Time for one last wind-down before the big finale.
For a moment, the small group of heroes was on guard, waiting for the ball to break open. Then the skies cleared, bringing starlight to Galar once more, and they began to celebrate.
"That was brilliant," Leon commented, ruffling his brother's hair as Hop took the shield back from Zamazenta. "Who would have thought that the forest gods really were the key to saving Galar after all?"
"Please stop calling them that," Victor complained as he retrieved the sword, and the others laughed.
"But we can't give them all the credit," Leon added and turned to Gloria. "You were the one who started and ended the fight once I was out of commission. It's a bit late to endorse you now, but my offer still stands for next year."
Gloria grinned back. "You know what? I think it is nearing my time to shine." She nudged Victor. "Someone needs to take the Champion title from Victor."
"Getting a bit ahead of yourself," Leon said, "but I see what you mean. I can take a loss, but I don't want anyone passing my record until I'm an old man."
"Well, Gloria has a chaos god on her side," Hop said with a wide grin. "She stands more than a chance."
"About that," she said solemnly as she looked down at the ball she clutched in her hand. "I do wonder what made this thing so mad."
"Rose poked it with a stick or something," Leon said bluntly.
Gloria stared at it even harder despite the fact that she was wearing her glasses. "Do you think it just needed a time-out?" she asked. Before anyone could answer, she drew back her arm, swiftly threw it passed her head, and...
"No!" Victor shouted, but it was too late.
The dragon was released with a loud roar, and the ball automatically returned to the trainer. The beast was able to keep calm even when facing the ones who had just defeated it. At least, it was calm until its eyes rested on the orb in Gloria's hand. It let out a loud screech that caused most of the humans to fall backward, as well as causing Gloria to drop the ball.
The wolves growled, but Eternatus was suddenly calmer. Confused, Gloria raised an eyebrow at the beast as she picked the Master Ball back up. Her new Pokémon growled at her until she put it in her pocket, and it was instantly calmed. Attempting to bring the ball back out only got more growls out of the creature, so she instead showed her bare hands to it as she got closer. She gently moved her hand toward its head to silently ask permission to touch it, and after sniffing her palm, Eternatus met her the rest of the way.
"You just hate enclosed spaces, don't you?" she said with a sweet smile as she started stroking its head with both hands, and Eternatus melted into her touch.
All three boys stared in awe and confusion at the laughing girl and her dragon, unsure of what to do next. The wolves tilted their heads, but it was more like their version of a shrug as if to dismiss the whole affair. With the Darkest Day stopped, they needed to decide the fate of the one responsible.
Rose had rushed outside around the time Eternatus was caught, and now he was able to see that the skies were clearing and the Dynamax Pokémon were shrinking back down to normal in the distance. In a moment of pure joy, he found himself doing a little dance in celebration with Oleana, who was equally excited about her Pokémon returning to normal. Finally, Rose broke up the dance when he noticed the local Gym Leader staring at them, and he was hit with a realization.
"Should I go to prison?" the billionaire asked.
"Yes," Raihan answered coldly.
Rose shook his head in shame. "Smart," he said in agreement. "I am not a clever man. I shouldn't do this again, but I will as long as I'm able to."
As if on cue, a small group of police officers ran to the stadium to report to the remaining residents that all was clear, and one of them stepped forward still. "What exactly caused this?" the officer asked. "A weird Pokémon or something?"
Rose walked up to the officers and held out his wrists. "It's my fault," he said without showing emotion in his voice. "I recklessly endangered the citizens of Galar by messing with forces I shouldn't have. Though whether I did it for Galar's future or if I just wanted to be the one who saved the world is a mystery even to me." And with that, his hands were led behind his back and locked together with a pair of cuffs.
The doors to the tower opened at that moment, and the heroes stepped out to see Rose's arrest. Upon seeing them, he practically begged the officer to give him a moment with them before he was taken away. The officer was willing to oblige and brought Rose to meet the group, but refused to leave the man's side or remove the cuffs.
"Thank you," he said with a smile returning to his face. "You all came through as heroes."
"It wasn't my finest hour," Leon admitted. "I think I have a new fear of heights."
"We did great, though," Victor said with a proud smile and a light swing of his broken sword. "And Gloria even caught it."
Rose's eyes widened in shock as this last bit of information sank in. "You caught it? I wish I had endorsed you instead of that guy with the fluffy hair."
"Me too," Victor said blatantly, getting a chuckle out of most of the group.
"I didn't even endorse him because I believed in him. I just felt bad because I hit him with my car."
"THAT WAS TRUE?!" Victor and Gloria suddenly shouted in unison, shocked that after a lying contest with Gloria he'd finished with the truth.
Rose just shrugged it off. "But that's irrelevant, it seems. He did something he shouldn't have, while you did something you didn't have to." Facing the center of the group to address them all. "You need to look after this place. After all, you're the heroes of Galar." He cracked a small smile as he turned his focus to Gloria. "And take better care of Eternatus than I did." His smile grew even wider as he realized that he didn't need the help of a musical number pacing to say its name this time. He merely put a small pause between each syllable.
"He's just a bit claustrophobic," Gloria said calmly. "Taters will be just fine now."
His smile dropped as he processed her last sentence. "You named it... 'Taters'?"
"It's what you called him."
"Not intentionally," Rose complained. "That Pokémon was the precipice for my goals and the face of my failure. The fact that it's now called 'Taters' just makes me want to be taken away even faster so no one will see the horrible tantrum that I'm about to throw."
"I'll take that as my cue," the officer said before taking him to his car.
As the police led his friend away, Leon was greeted by one of the first wild Pokémon to dare to return to the city. With a brief feeling of fascination, he held up his hand and extended his finger to allow the Rookidee to perch. At that moment, he was struck by a brilliant idea that possessed him to shout for the cops to wait for him as he ran to them with his new little friend. Getting to the car just before the cop closed the door, Leon placed the Rookidee on Rose's head.
Peck... Peck... Peck...
It wasn't the move, and it wasn't ordered. It just seemed to instinctively know, as if it was finally fulfilling its life's purpose.
"How does it feel, 'Prometheus'?" Leon asked with a smirk.
Rose only sighed as he accepted this new circumstance. "Not good," he replied simply, before the cop closed the door and he was taken away.
"You were a bit of a jerk back there, Lee," Hop said with a blank face. The end of the world was merely a memory now, but siblings were always siblings.
"Oh, come on," Leon groaned. "He nearly doomed the world after I warned him about it."
"You were a bit of a jerk, though," Hop deadpanned.
"He wanted to be Prometheus, so he got everything that came with it."
"Not saying he didn't deserve it, but that doesn't make you any less of a jerk."
Before Leon could attempt to defend himself further, his phone rang, and he happily excused himself from the conversation to answer it. "Hello, Sonia. How are you?"
"How am I?!" she practically screamed. "You're the human yo-yo!"
"What?" Leon asked in confusion.
"There's a video online of you being repeatedly tossed around in the sky by Eternatus."
Leon raised an eyebrow. "Who would have been around to record that?" he asked. His confusion dropped, though, when he heard the familiar sound of Raihan's fake innocent whistle.
Sonia sighed on the other end of the phone. "It's weird not to think of you as invincible or immortal. It's... kind of scary."
"It was the first time I learned that too, but at least you got to keep your lunch afterward."
Sonia let out a halfhearted chuckle, knowing that he would still be the same old Leon. "I'm glad you're okay, but I regret not being there to help you."
"I'm glad you stayed away. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Me neither." Sonia started to laugh as she remembered all kinds of fond times she had with him.
Leon laughed too, though he couldn't see what was so funny. But he thought back to childhood memories as well. "I can't believe I almost didn't go on the journey because you decided not to come."
"What," Sonia asked, confused.
Leon fumbled with his next words as he almost dropped his phone. "No- I mean- it's just- I- uh- Don't read into it!" And with that, he hung up the phone and threw it behind him in a panic. The Rotom inhabiting it flew off, mumbling to itself as it headed to his hotel room that it knew he'd need Charizard to find.
"Smooth," Hop said sarcastically. "Just ask her out and hope that she's insane enough to say yes."
Embarrassed, Leon ran off, to Hop's delight and the kids' laughter. Once their noises died down, Victor's eyes caught the pair of mystical Pokémon walking off and looking towards their forest home. Getting his friends' attention, he walked to meet up with the region's legendary heroes.
Looking into the eyes of Zacian, he asked, "You have some crazy magical business to take care of, don't you?
She nodded while Hop hugged the other wolf, who embraced it.
"I may have only known you for six hours," Hop said as tears rolled down his cheeks. "But this is the hardest goodbye I ever gave."
"Goodbye, Zacian," Victor said as he brought his hand to her mane. But to his surprise, she pulled away from it. He looked into her eyes, and she stared into his soul. He eventually got the hint, rolled his eyes, and relented. "Forest god," he grumbled, which the Pokémon rewarded by rubbing her furry side against him. He smiled as he petted her for what might have been the only time.
Once they parted ways, the wolves ran off into the forest as the kids waved them goodbye. Hop decided to break the silence not long after. "We just saved the world," he said with a wide grin. "How do you guys feel?"
"Tired," the other two kids said in unison. Hop's face dropped as he realized that he felt the same. And so, they all went to bed.
Victor: Dash (Cinderace) Corviknight, Drednaw, Excadrill, Fraxure, Grapploct
Gloria: Ace (Inteleon) Dishwasher (Obstagoon) Rogue (Thievul) Hattie (Hatterene) Harry (Grimmsnarl) Stabitha (Pawniard) Taters (Eternatus)