The cheerful sun peeking over the horizon did nothing to alleviate the gloom covering the Trainers assembled on Route 225.
"I can't believe you're allowing this!" Mint's mom chided Johanna, who shook her head, eyes dry. She had shed enough tears the night before with her futile attempts to dissuade her husband from the fight.
"He's stubborn as a Tauros."
Mint's mom hugged Johanna. "Dense as a Golem, too."
The two women understood each other far better than their sons did.
Mint was freaking out. "Your Dad is gonna die!"
"He is not!" Manny groaned.
Palmer patted the boy's head. "Have faith. He fought me and lived; he can defeat Janine."
"Dad, this is a death battle, not a Pokémon match," Mint whined.
Meanwhile the combatants were sizing up each other, perched on rocky outcroppings. The witnesses were a safe height and distance away on a cliff wall but heard each word clearly; the canyon between the Fight and Survival Area echoed.
"I heard about you moving heaven and earth when Arceus contested you. I can't believe the Chaos Star chose you as a vessel for its divine mysteries! The bloodline of the Koga clan is now threatened. Heed me: there can be only one Master of the Chaos Star style! If there are two, there will be war!" Janine declared, holding the index and middle fingers of both hands extended. Her long purple scarf lashed the wind like an angry Arbok tail. She was dressed in her signature black ninja suit with purple and pink armbands. Holding back her spiky purple hair, her gold hairband reflected the sun.
Manny's father just stood on his perch, his hair and letter 'A' t-shirt rippling in the wind.
Janine had noticed his wardrobe change. "No longer searching for questions, are you, my old rival?"
"I have found my answer," he replied. He was smiling, no anxiety marked his face. He was looking at Johanna. "She gives me great joy."
"At least you found happiness before your death. Summon your Pokémon!"
Hannah sputtered. "Their Pokémon are fighting to the death?" she asked her Master. Jim-sensei shook his head.
"Their teams are merely witnesses, as are we. No-one is allowed to interfere, directly or indirectly."
"What... what happens to the losing team?"
"Either the victor claims them, or sets them free."
"But Farfetch'd mastered the style too!"
"Yes, but Pokémon are not as ambitious as humans. There is no danger of the little duck becoming a warlord," he said, then smirked at his mental image of Farfetch'd wearing heavy samurai armour.
"I thought warlords were restricted to the Ransei region?"
He raised both eyebrows. "Is ambition restricted to one region of the world?"
Hannah ducked her head, remembering Cyrus.
Meanwhile both warriors had summoned their Pokémon. Gathered around the human witnesses, neither team showed emotion, not even Farfetch'd, who perched atop Gyarados with a grim face as her Trainer confronted the most powerful ninja in existence.
Master Koga, standing with the other humans on the cliff wall, wore his black ninja suit with pride. Where his daughter wore pink and purple, he wore black armbands. Armoured knee and shin pads reflected his status as Instructor. His long red scarf was like a bloodstained war banner whipping the wind. His daughter was staring down the man who had cut an ocean and mountain in half. If this bothered him, he did not let it show on his fierce face. He chopped his hand.
"BEGIN!" he shouted.
Both warriors flung their hands outward, channeling their energies into invisible blades.
"Chaos Slash!"
No-one could see the attacks, but they could see the effects: the blades shattered against each other, their energies deflected into the rocks and grass, leaving deep gouges around the battlefield. They did this several more times, unseen blades scything across the distance between them, blowing apart and tearing into the landscape instead. Soon the battlefield looked as though a swarm of Scythers had cut it up into an unrecognisable mess. Neither warrior had gained ground; rather, their rocky outcroppings had been destroyed. They now stood on more or less level ground, ruin all around them.
"Forbidden Technique: Chaos Core Final Strike!"
They closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, hands rebounding off each other with one, then three, then four slashes, the giant image of the eight-pointed Chaos Star forming between them as the air itself overheated and exploded, blasting them apart.
When they recovered, their eyes blazed with supernatural light: Manny's father had the image of the Chaos Star imprinted on one eye, while Janine had it in both eyes.
Manny gripped his mother's arm in fear. "Dad never mastered the Epiphany Strike; he only learned one slash!"
"Farfetch'd alone mastered all eight..." Johanna agreed, the icy grip of doubt and fear closing around her heart.
Janine roared, "DIVINE TECHNIQUE: CHAOS EPIPHANY STRIKE!"
Her opponent spoke not a word. He just stood there breathing, then closed his eyes. He heard one word screamed in terror, "DAD!" before Janine connected.
The world exploded in thunder and lightning with hurricane winds blasting everyone and everything flat.
It was over. The final blow had obliterated the canyon wall opposite the witnesses, causing the sea to rush in and lap the grass.
Manny and Johanna cried out... but it was with joy!
Janine stood transfixed, disbelief and confusion marking every line of her face and body. She looked like a puppet with its strings cut, not a strand of energy left in her frame. Her hands, which had recently parted rock and sea, were held rigid, caught in an unbreakable grip.
Her opponent opened his eyes and in them was the light of the galaxy itself. He spoke: "Transcendent technique: Chaos Shield."
"What is this?"
He let her hands go. She stepped back, looking at them for wounds or broken bones but they were whole.
He asked, "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
Master Koga landed lightly beside his daughter. He replied, "They surrender."
Janine gave both men a blank look.
Koga held both palms together and bowed to Manny's father, who returned the gesture.
"The supreme defense," Koga breathed with wonder. "How did you...?"
"Every sword needs a sheath," his student replied, looking upward to his wife, who shared his smile. "I am in her, and she is in me. We hold each other's smile within our hearts."
"Magnificent."
Koga stood upright, then tended to his daughter who looked ready to collapse. "Take heart, child. My foolish student disobeyed me and learned the final defense rather than the final attack. I declare you to be my sole successor!"
He lifted one of her arms in victory. Every witness, Pokémon and human, cheered.
"Father," she said with the earnesty of a child, "I cannot in good conscience claim a victory here."
"Neither can my foolish student," he laughed, "for you still live. Come, return your Pokémon. We must return to Johto and tell the others of your succession. Your battle almost gave me a stroke, so I'm looking forward to retirement!"
Janine obeyed. Then, both ninja were borne aloft on the backs of Venomoth.
"Jim-sensei!" Koga called out. A wry grin quirked the corner of his mouth. "When did protecting his enemy become more important than killing?"
Jim-sensei laughed. In truth, he was slower and plainer than a ninja, but the truth is never a speedy or flashy thing. It passes in secret from the heart of one person to another. With a final wave farewell, father and daughter headed home.
Manny ran up to his father, whose eyes had returned to normal. "Dad, why didn't you TELL anyone? We were worried sick!"
"Tell you? Boy, don't you know that ninja are, in essence, spies? If you had Tweeted my secret all over the Internet, Janine would have developed a countermeasure and killed me for sure!"
"I would never have Tweeted your secret!"
Mint raised his hand. "I would have. I would have put it on Facebook and YouTube, too!"
Manny gave Mint a withering look. "Thanks."
The blonde boy laughed.
Palmer rubbed his hands together. "Let's go home, too. I'll call Mr. Aoi and his team to clean up here. I like that giant hole in the canyon, though."
"It gives such a wonderful view of the ocean!" his wife remarked.
The Venomoth were just crossing the eastern horizon, the Sun glowing through their wings in a violet hue.
It was a new day.