Final Chapter: Ever Moving Forward

In life, one will run into many situations where matters are far from ideal. The troubles they can cause range from small to grand. Individuals involved in these matters might think it easier to accept them and go with the flow. But if you do nothing and accept things as they are, nothing will change. To make a difference and change things, there are times when you need to have the courage to stand up, no matter the difficulty or potential consequences in doing so. Nori knew that, and knew that it could change people's lives forever.

The sun was shining down brilliantly upon Mahogany Town. As she stepped out of the police department, Julia reflexively shielded her eyes. She had been in that dingy cell for so long, she had forgotten how bright it could be outside. But she was now free and able to enjoy it. In a fresh set of clothes and her shiny Pikachu walking by her side. She was tempted to let all of her Pokemon out, but put it off in favor of just getting the heck out of there. It tore her heart out to leave her mother and even her cellmate behind, but knew there was nothing she could do about that.

After taking a moment to breathe in the fresh air and bask in the autumn sun, Julia headed off. Where to go from here, though? Well, probably the Pokemon Center. She wanted to call her father and tell him what had happened, plus it would be a good place to find anyone else. She had made it only a dozen steps away from the station, when she spotted two people barreling towards her.

"Jule!"

You're out!"

The autistic girl found herself being ambushed by a hug from both of her friends. This might normally be uncomfortable for her, especially with her arms being pinned by both so that she could barely reciprocate. Yet she couldn't help but smile and try to return it as best as she was able. Things had worked out, and it was understandable they were this overjoyed about it.

"I didn't believe it, but you're really out!" Caiseal grinned. Especially after spotting a despondent-looking Nori yesterday who refused to speak to them, he expected the worst. He was prepared for it from the beginning. But as far as he thought it, this was the best scenario.

"I..." a sniveling Perrine started, before correcting herself. "We never thought we'd see you again. We're happy...we're really happy you made it out..."

"Thanks guys..." she sheepishly replied, unable to think of anything else to say.

Her friends retracted simultaneously, but Caiseal had a look of concern on his face. "Is something wrong, Jule? You really don't sound all that happy."

Perrine didn't notice it immediately, but when the blonde boy mentioned it, "Yeah!" she nodded in agreement. "I was expecting you'd be thrilled to get out of there!"

"It's just that..." Julia said, pausing for a moment. "I kind of feel I shouldn't be out here. I mean, I did cause some people and Pokemon to lose their lives." There was no denying that. "And, I also know that not everyone is going to be happy that I was let go."

Perrine's jaw dropped. "Wait, don't tell me you're thinking of going back in there?" she frantically asked. "You can't!"

The reaction took Julia by surprise. "What? Of course not!" she clarified, quickly shaking her head. "I don't want to waste this chance I've been given, either. That's why I'm really going to work towards becoming someone who helps Pokemon from now on!" It was really the only thing she felt she could do to make it up. Julia still felt she had a debt to repay to society, but was going to do it by helping and not serving a punishment. "I know I failed Geraldine. I hope she's happy up in heaven." She paused for a moment. It was still a fresh wound in her mind. It might be for a while. She knew in her heart that she would always grieve for the red Gyarados. Still, her determination came shining through once more. "But I'm not going to let anything like that happen ever again to any Pokemon if I can help it!" she declared, before shaking her head and correcting herself. "No, I'm gonna start right now. If Nori can do it, I can too!"

"Whoa, whoa, where's this coming from?" the blonde boy asked, surprised by this sudden burst of energy from her. "You're not just choosing what you want to do in life because you feel bad about what happened, are you?"

"Caiseal!" Perrine yelled at him. "If she wants to do this, then she should be able to!"

"No, it's okay," Julia raised her hand, understanding why Caiseal might be worried. "It's not a decision I made because of what happened. I've always wanted to do this. It's just now I want to more than ever!"

"That's good." With this clarification he breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was to see a bad experience dictate the kind of person his friend would become.

Julia looked around. She saw many people around the station, but there was one person in particular she wanted to see. No matter where she looked though, she couldn't find him. "Hey. Is...Nori around?" she asked.

The orange-haired girl shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't seen him today. He seemed really beat up about something yesterday, though."

"Didn't he say something about being here on a trip?" Caiseal added. "I think he might've gone back home."

"Oh right!" Perrine had nearly forgotten about that. "He did say that. So he might not be here anymore."

Julia sighed. "Oh well..." If he really had left, then there wasn't much she could do about it. Still, she had to say to her friends who were present. "Nori really did come through for me. I don't even want to imagine what things would be like if it weren't for him." She shuddered at the thought. Everything she had been told about juvenile hall made it seem like the last place she wanted to be. Just being stuck in a holding cell was bad enough.

Perrine put an arm on her friend, reassuring her. "You don't have to think about it. You're out now, Julia!"

Maybe she was. Maybe it wasn't the best of circumstances, either. But Perrine wasn't saying untrue things. "You're right," she said. "And it's thanks to him."

For the briefest of all moments, all the kids were grinning. Things had worked out. They were going to be able to travel together again! However, soon after that moment of euphoria, a realization hit Julia, causing her face to cloud over. "Oh, yeah. I need to do that...public apology thing. In front of lots of people."

"I guess I should've figured they wouldn't let you off the hook completely," Caiseal said with a small sigh. "When do you have to do it?"

"In two days." Julia sighed heavily, speaking her fears and worries aloud. Hikaru patted her on the leg, but it didn't help ease them any. "I'll probably die just from seeing them stare at me with their angry looks." She had enough trouble putting her thoughts into words, let alone in coherent sentences. Even with doing this being way better than prison ever could be and if given the choice a hundred times would've taken the apology every time, she had no idea what she was going to say or how she would handle it.

"Well, just remember that we'll be here for you, Jule!" Perrine declared, Caiseal nodding in concurrent at it. "Whether you need any help with it or just support, we'll be with you the whole way through this!"

Julia smiled faintly. She knew there were those who would give her their unconditional support, but hearing it directly had a calming effect on her. "Thanks."

The blonde boy spoke up, "So, what do you say we head to the park?" he asked. "We never did get to go to it."

Julia nodded. "Sure, that sounds good to me! I'd love to get some real exercise after being in there!" The most she was able to do was walk around her small cell, which was hardly adequate. "I'm sure all my Pokemon would too!" Hikaru by her side squealed at this sentiment.

"And after that you gotta come see this Unovan diner!" Perrine told her friend with a grin. "It's great, and the guy who runs it is really nice. He supported you a bunch and helped Nori, so I'm sure he'd love to meet you!"

Julia was a bit uncertain about this. She'd never tried Unovan food before, so she wasn't sure if she'd like it. In fact, that's why she didn't go when they were initially considering it. But if the owner was on her side throughout her ordeal, she figured it would be polite to at least go see him, even if she didn't end up eating anything. "I guess I could try." It couldn't be worse than the prison food, at least.

Perrine fistpumped, barely able to contain her excitement. "All right, let's go!"

With this proclamation the kids set off on their way. Julia never in a million years thought they would be able to travel like this again, but here they were doing it. All because of one really great person. "A Pokemon rehabilitator..."

Caiseal stopped and turned around. "Huh? Did you say something, Jule?"

The brown-haired girl blinked. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about things." She didn't mean to do that. She was just thinking and said it out loud without even realizing. "Come on, let's go!" She ran ahead of her friends with Hikaru, causing them to laugh and try to keep up.

Still even as she moved onward to new adventures, Julia couldn't help but think about what happened. If it wasn't for him, she probably wouldn't have been let go even with everyone else's support. She had her doubts that he could do it, but he did it. She wished he was here so she could say thank you in person to him. Well, it couldn't be helped, no matter how much she wanted it. Maybe she could find some other way of letting him know.

Most of all seeing someone as young as Nori accomplish so much gave her confidence that she could do the same. He said he was someone who helped people and Pokemon alike. A Pokemon rehabilitator. Maybe she could...

In the skies high above the land, Nori sat with a mixture of impatience and unease. He never liked any mode of transportation that didn't involve staying on the ground. Nor did he like remaining still for an extended period of time. He had the room here to stretch and move his legs, but that didn't help much. Well, at least it wasn't sailing - being able to move around on a boat or not, he liked that even less. Plus, you get a completely different view of the world up here. It was hard to look away from the sights below, the scope seemingly endless. Even huge trees were like ants from up here. He could be optimistic about this at least.

With a brief glance back into the interior itself, he was reminded of how out-of-place he was. Sure, he put up with it on the trip here and the last few hours, yet he still couldn't get over it. Everywhere he looked there were people who were over twice, and many thrice his age. Several of these indeed looked to be traveling on business, though there was the odd outlier. He heard a screaming child at one point, so there was at least one family in here. None of them were near him, however. His next seat neighbor, a balding man in a fine black three-piece suit, was completely engrossed with his laptop. He had no interest in idle chat, let alone with "some random kid". That left Nori to the sights outside the window. Though given the advantages over economy, he couldn't complain about this setup either.

Fortunately, he would only have to put up with it for only a little while longer - the familiar sight of his hometown came into view, and even from up here he would recognize it. It was surrounded by forests and hills on all but one side. The city itself was hilly to full-on rugged. Quite a few houses and buildings were constructed on higher terrain, up to and including the surrounding mountains. And unlike Johto or its neighbor, its name had nothing to do with how its buildings were constructed. It would be absurd to make a building from rocks, anyway...

"Good afternoon, passengers," came the voice of the captain over the plane's intercom. "We are nearing our final approach. We ask that you return to your seats and remain there as we come in for landing."

Already done. That wasn't an issue. In what felt like no time at all, the plane touched down. He was finally able to stand up, wasting no time in grabbing his belongings from the compartment above him and getting out of here ahead of everyone else. He didn't care he was getting a few odd looks from his rush. It was great to be back home, and he hoped he didn't have to leave again anytime soon.

As he stepped out into the airport lobby, he was met with a surprise. Someone had actually been waiting for him, a bigger surprise by the fact that he didn't say a word as to when he was returning. Then again given who it was, it wasn't that big a surprise. She always seemed to be there for him, after all. Including in moments like that gym battle.

Nori was actually surprised at her casual outfit. She had on long socks, a light blue skirt that reached her knees, and a frilly white shirt with an unbuttoned blue and white fleece coat overtop. If not for her face and the Pokemon she held, he might not have recognized her immediately. She held a small white squirrel with yellow cheeks and a blue stripe running down its body. On seeing Nori, the Pokemon jumped from her arms and came running over to the young official. Before he could protest, it climbed up his leg and onto his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek.

He had to leave his Pachirisu behind due to sickness, but it was back to its usual self. The outlier among his Pokemon in more ways than one. "Glad to see you've gotten better, at least..." Nori awkwardly remarked, picking it up and placing it down beside him. The girl softly giggled at this display, walking over to her friend with folded hands.

"Welcome back, Nori," she greeted with the smallest of bows.

"Thanks," he replied with a nod. "But what are you doing here?"

"I just thought to greet you here," she explained, adjusting her shoulder length green hair. "That's all."

Nori shrugged. "Well, it is good to see you," he admitted. The trip was nice, but he'd missed things here in Veilstone City. Though didn't want to say it outwardly right now, since being flustered once by his Pokemon was enough.

Suddenly, she looked away slightly. "Sorry again that I couldn't accompany you," she apologized with a mixture of remorse and disappointment. Nori didn't get why she felt this way, he understood why she couldn't. Seeing his expression conveying this caused her to smile a bit and ask, "Did you still have fun on your own?"

On this question Nori hesitated. This was certainly going to be one crazy story to tell. "Well, about that..." he started, noting his friend's aqua blue eyes sparkling with interest. She certainly could read him and tell it wasn't bad. "It's a long story, Prema." The girl's expression remained unchanged, as if to tell him to continue. The young official nodded. It would be nice to get it off his chest anyway. He motioned to his friend and his Pachirisu to follow him out of the lobby.

"So a lot of things happened in Johto..." And so as they set out, he got into recounting his adventure.

Interesting bit: didn't intend to end the scene with Julia with those implications. But when it lined up unintentionally and on thinking of how things should turn out from there, I figured it could work.

With Nori, I wanted to create a character who could fit the MarJour universe, yet also contrast with its characters in some ways. While also giving him enough material to continue writing about him should the urge arise. Which it kinda is, since writing this was fun. Probably would focus on his past if so, at least at first.

So yeah. This short little alternate story is complete!