as Pearl Clan Leader and her worries over the Diamond Clan leader.

At one point, now three weeks into Adaman's coma, Rei found Irida quietly sobbing outside of Adaman's door. He called her name, causing her to jump out of her skin. She tried to subtly dry her eyes, but Rei said, "No point, I already saw that you were crying." Irida panicked. "Oh that, eh, I had just stubbed my toe. The pain caused me to tear up a bit" she lied. But it was obvious that Rei didn't believe her.

"As someone who also hid a crush for ages," he replied "I can very easily tell that what you have for Adaman has blossomed way beyond a crush. I'd say at this point, you're head over heels for him." Irida tried to protest, but Rei wasn't budging. Eventually, she sighed and said, "Please don't tell anyone." Rei laughed. "I'd say everyone has already figured that out," he replied, "In fact, some people probably noticed before you did."

Irida went bright red and smacked Rei across the face, which only made him laugh harder. "This is serious," she exclaimed, "As the leader of the Pearl Clan, I can't develop feelings for the leader of the Diamond Clan, that's a serious taboo. And anyway, there's no point in saying anything, he obviously doesn't feel the same."

This made Rei stop laughing. "Ok," he started, in the usual way he did when he was going to go on a rant, "1. The fact that the two Clans are on friendly terms with each other and have become allies would be taboo according to your traditions. 2. Palina and Iscan are happily married, and they're high up on the warden command list and no one cares. And anyway, literally everyone wants you two to get together, we've seriously got a bet going with some of the wardens as to how long it'll take for you to finally confess. And 3. If Adaman liked you anymore than he already does, his own pokémon would be trying to kiss you. And I know he likes you because I tricked him into telling me."

Irida sat there in silence for a while, taking all of what Rei just said in. Adaman liked her back? And of course, Palina and Iscan were married for nearly five years, and no one batted an eye. And he was right about the clans mingling on friendly terms would make both her and Adaman's ancestors furious. So really, the only thing keeping them apart was… them.

Adaman finally regained consciousness about a month after the Battle of Mt. Coronet Mark II. He opened his eyes to find his sister and his fellow leader sitting by his bed, chatting. He waited for a while, to see how long it would take for them to notice he was awake. But after ten minutes, they still didn't notice, so he said, quite matter-of-factly, "Any chance one of you could get me a glass of water", which caused them both to jump out of their skin. Adaman had to spend the next minute controlling his laughter and massaging his ribs from where the two hit him.

Mai gave him a huge hug once he was done and the two brought him up to speed on the goings-on of Hisui. By the time she was finished Rei and Akari dropped by and were pleasantly surprised to see him awake. The five of them talked for a bit, but Adaman kept noticing Akari absent-mindedly fiddling with something on her hand.

"Akari, what's that on your finger?" Adaman asked her. At this, Irida and Mai got rather giddy and Rei and Akari got rather bashful. But before Adaman could ask what the excitement was about, Akari lifted her right hand up, revealing a silver ring on her ring finger. It took Adaman a shamefully long time to figure out what that meant, but when he did, he was overjoyed for them. He also knew that Mai was never going to let him live that down.

After that Rei and Akari left arm in arm. Mai left a few minutes later, leaving Irida and Adaman alone. Things got awkward fast. Eventually, after sitting in an uncomfortable silence for ten minutes, Irida mumbled something that Adaman couldn't make out. "Sorry," he teased, "I couldn't make that out, could you repeat yourself." Irida stared daggers at him, then said quietly, "You know how we're trying to join the Clans together?" Adaman nodded. "Well, Irida went one, standing up as she said this and walking towards him, which was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable, "I think I've thought of a way we can do that."

"How?" he asked, getting rather nervous. Without another word, Irida planted a kiss onto his lips. At first, he was surprised, but then he felt like he was going to explode with happiness. She broke it off a minute or so later, then went bright red, as though she'd just realised what she'd done. She looked like she was about to apologise profusely, but before she could, Adaman said cockily, "I thought you'd never ask", then pulled her in for another one.

"IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!" Palina yelled when Irida broke the news to her wardens. "We were starting to get rather impatient about it," said Ingo. "Now, we're not engaged," Irida hastened to explain, "we're just dating for a while. But whenever we do decide to tie the knot, our Clans will finally form into one big one." This made all the wardens cheer, but Irida was certain they were just cheering for the fact that the two Leaders were finally together.

"FINALLY! I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER GET TOGETHER!" was Mai's way of celebrating the news. As Adaman's wardens celebrated, Adaman noticed that Melli was begrudgingly handing money to a very smug looking Arezu. "Yeah, yeah" Adaman replied. "But remember, this isn't a wedding announcement. We're taking it slow for the time being. But when we do get hitched, we'll be uniting the Clans in the process." Adaman had to spend the next 10 minutes dealing with the "Where?" and the "When?"

They broke the news to the rest of Hisui two weeks after Rei and Akari's wedding, which happened two months after Adaman woke up. As for their own wedding, that took place a year after that. Palina and Akari were Irida's bridesmaids and Rei was Adaman's best man. Melli spent three weeks, non-stop, arguing that he should be the best man, but he stopped after Adaman threatened to replace him with Rei as Electrode's Warden if he didn't shut up.

With this union, the two Clans joined into one. Both Irida and Adaman were on cloud-9 during the whole event, and even more so during their honeymoon to Kanto. When they first met, neither of them could imagine being near each other with five-meter sticks. But now, neither of them could imagine spending even a day apart. And, as Adaman liked to laugh about, none of that would've been possible had a simple orphan from the future not fallen from the sky.

And with that fluffiness overload, that brings us to the end of this story. I was originally going to have from Irida announcing her relationship to her wardens onwards be the epilogue, but I felt that it would be too short, and I've got no experience with romance at all, so I wouldn't have been able to draw it out. Also, I'd like to say that all the mushy romance stuff was based solely on other things that I've read. I've never experienced the feeling myself, so sorry if it seemed rather fake. But anyway, this series of post-post games will go on a brief hiatus. I've got something planned for the next story, but it's going to be based off of Shining Pearl, and I haven't finished that yet, but until then, keep an eye out for other stuff I have planned. I'll see you there.