A Reminiscence

Chapter Twenty-One

The End

()()()

Then next day, after we all had a very well-deserved rest, it was finally time for the presentation, and I was very well prepared to do so. I got up quite early, on purpose, so that I could be prepared early and get to the expo center as soon as possible. As I readied my things in the main section of the large hotel suite, the door to Jack's room opened up, and the man himself walked out, rubbing his eyes while staring at me.

"Larch?" he asked, groggy. "What the hell are you doing up?"

"Readying my presentation," I answered.

"You're still on that thing?"

"Of course! It is the reason I came all the way here, after all. It would be a terrible shame not to do it."

"Eh, fair enough." Jack paused for a moment, growing quite serious in just a moment. "We've done a lot, haven't we?"

I smiled to him. "Indeed we have. We should be quite proud."

"You've done the most, I think."

"Nonsense! Without the help of your Latias, we would not have gone anywhere."

"Yeah, but you stopped Zerus."

"With help from Slick, mind. I could not have done any of it alone. I don't think anybody could have, really. Nobody can do everything on their own, you know."

"You probably could."

I smiled again, before standing up and grabbing all that I would need. "I very much doubt that."

As I made my way to the door, we were in silence, before Jack stopped me.

"Hey," he said, prompting me to turn back around. "Good luck today."

"Thank you," I said simply. "I trust you will all be there?"

"We wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I am glad." With that, I finally left, entering the elevator and heading down to the lobby, taking those precious few seconds to relax myself. Slowly, the numbers over the door depleted until they eventually read as "L", signifying that I had reached my destination. I took leave from the elevator, easily recognized by many down there and greeted appropriately. I showed a humble response to them, and a few of the socialites surprisingly cheered for me as I finally left.

As I left the hotel, I realized I had a perfect view of the City Hall, which seemed to have calmed down after yesterday's short protest. I considered it for a moment, recalling everything that had happened there and what it led to, but dismissed it, and realizing it was the past and I had things to do in the present, I turned right, heading for the expo center, still quite early.

Through that concrete jungle of a city I went, several people still recognizing me and congratulating me, as massive building after massive building passed over me, soon leading me to my destination at last: the expo center, almost precisely as it had appeared in my dream, though significantly more Euclidean, of course. I breathed in slightly, and then walked forward, noting several signs advertising the presentation outside, displaying an image of myself that had somehow been acquired, superimposed over a promise of an unspecified "advancement in technology" (exactly as quoted) that would, evidently, "make all other inventions look like a caveman with fire!" I thought to myself that it was a bit of an overstatement, but then realized I had succeeded where countless others tried for years and failed, so perhaps it had a grain of truth within its hyperbole.

Whether or not the signs were accurate, I soon saw who might have been responsible for them: one Silias Silph, a face I had not seen for some time, but easily recognizable as he talked to a newsman of some sort, the cameraman eagerly documenting the affair.

As I made my way towards him, I started to make out the words he was saying, and before I stopped him, those words were something about, surprise, "an incredible achievement unmatched by any other!" As he noticed me draw near, he paused, gesturing for me to come over. I hesitated, unfamiliar with appearing on any sort of national news, but he was quite insistent, and I soon saw no choice but to go over.

"And here he is!" he said, once I was in frame to his liking. "The very inventor of this amazing leap in human achievement! Why, I daresay he might be the smartest person in this entire city right now!"

"Er, Mr. Silph?" I asked, uncomfortable after his most recent exaggeration. "Might I have a word with you in private?"

"Oh, uh…we're not live, are we?" he asked, to which he was answered "no". "Okay, good, I need to go talk with him, and then we'll continue, very sorry about this."

"We'll fix it in post," the reporter said.

"Great!" Silph pulled me to the side, looking at me quite oddly. "What is it?"

"I have an issue with these…advertisements of yours that you have set up here."

"Damn!" he cried. "I knew you weren't prominent enough in the photograph, but that was the only one we could get."

"No, no, it is not that, it just seems a bit…overpromised, is all."

"Oh!" Silph said, now understanding my issue, before laughing it off. "Come on, Larch, this is huge!"

"Is it as big as you have made it out to be, though?"

"This is business! You need to sell things for people to buy them!" Silph claimed. "Besides, this is going to be huge, just you wait. Don't act too humble here, you've really done something incredible."

"I certainly hope so," I said.

"Hold on, I need to go talk with those guys a minute," Silph said, recalling the cameraman and reporter. He ran back over to them, shared a few words, and came back to me, breathing a bit heavier now. "Okay, they'll just get rid of the last bit of footage because it doesn't quite fit with the rest, no problem. Shall we go discuss the sale of your…device?" He finished his sentence by looking around, as if he was afraid somebody was listening in on us.

"Do you have somewhere that we can?" I asked.

"Oh, of course!" he affirmed. "Here, follow me." He set off, and I obediently followed him into the large building, passing through the lobby to confirm me as a guest and that he had business with me. After this process was complete, he took me further inside the building, where he brought me to a small conference room, again, much like the one in my vision, and took out a bunch of papers from a briefcase he had there.

"I've drafted a contract for the sale of your device," he said, handing me several of the sheets. "Uh, there's a lot of extra stuff to go over later, but I think we can do that after you've done your presentation so we can have some lawyers present…"

As he rifled through the rest of the papers, I looked over what he had handed me, which did indeed appear to be a draft of a contract, in the most literal sense; it did not actually make any usage whatsoever of the proper legalese, rather being more of a bulleted list of who would get what money and copyrights.

"This is rather…rudimentary, no?"

"Uh, well, I haven't written a contract myself in a really long time, so it might be a bit off."

"Is this the first time you have been hands-on in the licensing of a product?"

"Well, first time in a while. I was really excited about this, and I didn't want my lawyers screwing it up from the start, so I tried to do the lot of it by myself."

"Well, it seems fair…I seem to come out quite well in this arrangement. I assume this will remain mostly intact in the actual copy?"

"It should. If it doesn't, there's going to be a pretty big problem."

"Well, hopefully it will. You get the full rights to production, I see."

"Shared patent. Works pretty well. In fact, it mostly takes care of itself once you set it up."

"Then it is ideal!" I said. "Very well, if the terms are maintained, I will be happy to sign the contract when it is completed."

"Okay, good, I'm sorry this is so disorganized, I've kind of been scrambling to get all of this set up—"

"I understand the feeling," I said. "Now, would you mind allowing me to prepare myself here?" I asked.

"Oh, right, sure, go ahead, don't mind me." Silph collected his things and quickly left me alone, to which I took out my laptop to ensure the slideshow was set up correctly. However, I was not very far into it at all before I was interrupted rather suddenly by the introduction of another who I had not seen for some time either: Professor Oak, the esteemed scientist, and quite a brilliant fellow.

This introduction came when he knocked upon the door into the room, and after I asked "Yes?", he entered.

"Hello, Larch!" he said, quite cheerful. "I heard you were in and wanted to see how you were doing."

"Ah, yes, Oak. I was wondering about the presentation, how is being set up?"

"Everything is in order for you when it's time," Oak explained. "I see you have a PowerPoint presentation, there." He leaned into my screen, attempting to make sense of the schematics displayed upon the slide. "That's…quite advanced stuff you've created. Are you sure it's wise to display that to a general audience?"

"Oh, please, the public could use some thinking. It may be advanced, but it will keep their brains working, which is always a good thing."

"But this is almost beyond my understanding!" Oak cried. "How will they understand any of it?"

"How tragic that they might have to do research of their own to figure this out," I said snidely.

"You're being very rude!" Oak chided. "I certainly hope you intend to act nicer for the presentation."

"Well, perhaps if the presentation was going to be what I expected from the start, I would have a better mood!" I cried. "I never intended for all of these damned advertisements, or news interviews, or even the bloody president of Unova!"

"Larch, this is an honor! You should be glad for this!" Oak insisted. "Not only will knowledge of your invention probably reach millions, it will be available to a huge audience thanks to Silph's contract, and even if you didn't have that, you still revolutionized modern Pokémon technology!"

"Perhaps I did, but I intend to…wait, did you say millions?"

"Yes! Greeley had a news recording set up in the presentation hall, and it's been widely advertised at his request."

"Oh…great, some other thing now…"

"Isn't this what you wanted all along?" Oak asked, confused at how concerned I was.

"Well, yes, of course, but not all at once!" I answered. "I have never spoken to a crowd of any significant size, much less half a country! How much of a chance do I have of not completely blowing it?"

"No chance at all, if you keep that attitude up," Oak chided. "Larch, you'll do fine, and you will change the world. I promise."

I was doubtful, but seeing that wise old visage did somewhat alleviate my fears, at least partly.

"Very well," I said, turning back to my presentation. "I assume that people are already starting to arrive?"

"Uh…well, no, actually, it's not even noon yet, and your presentation is at three."

I paused, taking in this fresh information. "Ah. I did arrive a bit too early, then."

"Just a bit, yes."

"Well, at least it gives me ample time to prepare. I apologize for acting rude earlier. Now, then, could you leave me alone?"

"All right, all right, I'll leave you to your work," Oak said. "Just remember when you're on."

"Of course I will!" I said. "I am not that forgetful!"

"I don't know about that…" Oak stifled a laugh, but I was not quite as amused as he.

"I must work!" I cried. "Now, away with you!"

"Whatever you say, professor!" Oak waved goodbye and walked off, leaving me at last to do my work. As I looked over the schematics, I smiled as I recalled all the research and testing that had gone into creating them, something that everybody believed impossible; yet there it was. And now the time was coming to prove it at last.

()()()

After some time, I thought it would be wise to go to the hall itself to see if anybody had arrived. Indeed, by the time I checked (by standing in the doorway leading to the stage and staring at the audience), there were several people already there, the first few rows filled completely. There were, of course, my friends, and, surrounded by numerous Secret Service agents, the President of Unova, Robert Greeley. When I saw this last sight, I had to check several times to ensure that I was not seeing things, but indeed, he was there, along with a full camera crew that was hidden in the back, ready to broadcast my words to the entire world.

I quickly entered, immediately getting noticed by several, including Greeley, who readily stood up as I approached him, to the slight chagrin of his entourage.

"Greeley!" I said. "So, you have gotten the news stations in, I see."

"Of course! This is huge!" he cried triumphantly.

"I also see that you are here as well," I said. "Rather odd thing for the president to be doing, isn't it?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked, disbelieving. "Do you still not realize what this could do for international relations? Think of it: Professor Berkeley Larch, Kanto native, presenting a colossally important invention at an expo in Unova, with the president himself attending in support? It'll be huge!"

"Well, I am glad for your career, then," I said. "What about that…business?"

"Under control," he whispered back, after looking around him a bit to ensure nobody heard. "We'll feed in the story tonight after your presentation goes live."

"Excellent," I whispered back. "And Zerus is detained?"

"The highest security we have. He won't bother anybody else."

"Good." I stood back up, before realizing another potential question. "What, exactly, are you doing in the rightmost seat in the third row from the front?"

"Best seat in the house, if you ask me," he answered. "Up close without getting invasive and at an angle where you can see everything."

"I see," I said, somewhat understanding his logic. "Well, I had better go onstage."

"Good luck!" Greeley said in support as I left, his agents relaxing somewhat as I did so. When I was on the stage, I noticed that a few more people had filed in since I had started the conversation, a sight which was rather welcome, but somewhat odd, as there were very few people in the theater anyway, making me wonder when the rest might arrive.

"Is this the audience?" I asked, attempting a bit of humor. "Are you sure we have the right date for this?"

"It's right, don't worry!" Ralph shouted up, ruining the joke immediately.

"Er…yes, thank you. Say, will this be a live broadcast?" I shouted to the camera crew.

"No, we'll record it and then broadcast it," somebody shouted back at me. "So if you screw up, don't worry."

"Thank you for that vote of utter non-confidence," I drawled.

"You'll do fine!" Anne yelled.

"Yeah!" somebody I could not possibly have known affirmed from the back rows. Another one cheered incoherently, leaving me a bit off-put.

"I certainly hope you intend to be more polite during the actual presentation," I called out, quite annoyed. "This is frankly atrocious conduct."

"Aw, get over it," Jack said. "They'll be cheering for you like you just gave them a bunch of free shit once you get started!"

"I hope so," I said. "Otherwise this was probably a severe waste of time. Now, where is the projector…aha!" I noticed a small wheel table set upon the stage, that had a projector and the necessary wires for me to project my PowerPoint. Soon after I connected it, somebody lowered the large white screen for me, and after an initial test, I saw that the projector worked perfectly, and also got it into the necessary place for the focus to work. However, from this short preview, some were a bit more perturbed than pleased after I shut it back off.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked.

"What the hell was what?" I responded, not completely paying attention as I ensured all the wires were in the proper place.

"That diagram, what was any of that?" Jack repeated.

"The inner workings of the main processor, of course!" I answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Dude, I took a course in electronics in college, and I did not recognize any of that."

"Well, it's advanced since then!" I called back. "There are new inventions, new advancements, new symbols! You were probably playing about with vacuum tubes and such!"

"I'm thirty years old!" Jack said. "It wasn't that long ago, Methuselah!"

"Oh, old jokes, now, is it?" I said. "I will have you know I am no more than fifty-three!"

"Wow, that young?" Slick piped up suddenly. "I thought you were, like, seventy."

"Seventy?!" I cried. "Do I really look that old?"

I did not get any answer except some awkward mutterings, which quite put me off.

"Okay, I may look old, but age equals knowledge. Remember that."

"Are you sure that presenting such advanced diagrams is really a good idea?" Ralph asked, thankfully changing the subject to the original point, though I still had little answer for it.

"First Oak reads me the riot act about this, now you…come on! You could all use with some advanced understanding!"

"Wait, Oak didn't get this, either?" Anne asked. "He's, like, a genius! If he didn't get it, who will!"

"He only saw part of the diagrams!" I pointed out. "It would be like trying to understand ancient hieroglyphics with just a few symbols, it could not possibly work!"

"I saw plenty of the diagram!" Oak shouted as he entered. "And there's no possible way for you to make anybody understand them in the time allotted!"

"Doubt, doubt, and more doubt!" I said. "Do you ever do anything but doubt?"

"I'm a scientist," Oak said. "It's my job to doubt."

"Great, now that word sounds weird!" Slick added.

"All right, all right!" I cried, stopping the nonsense from going on further. "May we please all calm down?"

"Will you still attempt to explain the diagrams?" Oak asked.

I thought for a moment, considering that I was probably, indeed, wrong. "All right, all right, but that leaves me with a fair amount of time gone from the start of the presentation. What am I to do?"

"Did you have a Q and A section?" Anne asked, raising her hand for some reason.

"Er…well, no, not really, I had mostly intended for it to speak for itself…"

"Say, Berkeley?" Greeley interjected. "Have you ever actually done a public presentation?"

"Well…no."

"Then I'll have to give you a few pointers." Nodding to his agents, Greeley got up from his seat and ran up to the stage, choosing to vault onto it rather than using the stairs. "Okay, time for a crash course! First question: what shouldn't you rely on?"

"Well, I have a question," I said. "Am I really receiving public speaking lessons from the bloody president of Unova?"

"Yes, you are! There, I answered your question, so now you answer mine."

"Uh…" I considered the possibilities for a moment, before coming to an appropriate conclusion. "Do not write a speech that 'speaks for itself'?" I said, unsure.

"Good! You're the one speaking, not the projector. You have to explain things, and you might have to answer them. Next question: what content should you not include?"

Now, by this point, I was starting to get the idea of it, and how it related to me specifically. "Do not include content which the audience has no chance of comprehending, and do not stubbornly try to include it?"

"Right again! You're good at this! Better than others I've taught, at least."

"You do not mean to tell me you have taught people how to speak in public before?" I asked.

"Are you kidding? I was teaching speech and debate on a university level way before I ever became president! This was my living!"

"I thought presidents were meant to practice law or something?" I asked.

"Please, Larch, have I ever done anything regularly?" he asked, specifically failing to mention any of yesterday's events, though I got the intention.

"Well, no, sir, you have not, and thank you." I looked at the projector, now less concerned, but I still had a slight problem. "But what am I to do now?"

"Lesson three: improvise!" And with that last piece of advice, Greeley leapt off stage and sprinted back to his spot, leaving me looking awkwardly out at the crowd.

"So…is this going to be it?" I asked once more. "This seems rather piddling for such a large-scale presentation, if you ask me."

As my luck would finally have it, my fears were alleviated when several more people began to file in, taking seats and slowly filling out the room.

"Ah, here they are now! Quite early, still, but I appreciate it?"

"Early?" one of the new entrants asked. "There's only thirty minutes until the presentation."

"Thirty minutes?" I echoed, checking my watch. Indeed, there was only a half-hour before I was due to begin, which had somehow disappeared without my notice. I thought I had gone to the stage much earlier than that, but evidently not. "It appears there are! Well, time flies when you are having fun, I suppose!"

"When do we get the food?" somebody shouted up. I faltered, unaware that this was apparently a catered event.

"Food? Who said anything about food?"

"I did!" Silph shouted, making a very grand entrance. "Great show earlier, too, I love drama. Anyway, I might have promised there would be food here."

"Well, will there be?"

"I contacted a catering company, they'll bring something."

"I see. In the future, if I invent something and you want me to present it so you can sell it, could you perhaps tell me what the itinerary is?"

"Sure thing, pal!" Silph shouted, giving me a thumbs-up. I had little time to dwell on how odd that was, however; I needed to give a presentation.

()()()

When the time finally arrived for me to present, the hall had filled tremendously well; in fact, from where I was standing upon the stage, it did not appear as if a single seat was empty. The cameras were rolling, all eyes were upon me, and I was simply waiting for the hands on my watch to reach the appropriate time, staring at it carefully so as not to miss that critical moment.

Soon, they hit, and I leapt into action, turning on the projector and starting some improvisational work.

"Hello, everybody!" I said, receiving a round of subdued applause in response. "Yes, yes, I am quite glad you all could make it! If any of you are here for the cake lovers' convention, that is the next hall over." A few chuckled, but not many, and I knew I had to start getting serious. "Really, though, let's talk translators. For years, scientists have studied the intricate Pokémon language, attempting to decipher it and develop some translation system so trainers and Pokémon alike could foster an even deeper bond than ever before, but all had failed. The complexities of the analysis and technology required were simply too great." I switched the slides, showing the intricate diagrams that had caused such controversy earlier. "As you can see here, the requirements were quite nightmarish, but I did it!" I cried, holding up the translator. "This is the Mark 1 Larch Model Pokémon-Human Translator! I just came up with that name now, in case you were wondering why it is terrible." Some more chuckles. "I was originally going to deliver a lengthy explanation about how this worked and how I figured out the complexities, but luckily, somebody was here to convince me not to: President Robert Greeley!" The aforementioned stood up, drawing wild applause from the audience, who were very surprised. "Yes, indeed, he has come here personally to show support for the invention, and I am very grateful indeed! Thank you, sir." Greeley sat back down, and I continued onwards. "Now, since I am not to explain any of the technology, because I am probably the only person alive who actually understands it, I would prefer to give a demonstration, to prove its remarkable abilities! And who better to demonstrate than the man who has offered to produce this incredible invention, Mr. Silias Silph!"

Silph stood up in surprise, drawing comparatively subdued applause in response.

"Yes, he would like to make this available to all people, and if he did, I would be quite grateful indeed! How about you come up here so I can prove this works?"

"Uh, sure thing!" He ran up to the stage, waving to the audience as I handed him the translator. He fumbled with it for a few moments, but soon found the proper way to put it on. "Good, good, now then, do you have any Pokémon on you?"

"Uh, not at the moment, no."

"Then I will simply have to substitute my own." I took out Rembrandt's PokeBall and released him, and the look of shock on his face when he looked out at the audience was incredible. "This is Rembrandt, my Smeargle. Now, then, Mr. Silph, converse!"

"Uh, hi?" Silph asked, kneeling down to get closer to my Smeargle's face.

"Smear, smear?" he asked, the words going untranslated to me. Silph, however, looked up in absolute astonishment at what he had just seen. "It…it works! Son of a bitch, it actually works!"

"Smeargle, smear smeargle!" Rembrandt cried, apparently in indignation.

"Hey, watch your mouth!"

"He has little reason to, Silph," I pointed out, "after all, you are the only one who can understand him."

"Oh, right." Silph chuckled, and I retrieved the translator, holding it up for all to see. "Now, then, would anybody like to try?"

Every single hand in the room shot up, with only a few exceptions, namely, those people that already had translators of their own. Greeley was, of course, not among them, and I offered him to try it out. His questions related to how Pokémon lived out in the wild, and I am sure the answers were quite revealing to him, as he started cheering wildly, continuing as he leapt offstage. I picked several more random people from the audience, all of whom were utterly confounded when they heard Rembrandt's words translated into English. After some time of doing this, and some panic when I realized I had almost gone over time, I answered a few questions about where it would go from there, how it would be available, and so on. And after another round of applause, it was finished. After such an astonishing adventure, all that had been done, all the people that had been met, my goal was finally reached. And, frankly, after everything I had been through, I still found it to be quite the great achievement, since, well, that was the whole point of that absurd trip.

Afterwards, we all congregated in the lobby, where Silph had indeed gotten some catering, although it was rather inappropriate for the event, if you ask me.

"Silph!" I asked, calling him over from a very particularly decorated cake.

"Yes?" he asked, running over to me with frosting all over his face.

"Why, exactly, did you get a wedding service to cater?"

"Oh, right! Sorry, they were the only ones available on such short notice."

"But I thought those cakes took weeks to make!"

"I bought the advertising one they had in the window. Come to think of it, it does seem a bit stale…anyway, look, you did it, you knocked it outta the park, this is gonna be the biggest thing since PokeBalls, trust me. You'll be rich enough to buy ten Horizons!"

"I have no need for such extravagance!" I protested.

"Then buy a boat or something, I don't care! You'll have enough money to last you the rest of your life off of this thing!"

"Sounds like somebody's moving up in the world, eh?" Jack asked, stepping up next to me holding a small salad bowl. "Glad I made up with you, huh?"

"You should be, you are probably going to be quite well known just through osmosis!"

"Through what?" Jack asked.

"Oh, never mind. Look, we made it, I did it, this is the end. And thank you for your assistance."

"Professor Larch, Professor Larch!" A news anchor cried, running up to me desperately with a microphone in his hand and a cameraman behind him. "Can you tell us about how you got here? Where do you intend to go after your translator starts selling?"

"Ah!" I said, putting on a smile. "How I got here? That is quite the story! Let me see if I can remember…"

()()()

Of course, my presentation was broadcasted far and wide, as was that recollection and in a few short days, I was one of the most famous people in the entire world. After the contract was worked out, sales immediately skyrocketed, putting Silph Co. stocks at the very top, and me in an excellent position. Ever since then, I had moved out of my poor house on the edge of Pallet Town and into a much nicer villa, in which I wrote this story (with some approval from Greeley, after all; the proper story about Zerus had leaked, and he decided he wanted to be honest with it to save his career) with a lovely view of a lake. I have, of course, continued my research, and I do aim to offer an improved version of the translator, to all of you. And for all of you who bought my device, or offered me assistance on my journey, I do thank you, and I quite hope you enjoyed this proper retelling of the events, as opposed to that bloody awful film they made about it.

THE END

()()()

As Berkeley Larch typed the last few words on his computer, sitting at his large desk in the middle of his large house, he wistfully looked up at the ceiling, remembering just what an incredible adventure it had been two years ago. It seemed like everybody had a translator now; although nobody quite knew how it worked, everybody wanted one, and everybody got one. His friends had benefitted, too; he gave them all a fair cut of his royalty checks, and they had moved up to do incredible things. Anne was a well-recognized trainer who travelled far and wide with Slick, searching for whatever cool-looking Pokémon they could find, Ralph was a popular consultant for government conspiracy movies, Jack had properly captured that Mew, an incredible feat…they were all doing well. They were all doing excellently.

As he hit the button to print out the chapters of his masterpiece, there was a knock on his door, which he readily answered, and he was quite surprised to find Jack there, and the very, very expensive car he had bought with his royalty checks sitting in the driveway.

"Jack!" Berkeley cried, gesturing him in. "It has been far too long, hasn't it?"

"I'll say," Jack chuckled.

"What brings you here?"

Jack took a seat on Berkeley's massive, remarkably comfortable sofa. "I want to make a proposal."

"A proposal? Of what kind?"

"I've been doing some research about Kalos, ever since it opened up," he explained, pulling out some pictures for Larch to observe.

"Kalos, yes…it opened up shortly after my presentation, I believe?"

"I guess they really wanted in on it. Can't blame 'em, that thing of yours kicks ass. Anyway, I've been looking at their Pokémon legends, in particular, that one there."

Larch paused as he pulled out a picture of some artist's interpretation of a supposed Legendary Pokémon; Larch recognized the tall blue-and-gold deer as Xerneas, ruler of Life.

"Xerneas?" he wondered aloud. "You want to capture this thing?"

"Not capture," Jack objected. "More along the lines of…study. I think this is going to be big, nobody's ever managed to find this thing before."

"Do you really think we could be the first?" Larch asked.

"After the shit we did? Hell yeah!"

Larch considered this for a moment. "Very well, then, let us go and see if they want to do it."

"Sounds good to me," Jack said, pulling out his keys.

"So, we are all to be together once more?" Larch asked.

"You know it. Let's go and find this thing."

Larch grinned. "Yes, let's."

TO BE CONTINUED

()()()

Author's Note:

Hey, everybody! AwkwardVulpix here, and yes, this is the end of the story, sorry to say. But worry not! Because I am indeed going to write a sequel to this, and it will entail what I implied at the end there. Keep an eye out for it sometime after Christmas, and until I do that, this has been AwkwardVulpix, over and out (finally)!