Edwin ran his fingers over the surface of the pokeball, unsure whether to release the being inside. Poseidon sat next to Edwin in the Pokemon Center room, ready to subdue the pokemon if Edwin did decide to release it. The ball contained a gardevoir, Faustina's last pokemon.
He had almost forgotten about Faustina's pokemon when he went to heal his own the day he arrived in Fortree, but he eventually remembered that he had them in his bag and handed the balls over to the nurse. Both he and the staff were shocked to learn that five of the pokemon were dead.
The gardevoir was the only pokemon that hung on to life, and the nurse informed him that the psychic type would need a few days to recover, but now that time had passed and Edwin held the gardevoir's ball in his hands. He sighed nervously as he rubbed the ball once more. How would the gardevoir react to learn that her trainer is dead? Did she already know?
Out of all of Faustina's pokemon, Edwin knew this gardevoir the least. Whenever Faustina released the gardevoir, the two would always speak either in private or through the telepathy, and Edwin had never once talked with the psychic type. He didn't even recall her name.
He clenched the ball resolutely in his hands. "I need to send her out. She needs to know what happened." He looked at Poseidon. "Are you ready, buddy?"
Poseidon croaked an affirmative and nodded his head.
Edwin took a breath and tossed the ball into the air. A tall, slim, graceful figure emerged from the sparkling white light. The gardevoir regarded Edwin with her red eyes, and the young trainer felt a stab of pain in his head when he locked eyes with the psychic. The gardevoir then teleported away before Edwin even had the chance to blink.
"Wait!" He yelled out, but it was too late. She was gone.
Poseidon sat up and croaked in alarm. Edwin cursed.
"What just happened? She didn't even say anything!" He cried out in frustration. Edwin huffed angrily; he had just lost his last link to Faustina.
Poseidon croaked and shook his head. He pointed to the television that was on in the background, and Edwin turned to look at the screen. He saw that Hoennese and Unovan forces had finally met each other in battle, albeit a small one. The news report said that a small band of Unovan soldiers had attacked a group of Hoennese guards stationed at the dilapidated Weather Institute near Fortree.
This is just the beginning, Edwin thought glumly. Poseidon croaked again and stared at Edwin seriously. Though the young trainer didn't perfectly understand his pokemon, he did grasp the general meaning of the swampert's words: we need to stick together and watch out for ourselves.
It was no use worrying about the gardevoir or trying to fulfill Faustina's dying wish if he himself perished in the process. Now that things were heating up, it was very possible that he could find himself in danger. The government had put out a warning to all trainers telling them that Unovan soldiers could see them as threats and decide to eliminate them. Edwin knew that he needed to watch out for himself before he tried to help others.
What do I do now, though? He couldn't continue challenging the gyms, as they would all be closed now. He supposed he could continue traveling, but that would be both pointless and dangerous. Poseidon wanted them to go back to Mossdeep and stay with his parents, but Edwin didn't want to be cowering at home when others were out dying and protecting Hoenn.
He considered joining the Trainer Corps, a group consisting of trainers who decided to join the war effort. He would be trained by the army for two weeks and then be sent out into the field, and he would have a chance to fight for his country. However, his parents thought it would be too dangerous and he wasn't very good at following orders anyway. The strict, regimented life of the military just wasn't for him.
As he sat there pondering his options, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that he received a text from his father.
"Go talk to Winona. She has something for you to do, if you're up to it."
Edwin shoved his phone back into his pocket and shot to his feet. It seemed like his father understood his dilemma and had found a new job for him. The two were alike, Edwin and Leonard Willow; both were men of action, and both hated standing on the sidelines.
Edwin told Poseidon about the text and then headed off to Fortree's gym to meet with Winona. When he got there, he found that it was packed with
A/N: ... And that's it, I suppose. Sorry to end on such an abrupt note, but I guess that's as far as I got with this chapter. Anyway, if you managed to make it to this point, I am assuming that means you at least somewhat liked the story. I will most likely not be continuing this story, but I will be writing another Pokemon fic later on, and this one will (hopefully) be a lot better than Boiling Point. Either way, thanks for reading and congratulations on making it to the 'end' of this story.