Once he was sure that Piper would be watching over his sick and fatigued son, Michael sprinted from the Nursery all the way over to the Infirmary. No one dared to stop him or slow him down, even if they could. He skidded to a stop in front of the Infirmary, hoping to find April there waiting for him. But the doors were closed and he chose instead to push his way in. He walked in urgently, finding the bed Julia had been in for days was empty. Piper had been correct, after all. Now came the moment of truth that he was dreading more than any other. Would he have the woman he loved back, or had that vile witch Courtney ruined her memories forever? He would have his answer when Julia appeared before him.

Everything hinged on this moment. Their family, the entirety of Arcana, his own willpower. All of it was completely tied to this one thing. This singular state in their existences. If she left, he'd become one of the most eligible, desired and miserable bachelors in all of Arcana. With Olivia stepping aside to take care of her son, it left only Caitlin Setenn and Rebecca Eighern as suitable options. He would do his duty if he had to. But if Julia was lost, he was sure that he would never love again. She would take his heart with her wherever she went. His only duty would be preparing James and Arya for the world. After that, nothing else mattered anymore.

The door to the Infirmary rest room opened. Julia exited. She looked completely exhausted. Her skin was pale, her hair was tangled and her nightgown was torn slightly from what had to have been a frantic jump up from the bed to the bathroom. The stale scent coming from the bathroom indicated that she had gotten sick inside, but did her best to make herself presentable. She stumbled past him, not even giving him a second glance, before sitting down on her bed and rubbing her eyes slowly. "That lovely nurse told me that the King would be gracing me with his presence."

Michael sighed. "I did. I had hoped-"

"You must forgive me for the mess I am" Julia replied briskly. "I wasn't expecting His Excellency here so soon."

"You could never be a mess to me, Julia" Michael answered, feeling hollow inside. "How are you feeling?"

"Not too well." She wiped her face with a towel before trying to sit upright and looking directly into the King's eyes. "You don't seem to be doing well, Your Grace. Is everything alright?"

The dam broke inside of him. He shook his head and fell to his knees in front of her. "No. Not at all. It's like I'm saying goodbye to-no. It's exactly like that. I'm saying goodbye to my soulmate. The person who I've poured my entire heart into. The mother of my children. The meaning of why I'm even back in this miserable place." He took a deep breath to contain his grief. "But, what's done is done." He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "This is for you. It isn't much. But it should help you stay on your feet until you've gotten whatever you want out of life."

Julia took the envelope and placed it beside another opened one on the desk beside her bed. "I couldn't even begin to wonder what I want in life."

"I just want you to be happy, Julia" Michael choked out. "I don't think I'm strong enough for a goodbye, so-"

"Maybe I could be a meteorologist?" Julia thought aloud.

Kinda specific. He shook his head and prepared to walk away for good. "Whatever your heart desires."

"Arcana could use one, I think" she continued, slyly cracking a smile at her husband. "After all, I don't think even a King can contain a hurricane named Arya."

Michael's head rose at this. "What?"

"You really think I'd give up on you that easily?" She cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Wasn't it you who said that we're in this for the long haul? No divorces!"

Michael exhaled what felt like a decade of stress as he finally let the tears come out. "Julia."

As he buried his head into her stomach, she stroked his back and patted his head gently. "I'm sorry that had to happen. I should have gone to you immediately. But when he threatened our kids-"

Michael embraced his wife's lower body. "I swear to you I will not let Courtney come anywhere near them. Or you." The thought returned to him. No secrets. No hidden truths. She deserves to know. "Honey. Before anything else is said and anything else happens, I need to tell you something."

Julia smiled down on him and shook her head. "I know you too well, Michael. You wouldn't keep a secret from me." She reached behind her and picked up the other open envelope. "And neither would Olivia, apparently." Though he was expecting her to be cross or at least miffed, she took the situation in stride. "You did it for the children. They needed a mother, especially if that stupid drug she put in me did make me forget everything. I'm sure Olivia would have made a decent Queen and a fairly competent mother of my babies." She shrugged it all off like it was nothing. "But, I'm the only real mother of my Little Hurricane and my Little Prince."

April entered from the outside and nodded contently. "Good to see some happiness in these walls for a change."

"How's the little guy?" Michael asked.

This caught Julia's attention. "What happened to my baby?!"

"Her Majesty can rest easily" April laughed. "There was a bug in the halls of Kingston Castle. Olivia's son, one of the cooks and I believe your friend Rui have been dealing with a bit of an illness. The young prince also had it, but we caught it in time. Now, he's being rocked to bed by his lovely Aunt Piper. I'll perform a checkup on you in short time, My Queen." She then went about working on cleaning up the bathroom as Michael and Julia came together.

"You should also know that Peter is dead" Michael told her. "Courtney tried to control him, but-"

"All that matters is that it's you and me" Julia interrupted. "And our babies, of course."

"I couldn't bring myself to let you go" he admitted, still on his knees in front of her. "Even when they all said I needed to think of it, I was so afraid I'd have to. And that I couldn't."

"One less thing to worry about" Julia grinned down at him. She took her husband's arms and pulled him to his feet and the two came together, with Julia kissing him with more passion than even Olivia had. "I was never going to let you go. I don't think the voice in my head would let me."

"Voice?" Michael inquired.

"Some loud and abrasive voice, that kept yelling shrill things in my ears. 'Don't you hurt him, again!' And other stuff like that." She tapped her head. "It was strange, though. The voice was shrill to start, but the last few things they said made the voice sound an awful lot like Cameron."

Michael paused at this. Was that what she wanted to say? She used her wish to help me? This made him only love his prodigal sister even more than he already did. For all her abrasiveness, her distance, her attitude problems, she was still the same girl he had helped his Aunt and Uncle raise. And he was so happy to have her. Cameron was the only one who never truly warmed back up to Julia after their bad breakup almost three years earlier. She had always been something of a guard dog for him. He was sure he didn't need it, but he welcomed it. Cameron and Julia were not close, but for her to use the once in a lifetime chance to ask for Julia to stay with him made him realize just how important she was to their group. Perhaps even more important to him personally than even Chris.

"What is it?" Julia asked, a warm smile on her face.

Michael took Julia in his arms and spun her around. "Nothing. Nothing at all, Jules." He lowered her onto the ground and held her close. "So much has happened since you fell asleep." He reached onto his belt and took out Celebi's Poke Ball, opening it to reveal his Mythical Pokemon friend had returned. When Celebi saw Julia, he happily floated around the two and perched himself on her head. Julia playfully tapped his belly.

"Celebi? But how?"

"That's all our friends joining forces" he told her. "Cameron, Lizzie, Mark, Cee, even Piper and Matt helped. We got all of them back from Hunter and finally took him down."

Julia's eyebrow raised. "That seems a little too convenient. Surely there was something that's gone wrong besides that."

Michael shrugged. "Aside from Mewtwo warning us we have a month before he plans on killing us, not much."

She giggled. "Oh, is that all?" She winced a bit in pain before Michael helped her back onto the bed. "Wow, I'm a little worn out from all of this."

"Let's not overstimulate you, Jules" he replied.

"But I want to see my babies" she insisted.

"And they want to see you, I'm sure. But let James get some rest. When Arya comes back with Tori and Greg, I'm sure she'll want to shower her mommy with kisses." He felt an itching feeling where his gift from Arceus was and scratched it to relieve the feeling. "But for the time being, I was hoping you and I could-"

Moving quicker than he thought her capable of, Julia grabbed at Michael's shirt and rolled his sleeve up. Her eyes studied the Arcanine carefully, before her attention returned squarely on him. "Hmm. Something tells me there's more to that little tattoo of yours than you'd prefer I know." Michael made a motion to explain, but she stopped him. "No. Let me make sure my powers of deduction are in place." She puzzled over it for several seconds, making Michael's lack of comfort expand drastically. Whether or not she was nearing a conclusion no longer mattered to him. He couldn't keep it from her any longer.

"You want to know?" Michael replied. "I'll tell you. We-"

Julia shook her head and put a finger to his lip. "No. I told you, I'd figure it out on my own, and I will. Respect me enough with this as much as I respect you for putting up with me for all I've done."

Michael grinned at this. "I'd move mountains for you."

She frowned at this. "Considering what we've got to deal with as monarchs, I somehow doubt we'll get much more time to...you know...add to our family, if you know what I mean."

"Well" Michael snickered, "it is a Queen's most important duty to ensure the future of the throne is secure. And I doubt Annie would want to be pregnant all by her-"

"ANNIE'S PREGNANT?!" his wife screamed. "Why didn't you tell me?! I have to-"

Now, it was his turn to quiet her. "She's off for the night. Her and Jon have a lot of planning to do. And on that note, so do we."

She met his wry smirk with one of her own. "Well, well. Good King Michael." She grabbed him and threw him down on the bed beside her with surprising force. She then jumped on top of him as she had been before it all went wrong and beamed. "I guess you and I have work to do, then, Your Grace."

{}

Once they had returned to Arcana from The Celestial Plains, Lizzie's first goal was to see if her gift had truly worked. With the group distracted by the curiosities of whether or not their wishes of Arceus had come to pass, Lizzie excused herself to see if her own wish had been answered. She moved out into the Gardens of Kingston Castle and called out her Umbreon, one of the few Pokemon she had left after Mewtwo's proclamation severed the ties between many trainers and their Pokemon. Jazz the Umbreon leaped out of his Pokemon Ball and stretched his body. Lizzie leaped down into the grass beside him and studied him intently. The Pokemon finally noticed something was up, when he turned and made eye contact with his trainer. He cocked his head in confusion.

"Go on, Jazz" Lizzie asked giddily. "Say something. Anything."

The Umbreon kept cocking his head, before bouncing around in the grass and rolling around in the still plentiful morning dew.

Lizzie frowned. "I knew it was too good to be true. Even Arceus couldn't possibly let-"

...understands that I must protect my child. It is my obligation, without Achilles, to bear the brunt of parenthood and ensure our child grows up protected and safe.

Lizzie paused and looked around a nearby bush, spying Addison's Gardevoir carefully cradling a Pokemon Egg in her hands. "Galatea?"

The Gardevoir spun around and in a panic, rushed into the bushes to hide her most precious treasure, before reemerging, dusting off her gown-like body and standing guard. But as quickly as she had been to protect her child, she realized what had happened. Hang on. You can understand me? Every word I say? Her voice was angelic, almost reminiscent of that of Jane Kingston's. No wonder she and Addison were so close.

Lizzie nodded excitedly. "I can understand everything. I mean, I thought I-"

I do not understand, Miss West. How is this possible?

"We went to the Celestial Plains, and-"

Galatea's eyes widened at this. The Celestial Plains? You actually met Arceus himself?

Lizzie nodded. "Yup. And we all got gifts for being the first mortals to make it there in over a thousand years. Mine was to be able to understand Pokemon, but so far, I think I only understand you." She looked back at her Umbreon, still rolling about in the dew happily. "I wish I could understand Jazz, but he seems just as confused as ever."

Galate was still in awe. To have seen Arceus in person. It must have been a very wonderful experience. How I wish Addison and I had been there. She used her telekinetic powers to cover the branches that kept her egg safe and then gave Lizzie her full attention. I sense your Umbreon will have a bit of a hard time comprehending your attempts to speak with him. But so long as you both learn from it, the barrier should not be there long term. After all, if you can understand what I am saying, then you've already shown that Arceus's powers are not those of myth Perhaps all you need to do is to open your mind and listen to what they have to say, first. She then looked up towards the Castle. Now if you will excuse me, I expect my friend needs me. In a flash of light, the Gardevoir vanished.

Lizzie laid back in the grass and tried to follow Galatea's advice. "Listen to what they have to say. Come on, Lizzie. Let's listen." She took a deep breath and relaxed in the still relatively wet lawn. Within seconds, she could hear voices all around her. From the Beautiflys and Vivillions flying around the garden, to the Budews and Oddishes that resided within them. It seemed as though every Pokemon had something to say.

What a wonderful morning for gathering nectar, a Beautifly sang.

Beautiful for you, a shy Budew called, hiding in the bushes of a plant. Some of us like our nectar where it is.

What could be more beautiful than the crisp breeze we feel? the Vivillion asked.

I'll come out when I feel more sunlight, the Oddish concluded. It's too cold for me. Though that Umbreon seems to think otherwise.

Lizzie turned and noticed her Umbreon prancing about in the grasses, before he came over to her side and leaped onto her belly, staring down at her with his soft and welcoming eyes. So, Lizzie?! What are we going to do today, huh? Did you need me to battle? Or are we going out for some fun? Jazz's voice sounded like a little boy's, which was strange to her, considering he was pushing on several years old. She had gotten herself an Eevee at around the same time Michael acquired his second, with them both agreeing to raise them differently. Michael's became Aether the Espeon, while hers became the Umbreon. But for it to sound like a child, it amused Lizzie. It was almost as if this new world for her would be easing herself into it.

Lizzie playfully pet Jazz. "I can't believe it. I can understand you."

Understand me? Don't you always understand me?

"You seem to understand me" she explained. "But now, we can finally understand one another."

Does this mean we can become even better friends?

She giggled in response to this. "Of course, if that's what you want, Jazz."

Oh boy, oh boy! We're friends! The Umbreon made several leaps over her, before nuzzling her head with his own and sitting in the grass besides her. He then sniffed in the air and looked above them. Whoa. Is that a Pokemon? What's he flying around here for?

Lizzie peeked up and noticed a large shadow soaring in the skies above the two. She was at first afraid it was a predatory Pokemon, but the form let out a familiar roar before it descended down towards them. The Pokemon who had been previously conversing around the flowers scattered around the garden. The massive hulking Dragon Pokemon landed and stretched out his wings before turning towards Lizzie. Upon making eye contact, the Salamence drooped his head and growled sadly as he stood in place.

"Is that you, Crush?"

Is it him? Is it him? Jazz sniffed the air and came a few feet closer to the Salamence then Lizzie had previously dared, before he leaped backwards and nodded. Yup. That's him, alright. I never forget a scent. And that sure smells like him.

"Do all Pokemon smell the same?" Lizzie asked. "That's something I've always wanted to know."

Dragons usually smell like smoke, but if the smoke was a little...I don't know...more great. The Umbreon did his best to make a shrug. I don't really have the best words.

Lizzie laughed. "Neither do I." She pet Jazz on his head before coming to her feet and walking over towards the Salamence she was beginning to be sure was her own. "Crush? It's me, Lizzie."

Oh, I know it's you. Crush's voice was rigid and powerful, but he was certainly holding back on his emotions. He couldn't even look her in the eyes. I...I'm sorry I believed him. I know you wouldn't hurt me. But I listened and left anyway. But...I know you didn't do it. Is there anyway you can-

Lizzie raced over and hugged her Salamence. "Of course, Crush. I'm just glad to know you're okay."

The Salamence growled in approval. Thank you, Lizzie. I am glad to be back in your service, if you'll have me.

She patted the Salamence on his head and nodded. "Well, as long as you've learned your lesson, I see no reason not to." She took Jazz into her arms and let him sniff Crush more carefully. "You see? It is him."

Hello, Jazz.

Hiya, Crush! The Umbreon leaped out of her arms and raced up the Salamence's back and barked playfully at him. Let's go, Crush! Let's play!

Lizzie laughed. "You two are too much."

"Is that Crush?" a voice called from behind her. Mark had arrived on the scene and was surprised to find the Salamence so readily eager for action. "Well, I'll be. I guess all of that wish stuff was true after all."

"Is that what you wished for?" Lizzie asked her old friend.

"I subscribe to the theory that if you tell someone your wish, it may not be true" he replied, giving her a wink. "But if it helps get some Pokemon and their trainers reunited, I couldn't care less of the consequences." The two then watched on playfully as Crush gave Jazz a ride all around the garden, much to the dismay of the local flora and the Pokemon who frequented them.

{}

"You don't understand" Addison exclaimed to Countess Rosemary as the elderly woman was replenishing her candles inside of her chambers. "I predicted that Lucas would come to that conclusion. For the first time, I saw the future without feeling the need to faint or pass out. It was the most incredible thing I've ever done, Countess."

Rosemary laughed as she removed the stub of one candle and replaced it with a new one. "Oh, is it?"

"I don't think you're taking what I'm saying seriously" Addison insisted.

"I'm taking it very seriously" the Countess replied. "This is your power developing. Perhaps a bit faster than I expected. And I could not be more impressed by your turn around. But I expected this from you. Your growth has been steady and will continue to improve."

"I'm looking forward to our lesson today."

Rosemary paused. "Actually, my dear, we won't be having a lesson today."

"Oh" Addison said solemnly. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm feeling the effects of age, my dear" the elderly woman answered. "Nothing more than that. But, as for a homework assignment, I have a task for you."

"Sure" she eagerly accepted.

"One of the reasons why I've noticed your development stalling" she explained, "is that I find that you are a young maiden who has a difficult time letting go of her personal doubts and fears. Many of our traumas are what define us, but we in the realm of higher thinking need to evolve past such notions. I myself had to endure the suffering of losing my brothers and much of my friends and family over my lifetime. And I know what you have endured since Julia and Michael sent you off on your journey." She waved her scepter in front of the candle she had just instilled, causing it to flash in color and illuminate. "But you have a tendency, as many do, to let your past and the past actions of others define your opinions of them."

"I don't know where you're going with this" Addison inquired.

"Addison, I just want to ensure that you have a support group for yourself" she concluded. "I won't be around forever. And if my time comes sooner than you're prepared for, I want to know you're cared for."

"I have my Mom and Aunt Caitlin" the pupil proclaimed. "And I have Michael and Julia. Dawn and Lucas. Holly and Tommy. I'll be well cared for."

Rosemary took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, allowing another candle to come to life. "I had a vision, my dear. A friend of yours...well...a former friend, used a once in a lifetime opportunity to help you reach your goals of becoming the White Mage. I'm sure he will tell you about it, because your assignment is to make your peace with my Great Nephew."

Addison stared blankly. "Make peace with Matt?"

"It's the least you can offer him, considering this most recent breakthrough is likely because of him" Rosemary replied strictly. "Now you may go. Leave me in peace."

Addison slowly left Rosemary's chambers, finding Galatea there waiting for her, seated patiently on the bench. "How long have you been there?"

Not too long. But I can tell you're a bit emotionally unbalanced. So, I came. Before we discuss it, did you know that Lizzie West ventured to the Celestial Plains and met with Arceus himself?

"That was what they were planning" Addison responded almost dismissively. "It shouldn't surprise us that they managed to make it there, or anywhere else for that matter."

Miss West can understand me, Addison. She can understand all Pokemon, now. Only Arceus has the power to grant such a gift.

Addison paused at this, recalling what Rosemary had said. "Who else went with them?"

I believe it was Miss West, Mr. Lionel, His Majesty the King, Piper Pines, Lady Cameron and Matthew.

"Matthew asked Arceus to help me? But why?"

Perhaps we can ask him ourselves? Or, more precisely, you can. I can sense our egg is close to hatching. And I must be there when that time comes. Without waiting for a reply, Galatea vanished into a ball of light.

Addison found herself wandering the halls of Kingston Castle, finding that strange things were happening all around her. Not only had she gotten the ability to control her visions, but she also heard a rumor that Julia had woken after several days and was intent on staying with Michael. Lizzie was apparently able to communicate with her Pokemon and if another rumor could be believed, her Salamence returned to her. Had all of this been because of a trip to the Celestial Plains to see Arceus? Or was something else behind all of it? She needed to find someone who had been there to learn the truth. But with Michael, Cameron, Piper, Mark and Lizzie nowhere to be found, she had to find Matthew.

After several minutes of looking, she found him sitting on the veranda, his Marowak training himself on the soccer pitch just below. He was seated on a chair though, Addison knowing his back was still deeply wounded from his encounter with Hunter. She approached him, but didn't know what to say. It took her even longer to come up with the right words. "You were wrong, you know."

"About what?" he asked.

"You thought I didn't care if you lived or died" she recalled. "And you were wrong. I do care."

"You have a funny way of showing it" he spat back, not even taking the time to look at her. "But, what's done is done. No matter how much one of us may want it to, nothing will be the same."

She lowered her head. "You don't understand, Matt. I was there with you after you came back from fighting Hunter. Your mother can attest. I saw what he did to you. I didn't leave your side until it was time for my meeting with Countess Rosemary. I was worried about losing you."

"Why would you care?"

"Because, like it or not, we're all the other has" she declared. "Who else can we even broach the subject of Ryan with that would understand? Not even Holly or Michael knew him as well as you and I did." She walked over and stood beside him. "We were best friends, in case you forgot. All three of us."

"And that burned up quickly, didn't it?" Matthew snidely answered.

Okay, time for a different approach. She did her best to contain her temper as she approached the next question. "If you don't care about me, then why did you go to the Realm of Arceus just to help me?"

He was quiet for a moment before answering. "I don't recall ever saying I didn't care about you. It's the other way around, as far as I see it."

"You're saying I don't care about you?"

"Because you don't" he snapped. "I've been back for six months, doing everything in my power to make amends with you guys and all I get is scorn and derision. I can take it from someone like Holly or that little snot brother of hers. Or even from Dawn and Lucas. But not you. Not my brother, either. And no matter what words people outside of our group have said to try and convince me otherwise, both of you kept on hating me. Ryan didn't stop hating me even when he died!"

Addison didn't have a response and just listened.

"I can't help how I feel" he went on. "If I could, I would stop. But I can't get you out of my head or out of my heart. Or Ryan, for that matter. Despite everything you've called me, said to me and not said, a day didn't go by where I prayed that I could take back what I did to you two. To go back to when things were easier." He made to rise, but stumbled with a sharp cry from the pain in his back and he fell down the several stairs. Addison hurried down to his side to help him, but he tried to wave her off and get up on his own. He finally pushed himself up to his knees and remained focused on anything but her. "And that's why I'm better off alone."

"You came to me when you couldn't be alone" Addison recalled. "Why not come to me now?"

"To hear that I'm still the monster you don't trust? Thanks, I'll pass."

She stubbornly stayed by his side to ensure he didn't need help. He got to his feet and almost fell backwards, but Addison caught him and kept him upright. "If you want things to go back to the way they were-"

"It's too late for that" he bitterly concluded. "With Ryan gone-"

"Ryan is gone" she repeated. "And I will never be the same as I was when he was with me. That's all correct. You know what else was correct? That when we got older, he and I were going to get married. And I was going to make sure that the three of us finally stopped hating each other. Myself included."

It was now Matthew's turn to be silent.

"But Ryan is gone" she frowned. "And that leaves just you and me. We're the only ones who knew him well enough that can truly know what losing him feels like. Instead of spending what little time we have before Mewtwo comes to kill us arguing and being spiteful, why don't we realize how much he meant to us and build back our friendship from there? No, we may never be as close as we once were, Matt. But I don't want you to think for a second that I don't need you for this final fight. Or that you can't look to me if you're feeling doubtful." She gently lowered him down onto the lowest step leading to the soccer pitch. His Marowak stumbled on over to inspect his trainer, before giving him as good ribbing with his bone before getting back to his own personal training.

"I'd like that" Matthew admitted.

"You would?"

"Mark and Lizzie told me that they don't think I should be alone" he recalled. "That I'm not the loner type. And that the only reason I am not still trying to fight for the bad guys is because of what Jocelyn did for me." His frown only deepened. "And then I found out Hunter was the one who killed Ryan."

Addison nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised. He's hated the Kingstons since Michael intervened in his plan to catch Jirachi."

"But when I had the chance to, even though I really wanted to, I didn't kill him. No matter how much I wanted to avenge my brother, killing him would have gotten me nothing."

"You see? Jocelyn did leave an impact on you."

Matthew gave her a glum smile. "So what now? Do we just sit around and wait for Mewtwo to come and kill us?"

She shrugged. "I'm going to keep up my training with Countess Rosemary so I can hopefully be ready for it when that time comes. But with Galatea out of sorts from waiting for her egg to hatch and Michael not really being available much anymore, I am going to need someone's help to bounce ideas off of. And more importantly, to keep me from losing sight of who I am." She gave him a cheeky smile. "Who better to ask than you? I meant it when I said it was just the three of us for the longest time. We know each other like the back of our hands. Even if there's a wall that is keeping us from reuniting the way we did, especially with Ryan gone, who knows us better than we know each other? Right?"

He nodded. "I guess so. But don't get any ideas about this."

"Huh?"

"I'm doing this because of our friendship and to remember my brother" he boasted. "I'm not doing this to make you love me."

Addison stared at him as if he had been speaking in tongues before laughing. Matthew, a few seconds later, joined in on her laughter.

{}

"Mommy see sky go BOOOOSH!" Kayleigh cried to her mother.

Alison Kingston, who had taken some time to spend with her daughter, now had to humor her daughter as she claimed to have seen something falling out of the skies near them. Though there were no signs of smoke or debris anywhere near Parlor Town, her daughter continued to insist that she saw something fall out of the sky or was falling out of the sky. She simply laughed it all off and continued to tend to her garden while Kayleigh bounced about the yard. "I'm sure it was just a Pokemon, sweetie. But I do love your great imagination."

Kayleigh ran up and down the porch of their home in Parlor Town, crying about what she had seen. "Kaywee see sky! Kaywee see sky go POOOOSH!"

"Maybe we need to cut down on your sugar intake, young lady" she laughed. "Now come on, Kayleigh. Let's get some-"

BOOM!

Alison scooped her daughter into arms and looked desperately out towards Parlor Beach. A huge column of sand and water exploded from the beach. Not wanting to wait for an "I told you so" dance from her daughter, she took Kayleigh with her to investigate. The beach was decimated by the blast, with massive dunes of sand spread everywhere, including one that nearly blocked the walkway over to the beach itself. Nevertheless, Alison and her daughter maneuvered their way around the dunes and tried to find out what had fallen so hard into the ground to make an impact like that.

"What was it?" she asked rhetorically. "Was it a cannon? Or a rocket? Or a-"

As the dust cleared, she noticed someone trying desperately to crawl out of the crater caused by the explosion, with water rushing in. Panicking, Alison rushed her daughter to the side, ordered her to stay there and grabbed whatever she could for a makeshift rope or ladder, only coming up with a few pieces of rope and plywood from the fencing that kept some dunes protected from the wind. But as she returned to help the poor trapped person, she found that person was already almost out of the crevice himself. He pulled himself over with all of his remaining strength and laid flat on his back.

"Ugh. I don't know what that was about, but I'm definitely going to give Avery a piece of my mind when I-" The man looked around. "Huh? What the-where the-what the hell is going on here?"

Alison was stunned. "Christopher?"

Christopher Kingston looked up at his aunt and smiled. "Uh. Hi, Aunt Alison. I guess I'm back."