Amy could feel the exhaustion settling into her bones when she and Rayquaza finally touched down on the top of Sky Pillar. She wanted nothing more than to drop into the bed in her secret base and sleep for days. She exhaled softly, looking around for Zinnia. She assumed the odd woman would have waited for her, but found nothing but a small thank-you letter sporting a Whismur doodle that was addressed to her. Frowning, she placed the letter into her bag, which she had stashed behind a pillar, and began removing the Magma Suit. She wondered if Maxie would be mad if she never returned it; it had made itself very useful and she wasn't too keen on letting it go in case it was needed again. It's better to be safe than sorry, she thought, stuffing the suit into her bag. The sheer amount of crap she could ram into her fanny pack never ceased to amaze her.
"Let's give you a break, big guy. You did well today." She said, recalling Rayquaza. After securing her friend's pokéball to her belt, Amy took out the Eon Flute she had grown to rely on. Just because she was tired didn't mean she was going to ditch her friend.
The meteor shower continued outside the windows of the space center as the two rivals talked and laughed about the recent string of events. Amy's eyes were feeling heavier each hour, but she was determined to enjoy the meteor shower and to entertain her good friend. He had even been kind enough to buy her a Hoenn Rangers figure as thanks for retrieving the Mega Stones (and also for saving the world). She would have been happy to just sit and enjoy the litleonids, but Brendan was almost bursting with questions about her "meteor quest with that weird Whismur lady", so she had recounted how she caught Rayquaza with Zinnia's help and found the strange meteor alien.
" That's crazy!" Brendan laughed. "There was a pokemon in the meteor? And it attacked you?"
"There was! It was the scariest thing!" Amy chuckled, glancing up at the litleonids. "I thought I was going to die out there. Thankfully Rayquaza had my back."
"I still can't believe you managed to catch two of Hoenn's legendary pokemon. I'm so jealous!" He smiled. "Actually, we should have a battle sometime. So I can see the legends in action, you know?"
"We could. Although, I kind of want to stop by your dad's lab first... I feel like I should show him the alien before I fight anyone with it. I don't want it to freak out." Amy replied.
Brendan was caught off guard for a moment. "The ali-... you caught it?! You caught the meteor thing? Wow! That's amazing! How many pokeballs did it take? I bet you caught it on the first shot, didn't you? You've always been so good at catching pokemon. Could you give me a few lessons about it later? Maybe with the alien so I can see it?"
Brendan's gushing was momentarily interrupted by an announcement that the space center was going to close soon, much to the surprise of the two youths.
"Already? It feels like we only just got here!" Brendan huffed, slouching back into his seat. "I guess time really does fly when you're having fun... We should probably start heading home. You must be really tired."
"You have no idea." Amy smiled, getting up from her seat. Not only was she tired, she was hungry. She hoped her parents had saved her some food; the space-themed snacks she and Brendan bought weren't very filling.
"Wanna race back home? I bet I've trained my Swellow to be faster than your Latios." Brendan grinned, hurrying outside.
"Oh as if! You don't stand a chance!" Amy laughed, chasing her friend into the summer night.
Amy approached the door to Professor Birch's lab, alien-filled pokéball in hand. She was refreshed and ready for the day after a good night's sleep, and Brendan had been more than happy to return Wally's mega stone for her while she introduced his father to her yet unnamed space friend.
"Professor Birch?" She called, walking into the lab. "... are you here?"
"I'm here! I'm here!" The Professor stumbled out from behind a heap of boxes and smiled brightly at her. "Ah! Amy! So good to see you again! Have you come to show me how your pokédex is coming along?"
"Actually... not this time." Amy passed him the pokéball. "I caught something while I was in space. I wanted to show it to you before I did anything with it, just in case."
The professor looked at the ball inquisitively before recollection coloured his face. "Ah yes! Your space pokemon, right? Brendan wouldn't stop talking about it when he got home last night. He's very excited about it. Hand me the ball and I'll pop it into a scanner. Let's see what you got!"
Amy handed the ball to the Professor, and watched as he placed the ball under a sort of scanning machine. The small girl peered around him at the small screen he was observing, but couldn't understand a thing on it. It might as well have been written in footprint runes to her.
"... Incredible. Just incredible!" The Professor exclaimed, jotting down some of the information on the screen. "Amy, you've caught something extraordinary. There have been rumors and stories, but I've never seen one in the flesh before! Assuming they have flesh, of course."
"What is it?" She asked.
"You've caught yourself a Deoxys, Amy. They're mutated space viruses... very intelligent creatures. Also very rare. Mythical, actually." Professor Birch beamed at her and took the ball out of the machine. "Have you given it a name?"
"I... haven't. Not yet, anyways... I didn't know if you'd want to keep it for research or not..." Amy told him, mentally stowing away the new information.
"I don't think the Deoxys would be very happy to be poked and prodded by a bunch of scientists." Birch smiled, returning the pokéball to her. "I think you should name it and try to bond with it. Be its friend. You'll probably discover a lot more about it by having it on your team than I would with it here in the lab."
"Alright... well, we'll just see where this goes." Amy smiled nervously down at the ball in her hand, wondering what she had gotten herself into.
"Why don't you go find Brendan? He's very excited about Deoxys, as I told you earlier. I'm sure he'd love being around when you're giving Deoxys the "welcome to earth" speech!" The Professor laughed.
"Um, sure." Amy agreed. Brendan did want to see Deoxys, and it would be helpful having someone else around just in case Deoxys didn't plan on making its visit a friendly one. "Well, thanks for the help, Professor."
"No, thank you! You've helped make an amazing discovery!" He smiled. "Now, off with you! Go give Deoxys some fresh air!"
Quickly updated, and still BACK FROM THE DEEEEAD!