Chapter 35 – Last Day
Nuvema Town – Two years later
I would say things calmed down after the defeat of Team Annihilation Reborn, fifteen months did the media stop talking about Latias and reminding everyone what a terrible evil Pokemon she was, happy that she was now dead but also disappointed she wasn't alive to be punished for her actions. Life in the Unova region got back to normal, young trainers starting their new journey to become the next champion of the region, people walking to and from different cities without fear of mind controlled soldiers stopping them on every route. The only thing they had to be careful of was the occasional wild Pokemon and trainer wanting to battle.
As promised, Aqua and I showed Light, Kairi, and Midnight the world, doing things as a family, visiting resorts, beaches, and beautiful gardens full of young Pokemon like themselves. Together they got along well with the others, I was afraid that life spent while living in that safe zone for Midnight in a prison, I feared interactions like this would've been difficult for them. But from the way they had gotten along with the others, I could tell they would be just fine.
I'd like to say life after the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn was pushed aside for something important, swept under the rug, forgotten and yesterday's news, but two years and the region never forgot. The citizens and Pokemon of the region had spread word of the 'hero' who had slain the evil Pokemon. Whenever people saw me, they had taken photos of me, asked for autographs by the few who had asked or instead about what life was like as a Pokemon; even translating what their Pokemon was saying, and how they felt about their trainers.
The good thing about it was that no one tried to capture me, Aqua and our children. Requested me to battle their Pokemon? Sure, I got a lot of those requested from the years of experience trainers to the young and just starting out kind of trainers wanting to prove to the world that they could be the strongest if not the best trainer ever.
The bad thing about it, well more than one was either almost constantly bothered by them nearly every day asking and requesting the same old thing, even bizarrely having a large group of followers following us around the region protecting us from others bothering us from having a vacation. And the other was asked about the final battle with Latias, asking about every detail of the fight, and how I inflicted the killing blow, how I did it.
I didn't lash out at them or raise my voice in anger for them to leave me alone, no. I just told them the battle was mostly a blur and I didn't remember it all that well. when pried annoyingly a lot I told them that bringing up that battle hurt a lot for me to talk about, and I asked them to stop asking about it. They did thankfully, but the damage was done. Memories of that battle flooded my mind a lot on my vacation with my family, but I never let it get to me, I felt happy knowing I would never have to fight ever again. It felt great walking down the streets, each route without being bothered by someone out there trying to capture me or kill my friends.
Lisa and Brent did return to their home regions five months after Shiny Latias' death, helping the people and Pokemon in the region first before facing their bosses for leaving without permission. Their bosses did get angry at them for leaving, saying how it was irresponsible for leaving and putting their home regions at risk of Team Annihilation Reborn, and so in the end they let them keep their jobs. Lisa became a Rank 01, the highest rank a member of The Savior's can reach allowing them to choose what they want to do; become a board member, if you want to travel to any region with a Savior's building and help out with missions there instead of only doing missions within your home region, and finally a potential candidate for leadership within a region. That was what Lisa did, wanting to become a leader for another region specifically the Unova region to help out the families of the victims of those Team Annihilation Reborn have destroyed. Her bosses were against the idea of Lisa becoming a leader of one of the Savior buildings at first still angered about her disobeying orders, but after returning to the Sinnoh region and a good word from me, Brent, Devon and the small active Savior Members within the region they allowed her to become leader of the Unova region.
Brent however stopped at a fork road in life, not knowing if one path would be better than the other; one side was stay as a member of The Savior's, and the other was to write stories for children he had wanted to do for a long time. Staying with The Savior's knowing his home region didn't help him, treating him as if he betrayed them after returning, he felt as if he didn't belong there. He wanted to write stories, but he was afraid of the questions that plagued his mind; will they like my stories? Will anyone read them? Will anyone care? Is this path the one right for me? Brent started to doubt himself that he could do it, unsure if he could become the writer he dreamed about becoming, but he was willing to try, to put himself out there and tell the few who did read his stories, hundreds, thousands, maybe millions he could reach out too, they would have to try.
Time with my family during our vacation together was a happy time, one I would never forget. We returned home after a month away from Nuvema Town and spent almost two years together relaxing and just enjoying life trying to make good memories with them that would last forever. Very soon all of this would end.
Nuvema Town – My Home
One night after almost two years after the battle with Shiny Latias and the fall of Team Annihilation Reborn I had a dream unlike others, it was Arceus appearing before me in the dream, congratulating me on my victory against Shiny Latias.
When I remembered the battle, not once did I see Arceus there to help out in the battle or hear any of Devon's team or my Pokemon about Arceus being there when Arceus told me it would help in the battle if I agreed to help Arceus two years after the battle. What Arceus told me how it helped out was that not long into the battle, Aqua and her medical team were discovered and sent to attack them, not using tranquilizer rounds to capture the targets but to use lethal rounds to kill whoever they saw, in fact many soldiers changed their ammunition midway into the battle. Arceus intervened and used its powers to prevent the soldiers with lethal ammunition loaded into their weapons from firing at Devon's team and my Pokemon. The controlled soldiers getting close to Aqua's position had been dealt with before Aqua could even sense them with her foresight ability.
Arceus even told me how it intervened on the controlled soldiers within Team Annihilation Reborn's main base when Lisa and Brent were alone fighting the many soldiers in the stairwell; they had orders to kill my allies and friends several minutes into the battle in certain areas. Arceus told me how it tried to save Latias from that fatal blow from her sister. It did all it could do in the battle but it was too late to save her.
I thanked Arceus for helping my friends and allies, wishing things had been different. I then asked about my new mission Arceus wanted me to do, like when it would start and where. I would stay in the dimension Infinite once controlled when he was still in power, a small location Arceus and Infinite created together, a new home for the one accepting Arceus' task. I was told to watch Infinite until his death which would be several years after staying in the new home making sure he never tried anything, tried to rise to power again.
The portal would appear beside the tree on top of the hill where Latias and I spent our time after school together and would appear there the next day in the afternoon for only a few minutes before it would disappear forever. I could bring whatever I wanted there, books, video games, anything. Supplies like foods and other things would last as long as I lived.
I was also told on one important thing about entering the portal to my new home, one I enter the portal to my new home I can never return to this world ever again. I would stay there for the rest of my life.
I was given a time limit of until the next day on the afternoon to say goodbye to my friends and family after I explained to them first why I was leaving, and then gather my things for my new home. I suppose maybe I should've said something to them about this after the battle rather than at the last minute. I didn't want to tell them immediately after I left the hospital, immediately after I got back home, I was waiting for the right moment. Being back with the others, with my family again, going on this vacation, I didn't know when. But when I woke up that morning, I knew I had to tell them.
I opened my eye and looked up at the ceiling, after waking to find Aqua gone. I could hear her downstairs with my sister Yuri laughing about something, followed by the voices which sounded like Lisa and Brent. I wasn't expecting them to arrive any time soon since they had a lot of work to do with The Savior's. I slowly got out of bed and looked out the window to see that it was now raining heavily outside. I wanted to talk to my Pokemon in the laboratory gardens about me leaving tomorrow for good, a good and sizable place for us all to talk, but because of the rain most Pokemon in the Pokemon Laboratory couldn't go outside when it was raining, and inside was kinda cramped up. I would just have to bring everyone here to the house to talk instead of the lab. I would have to keep Lugia and Golurk outside in the back yard near the back door since they were too large to fit inside.
I walked downstairs to find Brent and Lisa sitting on the couch with Aqua sitting on Lisa's lap. Yuri sat with her father on one the chairs near the kitchen with my brother Ren, Rose, and Jessica.
"Hey Zack, I was just about to get you." Aqua said as she was being petting by Lisa.
"Uh, hey guys. What you two doing here?" I asked, noticing Lisa was wearing a black suit with a Savior's 'S' emblem on her suit collar. I walked closer to the couch.
"I am here to tell you all that I am officially the leader for The Savior's Unova branch." Lisa smiled as she pointed to her pin. "I have finally finished the paperwork last week and so here I am letting you all know and to catch up with you. Your brother, Rose, and Jessica were in Castelia City and have offered to help out when I become the leader of The Unova Savior's branch."
"Yeah. We met up in Castelia City not too long ago and saw Lisa near the Savior's building. We talked for a while and learnt she would become the leader there. So wanting to do more to help the region get back to the way things were, Ren, Rose and I joined up and will begin training very soon." Jessica said as she levitated towards me and showed me her application form to join The Savior's, the same form I signed in when I first started out, brought back a lot of memories.
"Lisa told me the news the other day. Came over to this region to congratulate her in person and check out her new office. She said she has new paintings put up, and being a sort of painting fan myself I had to check it out." Brent chuckled, petting Aqua as she sat in Lisa's lap, looking relaxed as she allowed them to pet her. "And also I wanted to check up on my bud, wanting to see how retirement is! So to properly celebrate, I brought over some beers. We ain't gonna allow Lisa here to go in for new job without at least partying it up first!" Brent again chuckled as he leaned over the side of the couch to pull up his bag. "Back in the day, my and the guys i hung out with knew how to party. So watch out for your things, Zack, 'cause this nights gonna be wild!"
Lisa smiled. "Ooh, this will be interesting to see. Hey Zack, if he starts to break out into some dance, record it." She and I chuckled.
"Interesting, I too would like to see how this ends." Rose said amusingly as she whipped her tail.
As much as I just wanted to relax and party with my friends I had to tell them about tomorrow first. I wish I had spoken to them about all of this before I would leave tomorrow, sometime after the battle with Team Annihilation would've been better. Seeing as I had no other choice, I asked Brent to go and get my Pokemon, not to start up the party, but I told them I needed to tell them something important I wanted everyone to hear.
When everyone did show up, I stood in front and looked up at them, their eyes all on me, awaiting the news I wanted to tell them. Maybe I should've told them one by one, not all at once when I did so. I felt a terrible shaking feeling inside of me that never left me for a long time. If I could go back to that moment and do it all over again, I think I would like to talk to them individually, and then maybe I wouldn't be shaking that much. Or maybe not. I don't know what I would do differently. Thinking of it now, I think it turned out well.
My friends and family, some sitting down and others stood in waiting for what I was about to tell them. So with a deep breath, I began. "Before the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn, I was visited by Arceus in Lentimas Town wanting to talk to me."
"Arceus? The alpha Pokemon?" Ren asked. "Why did Arceus want to talk to you?"
"It told me something important, about a task it wanted me to carry out two years after the battle with Shiny Latias if I was successful. Do you guys remember Infinite?"
"Yeah, I remember him. But what does he have to do with Arceus?" Lisa asked, looking at Brent as he looked at her.
"He survived the battle when we last fought him in his dimension."
"Ya kidding, right!?" Brent leaned forward in his seat. "I thought we got rid of that armored creep! We watched the sucker explode into billions of pieces after we destroyed those weird orbs keeping him alive. How the heck is he alive and kicking?"
"Only a small fragment of him survived, left alone in that dimension we fought him at. Arceus told me that Infinite for years tried to rebuild himself, but Arceus intervened and prevented Infinite from returning. Infinite is dying, it won't be long until he's gone for good. Before the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn, Arceus came to me and wanted me to do a task for it."
"Arceus prevented your deaths in the battle. Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers were given orders to set their weapons to kill and not stun like they had been using early in the battle. Arceus prevented them from killing you guys. It said it would help me protect you guys if I agreed to this task."
"So what is this task Arceus wants you to do?" Aqua asked, hopping off of Lisa to walk up to me. "Y-you're not leaving again, are you?"
"I… in a way I am. Arceus wants me to watch over Infinite in that time dimension we fought him at, to make sure he doesn't rise to power again." I looked down at my paws. "With the Doom serum inside of my veins, I will live until I am two hundred years old, and Infinite will die before I reach an old age." I sighed, reluctantly wanting to tell them the rest, but I had to. "During my task, even after my task is finished, I can never come back home. It's a one-way trip."
Everyone was silent in the room, my children looking at one another, friends and family unsure of what to say next. Then Aqua came over to me and held my shoulders with both of her paws and asked. "Zack, why does it have to be you? Tell me! Why you?"
I looked her in the eyes. "Arceus promised me it would protect you all during the battle. It told me how it tried to save Espeon, Latias, but it could protect you guys standing here. Arceus told me it had no one else to turn to, that I was the only one left it could ask. I kept my word that I would agree to this task after the battle was over. Without Arceus' help, most of you guys, you wouldn't be here if it weren't for Arceus, if I never agreed on this task I have to do."
"W-when do you have to go?" Gardevoir asked.
"I leave tomorrow at twelve in the afternoon. A portal will open up beside the tree on top of the hill at the edge of town." I looked down sadly, unable to look them in the eyes. "Last night I received a vision from Arceus telling me that my time in this world was about to end. I wanted to tell you guys about this sooner, but after everything with Espeon and Latias, it was too much for me. I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you guys, I really did want to… I didn't know how to do this…"
"I-is there some other way we can change this? So you don't have to go? Please, there must be some way!" Aqua pleaded, clutching my shoulders tighter.
"There isn't. I wish there was some other way, but Infinite cannot stay in this world, it would be too dangerous for everyone in it if Infinite somehow regained his power and become whole again." Aqua began to sob quietly into my chest. Light, Kairi and Midnight soon approached us asking if what I had just told them was the truth, I told them it was and not too long after I did they hugged me and cried along with their mother.
Things quietened down after that, less questions asked about why Arceus asked me, if they could speak to Arceus at all, if Arceus' mind could be changed to ask someone else for the task. We started to reminisce on the past, talk about past adventures and places we had been to on our vacation. Things did lighten up the more we talked about happier times, with them saying how they would miss me and wished they had more time.
In a way, we did have that party, it was more of a congratulation party for Lisa becoming the leader of the Unova Savior's branch, and the other was a final day with me party. Brent started the party by playing loud music over the radio and ordering several boxes of pizza most of which left unconsumed
I walked up to Lisa and congratulated her while Brent was standing at the open front door talking with police after a neighbor complained about the noise.
"Congratulations on becoming the leader of The Savior's Unova branch, Lisa." I sat next to her on the couch. "Rank 01, I reached that rank when Team Doom started up. You can choose from travelling wherever you want for mission if there is a Savior building in a region, become a chair board member, or leader of a new building. I wasn't sure what I would do once I reached that rank. But choosing to become a leader, impressive."
"Thanks Zack. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do once I reached rank 01 at first. But becoming leader, I want to help people and Pokemon of this region rebuild after what Team Annihilation Reborn did. You know Zack, if you were still a member of The Savior's you would make a great teacher. Too bad you can't join, huh?"
"Me? a teacher?" I laughed, finding it hard to ever seeing myself as a teacher. "Yeah right."
"Oh maybe not the people, but the Pokemon could learn a thing or two from you. I already have others teaching the young recruits, maybe it would help to have someone help train their Pokemon."
I thought about someone who could've helped; Lee, a man who had worked in the Unova branch Savior's building could've helped with that. He was an expert with Pokemon, knowing the moves Pokemon used, and their habitat. But sadly he passed away four years ago. I didn't have anyone who could help with that, unless Ren, Rose or Jessica could help train the recruits Pokemon. They could understand them, they were experienced fighters, so why not? I told her this how the either one of the three could help her with that, she shook her head also forgetting they too could understand the language of Pokemon, that they would help out with training Pokemon.
Sometime later I found myself wandering around the living room, watching the others dance, others talking with another about a certain technique they had picked up or other things. Then nearing the kitchen up on a shelf I noticed the shrine I had set up for Espeon two years ago after coming back home from hospital. On the shelf next to the photo frame of Espeon smiling was the urn with her ashes still inside. There were cards and old messages left by almost everyone there; 'wish you were here' 'rest well my friend' 'I'm going to miss your smile!' and by me I wrote 'thank you for everything, I wouldn't have made it this far without you.'
I looked to my side to see Gardevoir walk up to the memorial, picking up the photo frame of Espeon and smiled at the photo. "This is a nice photo. When was this taken?" She showed me the photo of Espeon sitting down and smiling beside a small tree.
"Two months after the time anomaly with Infinite. My mom Ayaka really liked Espeon and wanted to take a photo of her out in the back yard where the apple tree was still growing."
"Huh, I guess that explains where she got all of those apples she used to train you to use Psychic type moves."
"My mom made sure to bring them inside the house to wash them first. Espeon never plucked one from the tree without permission first." I smiled at a happy memory that suddenly appeared in my head. "I remember how a few times my mom and Espeon helped each other pluck some apples down and bake an apple pie in the winter months. She always did like helping others."
"Thinking of it now, Espeon called my dictionary collection and my fascination for them pretty dumb when we first met." She shrugged, looking up at the memorial. "We slowly became friends, after she once stood up for me when a Pokemon at the laboratory called me stupid for loving dictionaries. Espeon of course stepped in right away and defended me… I never thanked her for that. She was a good friend…"
"Yeah, she sure was." I agreed, remembering how Espeon did defend her friends from others.
"Miss Espeon was a strong pokemon, she will not be forgotten." Golurk said as it leaned its head through the back door to get a look at the shrine. "Her stories will be passed down for others to hear."
"Thank you Golurk, I'm sure she would love that." Gardevoir turned around and hugged Golurk's head. "Tell them a great story." Gardevoir had begun asking Golurk if it would tell others about Gardevoir, worried how her dictionary collection and her obsession with them would make her look pathetic, but Golurk assured her that it would not do that and tell whoever it would tell stories to would point out how strong and brave she was in battle and how true of a friend she was.
At the corner of my eye I noticed Aqua walking up to me. I turned around to face her, relieved to see she wasn't crying anymore. "Um, Zack?" She held my paw with hers and looked me in my eye. "I want to go with you."
I was shocked to hear this all of a sudden. I opened my mouth to say something "Aqua…" well only her name and nothing much else not knowing what to say to her.
"I have thought about it, I really have. But I want to go with you tomorrow when you go through that portal." She held onto me tighter. "Please Zack, don't leave me again."
"Aqua," I held her closer, trying to convince her to stay in this world. Maybe because I didn't want to rob her of a life in this world, or maybe the thought of watching her age throughout the years and watch her as she died of old age while I remained young. "If you come with me you can never come back. We would… you would stay there and live with me until you… die of old age."
"I don't want to leave you, not again." She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "I want to be there with you. Please, don't leave me again." I held her close. I didn't want to rob her of a life in this world. She had a long life ahead of her, I didn't want her to live the remaining years in the dimension we could never leave.
"Aqua I… are you sure you want to do this? I mean once you go through the portal with me you can never come back here." I sighed. "I don't want to take you away from all of this."
"I have made my mind up; I want to go with you tomorrow. After arriving in Nuvema Town all those years ago after we defeated Purrloin, you didn't stay long, and you left for five years. I wanted you to come back so we could be together again. Please, don't leave me again. I love you, Zack."
"Aqua…" I said gently, holding her close until our faces were inches apart. She was adamant that she wasn't staying in this world and wanted to stay with me. slowly, I nodded my head. "I love you too. But if this is really what you want… then I am okay with it." I smiled and we kissed for a good while before pulling apart at the sound of our children laughing as they began to juggle with the berries from their bowls.
"Light, Kairi and Midnight will have to stay here." She said as she looked at our children together on the other side of the room eating some berries Lisa gave them earlier. "They have been with us for a long time, they have grown into teens almost, and every child one day has to leave their parents to go out into the world. They haven't experienced love yet, maybe one day start a family of their own. Keeping them with us in that dimension we will go to, like with the safe zone they will never live properly. Here in this world they will."
"We should spend time with them. Our last night in this world, we should be with our children." And so we did. One last time did we play with Light, Kairi, and Midnight, telling them about the world. We taught them how to use moves they hadn't quite gotten the hang of yet and helped them learn a new move or two.
That day was perhaps the longest day ever, we laughed, we had fun, and we talked about things we wanted to do. And Brent surprisingly did put up a really good party. I thought that since we were having fun that time would fly quickly, but it didn't. I never wanted it to end. The next day would be the last time I would ever see them. I wanted to make as many happy memories with each of them.
We danced to the music playing loudly, laughed and joked around as the day had almost reached its end.
The next day in the early morning just before nine, I had gathered all of Aqua and my things in a few bags to take with us to the dimension we would call home. Mostly books, photos, memorabilia from the past and medical supplies, can't be too careful when travelling to another dimension. Downstairs the others were waiting for us and together all of us walked outside greeted by the warm sun quickly drying up the rain from yesterday's storm.
We walked through the streets together making our way to the hill at the edge of town, a pretty large group of mostly Pokemon and people seen on the streets of Nuvema Town of the early summer morning. People had thought Lisa and Brent had sent out all of their Pokemon and were moving to an open space to have a battle, others thought there was some kind of event going on in town. But the walk despite the unwanted attention we had received was a peaceful and relaxing one without incident.
Arriving at the hill at the edge of town we wasted no time and started to say our goodbyes to one another in the time we had left. The first I spoke with was Lisa as she kneeled down in front of me.
"I'm going to miss you, Zack. I would've liked it if you… if you where there with me while I became leader of the Unova Savior's branch, when I welcome the new recruits." She sniffed, wiping away at a tear from her cheek. "I am scared about all of this."
"Lisa, you're one of the bravest women I have ever met. You have faced a being from another world, controlled soldiers and saved our lives many times…" I paused, and then looked up at her. "You even helped me get back up when I thought I would never get this far, you helped me keep going." I placed my paw on her arm. "You can do this Lisa; deep down inside you know you can do this. I wish I could be there too, but I know you'll be a great leader." Lisa pulled me in for a tight hug, and I hugged her back before letting go and taking a step back before moving onto the next, wanting to get to everyone before time had run out.
The first Pokemon I spoke to was Gardevoir holding one of her dictionaries close to her chest. "H-here…" she sniffed before handing me one of her dictionaries, this one with gold bindings and really heavy to carry. "This is one of my rarest dictionaries… I would like you to have this."
"Gardevoir, I can't this. This means a lot to you."
She shook her head. "It's okay Zack; I want you to have it. It's something to help you remember me."
"I don't need this dictionary to remember you, I can never forget about you. But thank you, I will take care of this. I'll uh, clean it every day." Gardevoir then pulled me in for a hug, almost impaling me with that red thing sticking out of her chest.
"Goodbye Zack, I'll never forget about you." she sniffed while petting my head. "Goodbye golden dictionary first released in the Hoenn region in the early two thousand, I'll never forget about you and your shiny glorious golden bindings." I meant what I said about that last part I said to her, I did look after it and made sure it remained in good condition.
I moved to Totodile and Bayleef next and hugged them first, wishing them well. "You guys take care of yourselves."
"You too Zack, look after Aqua for me." Bayleef nuzzled me, wrapping one of her vines around me.
"You two look after each other in that dimension." Totodile sniffed. "We may have defeated a powerful foe there once, but that doesn't mean you can't be careless. Who knows what things may still lurk there."
"I will. Totodile, Bayleef, we sure had fun, huh?" we pulled away, their eyes teary but their smiles remained. I would miss them a lot, but I had to do this.
I walked over to Lugia and Golurk next, immediately picked up by Lugia's huge wings and pulled into a hugged. After a short while Lugia set me back down, allowing Golurk the chance to pat my head once or twice.
"Mr Zack," Golurk kneeled in front of me. "I will tell others of your stories, about your heroism and bravery, as will I tell others about Mrs Aqua and her amazing skills with the medical arts."
"Goodbye Zack, I hope you will be safe in that dimension you and Aqua will stay in."
"Thanks Golurk, Lugia. You two have been a great help, I couldn't have asked for better friends."
I walked to Ren and Rose next standing close to the path where we entered from.
"Hey Zack. Me and Rose have been talking for a while now, and uh…" Ren looked at Rose nervously
"Me and Ren have decided to start a family together soon." She smiled
"But what about you poison ability, it'll poison anyone who touches you?" I remembered her ability how she can poison Pokemon close by only stopping unless Rose leaves the area or the poisoned Pokemon defeats her. Her body was coated in toxins after all.
"I have learnt how to control it." Rose said as Ren brushed her fur with his paw. "See? If my ability was still active Ren would've been badly poisoned by now."
"It did take trial and error, see?" he laughed, pointing at the many patches on his left arm from all of the times he had been treated with antidotes. "But Rose has managed to control her ability so it doesn't poison anyone."
"Wow, that's great for you guys. So, starting a family then?" I said, happy for them that they would be starting a family soon, and yet also disappointed I wouldn't see them. "What about work with the Savior's, are you still going to do that or is it temporally?"
"We're going to be doing it for a while, but once our children are old enough we might leave ourselves." Rose looked to Ren.
"Lisa has agreed on letting us stay within the building while we worked there. We might give living out in the wild a try, maybe live with another clan of Pokemon."
"Be careful with joining another clan. Not all of them are accepting of new Pokemon joining." I said as I was pulled into a hug by Ren. "You might get unlucky and join a clan run by a crazy murderous Pokemon."
"As long as the two of us are together, I doubt we'll ever run into a Pokemon like Purrloin. We know bad Pokemon at glance, we'll be fine. You take care, Zack. Treat Aqua well, you're in this together."
The next Pokemon I said my goodbyes too were Jessica, a few feet apart from Ren and Rose sitting on top of a tree branch and levitated down when she saw that I had finished saying goodbye to them. She hugged me and smiled. "I wish you could stay a little while longer, I have a ton of things I wanted to show you, new techniques involving psychic moves and more uses of The Dark Place, but I guess you'll have to discover that all on your own. But I wish you a happy life." She looked up at me and smiled before kissing my cheek. "You've been a good friend to me, Zack. Take care."
"You've been a good friend to me too, Jessica. Are you going with Ren and Jessica to start your career as a Savior?"
She nodded. "Yup. And after those two have had enough of it and want to be with their children with another clan, we're going together. In this world after you have gone, your brother, Rose and I will be the last surviving members of the Team Doom Eight. So we got to stick together." The Mew gave one last hug before pulling away, allowing me to say goodbye the last small few.
Yuri and Henry sat together on the green grass, gathering old books and photos together before I approached. When I did, they gave them all they had gathered. "Photo's of you, your little sister Yuri here when you two were still kids." Henry said pointing at the photos I looked at. "There are some photos of Ayaka."
I saw a photo of my mom, smiling up at the camera as she held a tray of pies she baked for the bakery she once worked at in town. I didn't go to that bakery or at least try some out, that was one of the many things I regret. I had heard they really nice, as if the small town bakery had hired a professional baker. "Thanks, I had forgotten about these photos. Thank you."
"Oh yeah, Zack, do you remember when I applied for that art college years back?" Yuri said as her smile grew wider. I remembered how she once applied to that art college and was waiting to get in. That was the time Team Doom showed up, putting pretty much everything on hold for us all. "I applied again and I think I have another chance at getting in!"
"That's great Yuri!" She and I hugged. "When do you go and see them?"
"Next month. So I got to get my work ready and show them what I have got!"
"She pulling a party with her friends a week before she has to leave for Hoenn, her and some of her friends are going leaving me all alone, her father of all people left here in this house with no one." Henry joked, hugged by Yuri.
"Oh dad, stop it. I'll get you a gift from Hoenn if that'll cheer you up. How about a desk ornament set up nicely on top of your work desk since you do work from home?"
"Oh okay." Henry chuckled. "But don't forget, because I really want a desk ornament. Maybe two desk ornaments?"
Yuri lightly pushed his head and laughed. "We'll see." It was nice to see the two of them smile like that again after everything Team Annihilation Reborn had put them through. It had taken some time, but they were back to being themselves again, it was a nice thing to see of them before I left this world.
And Dewott, the first Pokemon I had ever received from professor Juniper before leaving town when joining The Savior's was the last Pokemon amongst my friends I had yet to say goodbye to. I found him near Brent standing beside one of the many trees and approached him.
"This place isn't going to be the same without you, Zack. All of us, your Pokemon and my family will look after Light, Kairi and Midnight."
"Thanks Dewott, I'm happy to know that my children will be safe with you guys watching over them."
"Stay safe in that dimension, you and Aqua."
"Will do."
And after Dewott, all it took was another step towards did he notice me wanting to say goodbye to him next.
"Take care, man. This region and others won't be the same without ya!" Brent smiled, a tear leaking from his eyes. "I did want ya around while I wrote my stories, maybe even see perhaps one day a live action adaptation on my books with us on premier night." he chuckled. "Man, that would be nice… it would suck if whoever made an adaptation of my books did it really bad for it to bomb at the box office."
I chuckled at that and smiled up at him. "I would've liked to have read your stories Brent, maybe read them to Light, Kairi and Midnight. Maybe one day you can do that."
Brent smiled and gave me a thumbs up. "Heh, you got it, my man. They'll be my first to experience Brent Jackson's books."
And finally and perhaps the hardest to say goodbye to were my children, running up to me and Aqua and hugged us. "Goodbye mom," Kairi kissed Aqua's cheek. "Goodbye dad." She kissed my cheek.
"Don't forget us." Light hugged Aqua tightly.
"We'll miss you!" Midnight cried, wrapping her arms around us.
"We'll never forget about any of you. Take care of yourselves; look after each other for us." Aqua began to cry a she held her children for the last time.
I stroked the long neck of Midnight's with one paw, and Aqua and I held Kairi and Light with our other paws, finding it harder with each passing second to put them back down and prepare for when the portal would arrive. Last night never seemed to end, time moved slower for us then, but now in our last moments time moved unforgivably fast.
"I will look after them." Maia said as she looked down at Light, Kairi, and Midnight with a warm smile. "All of your Pokemon will help out as well. I know this region well, I know of a place near Castelia City we can live."
"Thank you Maia. You take care of yourself." Aqua smiled, hugging Maia and then her children one last time, reluctantly letting them go and pulling away. Light, Kairi and Midnight stood with Maia and watched and waved telling us over and over again that they loved us.
The portal had appeared beside the tree, just as Arceus said it would. It wouldn't remain open for long, so it was time for us to walk through it and leave that this world for another. We grabbed our stuff with one paw and held paws together with the other onto each other's paw with the other.
With one last look at my hometown below the hill, with one last look at my friends and family, Aqua and I said our final goodbyes and wished them all a happy life before we entered the portal together leaving our world behind for a new one.
After a blinding light had engulfed us upon entering the portal, we now found ourselves somewhere else. Aqua and I stood in front of a building I once saw a long time ago, the first time I had seen this building was when Espeon, Lisa and Brent and I travelled throughout time we had come to this place; a mansion at the edge of the world. A white building with a beautiful yard, a pearl fountain, green grass, and hedges beside the huge black fence around the entire property. This whole place was floating in what appeared to be in the middle of space. Yeah, it was weird, not knowing how any of this was possible or how me and Aqua were able to breathe out there. But the thing that this place did have was a sun we could see far in the distance beyond the stars providing us with a good amount of light. Looking up at the stars was nice, but life at this mansion would be a lonely one if Aqua weren't there with me. Dewott's can live seventy to eighty years, so Aqua being in her mid twenties had almost sixtyish years with me, maybe more if the world was kind to me.
Aqua turned around to see if the portal was still there but it wasn't. The way back to our world was now gone for good, and we were alone here until the end of days. She sighed and whispered, "Take care... goodbye." She then turned and smiled, turning her head to look at the mansion. "I hope we don't run out of food while we are here. H-hey, do you think this place has ice cream!?"
I smiled and wrapped my arm around her. "Arceus told me we will get anything we want we need; books, films, board games if we get board while staying here. Even down to what kind of food we'll get. So here you can get pretty much every flavor you like and haven't tried yet."
"For a minute there I thought life would be unbearable here. It's a relief knowing I'll get ice cream whenever I want, try-out different flavors. If I didn't have ice cream here I fear I probably would've gone mad without my fill of ice cream and killed you." she chuckled.
"Yeah right, you wouldn't do that." I smirked.
"Then you better hope and pray the ice cream doesn't run out anytime soon." She laughed, pulling my arm towards the mansion, obviously towards the fridge to browse the ice cream. "C'mon, let's check out the mansion from the inside!"
But no matter how much time we had together in that little world of ours we cherished it until the end.
To be continued…
Trivia:
The beginning section with Zack on his vacation with his family was originally extended a bit more featuring people who felt that Zack was responsible for how Latias turned out and argued with him and tried to attack him. this section was cut out of the story.