This is the fourth of four chapters today.


Misty watched the ongoing battle outside, Pikachu resting in her arms.

She wished she could help, but her Pokémon were exhausted. Even the borrowed Squirtle, when questioned, admitted that he was pretty low on energy after hypercompressing several billion gallons of water and wouldn't be able to meaningfully contribute. And Pikachu was completely bushed.

As it was, the best she could do was to keep an eye on things, with the hope she could explain things to whichever Beast or Beasts won the chaotic battle outside.

It was an awe-inspiring sight. The ones which she thought were the real beasts were working together with the fluidity of long practice, keeping the illusory ones from using their greater strength and even occasionally using combination attacks or defences – even as she watched, real-Suicune soaked real-Raikou to prevent illusory-Entei's attack harming him too badly.

A high-pitched panting interrupted her.

Looking over to the stairs, she saw... an Eevee?

The Eevee, looking a bit bedraggled, shook her fur out and fluffed up. As Misty watched, confused, it briefly turned into a Flareon and hissed dry, then became an Eevee again.

"What the...?" she said, remembering the Vaporeon Molly had used in their battle.

And hadn't Brock said there was an Eevee in his fight as well?

Eevee looked around, then at Misty. Frowning, the Evolution Pokémon seemed to be thinking hard.

"Where... is... Molly?" she asked, slowly and carefully.

Misty blinked. "Uh... right there," the Water trainer replied, pointing with her left hand after shifting the tired Electric-type to her right. "My friends are helping her, trying to make her well."

"Can I... help?" The Eevee asked, looking over at Molly. "She is not well."

"Are you actually talking?" Misty asked. "Back in the battle you were just saying your name without any meaning to it."

"I don't understand," the Eevee said, already speaking a bit more fluently. "I remember, but then I could not really think well..."

Misty wondered about that.

"Misty?" Pikachu reminded. "She asked you..."

"Oh!" she said, remembering. "Yes, you can help. Just touch Ash, Brock or Togekiss, and you'll be pulled into the Aura effect."

"Thank you." Eevee loped over, tail wagging, and duly did so. Blue fire danced up her fur for a moment, and she went as limp as the others had.

Misty turned her attention back to the battle, mulling that exchange over in the back of her mind.

"That was strange..." Pikachu said, and she nodded.


"Molly's mother disappeared years ago," said Suicune, barring their way. "Why has she not come back, if she is not gone for good?"

"Because she's trapped," Ash explained. "Doctor Hale was researching the Unown just like Professor Hale, and vanished in the Solaceon Ruins up in Sinnoh."

"She needs her real mother back," Brock added. He looked down. "I know having a surrogate parent is better than having no parent, but having your real parents is always the first choice. My mother's a bit... frilly... but I'd rather she was at home than gone like she was, and I didn't go a great job looking after my siblings."

"You did, Brock," Ash replied. "The best."

Brock shuffled his feet, cheeks heating.

Suicune considered that. "And you know this from the future?"

Ash blinked – he hadn't mentioned that detail to Suicune, only to Entei.

"Oh, right," he muttered. "Mental landscape. Yeah, Mom mentioned it once – she's Delia Ketchum, a friend of Professor Hale and Doctor Hale."

There was a faint unown! as Brock sent an A-unown packing with a swift crowbar stroke.

"We want to help her," Togekiss pleaded. "That's the whole reason we came."

"A child needs a mother," Suicune agreed. "And if her true mother is available, I am no longer required."

She faded away, revealing a second corridor.


Umbreon looked up as the lights in the corridor went on.

She'd landed in a well-lit entrance hall, but the lights had become dimmer and dimmer as she'd climbed the stairs. Instinctively, she'd gone to Umbreon as a form which could see in the dark and light its own way... but now, it suddenly seemed unnecessary.

She shifted to Jolteon, and continued forwards.


"I can't believe my eyes," Professor Ivy said, still glued to the screen. "Two each? Of all three Legendary Beasts?"

She shook her head, as a Flare Blitz met a Waterfall coming the other way and both Pokémon dodged out of the way of a Thunder. "The incident really must have been normal for you, Brock... I hope you're alright."

Her three assistants ran back into the room.

"Professor!" one said.

"We got coffee!" another announced.

"And popcorn!" the third finished.

The others glared at her.

"What?" She nodded towards the screen. "This is awesome, you can't deny that!"

Two Thunder attacks collided, and the screen fuzzed up for a second.


"Molly is happy now," Raikou insisted. "She has a mother, and a father, and she has a brother."

"But..." Ash began, and stopped.

Raikou was a hard one. Molly had a real mother, and a real father, but she didn't have a real brother.

"Did she want a brother?" Brock asked. "I mean... it's nice she has one, but I thought she didn't have one before."

"She did not," Raikou agreed. "But she has one now, and it is my duty to keep her safe."

"That's not all brothers do," Ash replied. "Gary and I grew up pretty close to brothers."

"And did he keep you safe? Did you keep him safe?"

"Neither," Ash and Brock said in unison. Ash gave Brock a mildly irritated look, then continued.

"We pretty much hated one another. Gary was a smug bastard, driving around in a car... for some reason," Ash frowned – he should really ask about that. "We met up only occasionally, and kept getting into fights..."

He shrugged. "But eventually we made up. Brothers are a lot like friends, really, just that they're related – and they have to live with one another even if they don't like one another. Same with sisters..."

Raikou considered that.

"How can you be sure she would be safe, without a brother?"

"Most people don't get in danger," Ash said. "Not the kind of danger I do, anyway."

"I looked after my little brothers and sisters, but I was several years older than the next youngest," Brock volunteered. "I was a bit more like a parent than anything, but we still had fun."

Togekiss rose up the centre of the stairwell, frowning. "Couldn't Ash be sort of like a brother? I mean, his mother knows her father."

Ash blinked. "Say what?"

"Hmmmm..." Raikou said non-committally.

"I guess..." Ash frowned, then nodded. "Well, I wouldn't mind, I mean."

Raikou growled. "You broke into her house, and wish to be her brother?"

"Well..." Ash shook his head. "I only wanted to help. And I mean I wouldn't mind – that's all. I guess... I think I'd probably like her, if I got more of a chance to know her properly."

Raikou nodded, and silently vanished.

"I guess you said the right thing," Brock observed.


Suicune sprinted along a crystal spire, compensating with sure, practiced feet for the way it shifted under her.

Jumping forward, she pushed off another spire and came back on herself. She fired a Hydro Pump – not at the artificial Entei, but at her own double.

Her brother Raikou caught the intent without any discussion. He whipped his tail around, launching a Thunder, and Suicune cut off the Water attack just before the electricity reached it.

Crackling lightning flashed down the stream and hit the Unown-created Suicune, who yelped in pain.

Suicune shivered slightly. It was so strange to be fighting another 'mon so similar to yourself.

Other, non-Legendary, Pokémon did it all the time. But she and her siblings were the only Beasts on the entirety of Johto – and these new ones were created from a girl's dream based off them, to boot. So they were as similar to her as possible.

Both Entei ran past, exchanging firey blasts, and Suicune launched herself in pursuit.

The battle was drawing slowly but steadily further away from the downed Flying-types, which was all to the good.

Raikou barked a warning, and Suicune jumped away from a Thunderbolt which the other Raikou had sent to try and catch her off guard.

Seeing her brother tackling his double and engaging him at close quarters, Suicune went back to following Entei and Entei.


The friends climbed the last few steps, and came to a door with an ornately painted sign on it. The sign read, simply, "Molly".

"Well, here we go," Ash said, and pushed the door open.

Molly lay on a bed, with an orb of Unown hovering over it chanting softly.

Ash hurried over, Brock and Togekiss behind him. "Molly?"

Molly yawned, and opened her eyes. They lit on Ash, and she smiled. "Big brother!"

"Uh..." Ash looked a little overwhelmed.

"Brother?" Molly's lip quivered. "You did mean what you said, didn't you?"

"You mean you heard-" Ash shook that off. "I did mean it, Molly. I don't know you well, but I think I'd like you if I did."

"Okay." Molly beamed, then sobered. "But... I don't know if I want to stop doing what I'm doing. I've got Pokémon now..."

"They're not real Pokémon," Ash said, softly. "They're just imagination..."

Molly looked mulish.

"But you can have real Pokémon when you're a little older," Ash continued. "You don't have to wait until you're ten, not really."

"How much older?"

Ash glanced at Brock, who shrugged. "Pretty much now, actually, if her parents help to look after them."

They were interrupted by the sound of running feet.

An Espeon loped into the room from the open door, and transformed back into an Eevee. "Molly!" she said, running over and jumping on the bed.

"Eevee?" Molly asked, surprised. "But... how did you..."

"That's the same Eevee that Misty and I saw downstairs!" Brock noticed. "Why didn't she go away like the others?"

"I like her," Molly muttered, snuggling Eevee. "I don't want her to go away, not one bit!"

"Molly," Eevee said, snuggling back. "I love you. But – I don't mind going."

"What?" Molly asked. "Really? But-"

"I never existed before," Eevee said. "I wish I could have more time with you, but if I have to go away when you're healthy... then I really don't mind. You being healthy matters more."

"Eevee," Molly sniffed, and embraced her.

Brock's voice interrupted them. "Uh... guys?"

Ash and Togekiss looked at him, then up where he was pointing.

The swirling sphere of Unown was pulsing more rapidly.

"What does that mean?" Ash asked.

"Well, given what happened last time..." Brock took his crowbar, and gave the sphere a hefty whack.

It froze, then burst into a cloud of hundreds of individual Unown.

"There we go," Brock said, pleased with himself. "They were about to reach critical mass. Now they're just annoyed. Ninetales, remember what... we..."

He paused.

"Oh. I knew I was forgetting something."

"Molly," Ash said, urgently. "You need to wake up."

U~nown! The hundreds of Unown began to glow, and globes of Hidden Power swirled around them.

"I don't want Eevee to go!" Molly wailed.

Eevee wriggled out of her arms, shifted to Umbreon, and leapt off the bed.

"Umbreon!" Molly called. "Don't go!"

"I love you, Molly," Umbreon told her, and spat a Dark Pulse which knocked dozens of Unown flying.

Togekiss launched a stream of Sacred Fire, knocking more of them back, but they began to swarm up the stairs as well.

"Please, Molly!" Ash said.

"I... I..." Molly swallowed, and closed her eyes.


When she opened them, she was back in the crystal tower, with Ash, his friends and Eevee in the room.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, helping her up.

"I... think so," Molly said. "What do I do know?"

"We need to stop the Unown in the real world," Ash told her.

Molly looked at the TV, and saw the battle still going on. She ran to the window, her Eevee following her, and took a deep breath.

"Stop!" she shouted. "I want it all to go back to how it was!"


The three pairs of battling beasts looked up, eyes locking on the tower window.

Molly stood there, panting, and as they watched Ash moved to stand behind her.

The young Champion waved, then cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Suicune?"

Suicune moved so fast it was almost invisible. "Yes?" she asked, landing gently on the ledge.

"Do you know how to stop a big load of Unown? Last time Molly's Entei sacrificed himself..."

If Molly desires it, that Entei said, landing on the ledge himself. I will do it.

And if that is not enough, the artificial Suicune added, coming to his side. I will join him.

I, too, the dream Raikou said, as he and the final two beasts arrived. Anything for Molly.

Molly sniffed. "I... if it's the only way..."

"But... isn't there another way to? You're all really powerful, so-?" Ash asked, looking between the six Legendary Pokémon on the ledge.

A flash of light interrupted everyone, and the beasts all looked up. Ash turned, following their gaze.

Hello, Ash, Mewtwo said. I trust this location is not on the television?

Togekiss spoke up. "Nope."

Excellent. Mewtwo steepled his fingers, and his friend Mew orbited him giggling.

He sighed. Please be a little more dignified, Mew, you're ruining my entrance.

Where's the fun in that? Mew sat on the ground underneath him, bouncing gently.

Right. Mewtwo turned back to Ash. As I was saying, it looks like it's time for me to sort everything out again. Just like I had to in Shamouti.

"You were at Shamouti?" Misty asked.

I was why the storm wasn't too big. Mewtwo shrugged. It's a living. I seem to be the sort-everything-out-when-Ash-saves-the-world Legendary.

"That could work, actually," Ash said. "I mean, there was that time in Unova..."

I've... never been to Unova. Either time. Mewtwo paused. We'll discuss that later.

He blinked out. There was a loud crash sound, and the floor shook.

Mewtwo appeared again, and landed lightly on the throw rug. Right, that's done.

"What?" Ash blinked. "That took ten seconds!"

World's. Most. Powerful. Pokémon. Mewtwo smiled thinly. The Unown have been dissipated, and the crystal is slowly receding.

He snapped his fingers, and three Pokéballs bounced to the floor along with Dexter's projector. Ash recognized them as Charizard's, Pidgeot's and Lucario's.

Just tidying up a few loose ends. Now – what was that about-

Molly interrupted him. "Mister... Mewtwo?"

Yes?

She gathered the pale Eevee into her arms. "Does this mean Eevee doesn't have to go away? And... why is she shiny now?"

Hm, didn't expect the shininess... Mewtwo glanced over at the Beasts, and everyone else – including the trio themselves – noticed that the ones Molly had called into being were now Shiny versions of themselves. At least it makes it easier to tell them apart. Anyway. Molly, you may have been imagining things, but into Eevee and those three Pokémon over there you poured love and creativity and life. They're real now.

Molly sniffed, and tears started in her eyes. "Thank you!"

I had very little to do with it, Mewtwo replied. He looked down. Why are you hugging me? Stop. That is not dignified.

Mew fell over laughing.

"So," the shiny Entei asked, drawing all eyes back to him. "What happens to us now?"

Suicune smiled. "You should probably come with us, at least for a while. We need to teach you a few things – it shouldn't take more than a month or so. After that... whatever you want to do."

Shiny Suicune looked at shiny Entei, and shiny Entei to shiny Raikou.

"Molly," she said. "We may not be your real mama, papa and brother, but we do still love you. We'll be back."

Molly broke off hugging Mewtwo's leg, and ran over to hug each shiny Legend in turn. "I'll miss you..."

"We'll all miss you, too," the shiny Raikou nodded. "But we will meet again, and soon."

Mewtwo snapped his fingers, Teleporting out. After a moment, he appeared again and picked up the giggling Mew, and vanished.

"So," Brock said, looking confused. "What-"

Mewtwo appeared again. Sorry, forgot something. Another fingersnap, and two adults landed with twin oofs of surprise on Molly's bed.

Molly blinked, not believing her eyes. "Mama? Papa? Is that you?"

Professor Hale turned to look at the woman beside him. "Martha? Molly?"

His wife shook her head to clear it, looked across the bed, and hugged him. "Spencer!"

Molly ran over, and they gathered her into their hug.

Several seconds later, they separated.

"Spencer," Martha asked. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure myself," Professor Hale admitted.

"Well."

They turned to look at Ash, who had spoken. He picked up his Pokéballs, and cleared his throat.

"This... could take a while."


"Well," Oak said, sighing. "That's that."

"Thank goodness, they sorted it all out," Delia said. She sat back on her chair. "I was so worried."

"So was I," Professor Oak agreed. "That was entirely too nerve-wracking."

He glanced at his computer, which was bursting with unread emails – including one from Gary which warned in the subject line to keep the contents under wraps.

He should probably get to work on them.

The phone rang, startling both him and Delia.

"I'll get it!" Delia said, picking it up. "Hello, Oak labs?"

Oak listened.

"Spencer?" Delia asked, shocked, and Oak blinked. Could that be-

"Oh... I see." Delia listened for a bit. "Is he-"

She covered the mouthpiece for a moment. "They're all fine," she told Oak. "Just tired."

Another pause.

"Hold on, can I get back to you?"

She laid the phone down on the worktop. "Samuel? Spencer wants to move here with his wife and daughter."

"His wife is back?" Oak asked, shocked. "Didn't that take far longer last time?"

"He says Mewtwo was involved," Delia replied.

"Right," the Professor said, blinking. "I see. Well, that explains a few things... why does he want to move?"

"It's because the mansion is about to be buried in reporters," Delia explained. "If they move, and quickly, they can hopefully escape some of the scrutiny."

"I see," Oak repeated. "Well, it's not as if I could stop them even if I wanted them out, and I'm fine with it."

Delia nodded thanks, and picked up the phone again.

"Spencer? ...oh, you heard. Well, we'll be glad to have you! Take care. I'm sure you can stay at my house until everything's sorted, if you really want to hurry."

Pause.

"Sure."

Pause.

"An Eevee? Oh, that sounds cute. Good luck, Molly. Tell your parents I'm glad they're safe. See you soon. Bye."

Delia put the phone down.

"They're going to arrive by tomorrow."

"That's... a little fast..." Oak said, reeling slightly.

"That house has some bad memories for them now," she reminded him.


"Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was Ash Ketchum. Thank you for your time, young man. And for all you've done today."

Ash shook the reporters' hand. "It was no problem! Actually, the interview was kind of scarier than the fight..."

Roxy chuckled. "Well, you're clearly braver than me." She turned back to the camera, and Ash took the implied dismissal.

He rejoined his friends, about fifty feet away. "Did that work?"

"I don't think you gave anything too important away," Misty said. "You didn't mention Mewtwo and Mew, and you kept the time travel thing and the aura purge thing secret too. It made sense, to me at least."

"That's good." Ash glanced up at the two Flying-types. "Okay, guys. You can head back to the valley now, Charizard – and Pidgeot, we discussed earlier. Oak's Lab or Shamouti, whichever you prefer."

"Stay safe, Ash," Charizard said, and Pidgeot nodded.

The bird took flight first, circled once, then shot off towards the east.

"Ash," Charizard said, softly. "Do you have any idea what happened to me? I know you said you didn't, but..."

"No, I've got no idea." Ash shrugged. "Sorry. Best I can guess is it had something to do with the Unown... hopefully the Professor will have an idea, though."


"See you later," Professor Hale said, waving a little uncertainly to the half-dozen Beasts. "Well, three of you, anyway. Remember – Pallet town, not Greenfield."

"We will," the shiny Entei said, nodding to him. "May you have better luck there than here."

"Thank you," Doctor Hale smiled – glad her daughter had such powerful protectors. "And the rest of you can visit any time."

"We may do that anyway, sooner than you think," the original Suicune said. Her brothers chuckled or groaned.

"What's that?" Spencer asked.

"Suicune wants Ash to catch her, but she doesn't want it to be easy," the normal Entei sighed. "I can sort of see her point, but-"

"Come now, come now," his brother chuckled. "Might even be fun! I'm certainly going to let him take a good crack at it one of these days!"

"That would be fun!" Molly agreed. "Please say yes, Entei – then all of you will be at Pallet town at once!"

Eevee nodded agreement, and poofed into a Leafeon. "It would!"

Entei looked between his siblings and the enthusiastic young girl. "...I will think about it."

"I didn't understand much of that," Spencer admitted. "Martha?"

"No clue."

His eyes widened. "Did you understand all of it, Molly?"

"Yep!" She nodded.

"...well." Spencer blinked. "I suppose there are worse side-effects..."


Gary fired off the second email.

"Right. That's done."

He yawned, and glanced out the window. It wasn't quite false-dawn yet, but it was getting there.

"Have I done everything?" he asked Dee, and yawned again.

Email to your grandfather, done. Email to Ash asking him to call you, done. And you asked him to call you tomorrow, which is good as well.

"Yeah," Gary agreed. "I need sleep... anything else?"

I don't think there's anything else, no. You rescheduled your morning appointments, as well.

"Go ahead and get some sleep," Umbreon told him.

"Right." Yawning once more, Gary got back into bed and closed his eyes.

He was out like a light in seconds.


Charizard flared his wings, dropping below the lip of the steep-sided escarpments ringing the Charcific Valley.

"Hey!" a voice called from ahead. "He's back!"

Wings beat the air all over the canyon, as every single Charizard took flight and flew over.

Bemused, Charizard alighted, and watched as they charged up to him.

One big male took his foreleg and shook it. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"How did you do it?" another asked.

"Um... I don't actually know..." Charizard admitted, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Will you-" a female began, and subsided at a growl from Charla.

"I said. First. Dibs."

She looked up at him, and blushed slightly. "I'm guessing you probably heard that, yeah?"

"I'm not complaining," Charizard replied quickly, to general laughter.

"So awesome," another Charizard said. "You went all blue and black, and woosh, and then you went super-fast, and-"

"-and was that all three Beasts? And you were fighting them? And not losing?"

Charizard nodded, slowly. "Yes, there were all three of them. They were super-powered as well, because of being created by Unown."

There was a thump noise as one of the big lizards swooned.

"Seriously," he added. "Can I get some space here? Right now what I want is a really big meal, a really long bath, and probably about three days' sleep."

"I'll get the food!" one of the Charizard said quickly.

"I'll get the towel!"

Charla chuckled. "They're going to be like this for a while," she whispered.

Her droll tone made Charizard chuckle back.


James stopped the projector.

"Any questions?" Jessie asked.

"What the heck was that?" someone blurted.

"We don't know. As far as we can tell, no-one knows," James said bluntly.

"This is now reason number one why you should not annoy Ash Ketchum," Jessie added. "One of his Pokémon just fought off an entire Legendary Trio for several minutes."

"Yeah!" Meowth confirmed. "'an dat kind of performance ain't what you'd get from even some other legendaries, ta boot!"

"...but... doesn't that mean his Pokémon are really powerful, and it would be good to steal them?"

Jessie and James facepalmed in unison.

"No," Meowth summed up. "It means dat he's got a Pokémon what could sink a battleship in two minutes. It means don't even bother fightin' im. An' it means even if we did steal 'is Pokémon, dey'd just blast dere way right out of any place we tried ta use 'em!"

"...oh," the grunt said in a small voice, and sat back down.


"Welcome to Pallet, Spencer," Delia said with a smile.

"It looks lovely," Spencer Hale said, taking in the view. "Very peaceful."

The Mr. Mime next to her waved a mop, and she indicated him with a gesture. "This is Mimey, and Professor Oak is just tidying things up a bit in the lab – he says he's got some spare rooms. It's nice to see you again, Martha."

Martha Hale nodded back. "My pleasure, Delia. It's nice to be back in the real world."

"And how are you, Molly?" Delia asked, bending down.

"I'm fine," Molly said. "I'm glad mama and papa are back."

"I'm glad, too," Delia smiled. "Oh, your Eevee is gorgeous!"

Eevee beamed, and turned into a Flareon.

"...Ash didn't mention that," Delia observed. "That's interesting. Can she do that a lot?"

Prancing around, Eevee switched between all her different forms on the trot before returning to Eevee and rubbing against Delia's leg.

"Lovely!" Delia praised. "I can see she's quite the beauty queen!"

"She's a great battler, too," Molly told her. "She helped me win the Boulderbadge!"

"I'm sure there's a story there," Delia smiled. "I'd love to hear it."

The ground started rumbling faintly.

"Oh, here come Ash's Pokémon to say hello!" Delia added. "This could take a while."


"Huh," Ash said, looking at the Pokédex screen. "Gary emailed me. Says he knows what happened to Charizard, and to call him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Misty asked. "Why not today?"

"I think I know." Brock frowned, calculating in his head. "And you should probably call him tomorrow evening. Kalos is nine hours away. If he was up this early, it's because he was up in the middle of the night because of the situation here."

"Right," Ash said, nodding. "I get it."

He looked back down at Dexter. "Where next?"

Take the road north.

"Well, here goes," Ash said, smiling. "Off towards Goldenrod city!"

"Always ready for the next adventure, huh?" Misty smiled.

"Well... yeah," Ash agreed, in a voice that made it sound like Misty was being silly. "Of course I am!"

Brock chuckled. "Never change, Ash."


AN:

Phew!

Spell of the Unown, done.

That took a lot less time to write than I was expecting, to be honest.

Yes, this turned out rather differently to last time, didn't it... for one thing, the second appearance of Mewtwo as the sort-out-the-film-ending-mon. (Third if you count his own.) And he never did get back to Ash about that mention of Unova, did he...

Molly now has her mother and father back straight off, instead of in the credits... her first Pokémon is an Eevee that can do the same kind of thing Vee can do in the manga, only more so... oh, and now there's three shiny legendary beasts knocking around. Among other things.

Hope everyone enjoyed this movie adaptation – do let me know what you thought of it.