Earth's Protectors IV: Blast to the Past

by nld200xy

Two dangerous villains, Dialga and Palkia, have gone to the past to a time when the heroes of the world would not be strong enough to oppose them with the soul intent of wiping out the entire hero population. Thus Shaymin creates a time machine and gathers the heroes of Edmonton to follow them and stop them. Can they pull it off?

39. Chapter 39

The Ultimate World Team Tournament had been long and hard, but in the end, almost everything had been resolved. Dialga and Palkia were defeated and Vaporeon and Zeraora were the new champions. And to make matters even better, those who had been unconscious before were now wide awake.

But even so, not everything had been dealt with. This was made clear when Shaymin groaned, "Wait, guys, this is all well and good, but you all seem to have forgotten something very important. Everyone here knows that we're from the future and all of these fights have been recorder for the whole world to see! People in our time will know about us and our exploits, thus resulting in massive changes, and they might not be for the better!"

"Relax, Miss Future Chairwoman," Beedrill replied reassuringly before she turned to him and blushed lightly. To hear him call her that was strangely flattering, though she was not entirely sure why.

Butterfree explained, "Look, personally, I don't really see how any of today's events could negatively effect the future, but in the off chance that it does, we'll make sure future generations never find out that you came to this time and partook in this tournament."

"Wait, what!?" Gallade retorted, "You're not gonna delete all the tournament footage, are you!? Come on, I actually won a couple of matches!" Hitmonchan rubbing his shoulders and cooing, "Well, we'll remember that."

"Don't worry," Beedrill said with a light chuckle, "Even though that is the easier step, we wouldn't dare pretend this tournament never happened," turning to Shaymin and adding, "We'll just alter your appearances and give you different names. That way, the world can still see your fights but they won't know it's really you partaking in them."

Shaymin tapped her chin, nodded her head and replied, "Yeah, that could work." She then bowed her head and added, "But seriously, thank you for being so understanding. You have no idea how much this has been eating away at me."

Beedrill and Butterfree both nodded before they extended their arms. Thus Shaymin took hold of their hands and shook them with a big grin on her face.

"Well, that's all well and good, but what are we gonna do about, you know, them?" Melmetal uttered, pointing at Dialga and Palkia. Vaporeon and the others stared at them as they could not help but wonder the same thing.

Shaymin nodded and said, "I've thought quite a bit about that, and I've come up with the perfect solution." She then turned to face Beedrill and explained, "If it's alright with you, I figured the best course of action would be to have you guys lock them up in your prison. Meanwhile, we'll bring the voice orb and wings back with us. That way, even if those two somehow manage to escape prison, they'll never be able to get their parts back because, well, they officially won't exist until eighty one years later."

The wasp nodded and replied, "Yeah, I was thinking that too. I gotta say, you make for a good chairperson," the hedgehog giggling from embarrassment.

The others smiled before Blaziken said, "I guess now that all of that's settled, that means you'll all be leaving soon, right?" Shaymin nodding and replying, "Yep, the sooner, the better. Joining the tournament in the first place was risky enough, but if we stay here any longer, who knows what'll happen?"

At that moment, the others stared blankly at her before they turned to face the heroes of the past. While it made sense, most of them did not want to go just yet. At the very least, they had hoped to stick around for one last celebration, perhaps wait and see if Aipom, Machoke and Gardevoir would be there to give them a proper goodbye. But at the end of the day, this made sense.

With that in mind, Drizzile took a deep breath, turned to face Gallade and held out his hand with a smile. The green man returned the gesture and shook the part in question before he held the chameleon close, patted him on the back and said, "It was awesome meeting you. You were the second-best teammate I could have ever asked for."

"The first being me, right?" Hitmonchan asked with a smirk before Gallade nodded and replied, "But of course, dear," both chuckling before the boxer patted Drizzile on the shoulder and whispered, "But seriously, thanks for giving him that much-needed confidence boost. Ever since we lost to Vespiquen, he's been coming up with all sorts of insulting nicknames for himself."

Drizzile nodded with a stunned look on his face. While he always knew of Gallade's shoddy reputation, he did not think it had been that bad. Now he was especially glad to have had this chance to fight alongside the green man.

Scorbunny and Blaziken pounded their fists together with big grins on their faces. The chicken then patted the rabbit on the head and said, "I know the future is definitely in good hands with awesome heroes like you in it."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I've been told I'm pretty damn good," the female rabbit giggled before the chicken patted Vaporeon on the shoulder and added, "Good job saving the world. That was pretty amazing to say the least."

Vaporeon blushed lightly before Raboot took hold of her hands, looked deep into her eyes and said, "You take care of my great granddaughter, alright?" the blue fox chuckling, "Honestly, she's been the one taking care of me up until now, but I'll do my best."

The male rabbit nodded and replied, "Well, as long as your best is anything like what I saw today, I feel content," Leafeon and Jolteon giving her a big hug.

"It was so nice to meet you!" Leafeon squealed, "I wish you could have been my daughter or granddaughter instead of my great granddaughter, then I could look forward to meeting you again!" Vaporeon chuckling as Jolteon exclaimed, "I know, right!? Like, seriously, how awesome would that be to meet her now then meet her again as a baby and see her become a super kickass teenager!? I swear, if I was alive in your time, I'd spoil the hell out of you!"

Vaporeon laughed some more before Leafeon sighed, "But, really, even though my daughter will never know who you really are, I'll never forget meeting you," before grumbling, "Though I wish I could forget about the fact that my granddaughter apparently marries a circus clown."

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Vaporeon chuckled, "But yeah, I never would have dreamt of meeting the two of you in person. You're just as wonderful as Grandma made you sound," making sure not to reveal that her grandmother's name was Flareon. If she did, Leafeon would have felt obligated to call her that, and Vaporeon did not wish to put that kind of pressure on her.

Of course, after that, she turned toward Zeraora, who had recovered enough to be able to sit on a nearby bench. She walked over to him and held him in a tight embrace before squealing, "I'm gonna miss you so much!" the cat patting her on the back and replying, "I know the feeling. I kinda wanna go with you to your time, but I know I shouldn't."

Megumi bit her lower lip and actually considered letting him go, but she also realized such a drastic decision could effect the future. With that in mind, she simply nodded and rested a hand against Vaporeon's shoulder, saying, "Thank you so much for everything you've done. My son has always been a tad insecure, and leaving him by himself, well, I don't think it helped as much as we had hoped it would. You've done so much more than you probably realize."

Morgrem, all the while, shook the hands of each and every legendary hero present and squealed, "It was so awesome meeting all of you! I can't believe I get to shake hands with the great Blaziken and Gallade and Hitmonchan and, well, you get the point."

Rolycoly nodded and sighed, "It's just a shame so much of our time here was spent in the hospital. I would have loved to have hung out with you guys for a little bit," Blaziken nodding and replying, "Well, we got this nice little moment, at least."

Rillaboom looked down and said, "I wish Aipom was here, too. It was such an honour to team up with her," Melmetal looking at Shaymin and sighing, "Surely we can at least let them go to the hospital for a few minutes before we leave, right?"

The hedgehog bit her lower lip and sighed, "Alright, you guys win. But you only get five minutes after we get there, alright?" all of them turning to her with big smiles on their faces.

Lucario got up from his seat and decided to join them along with Clauncher, Amanda and Veronica. After all, he only had a little bit more time to spend in Tokyo before he headed back to London and he wished to take full advantage of this chance to at least check up on Machoke.

Thankfully, all three of the previously injured heroes were already up, though only Aipom was perfectly fine. Machoke and Gardevoir still had a few bandages on them and needed help standing up. But nevertheless, they were beyond thrilled to see their friends there.

The reptilian man and the white woman approached Vaporeon and Zeraora and exclaimed, "You two are amazing! That was so cool! The way you hit them with your tails, and then slamming them both with that finishing move and taking off Palkia's wings and knocking out Dialga's orb thing!"

The blue fox and cat were both extremely overwhelmed by this, Megumi surprised to hear her own son receive praise like this from two legendary heroes. Aipom, all the while, chuckled, approached the blonde woman and said, "Look at that. Your son's got a couple of big time celebrities as fans. You must be so proud."

Megumi turned to face the monkey and chuckled, "I'm proud of him for far more than that," Rillaboom approaching Aipom and saying, "Hey, just wanted to tell you it was an honour fighting alongside you."

The monkey had a wide grin on her face as she held up her tail hand and squealed, "Likewise!" shaking the gorilla's hand. Like the others, she knew she would never get to see her partner again, but she would always remember her. After all, one could not just forget such an amazing ally.

After Machoke and Gardevoir talked more with Vaporeon, the reptilian suggested, "Hey, Zeraora, if evil ever threatens Tokyo again, we'd be glad to accept you as an ally."

The cat's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, Megumi nodding and saying, "Well, son, you're free to do as you please. I'm sure your father would definitely approve. Granted, you would have to drop out of school, but-"

"Oh, yeah," Zeraora uttered with a sigh, "I still have the rest of this year until I graduate. I'd hate to waste all that hard work." A smile then formed on his face before he added, "But once I'm done with that, I'll at least be sure to keep up my training. Heroism could be like a second job for me, eh?"

Megumi beamed bright as Machoke and Gardevoir smiled at one-another. The couple then noticed Lucario and invited him to join in on the conversation. And of course, Vaporeon was more than happy to officially meet the dog in person.

Needless to say, Zeraora could not have been happier. Thanks to Vaporeon, he had gone from having almost no direction in his life to knowing exactly what he wanted. On top of that, he also had respect and friends. This was the life he always dreamt of.

By this point, Shaymin's five minute time limit had already passed, but when she saw how happy everyone was, she decided to let them talk for a little longer. After all, she would hate to be dragged away from a nice moment like this herself.

And so, she allowed a whole hour to pass, Melmetal finishing a long conversation with Gallade and Hitmonchan about his fight with Drizzile. He then took a seat next to the hedgehog and said, "You're a really nice person, you know that?" Shaymin giggling, "What, you didn't think I was before?"

"Well, to be fair, you did put us through a lot of sadistic events in the Hero Olympics," the cyborg remarked before she chuckled nervously.

However, just as everyone was finally ready to leave, Raikou dashed into the area and gasped, "Someone told me my son and wife were here! Is that true!?" Megumi and Zeraora staring silently. However, the blonde woman broke the silence and chuckled, "I'm impressed. You must have run all the way here."

Aipom's jaw dropped before she looked at Zeraora and uttered, "Your father is Raikou," pointing at the tiger, "THE Raikou! No wonder you're so strong!" the cat turning toward his father and saying, "You didn't tell me you were famous."

The tiger blinked before he and the others shared a good laugh. Shaymin decided to just let everyone talk on the way back to the ship, and Raikou was really happy to meet the one who shaped his son into the fighter he was now. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was very friendly and approachable.

Soon enough, everyone was gathered in front of Shaymin's ship. She entered the cockpit before saying, "Alright, you all get a minute to say your final goodbyes. I'm not changing my mind this time," as the others tensed up and turned toward their new friends.

The heroes of Edmonton gave one last goodbye to everyone else and made sure to get in a hug. Vaporeon held Zeraora just a little bit longer before she headed back to the ship to join the others. With all said and done, Shaymin put in the time period they had left and squealed, "Strap in tight, everyone! We're in a wild ride!"

And so, the ship floated up into the sky before a bright light surrounded it. And soon enough, it vanished from sight, Zeraora releasing a light tear with a big smile on his face. Even though he would never see Vaporeon again, he could not have asked for a better friend.

After a while, the ship arrived in Edmonton. Shaymin looked at the time and uttered, "Oh, I was shooting for the exact day and hour that we left, but it sent us two and a half weeks ahead," before she tapped her chin, shrugged and said, "That's probably for the best, anyway."

And so, the door to the ship opened up and the heroes emerged. And since they were in a public place, news crews showed up within minutes to question them about their trip. Of course, they mostly wanted to know if the heroes succeeded to which Shaymin reassured them by showing them Palkia's wings and Dialga's voice, both sealed in strong glass containers.

Grimmsnarl and Samurott arrived to welcome the heroes back, the green goblin giving Morgrem a big hug. He could not wait to hear about her experiences in the past, though he was genuinely shocked when she revealed that she could now use her fingers like blades.

Geneva and Bailey soon arrived, a big smile on Rolycoly's face when he rolled toward the redhead and leapt into her arms. Both shared a long kiss while Geneva twirled in placed, Bailey cupping her hands together with the biggest grin she had ever given.

Drizzile's eyes lit up when he saw Allie, the two sharing an embrace of their own. As exciting as everything had been, he had missed her so much during that time. But most of all, he was beyond grateful that he and the tall woman could actually have their marriage in the end. After all, the more days Dialga and Palkia remained in the tournament, the less likely it seemed.

Of course, those who had not gone with the heroes were shocked to see Scorbunny in a wheelchair. She explained how it was a result of an electric shock and that she would be good as new soon enough. In fact, if what the doctors told her was correct, she would be back on her feet the following day.

With all said and done, Melmetal implied a smile with his eye and gave everyone a light wave before he started to walk toward the airport, Shaymin ready to head back to Hero Planet. But before both were completely out of sight, Vaporeon held out her arm and invited them to join them for a celebratory dinner. After all, they had missed out on such a chance in the past, so this seemed perfect.

While Melmetal accepted the offer without hesitation, Shaymin was not so sure. But even so, she knew no one could possibly steal Palkia and Dialga's parts in this time line and benefit from it, so she figured she may as well join in. After all, she rarely ever had opportunities like this, what with her having so much responsibility.

And so, the group headed to a French restaurant called The Marc and booked the biggest table available. While they chatted, Allie and the others were certainly surprised by the many things they heard. Not only were they fascinated to hear that Scorbunny, Drizzile and Rillaboom had all gotten to team up with their own idols from that generation, but to hear that Vaporeon had won with the help of a complete newbie was beyond incredible.

"Well, cheers to Edmonton's little champion!" Geneva exclaimed before the others nodded and held up their glasses. Vaporeon chuckled lightly and uttered, "Really, guys, you don't have to make a huge deal out of it."

"Yeah, but you've truly earned it," Drizzile replied with a big smile, Scorbunny nodding and giving the fox a peck on the cheek. Everyone stared in stunned silence until the rabbit sighed, "Yeah, yeah, we're a thing now. Admit it, you all knew it was gonna happen eventually, didn't you?"

Bailey blinked and uttered, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't see a few signs here and there," the others shrugging their shoulders.

Either way, everyone gladly supported their relationship and shared another toast to them. And after that, they continued their conversation, talking about many more things that happened in the past. Such subjects included Melmetal using Shaymin's thorns to get the drop on Dialga and Palkia and Drizzile helping Gallade win two matches, and of course, there were many other things. The human women would certainly look for the fight footage later, knowing full well that their names and appearances would be different.

Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, Vaporeon pulled out her phone and looked up her family tree just to make sure of this. As she suspected, a blue fox similar to her but with tribal markings on her cheeks named 'Showereon' had been added to it. As soon as she saw this, she frowned and grumbled, "Couldn't they have at least come up with something creative?"

Scorbunny leaned over and chuckled, "It's not like 'Flarerabbit' is that much better," Rillaboom sighing, "You think that's bad? Apparently, my name is 'Gorillaboom'. Were they even trying with that one?"

"Wow, I must be really lucky," Drizzile stated, "They called me Jimereon. That's way cooler than Drizzile," only for Allie to kiss him on the cheek and squeal, "I think Drizzile's good enough."

"What did they call us?" Morgrem enquired, Vaporeon looking up her and Rolycoly's families and saying, "Diabla and Tandon," the goblin and golem looking at one-another with sparkling eyes.

"Wow, Tandon," Geneva chuckled before she stroked her chin, "It has a nice ring to it," Rolycoly sporting a heroic look and stating, "Yeah, Tandon the Destroyer! I like it!"

Shaymin smiled sweetly at the group and sighed, "To think we're able to have this conversation right now. Seriously, thank you all so much for your efforts," Melmetal nodding. The others gave the hedgehog smiles of their own, all of them in full agreement. It truly felt like a miracle that they were seated around the table talking to each other right now.

After another half-hour, the group finished their dinner as Shaymin paid for everyone. With everything that had happened, she felt beyond generous, and it also helped that she was the wealthiest out of all of them. The others felt a touch guilty about this, but she assured them all that this was perfectly fine.

With all said and done, everyone was ready to head home. Shaymin and returned to her time travelling ship so she could fly back to Hero Planet with the wings and orb while Melmetal decided to move back to Russia and fight evil there.

The heroes of Edmonton and their human friends saw them off before Drizzile volunteered to walk Allie to her house. She, of course, offered to let him stay the night with her to which he happily agreed, Rolycoly and Geneva headed to the redhead's place for a similar reason.

Rillaboom was ready to walk home with Scorbunny and Vaporeon only for the couple to tell her to go on ahead. They wanted to enjoy the night sky as a couple and they figured the gorilla would rather get some sleep as soon as possible. Needless to say, she was grateful for that, so she sped off after Vaporeon handed her a key to the house.

Vaporeon smiled sweetly and pushed Scorbunny along the sidewalk in her chair. The rabbit breathed in the fresh air, looked up at the stars and sighed, "Did you ever imagine life would turn out like this?"

"No," the fox replied, "I didn't think it would be anywhere near this good." She then let out a sigh and added, "I really am so happy I got to meet all of you. I've said it before and it's worth repeating. You guys have given my life so much more meaning."

"I'm really happy to hear that," Scorbunny giggled, "Because I feel the same." But as she tilted her head back and puckered her lips for a kiss, Vaporeon stared silently at a short lynx standing before her.

This lynx in question had light blue fur on the upper half of her body and black fur on the lower half. She had big oval ears with yellow stars in the middle and matching eyes. She also had a star on the tip of her tail. And with a black marking that resembled a bow tie, her lower half looked more like a pair of pants as opposed to her actual fur. Finally, she had a yellow ring around each wrist.

"Um, hi there," Vaporeon said with a light smile, "Can we help you?" the lynx's eyes sparkling as she pointed at the fox and rabbit and gasped, "Oh my god! I recognize you!"

Scorbunny smiled and replied, "Well, looks we got us a fangirl here," the lynx nodding and squealing, "Yeah! My great grandpa has told me so much about you, Vaporeon! And he talks about you too, Scorbunny! He says you're the coolest people he knows!"

"Wow, someone that old is a fan of ours," Scorbunny uttered with her cheeks flushed pink, the lynx asking, "I know you're probably really busy, but could you maybe come and visit him? He doesn't have much longer to live and I know he'd really like to see you."

Vaporeon and Scorbunny both looked at one-another. Sure, this was an odd request, not to mention it was very late and the fox was tired after her match. But even so, there was no way they could refuse a request like this. Besides, meeting a fan who was likely over the age of one hundred seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And so, they followed the lynx all the way to her house before she said, "He's been staying in our basement lately. Says he's sick of the retirement home," and opened the door. A lion with blue and black fur was in the midst of watching TV when the lynx called, "Dad, I'm home!"

The lion could hear Vaporeon enter before he growled, "Hey, what have I told you about bringing guests home without calling first!?" He then marched toward the entrance before he gasped at the sight of the fox and rabbit.

"Oh, sorry to intrude," Scorbunny said with a sweet smile, "Your daughter insisted we see your grandfather," the lion nodding and replying, "Oh, of course. He'd love to see you right now."

He then cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, the name's Luxray, and my little girl here is Shinx. It's an honour to have you here right now."

Vaporeon and Scorbunny both smiled sweetly as he and Shinx led them to the staircase leading to the basement. Luxray and the fox both combined their efforts to safely carry Scorbunny down the stairs before they reached the bottom. And once they did so, Vaporeon and Scorbunny gazed upon the one they were there to see.

He was an old cat with white fur covering his chest area, forearms, lower body, skull and tail. The rest of his fur was grey. But what stood out to Vaporeon and Scorbunny the most was that his whiskers were shaped lightning bolts. This alone gave them a good idea of who they were face-to-face with.

"Oh my god," Scorbunny uttered as Vaporeon inched closer to an easy chair he was seated in. The cat stared at them before the fox bit her lower lip and reached forward, uttering, "Is that you, Zeraora?"

The cat squinted his eyes for a few seconds before a light gasp escaped from his mouth. A warm smile formed on his face before he lifted up his arm and rested his paw up against Vaporeon's cheek. Tears rolled down his own as he sniffed, "I have to admit, I truly believed I would never see you again."

"Yeah," Vaporeon replied with tears of her own, "This all feels like a dream. And to think we only just came back from your time," Scorbunny uttering, "How are you still alive?"

"Well, I've kept up a very healthy lifestyle since you left," Zeraora explained, "Even though I thought it pointless, I felt this strange need to stay alive for as long as possible just so I could see all of your accomplishments myself. I may not have had the strength to do it in person, but I was able to catch every single one of your matches on TV. And that goes for the others as well."

"Oh, wow," Scorbunny uttered, "I feel so flattered right now," before Vaporeon reached over and gave Zeraora a light hug. She made sure not to be too rough since she imagined his body must have been really weak by now.

All he could do in response was return the gesture and chuckle, "Ah yes, holding back against a friend. I never forgot that," before he and Vaporeon shared a good laugh. And all the while, Luxray and Shinx looked at this in wonder, the lion uttering, "I gotta hand it to you, Shinx, you made the right call."

He then sighed, "If only your mom didn't have to work the night shift. I think she would have loved to have seen this," Shinx holding out a cell phone and saying, "Don't worry, Dad. I'm recording it."

"That's my girl," the lion chuckled as he ruffled the fur atop her head, Scorbunny and Vaporeon more than happy to hear about Zeraora's life up to this point. He told them how he married a nice young woman named Mina and had a daughter named Luxio. Although he also mentioned how she used to be a bully before Sneasel and Gigalith taught her a lesson.

He also went on to talk about how he spent his life with a perfect winning streak. As it so happened, he had faced a total of five villains after the Ultimate World Team Tournament ended and bested all of them. Needless to say, Scorbunny and Vaporeon could not have been more proud.

After an hour, Zeraora noticed how late it was and figured he may as well let Vaporeon and Scorbunny return home. Both promised to pay him a visit each and every day that he remained in the world, and that was all he could ever ask.

For the next four years, many things happened. Drizzile and Allie's wedding was as perfect as could be, and it was not long until both agreed to move out of Edmonton and live in Ireland. They even found a really nice place not too far from where Drizzile's mother, Inteleon, lived.

Rolycoly and Geneva got married the following year, though they decided to stay in Edmonton. After all, the golem had nothing left for him in Rome, so this just made sense. And as for Vaporeon and Scorbunny, they decided to move to England as common-law partners. Since Zeraora passed away a year after they reunited with him, they were no longer able to pay him daily visits anyway.

Rillaboom went back to Kenya and met a nice young man named Ayo. Together, they started their own research lab to study plant life. And while the gorilla had spent years well versed in combat, she found Scientific discoveries to be just as fascinating.

Morgrem moved back to Transylvania and met someone of her own, a purple ghost with a broken teapot lid atop his head named Polteageist. Sure, he was an odd specimen, to say the least, but so was the red goblin, so it worked out fine in the end.

And of course, many others found their own mates and started families as well. Grimmsnarl and Yanma eventually hooked up with Samurott volunteering to be the best man at their wedding. Ben and Rapidight confessed their feeling for each other and eventually settled down as well back in Texas.

Corviknight had met a young woman named Samantha and proposed to her a mere month after they met. Needless to say, many were surprised by just how well that worked out considering how unconventional it was.

Melmetal settled down with a woman named Vera. Although it did not happen particularly quickly. Despite how much he had redeemed himself, he was not entirely sure if he deserved to get married, but in the end, Vera convinced him that he was more than good enough for her.

Scorbunny and Vaporeon opened up their own restaurant, and thanks to their high status, they were able to become a major success very quickly. Even with the long hours, they could not have been happier.

While Drizzile used to long for a simple office job, ever since he became a true hero, his sights had changed. Thus he went on to become a stuntman, dazzling the world with many dangerous feats.

Rolycoly and Geneva eventually published their own novel with all illustrations created by the golem. The royalty checks alone certainly helped them make a good living, and it was also thanks to their success that Rolycoly became much more popular in the art world. Now he had moved from commissions to being hired to illustrate multiple works.

Morgrem and Polteageist simply took on the ghost's family business, which was, as expected, running a tea shop. It was a simple business, but it was all they really needed to be happy.

And for the years to come, things only got better and better. It had been a difficult journey toward such happy lives, but the protectors of Earth had certainly earned them.

The end.

Note: I said this for the last one and I'll say it again. To those of you who have been following this story since the beginning, either of this particular entry or, god, even the very first Earth's Protectors, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You can see how passionate I've been about this series over the years, so much so that I really couldn't let the main series end. Sure, I made a couple of spinoffs (Essentially the idea is that they're supposed to be presented as 'movies' in story form, but yeah) but I did say at the end of Earth's Protectors III that would be the last one. And as I mentioned in the description for part 1 of this instalment, I changed my mind.

I know this isn't the most professionally written thing ever. I know it's not exactly the most original idea ever. It's basically just a fusion of Kinnikuman and Pokemon. Heck half the story lines in the first one took huge inspiration from Nisei. I went out of my way to make them their own thing, as some commenters have noticed and acknowledged, which I greatly appreciate. Some things I even tried to improve, like how Lucario was essentially meant to be a more well developed version of Kevin Mask.

I also know I'll never make a living off of this. (You'll never believe it from how frequently I put these chapters out, but I do have a real job and even hang out with friends from time to time) But I simply love working on this series and whether it gets a lot of attention or not, it makes me happy just working on it and sharing it with the world.

As I mentioned in part 1, the main reason I decided to make this instalment was because I had come up with so many ideas based off of Sword and Shield's starters. I already thought of making them all the main leads and putting more of the focus on them (In the first part, anyway) but I also thought about doing something vastly different with them, making them a villainous trio at first. In fact, I kinda went out of my way to make this one as different as I could from the others, though of course there were still a few traditions I simply couldn't give up.

I also did a few things differently when it came to writing this. Most notably, I actually wrote out the whole thing in advance and edited all of the chapters before posting them. Normally, what I do is I post the chapters after I finish writing them then replace said chapters with edited versions later. (In fact, if some of you go back and reread past instalments, you might notice a lot of differences when it comes to the grammar and other such things) I felt like this time, I really should just give you guys the final draft instead of the rough draft, which I really should have been doing from the start.

Why am I writing all of this? Because this time I can honestly say this really will be the last main instalment. I might make a spinoff or 'movie' again, but that's about it. And I am 100% sure that I won't change my mind again. (It's kinda why I went all-out with the new ideas, number of Pokemon used and even wrote the series' first ever title drop) The main reason I'm thinking of ending it here was because, well, I don't know why, but I had the most trouble writing this one. I had all these ideas in my head, but frequently, I'd lose sight of how I would build up to these moments. I've probably made more changes from my original vision for this instalment than any other. (Some of you might be interested to know that Zeraora was originally gonna die after taking in that blow that knocked him unconscious. This might just be the only instalment where no major character gets killed off)

But, yeah, thank you all so much for reading all of this. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it, or even almost as much. It's been a good ride, but it's time for it to come to an end for real.