A/N: It all ends here.
The ground came faster than I expected. It was softer than I expected as well, surprisingly leathery, with a fine layer of hair on top of it. Wait, that couldn't have been right, I thought to myself. I rolled to my back and opened my eyes. The skies were turbulent as ever, and Eternatus's outstretched hand had now taken over almost half of the sky, but as I felt the wind whipping around my head, I realized that it was starting to move out of my field of vision. I was moving. "You, er, need a lift?" Victor asked, his head popping into my field of vision from above.
"Victor!" I cried, scrambling to right myself. The sudden movement sent fires to the ends of my extremities; the fall may not have killed me or even injured me seriously, but I'd definitely be feeling the aftermath of this fall for a few days. Victor lent his arm to help me up, but I pulled him into me, squeezing him tightly. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you," I said, feeling another wave of tears well up in my eyes.
"A fall like that, I can imagine," Victor said. "Now leggo, we need to get somewhere safe. Take us down!" I pulled away and, upon finally getting my bearings, gasped. I didn't hit the ground at all. Instead, two massive silvery wings flapped to my left and right. We were on the back of Victor's giant Butterfree. Closer to Butterfree's head, I saw Kabu tending to Hop, who was still clutching his leg, and I let out another sigh of relief, but the relief was short-lived, as I couldn't see Leon or Raihan anywhere.
"Wait—" I said, standing up. Butterfree lurched to the left and I lost my balance, but Victor grabbed me, keeping me from actually falling to the cement now. A jolt of new pain shot up from my left leg, a new pain, and I leaned into him, groaning.
"Easy, now!" Victor warned. "Haven't installed any seatbelts yet."
"Wh-where's Leon?" I asked. "Where's Raihan?"
"I saw them, too, it's alright," Victor soothed. "Charizard scooped 'em up. Dunno where they went, but they're probably safe. Did you get—"
"Zacian!" I yelled out, but what volume I was able to reach with my sore vocal chords was instantly swallowed by the storm. "Victor, where are—"
"You found them?" Victor asked, his eyes lighting up. "Finally, some good news. I assume they were those bright lights flying around?"
I nodded, massaging my still-smarting leg. "Yeah, we need to find them. Did they fall from the-whoa!" I grabbed at Victor again and he pulled me close as Butterfree shuddered. As it did, the vibrations from my Dynamax band proved to be too much for the wishing star inside, and with a snap and a quick vapor of sulfur, it died on my wrist, the wishing star now glowing a brilliant white and hanging loosely by the wiring of the wristband. I yelped and pulled the band off. It was hot to the touch, so I crammed it into my sweater pocket, where it clicked against the other Pokéball Leon had told me to grab.
"Easy," Victor repeated, only this time, he directed his attention to Butterfree instead of me. He helped me come to a sitting position as Butterfree began her descent, and when I looked up, Hop and Kabu were bracing themselves as well. I waved to them. Hop grimaced, Kabu remained emotionless. Slowly, Butterfree landed on the ground, before another violent shudder caused us all to almost fall off of her again. Once it passed, Butterfree then lowered a wing to the ground, allowing the four of us to slide off, albeit with some difficulty.
"The Dynamax waves are getting stronger," Victor said, gesturing to an also-broken detection device around his hip. "It may be too much for Butterfree."
"Recall them, then," Kabu grunted. "Gloria, Hop, excellent to see you alive and well."
"Good to see you too, mate," Hop groaned. He was pale from the loss of blood, but Kabu had created a makeshift bandage for him that looked to finally quell the bleeding on his leg.
"Oh for the love of—Rapidash, Heal Pulse," I groaned, tossing out her Pokéball. Rapidash appeared, whinnied and brought her head down near his leg, her hair glowing. Hop gasped with relief as the healing energies filled his body, and we all gathered around Rapidash for a brief moment of respite. The moment was short lived, though, as another Dynamax Pulse ripped through the city. Rapidash reared up on her hind legs suddenly, neighing wildly, and as quick as I could, I returned her to her ball.
"It's getting to be too much for our Pokémon," Hop said, his voice shaky.
"Well, how the hell are we gonna win now?" Victor asked, looking up at Eternatus. I closed my eyes, and as I returned Rapidash's ball to my belt, I reached out with my mind, searching for Zacian.
The base of the fallen tower, her voice sounded. We meet there and take up the fight.
Do you think we can win this? I asked her. Is there any way to give us an advantage?
Beyond strength in numbers, I fear there is not.
I sighed and looked at Hop and Victor. "We have to go back to the tower."
Kabu frowned. "My Centiskorch…"
"Go make sure it's okay," I said. "You need to get everyone as far away from here as possible."
"You plan on distracting…that?" he asked. "How?"
"We'll figure it out," Hop said. The two of us rushed towards what remained of the tower, not giving Kabu another chance to reply. Victor muttered an awkward apology and sprinted forward, catching up with us as we rounded a corner. He didn't have to extend too much energy, though, as Hop and I were already pushing our own limits and reserves of our strength, and the pillar of smoke that had once been Rose Tower was only a few blocks away. The wind was turbulent, enough to whip up small stones and bricks but thankfully not strong enough to deter us further. There were no humans or Pokémon anywhere that we could see, so at least we could focus our attack on Eternatus. As we closed the gap, large explosions sounded in front of us, and black smoke billowed up from what was no doubt the area around the base of Rose Tower, no doubt Zacian and Zamazenta had remained around the tower and were fighting for their lives. Despite my body's warnings, I pushed myself to run faster. I had to join and help, somehow.
As last, we turned the corner and through a wall of dust, we found ourselves at the tower plaza. What should have been a clean-cut and well-maintain lawn was now littered with stone, steel beams, and broken glass. What was left of the building's framework only stood a few stories high, at most only a quarter of the original height of the tower. Above that, Eternatus coiled, its black fingers shifting left and right as it viewed its new domain. Each sudden movement came with a powerful wave of Dynamax energy, pummeling all in its path and kicking up the dust around the building ruins to make it even thicker. Zacian and Zamazenta were nowhere near, but we were not alone on this plaza with Eternatus, for in between us and the monstrosity in the sky stood a Gigantamaxed Hatterene, ribbon arms lowering to her sides now that her attack was completed, and standing in front of her, eyes wild underneath a mop of platinum blonde hair, was Bede. His violet trench coat was open, and inside I could see a surprisingly put-together outfit despite the occasion; form-fitting button down-shirt and pants, buckled tightly with a belt in the center, and though it had greyed from the dust of falling buildings and frayed from the battling and chaos of this darkest night, it was undeniably pink.
"What the hell does he think he's doing here?" Hop asked, incredulous.
"Zacian!" I cried out. "Zamazenta!"
Eternatus stopped focusing on the Hatterene in front of it and twisted its neck down. Another surge of bright pink energy shot right at the three of us. It phased through us like icy ocean water, batting us down towards the ground, but we remained on our feet. Eternatus let out another screech, as if issuing a command, but its words were lost on me.
"Shit, shit, shit, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Victor bellowed suddenly. He yanked at my hand and pulled, just as Eternatus let loose a white beam of focused Dynamax Energy, big as a Wailord and hitting the ground a hundred times as hard. Aftershocks rippled through the plaza and though we managed to get out of the way of the initial blast, we couldn't keep our footing and we tumbled to a stop just yards away from what was now a crater where we had stood. Eternatus snapped its head again, in began to breathe in, ready to release another beam directly at us, one that we wouldn't hope to avoid. I brought my hands up, a futile attempt to protect my face, and shut my eyes as tightly as I could, waiting for the blast to tear me apart.
It never did. There was an explosion from above us, and though I could hear Eternatus shoot off another beam of light, it moved far and away from us, hitting a building about thirty yards away. I looked up to see Eternatus reeling backwards, having just been hit by something. "Zacian?" I asked, looking all around for her or her brother, but I could barely see anything from the dust and my own inability to focus. A form appeared in front of us, growing quickly and becoming clearer as I pulled up to my knees. I closed my eyes and shook my head in an attempt to clear my vision and my head, and upon opening my eyes, I saw the figure right in front of me, extending a dirty and bruised hand.
"Get up, now," Bede said, his voice rough but devoid of any of the malice it usually had. I glanced up at him. He was frowning, as per usual, but the hatred that his gaze was accompanied with was gone entirely. "Come on, then, before Eternatus gets back at me," he said, waving his hand for effect. My eyes darted behind him to see Hatterene readying its next attack against Eternatus. I clasped at his hand, and he pulled me up with ease.
"Can't believe I'm saying this, Bede, but thanks," I said, extending a hand to Victor and pulling him up.
"Thank me when we get that thing taken care of," he grumbled, turning to the last person on the ground, Hop. Hop was sitting, as if waiting for Bede to help him up as well. Bede paused for the briefest moment, as if considering, and in that moment, Hatterene let out a violent cry. Eternatus had attacked it, but it shot wide, nearly missing the four of us and almost knocking the three of us standing back onto the ground. Bede quickly righted himself and grabbed Hop by the scruff of his collar, pulling him up so they were face to face.
"I owe you much more than an apology, but it's going to have to wait," he growled, and once Hop was back on his feet, he turned to the rest of us. "You three," he said, gesturing now to Victor and me, "you all need to get out of here."
"We're here to fight!" I protested.
"You'll just get yourself killed," Bede huffed. "I'm the reason Rose even found Eternatus in the first place; I have to stop it."
"You'll get yourself killed," Victor said.
"And I'd deserve it!" Bede screamed, his voice breaking. Hop, Victor and I all took a step back at the admission, and behind him, Hatterene lashed out weakly against Hatterene. "At least then I can say I finally tried to do something of actual value." Bede turned from us and ran back toward his Pokémon.
"I can't tell if I like this new development," Hop muttered to me as we watched him go.
"It's like he plans to find the worst moments possible for a personal breakthrough," I groaned, and with the loudest and most sarcastic sigh, I ran after him. Zacian and Zamazenta were nowhere to be found, but this is where they said they'd come. We'd have to hold Eternatus off in the meantime. I grasped at my Pokéballs, suddenly well aware of how foolish this plan was. Flygon was no doubt still exhausted from all the flying he'd done tonight. Sneasel had been knocked out and was in no fighting shape, and Boltund had taken a fair amount of damage as well. Rapidash and Bewear could probably handle themselves for a bit, but Rapidash couldn't handle this much Dynamax energy for very long, and I didn't know how Bewear would handle such extreme conditions. But I knew who could.
"Cinderace," I said, ripping his Pokéball off my belt. "You've been with me day one. You've seen me through everything, from my first battle, to every one of these fucking nightmare storms. I need you more than ever now. I know you can do it. You…you have to do it." As I spoke, I felt the wishing star in my pocket begin to heat up again, glowing brightly and shining through the wool of my sweater. Dynamax energy circled all around the plaza, so thick that the dust around us was colored pink as it shifted left and right in the cataclysmic blasts of the Gigantamaxed Pokémon in front of us. I skidded to a halt next to Bede, and as he opened his mouth to chastise us for saying, I gave him a look that killed the words before they left his mouth. Hop came up on my left, a Pokéball in his hand, and Victor came up to my right, a Pokéball in his. The line in the sand, or rather the street, had been drawn, and we couldn't back down now. I ripped the blistering hot wishing star out of my pocket, but I barely registered the pain on my fingers as I slapped it onto Cinderace's Pokéball. Hop and Victor did the same with the remains of their wishing stars as well. Our Pokéballs began to glow and grow, and with little flourish, we hurled them towards Eternatus.
"What are you—" Bede asked.
"I'm-we're saving Galar," I responded. Then there were three huge bursts of light as our Dynamaxed Pokémon appeared – Hop's Dubwool, Cinderace, and Victor's Urshifu – and crashed onto the plaza next to Hatterene. A flash of relief spread over Bede's face, but was gone just a moment later, as he nodded and turned to the battle. "Cinderace!" I roared, desperate my voice wouldn't fail me now. "It's harder to hit a moving target! Don't stop moving, launch everything you can!"
"Cotton Guard!" Hop roared. "Gloria, if Cinderace needs anything to kick at Eternatus…"
I grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
"Wicked Blow, Urshifu!" Victor cried. "Don't give in!"
Eternatus reared its head towards us again, slinking its long neck past Hatterene, and charged up another blast of energy, but before it could fire it off, a fireball shot at it from the side. Cinderace kicked up a second flaming pile of debris as he rolled away, readying to fire again. Eternatus turned its head towards Cinderace, choosing to target him instead, but Dubwool bounced in the way, both taking the hit himself and putting him in a perfect place for Cinderace to kick next.
"Tie it down!" Bede roared, then looked at us. Hatterene extended her ribbon arms again and tried to grapple Eternatus' body as Urshifu struck the creature with a powerful uppercut, but Eternatus wriggled away with ease and whipped its handlike head around like a fist towards Hatterene in response. It was a direct hit, and though it was enough to send Hatterene crashing to the ground, she was able to recover and get back on her feet, ribbon-like tendrils shooting out towards Eternatus in retaliation. As the two resumed their struggle, Cinderace shot both the second ball of Rubble and Dubwool at Eternatus, the latter of which extended his horns, looking like a weird cross between a football and a javelin. The two crashed into Eternatus' side, while Urshifu narrowly dodged out of the way.
"Alright!" Hop cried. "To your left and back at it, Dubwool!" After ricocheting off Eternatus, Dubwool bounced into a building and pushed off with all his strength, much like I had seen him do in countless battles. The building shuddered and most of the glass on the windows exploded like fireworks, but the building remained standing as Dubwool careened back toward his target. This time, however, Eternatus was ready, bending its black fingers towards Dubwool and catching it. Using Dubwool's momentum, Eternatus twisted in a circle and launched Dubwool right at us.
I screamed and made myself as small as I could, and I felt Hop's hands spread out across my shoulders in a chivalrous, if not futile, attempt to protect me, but Victor was able to keep his composure. "Urshifu! To me!" he cried out, and when I looked up from underneath Hop's arms, I saw Urshifu dive in front of us like a goalkeeper, catching the speeding Dubwool in his arms and crashing to the ground, sending another shockwave that knocked the four of us back down onto the ground.
"Guys, we need to get out of the open like this," Victor yelled, yanking Hop and me up to our feet and away from the center of the plaza. Bede was quick to follow, and called for Hatterene to use Max Guard to cover our escape. Eternatus shot another beam of energy in the direction of Dubwool, but Hatterene was able to set up a shield of aura just in time, and the beam exploded, shooting out in every other direction. The building Dubwool had bounced off of took another massive dig, and this time began to fall.
"That door there!" Hop cried, pointing to a glass door. Bede took the lead, throwing out a Pokéball. His Rapidash appeared, and without needing to say a word, Bede pointed to the door. His Rapidash plodded ahead of us, twisted around and kicked the glass as hard as it could, shattering it like it was nothing and giving us a quick way in.
Victor was the first one in, his shoes crunching on the broken glass, but he paid no mind to the floor and instead turned around to help Hop in. His face didn't show it, and I assumed he didn't feel it thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his veins, but I could see a massive rip on the thigh of Hop's pants again, and the wound on his leg had reopened and was bleeding again. "Tend to Hop," I said to Victor, before twisting around and surveying how the battlefield had changed.
Urshifu and Dubwool were back on their feet, but their breathing was ragged. Taking Dubwool at full speed was a hard enough task for any Pokémon when it was its normal size; I couldn't imagine the damage done from taking a hit in its Dynamax state. Hatterene had once again wrapped her ribbon arms around Eternatus and was struggling greatly to hold it down as Cinderace continued to lob flaming pieces of building at Eternatus, but it seemed hopeless. The pieces that hit Eternatus just seemed to bounce off it like pebbles on a Steelix, and some pieces of rubble didn't even get that far; they either missed completely or were blown away with a flick of the finger or a quick blast from the center of Eternatus' palm. I groaned. There was no other way to keep fighting, and I didn't know how much longer we could go on. Where were Zacian and Zamazenta? I tried to reach out to them with my mind, but before I could even think, Eternatus made a desperate move. It swung its hand upward with such force that it managed to pull Hatterene off the ground with it, and then brought its entire body down to the ground towards where Urshifu and Dubwool were standing. I yelled at them to dodge, but my voice was finally spent; not a word got out and I watched in horror as Eternatus crashed like a fist into Dubwool, and Hatterene came down a split second later on Urshifu.
The resulting explosion of Dynamax Energy was more powerful than anything I had felt, pushing me off my feet, separating myself from my own breath and sending me skidding through the hole in the door and onto the glass, which tore through my sweater like it was nothing. Fingernails of glass clawed at me from below as I slid, and I screamed, or at least tried to, the only thing that came out of my throat was a pained wheeze as there was already no air in my lungs. The world was black for a second and all I could hear was a faint ringing. Stay awake, stay conscious, stay alive, I repeated over and over again. I couldn't lose consciousness now. Stay awake, stay conscious, stay alive. With a ragged gasp, I opened my eyes, and breathing like I hadn't in months, I reached out for anything to tether myself to reality. Blackness turned to a faint light, then fuzzy shapes, and as my breathing finally slowed enough to a point where I could think again. Bede and Victor's face flew into focus. Victor was beside himself with worry, and Bede, also covered in cuts and glass, seemed to have taken the force of the explosion as I had. He looked woozy, too, and I saw that it was his arm I had latched onto.
"Help…help me up," I rasped.
"Gloria," Victor said, trembling. "Gloria, you're in no shape to—"
"Our partners – Cinderace is still out there," I choked. "I can't leave him—"
Victor gulped and looked behind him, out the door, where dust and fog completely obscured all of our vision. Bede groaned and stood up, pulling me with him. Together, we rose shakily to a standing position. Victor rose as well. His arms spread wide, but it was less to stop us and more to catch us if we were about to fall. I looked around. My vision was still blurry, but I saw Hop leaned up next to the door clutching his leg and grimacing. Bede's Rapidash was next to him, performing a healing pulse. I could feel the warmth, but I could also see that the Dynamax energy was too much for it as well. I nudged Bede, and just as Rapidash seemed to be losing control, starting to Dynamax despite itself, Bede quickly recalled it to his Pokéball. I felt him fall to his knees next to Hop, leaving me to stand on my own.
"I—I was responsible for this," He muttered. His eyes were wide. "Rose—Rose had me getting the wishing stars—he never—he never told me this was what would—what would come—"
"Mate, none of us knew," Hop grunted. He reached out and Pulled Bede to the ground next to him. "Gonna sound wild, mate, but if anyone had an inkling about what was to come, it was me and Gloria, and we never would have expected this."
I limped to the door and leaned on its frame, grimacing as a couple pieces of glass that remained on the frame stuck into my sweatshirt. Ahead of me, Eternatus still loomed large. It was sending blasts of Dynamax energy in every direction, but nothing was impeding it now. I couldn't see anything in the dust. My heart stopped. Cinderace was out there, but I couldn't see anything aside from Eternatus. He wasn't even at the center of the blast. "No," I whispered, but even that was too much for my vocal cords. Then, there was a small burst of fire shooting out from the smoke. It crashed into Eternatus, with little effect. Eternatus snapped its claws in the direction of the fire, but found nothing. Slowly, a large figure began to appear in the fog. My heart plummeted as the figure came into view and split into four. Cinderace and Dubwool were walking toward us, barely able to stand, and on their respective backs were Urshifu and
"Urshifu!" Victor yelped, his voice right behind me. I looked over my shoulder. His breathing was faint, and his eyes were glossy. He pushed right past me and ran to his partner, taking him from Cinderace, who was breathing heavily.
"H-Hatterene…?" Bede said, rushing past me just after Victor. He quickly recalled Hatterene into her Pokéball and sunk to his knees next to Dubwool, cradling her Pokéball close to his chest. "Please, please be all right," he whimpered.
"Never knew he had the capacity to care," Hop said dryly from behind me. I turned, just as he clumsily looped his arm around my shoulder, leaning against my body so that he could stand. He looked awful, and Dubwool bleated, running over to the two of us to make the burden of keeping his trainer upright his alone.
"She—she was my first Pokémon," Bede said, his back to us. "A…A gift from the Chairman. When he thought I was worth it, I guess."
Once Hop was safely transferred to Dubwool, I walked up to Cinderace and hugged him tightly. He leaned into it, and I found myself supporting his weight now as well. "I'm sorry, Bede," I said. "I know what it's like to—"
"Don't," he said, standing up and looking at me. Tears were streaming down his face. "I've treated the lot of you like everyone treated me before I met Rose. Like nothing. Less than nothing. I don't deserve your pity. And I know you don't want to hear it, but—"
Another blast came from above us as Eternatus leveled another building. We were hit with a powerful gust of wind, but nothing near what we had already been hit with countless times over the night. It was enough to shut Bede up. The four of us looked at each other, exhausted, for ten seconds before I finally spoke.
"Get her to a Pokémon Center," I said hoarsely. "This isn't the right time, Bede."
He nodded and scrambled up to his feet again. "I will make things right—" he began, but I held my hand up.
"Not the time," I reminded him.
Hop frowned and pulled himself up from Dubwool. "Victor, go with him," he said. "You'll be safer together, and Urshifu needs help, too."
"What about you?" he asked. "I can't just leave you and Hop alone here."
"We're not alone," Hop said. And as soon as he said it, two mighty howls sounded from behind us. Finally. I turned around just as her voice came through my mind, as if it had never left.
Let us end this once and for all.
"Cinderace, you up for one last dumb thing?" I asked. He looked at me, eyes alert. He already knew what I'd be asking him the moment he heard the howls. I looked over to Hop. He limped over and rested his arm around my shoulder again, allowing Dubwool to take some steps back towards the fog. "Let's blow this fucker up," I said. My voice cracked, making the line sound a lot less cooler than I'd hoped, but Hop's and my partners didn't mind. They made the loudest call they could and rushed towards Eternatus. Hop and I remained where we were. This one would be up to them.
Before they were able to disappear into the fog completely, a bright red form sped in front of them. Zamazenta skidded to a halt, facing them and us for a brief moment. He was nearly as ragged as he had looked in our first visions of them, even with his once-resplendent golden shield fused to his face. Cinderace and Dubwool stopped, and once he was sure they wouldn't speed past him, Zamazenta turned and bayed deeply, his voice rumbling louder than even Eternatus could muster. The dust blew out in all directions. Hop and I turned in towards each other, feeling pebbles whiz by, and when we looked back, almost all the dust had cleared. The plaza around Rose Tower was now completely unrecognizable; a sea of twisted steel and upturned cement. Jagged sections of the tower base rose up like the skeleton of a castle, and Eternatus' arm had wrapped around it like an Arbok, coiled and ready to strike. Zamazenta braced himself again, keeping himself between Eternatus and our partners, and when Eternatus swiveled around, extending its finger-like spikes out, ready to grab, a blue bullet shot straight through its hand. Zacian was back on the attack again, too.
Eternatus wailed, reeling back into the tower, and Zamazenta moved again, this time aiming at one of the still-standing corners. He crashed through the foundation like it was nothing, and as it crumbled, Eternatus went down with it. The blue light from Zacian began to arc backwards in the sky, aiming to strike again, and Eternatus rose his head to meet it. I saw my chance. "Hop," I said, my voice cracking even further, "Tell Cinderace to use Pyro Ball with Dubwool."
Hop nodded and shouted his orders. As our partners worked together in tandem, I imagined how funny the two of us must look, me holding Hop up, and him barking my orders. Eternatus was hit by both attacks at the same time, and blindsided, sent a wild volley of Dynamax Energy towards us. Hop and I ducked to avoid a flurry of bricks that had uprooted from the street, but Zamazenta appeared in a flash, bashing them to the ground, where they crumbled like loose dirt, and then he rushed off to take down a second corner of the foundation that Eternatus had wrapped himself around.
After coming around for a third pass, Zacian was able to finally break through Eternatus' unbelievable defenses, landing a critical strike with her behemoth blade. There was a blinding flash of light as a huge Dynamax surge blasted the entire plaza, but once again, Zamazenta appeared in front of us, shielding us entirely from the attack. "The Black Hand finally grows weaker," he said gruffly. I looked to Hop and saw hope dawning on his face, for the first time since we split up this morning.
"Well, keep givin' it all," Hop said. Zamazenta nodded and rushed out again, this time aiming square at the Black Hand instead of its extremities. He crashed into Eternatus with the force of a semi, and Eternatus fired back with a blast of energy, but it was much weaker than it had been. Light and Dynamax energy was bleeding out of its body where Zacian's most recent slash had struck. Zamazenta was right; the nightmare was almost over. Cinderace launched another flaming Dubwool at Eternatus, knocking its hand-like head skyward so Zacian could take one more strike, this time around the neck, and the second she brought her sword to its throat, there was a final burst of white light, paired with another gust of wind, as strong as the one that brought down Urshifu and Hatterene. Zamazenta rushed to our aid and blocked the burst one last time, but it proved to be too much for him. He slumped to the ground, too weary to move.
The brunt of the blast missed us, but it was still too much for Hop, who was already having trouble standing. He tumbled off me and grunted as he hit the ground. As the light faded, I looked around to see that I was the only one still standing. Not far from Eternatus, I saw Zacian struggling to right herself as well, under a pile of rocks that, were she at her full power, she could have easily shrugged off. Her sword lay useless, not too far from me. Cinderace was getting up as well, on his knees next to Dubwool. Pulling itself out of the wreckage was Eternatus, reduced to its original form, and weakened to the state I remembered it on the night of its rebirth. It writhed and sputtered wildly, pulling itself up out of the crumbling remains of the tower before tumbling to the ground twenty feet in front of me. Its chest was heaving, aping heavy breaths – could it even breathe? I knew so little about it. It turned its head and saw me, the only one left who dared oppose it to scream. I winced, expecting the worst, but what came out was little more than a gurgle. Like me, it seemed to have completely lost its voice. I took a tentative step forward.
"Gloria," Zamazenta wheezed. "You have to end this." I looked back at him. His shield lay on the ground next to him. There was sadness in his eyes. "It must be you," he insisted between shaky breaths.
Eternatus gurgled again, snapping his jaws. I turned back to it and continued forward, stopping and bending low at Zacian's sword. The minute my hand touched the hilt, everything stopped. The winds stopped blowing, the thunder stopped pounding in the skies. For the first time in hours, I heard nothing. The silence felt so foreign, and I was almost relieved to hear the metal scraping against stone as I pulled the sword up from the ground with me and resumed walking towards Eternatus.
As I approached it, I felt my fear vanish. Perhaps it was the power of Zacian's sword, but I suspected that it was more that Eternatus itself had decided that its cause, whatever it may have been, was lost. With each step I took, it curled more into itself, and the lights that mimicked eyes began to dim underneath the webbed, translucent flesh of its face.
"Gloria!" a voice called. I spun around, and at the other end of the plaza I saw Marnie, turning the corner, Grimmsnarl and Dedenne in tow. She skidded to a stop, brought to silence by the sight she saw. I felt a surge of happiness; Eternatus was not able to take her from me. My thoughts began to then shift towards Mum, Hop's parents and Leon, the gym leaders, Sam, Eddie, and all the other challengers I had met along this journey. The people in the stands at every gym battle; the people who only turned in to watch on their televisions. No doubt some of them hadn't made it through the night. I shuddered, afraid of who I knew that might not have survived, and turned back to Eternatus. It didn't even turn its head up at me. Somehow, it had accepted that its life was entirely at my mercy.
But despite everything, I couldn't bear myself to end it. I gripped the sword as the silence overwhelmed the entire plaza again, and after a deep breath, I dropped the sword. It fell to the ground with an echoing clang. Eternatus looked back up at me. I imagined it was curious, but I couldn't read its alien face.
"I don't suppose you can understand me," I croaked. "I don't suppose you can understand any of us. We know so little about you. Who are you, really? What are you? Where did you come from?"
"Gloria…" Zacian muttered, her voice tiny, too far away to sway me this time. Eternatus gurgled again, weakly.
"Rose brought you back to life to use you for his own gain," I continued. "The Galar royalty used him and wanted to use you for political influence. Seems everything you've known your whole second life has been abuse and mistreatment." I began to take another tentative step towards you. "You've been the bogeyman of fairy tales for thousands of years. But we really don't know anything about you, do we?"
Eternatus hummed, its fiery eyes now staring intently at me. "Gloria…" Zacian wheezed again, her voice gaining a trace of annoyance.
I bent down, close enough to reach out and touch it, and as I reached my hand out, it pulled its head back. "Did the man who first have you as his own treat you that way as well?"
"Bloody hell, are you empathizing with the thing that just leveled an entire region?" Hop yelled from behind me.
"He's got a point," I said, dropping my hand and standing back up. "I really don't know what to make of you, an' I don't think anyone does. But I'm no executioner." And with that, I reached into my pocket, grabbed Leon's second Ultra Ball, and tossed it. It bounced off of Eternatus' crown and Eternatus dissolved into a red light, sucking Eternatus in. The ball wavered once in the air and fell to the ground.
No one moved. No one breathed. The ball shook once.
I heard footsteps. I turned to see Marnie running toward me at full speed. I held my hands up to stop her and tried to run to her instead, but at that point my strength finally gave out and I slumped forward. She caught me in her arms and pulled me tightly against her chest. I could feel her heart beating wildly, underneath fractured breathing. I glanced up to see tears streaming down her eyes. "Hey, Marnie," I squeaked, before she fell to her knees. She kissed me on the forehead. I smelled sweat and dirt and blood on her, but underneath was that familiar autumn scent. Our heads turned in tandem with each other to look at the Ultra ball. It shook a second time.
Zacian and Zamazenta had regained enough of their strength to stand, and made their way to us, Hop limping along with them, his hand around Zamazenta's shoulder. "All right, then?" he asked Marnie, but she and I were too focused on the Ultra ball as it shook a third time. There was a soft click, but after the silence of watching it shake, it sounded almost as loudly as the thunder that was raging just moments ago.
It was over. Eternatus had been defeated.
A/N: Okay so it doesn't technically end here, we still have a couple chapters of denouement and the battle with Leon (which spoiler alert is not going to be anything near the effort that these past few chapters have been, holy shit). The way I see it, there are three chapters left.
Another thing; I always intended Bede to come back and help during the final fight; the mysterious witch-like Pokemon was always meant to be his Hatterene, but I feel like the story could have been better with Marnie in the final fight, especially as she became such a vital character to this retelling. Hmm. This must be why published authors get editors. Anyway. See you next week!
NEXT WEEK: Aftermath
