First off, I've added some bits to chapters 8 and 10 to flesh out Cynthia a bit. Command-F "Dawn" on chapter 7, and "hypothetical" and "Not that" on chapter 9. It isn't a lot but explains why Cynthia was willing to joke about it at first...that said, it takes a few days for FFnet to update, so check out AO3 if they aren't updated here yet (where they are chapters 7 and 9 because of the first chapter being its own one-shot there).
Yes, a battle is about to happen, but there are also three juicy character scenes you'll find (as I hyped up in the summary).
A reminder that this will have sequels, so not every plot point will be resolved before this story is over.
Chapter begins below
Reports of the sky turning purple in Wyndon were disturbing, but they couldn't reach Ash and there wasn't much they could find out not being there, so Burnet decided to take a walk outside. Burnet needed to get
Then she saw her, on the beach her class so often played volleyball on, on a log, looking at her phone.
Her husband's brightest pupil, so smart, so calculated, who had every resource available to her, but who felt so off ever since returning to Alola.
"About a year ago, I sat with Ash here, we talked about how he could make up with Rotom after they got into a fight. Now, I am sitting here, constantly re-reading a text from him, that is destroying my world. Nothing…nothing is working. I do not even know how to respond to it." Lillie explained, oddly flat.
"What does it say?" Burnet asked her.
"I…I called him and confessed. He just hung up. This was before your video call, I figured things would work out and we'd reveal it then but, he…just hung up. The next morning, I get this wall of text from him, talking about how our "energies" don't match and he does not want to actually be a champion, even though he turns around and says he wants to build Gyms that we don't need here…I do not get what is happening to him. The fame must be getting to his head."
"He looked great during that call that you skipped…and Snowy looks fine to me. You seriously made that up to avoid him?" Burnet pointed out.
Lillie just looked out to the horizon instead of responding.
"I notice you've liked being alone a lot lately." Burnett asked her, giving up on getting an answer to the last question.
"Everyone thinks I am such a fool. It makes being alone feel better than it used to be, not dealing with their…reactions, being constantly reminded that everyone thinks I am wrong." Lillie said, not moving a muscle.
Burnett sighed.
"What did you try today?"
"I came to the local chamber of commerce meeting. Told them that there's a good chance most of the clothing in Hau'oli City comes from bad origins, that a lot of people and Pokémon were mistreated in the supply chain. And you know what they said?"
"Lillie…"
"They laughed at me, and told me to remember how people reacted the last time prices went back up. They told me to go back to reality."
Again, no reaction in Lillie's face. It was impossible to tell how she was feeling.
"What is it about reality that causes people to make all these poor decisions? While people sit in parks to get fucked up by drugs? Why people my age can't find anywhere to live with how expensive even an apartment is? Where I have to watch how many glasses of water I drink just because I'm on an island?" Lillie couldn't hide her feelings here, she raised her voice to the point she was now screaming.
Burnett tried to get Lillie to stop during this time, but it was quickly evident she needed to put her foot down.
"LILLIE."
"WHAT?."
"You're just a seventeen-year-old girl who's going to turn eighteen in August. Even then, you don't have any power behind your name, why would anyone who doesn't know you listen to you? Especially since you don't seem to have any intention of being a part of the Aether Corporation."
By now, Burnet was sitting beside Lillie. But while she was looking at Lillie, Lillie had gone back to looking at the horizon, perhaps embarrassed by her outburst when trying to look so calm.
"My mother is just as bad as them." She stated while petting Snowy.
"But you haven't said that publicly, right?"
Lillie didn't respond.
"Exactly. You know how much it benefits you, you know that you can't be without it. And besides, don't you want prices to be lower? What you want would cause the opposite of that."
Lillie thought…
And thought…
But she couldn't find an answer.
"I'm sorry but what you want, just can't happen. Don't ruin your life over it."
That might sound innocent, but to her, Lillie instantly understood what Burnett was really trying to do. To just give up and retreat into her mansion and just read novels and help Kukui her whole life. And why now?
"Those people asked you to do this, didn't they…" She realized.
"I didn't hear about all of that, but I was told your future was being ruined earlier by someone who is connected to them." Burnet admitted.
"You've been wanting to tell me that, haven't you? Put me down? Convince me that the Unova champion is so much better than me and is so much more deserving of Ash?"
"Where did that come from?"
"Mallow told me about the video chat, and how you sang the praises of her, and how you think she's you if you had made better choices…"
"Well, of course I'm going to praise a black woman who's killing it!"
"Sorry that I couldn't touch Pokémon until 10 months ago! Why were you not giving him all the reasons he should be with me instead? I could have gotten him to stay in Alola…that would go a long way for making things perfect!"
"What do you want me to say? I'm not his mom or yours. He makes his own choices, just like you. He wants to be with her. And why are you talking about perfect as an aspiring professor? We know most of all that nothing is perfect."
"That's weird that you said that first part. I know that in private, when Delia won't know about it, you've said you feel like more of his mother than her, and in public, and you have gone on podcasts and talk shows mentioning you're his second mother, you just like how much money he's been getting you. That's sure been helpful getting your research noticed, has it not?" She said, keeping her eyes locked on the older woman. She definitely wasn't looking away now.
"Look, we all need something to cut through the noise, he hasn't told me I couldn't do that. And you know that I need to be making the dough because of how heavy of a spender Kukui is, that's why he's teaching you kids in the first place." Burnet said, folding her arms.
"So, you admit that he's just a source of income."
Burnett stood up. She was not having any of this. She had always been called a "poser" because she was black in a white-dominated field, and she was sure that Aether promoted Wicke instead of her once Faba caused that fiasco. And now she was being called a fake guardian of Ash? She wasn't going to have any of that. That was the tipping point…
"DO. NOT. QUESTION. HOW MUCH I LOVE THAT BOY. And you know what?" Burnett continued, she was going to lay it out right now and put that clueless rich kid in her place now,
"What I admire about Iris is that she travelled around, doing everything she could to become a champion. She didn't let family issues weigh her down and keep her from doing anything. In contrast to you, the one who we thought had the most potential, was consumed by mommy and daddy issues and now you're on this tired crusade that won't do anything! Grow up! I mean, look at how good Mallow is doing, practically running that restaurant all by herself, how can you be falling behind her?"
All Lillie did was get up. She was…had not made any emotion in her face this entire time, Burnette realized.
"It's weird. When I couldn't touch a Pokémon, everyone was nice to me. Gave me whatever time I needed. But when I finally could, I am expected to be this Ace that's good at everything. But whatever I do, it is never good enough. I want to stop Alola's stores from getting their products from cruel things and get people to stop doing drugs, it is too radical. I fall in love with Ash, I am not good enough because I am not a champion. I become a research assistant and you tell me that Mallow is doing better. I had thought you and your husband would be the most supportive, but all I get is "Don't worry about it" and "Grow up". I guess…I don't belong on these islands anymore.
And she turned around and walked away, that big hat obscuring whatever was on her face.
The sun had fully subsided into the horizon.
Meanwhile,
"So, you think Ash couldn't handle any criminal organizations?" Goh asked her.
"The Yakuza aren't like Rocket or Galactic or Flare. They aren't into making the world their own, they use how it is to their own advantage. Ash can beat Leon and disappear tomorrow. Just imagine, an Abomasnow just freezing him and smashing him to bits with Wood Hammer."
"And Iris somehow would cause all of this?" Chloe asked.
"Besides, wouldn't offing him like that make people unite against the Yakuza? I doubt they'd kill him. They would try to blackmail him but I'm not sure what they could use." Goh pointed out.
"You guys just aren't able to get it." Cynthia said, a bit of a narl in her voice to the two kids.
"And you aren't making any sense," Diantha said, getting right in her face, finding that behavior unsettling. "Ash having a girlfriend won't cause him any danger. And he sure as hell wouldn't cheat anyone. You're just making a threat in your head because you want to think you have to keep protecting him so you can picture him being a little kid." Diantha said.
"Well, he's young! It's not like he's taller than me. He really hasn't grown much. "You know what? Even with what was said, I've protected him a lot more than you did. You just watched him jump into that fake Zygard!" Cynthia shouted back, not liking that Diantha thought she knew anything about this.
"He's 19. And you're 5'11, he's just not tall like you. He's stuck at 5'9. And I bet you don't look down as much as you used to." Diantha continued.
Cynthia just sighed and walked out. Her thoughts going back to after she had just met him…
Didn't think you'd be so fond of a whipper-snapper since you always act like you have no time for people twice his age! Her grandmother said in a laugh.
"You know what he's like…I can even out my failure, make sure that kid never gets the same fate…
Kid…
Kid…
And then Cynthia realized.
She was being totally illogical.
She was just making excuses let her think Ash was forever a kid.
She wanted to have Cai around forever, and cast some random kid with a Pikachu in the part.
And he was outgrowing it, and she thought she could fight it for some reason.
She left, not saying a word to anyone.
She got on Togekiss and flew to the highest point she could find – Rose Tower, even though its namesake had long fled. She sat right on the edge, no one was going to tell her she couldn't.
Rose - Another thing she was absent for. Was she actually that better than Diantha?
She really did have no ground to stand on.
Why did things always backfire between her and other people? She had even just argued with Diantha of all people.
She was just terrible to Cai.
Her parents always acted like they wanted a more normal daughter.
She just had to mess things up with Ash.
And had always turned away Flint, though he's surely happy with that Johto Gym Leader.
Why was it so hard to have fun?
And she had just contemplated retirement when she's only 28, almost half the age of someone like Aldar.
Her team had to be mostly beaten before she had fun against Ash.
Why was it so hard for her to find a spark?
She had grown all she could…but she was lacking so much…
What had she done that was truly unique?
Other people took far better care of Ash, like Professor Kukui in Alola.
She was now no longer the youngest person to have become champion, not even the youngest woman now either.
She was as insignificant as the other planets in the universe were to the one she was on.
And then she realize something.
What was she going to tell Ash?
"I'm sorry that I've always thought of you as a defenseless child who isn't smart enough to make his own decisions and projected my little brother onto you. I won't do it next time."?
He'd just say "Okay" and stay away from her. She certainly wouldn't accept it if he told her that.
And then she realized something.
Now was the time.
Now was the time for her to become significant to everything.
Before, Ash surely would spend his life looking for her. But he wouldn't now.
Her Togekiss being next to her the entire time, she turned to it.
"It's time. For that."
"To?"
"We've just been delaying the trip, really. But delaying is not cancelling something."
"…Togekiss." The Fairy said disapprovingly, but understanding that they needed to do this.
Before she hopped on, Cynthia looked at Garchomp's Poke Ball. She was still mad at her.
Unexpectedly, Garchomp did come out.
"You were listening, right? It's now time for that journey." She told her longtime best friend.
Garchomp just shook her head no.
"What do you mean? Think about it, Ash won't look for us, and everyone will understand we must have a good reason."
"Chomp."
"I can't understand you like Iris can with her Pokémon. I guess I'll explain later." She said, trying to recall Garchomp…but the Mach Pokémon dodged. And flew up.
"Honestly, leaving me because I didn't Mega-Evolve you is crazy! If you're going to act like that, than I don't want you!" Cynthia shouted at her, becoming frusterated.
Garchomp just went "hm" and flew away.
She just watched it fly away before realizing what was happening.
"Hey…come back! I…I want to apologize!" She shouted, but it was far gone now.
Tears coming to her eyes once more, she hopped onto Togekiss.
"Let's just fucking go." She said.
And off they went.
Meanwhile,
All six Pokemon launched attacks at Eternatus. While it felt it, it laughed as its body shined.
I can just recover anything you hit me with!
Haxorus looked at Emolga, who nodded, then did a spin and made a face to Eternatus, which, of course, is the move Taunt.
What's that supposed to mean?
Emolga gave a concerned look. Why wouldn't taunt work? It was in the nature of Pokémon to fall for it, a biological instinct.
Dragnonite grunted. Whatever, it was just going to keep attacking before it could heal. It rushed in and began hitting Eternatus with Dragon Claw. Eternatus felt it for a while, but was able to send Dragonite back.
It then created a huge wave of Poison and sent it flying around.
Emolga was able to dodge it, while Gabite and Haxorus were able to get behind Duraludan while Excadrill rushed in front of Dragonite to block the poison.
After the poison subsided, Excadrill rushed in and did a flurry of Metal Claw attacks, but it didn't seem to do anything.
They call your master a Champion but that's how you fight?
And blasted it with Dynamax Cannon.
Excadrill landed on his feet, but it clearly made a mark.
Emolga wasn't sure what to do, she was always the lightweight on the team who came in situations that were tailored to her, Volt Switching on Flying Types and things of that nature, nothing she had could really hurt this Dragon.
Volt Switch…she had thought she was so funny doing it back then and just making it her own thing, but now she wished she was more like Pikachu. Really, she was always surprised Iris never left her at that village. Must have been because she wasn't a dragon.
But then she saw Gabite, who clearly was lost at what to do, and briefly touched the ground to signal to him what to do. It didn't look like this Dragon was a Ground type, so it would work.
Gabite always felt like the odd one out compared to the rest of the team. Emolga wasn't strong either but she had been with them longer, he was always the "+!" of the group, especially since he wasn't fully evolved, though now he still needed to ask Duraluden about that. No matter how much he practiced his Ground moves, Excadrill always outdid him, and Haxorus and Dragonite always outdid him in the Dragon department. He was instantly knocked out when they faced Aldar, and he knew that's why Iris never sent him out after the first few fights of the thing they'd been doing recently. But could this be his break-out moment?
Remembering the signal, Gabite started jumping up and down, doing his Stomping Tantrum attack, which caused bits of the cavern floor to break and shoot upwards. Emolga doused them all with her Discharge, and sent them flying towards Eternatus.
The electric rocks flying into it, Eternatus was hit back by them, and noticed it was wounded a bit.
You aren't complete pushovers. Too bad none of your resistance matters! It beamed to them, laughing as it recovered again.
Emolga screamed in frustration at the seeming futility of the fight, before quickly having to dodge a Dynamax Cannon. Why couldn't it ever finish a fight? It had been so long since she had been the one to finish. Either she was knocked out or Volt-switched to someone else. What could she do?
While Emolga could dodge it, Dragonite was not as lucky, and was hit hard by it. It was not out, but in unbearable pain. It was very lucky to have the Multiscale ability, which halved an attack if Dragonite had not been damaged for a while before, and it hurting so much even with that proved how powerful Eternatus truly was.
Being taunted by Steven yesterday had stuck with Dragonite. "You'll soon be able able to beat every Milotic" his ass, like he hadn't beaten every one before he had faced Cynthia's. Why did he always choke in the most important moments? He couldn't beat Ash's Krookadile at that tournament two years ago, he couldn't beat Drayden's Druddigon, he just ran into…the Ice Fang of whatever that weird Water Type was called, and he got instantly beat by that damned Milotic. Why couldn't he deal with pressure, he was bigger than everyone else! Why did everyone but him have this secret move that always hurt him super badly? What was he lacking? Would Iris keep using him if he lost another one?
Making its Claws Green, Dragonite flew to the back part of Eternatus and tried swiping it, but he just got flicked back, albeit Eternatus did it in a defensive enough manner that it didn't hurt too much.
He realized it was going to take a while to figure that problem out.
Telling Dragonite to take a breather, Haxorus went back on the offensive. It launched a series of Dragon Pulses at Eternatus, who just tanked them. Eternatus, being cocky, took them as a flex, but that meant it didn't see Duraludon coming in spinning, using his Gyro Ball, which actually slammed into Eternatus. Eternatus actually screamed upon being hit.
WHY YOU LITTLE…YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT
And so the great dragon unleashed a great flame that smothered Duraludon.
It hurt, but Duraldon knew it was worth it.
Being owned was harder than he thought it would be. He figured he'd get to be in a building and be fed and that stuff, but this was the harshest fighting he had ever done by that point. Of course, since Iris had healed him, he needed to do this for her, even though she was a total brat. Either way, he'd never complain about it.
While it was using its fire attack, Haxorus' eyes became red, Excadrill readied its claws, Dragonite surrounded his hands with green, Emolga prepared Discharge, and Gabite prepared his own Dragon Pulse, and they all hit Eternatus, knocking him into the ground.
Though Duraludon was now out.
Unfortunately, that healing aura appeared once again.
Again, NOTHING. YOU. DO. AGAINST. ME. MATTERS.
Excadrill got his claws together. Now or never. Time for Drill Run.
Excadrill had felt down on himself lately. He was winning a ton, but he wished he could just come out and help Iris but couldn't. He didn't mind how the Dragons could talk to her but he couldn't but he felt he was becoming distant from her lately, even with him constantly battling for her. He couldn't give her any advice or tell her how he was feeling, and he hated that. He hoped her powers would soon work for Steel or Ground Types, but it seemed to just be permanently restricted to Dragons, and that made him cry in his Poke Ball. Nobody would tell he was her first Pokémon now.
Shaking that all off, Excadrill launched himself towards Eternatus, but it was all for naught.
It just enveloped Excadrill in flames, causing him to faint.
Dragonite immediately rushed into Eternatus, angered about Excadrill, but was met with a Dynamax Cannon. He didn't have Multiscale, so it instantly took him down for the count.
It wasn't just any attack. Dragonite was bloodied.
I'd say he's lucky it didn't hurt more! Eternatus beamed with a laugh.
That then angered Gabite, who rushed in, even though Haxorus screamed at him to stop.
Gabite tried swinging his Dragon Claws into Eternatus…but it didn't do anything.
Then Haxorus realized that they were all tired. They couldn't do anything more.
Gabite too was then knocked out by a beam, leaving just him and Emolga.
Haxorus didn't want to see Emolga hurt. She was the weakest, so if they couldn't do anything, she couldn't. He was always mad when he was recalled and she went out only for her to be defeated, he hated all the times she went to the Pokémon Center taking a hit that he should have. And it was going to be the point where Iris might be seriously hurt. It was really good timing that he evolved before that happened, he shuddered to think what would happen if he was still an Axew.
So, he decided he was going to end things here and now.
His eyes turned red. This is it.
He rushed in, and swung as hard as he could. He managed to pierce into Eternatus, actually letting out blood from it.
However, the blood was green. Not red. However, Haxorus couldn't afford to wonder, he had to keep swinging.
Some of Eternatus' energy leaked, which caused Haxorus to grow a bit. Not fully Dynamax, but Haxorus grew to Eternatus' size.
Stop, stop, stop! Eternatus beamed into it, however, he didn't.
So Eternatus did the only thing it could. It launched its Beam right at Haxorus' arm, where it could see. And did not stop. Both were attacking each other while sustaining massive damage.
Eventually, Haxorus faltered…and his right arm disappeared, causing it to scream and kneel.
See what happened? You like that? Notice I wasn't doing that before? I don't actually like dismemberment, but you juts had to fucking do that!
Meanwhile,
Iris woke up.
She was…where was she?
She was in a room, but the ground was purple, and the sky was a darker shade of purple. At various points, the shading changed. It was like she was in a painting of different shades of the color.
"While it's taken most of your power, ironically, it gave a little of its own to you. Enough to let me…do this."
She looked to her left. Her eyes widened.
Green hair that really showed in all the purple, white shirt over a black one, with khaki pants.
N.
"What…what are you doing here? What is this? Did you follow me? Have you been following me this whole time? Why would you stalk me like this? That's creepy!" She said, very unsettled by all of this.
"I'm…not actually him. I'm really just your powers who have taken this form with the boost from Eternatus', because this is a person you'll absolutely listen to, and you know him enough I can act like him. We both know how you've been hoping you don't encounter him again until you've found Cilan because his response would pierce you and would be right."
Iris scoffed.
Wait – Eternatus' powers let it do this?
"Why do you mention Eternatus?"
"Because it has the same power as you. It's not actually a Pokémon, it's a being from another planet who has the same power as you, but fully developed it."
"So…that means that I'll…"
"Yes. You're probably going to wind up just like him. Unsettling, is it not?"
"No…that can't be…you must be lying!"
"Since when have I ever lied to you? Did N ever lie?"
"I…uh…"
She had nothing.
"Shit."
She sat there, trying to come up with a response.
"The little bit of its energy has let me know that Eternatus hopes that the Dragon Pokémon join him, and become his army of sorts. Humanity would be toast if that happened. And it has figured out that as long as it doesn't go into its Eternamax form, the two beings he fears won't appear."
"The dragons won't do that. The ones I've met haven't."
"I suppose we'll see. But I think they will. Imagine the person I'm posing as, N, seeing that. His whole M.O. was that Pokémon just need to be left alone because they just want to do their thing. But that happening goes directly against that. He called Ash naïve, but he was actually just as naïve, it's hilarious. I wasn't developed enough to make you think that back then, but I can now. Thought is…a wonderful thing. But scary. I am not sure whether to like it or not."
"Um…Congrats? And…you can now make me think things?"
"Or rather, you'd think that if it happened today. I'm simply you. Well, and a little of…it."
"Can you look please look like…anyone else?"
"Don't go there, now that I have the wit of Eternatus."
"I said change!" She said, staring down at the fake "N".
"N" smiled, and changed.
His hair color didn't change. But his clothes did, to a black vest, black jacket, and black pants…what he
But…
Oh no…
But his clothes did, to a black vest, black jacket, and black pants…the clothes he wore during their last face-conversation…
"Hey, Iris."
"Stop."
"I heard that you told Ash. How you kept a straight face and acted all busy. And he bought it! I never thought you were a good liar, ironic that being a champion made you a good one."
"Stop! Don't taunt me with Cilan!"
"Acting all tragic, a busy champion who doesn't have the time to find her bro…granted, you were helped by it being Ash. He never would have guessed you just thought you were too cool for me after becoming champion, just like you were too cool for the Village of Dragons. Just writing a stupid letter to the Execs, mentioning it to one of them in person but not pressing the issue…you gave no effort. You even lied to Cilan himself that you did everything you could…You didn't!"
"STOP STOP STOP" She said, punching "Cilan".
But her punches just went right through him.
"It's at this point I would make some lame food pun, but I'll spare you that." He said, laughing. "Do you remember what you said? You told me that nobody took me seriously, that I was a bad Connoisseur, that that was the thing that showed looks could be deceiving? Even though you know how much it hurts to hear that?"
She tried to for a few seconds, but she realized she was just wasting energy. If she even had that here.
"I…I couldn't do much! You…he was a joke! A joke to the League, and a joke to the Restaurant industry. I would have just become a joke too! That's not something that I could fix with a Pokémon battle! It…it would have just brought me down with him."
"Exactly."
"What?"
"We don't know her much, but do you think Marnie would put her name in the mud for her brother?"
"I…" Iris again froze up.
"Do you?"
"…Yeah."
"Do you think Hop would put his name in the mud for Leon?"
…
"Do you think Ash would put his name in the mud for Cynthia?"
…
"Do you think Cilan would for Chili or Cress?"
"I shouldn't have had to do everything for him! That's basically what he wanted me to do! I'm not a restaurateur, he just wasn't good enough...
"You were pretty pathetic for a while. But did Cilan ever give up on you?"
Iris had frozen, but she realized something just as that last part came back.
"You got rich and made friends with the Elite Four and Gym Leaders and got to dress up as a princess while you battled, and you saw me as the trade-off to that." He said, moving his mouth to the right side of his face just like the real Cilan did."
"Well, you could say he gave up on me, considering he never came back."
"Do you blame him?"
She couldn't fight this battle.
"We're done here."
And then she got an idea.
This was her power. This was her…being. She was inside…her. And she didn't want to be dealing with this.
She thought about all the times she had used her powers. She could remember every one of them. And did them all again. One by one. "Cilan" didn't say anything.
And then it happened. After one gesture, everything faded away.
"You know its true." He said before fading with the rest of them.
Eternatus itself fell to the ground, heavily hurt from Haxorus' assault.
No matter, it healed itself as Haxorus disappeared into a ball of light.
Eternatus laughed, as he knew what that meant. Turning around, he saw that clueless girl whose power he had just stolen. Her hair was still white, but her eyes weren't red anymore. Of course, she couldn't keep that state with what it had just stolen.
Woke up, huh? Too bad, all your servants are down for the count, except that weak flying thing. It beamed into her as it recovered.
"They…did enough." She said, raising her arm.
What? It beamed, as it felt its power being drained.
"You've recovered a lot of damage, right? While that healed you physically, you're still mentally exhausted. So now I can do this while you can't take mine back.
Idiot, let me show you how it's done.
Eternatus tried to stop it, tried to make that energy she took boomerang back to him.
But it couldn't do it.
What? How could it be?
No, I'M the apex predator of this universe! Not a human like you! This has to be a dream! How can I be in this nightmare? This isn't supposed to happen! When you wake up, I'm coming for you for real! This isn't right!
He could sense other Dragons nearby. These would be the first ones to serve it! They'd become its generals! He would use them to convince the others to serve it.
Help me…kill the girl…become my generals…I'll reward you…
But…nothing happened.
Then, Eternatus realized something.
It had just fought other Dragons. The dragons nearby didn't come to its aid.
No dragon in this world wanted to help it. Why were they so weird? Why wouldn't they want to get rid of humans?
The only answer must be, that they liked them.
And it didn't know what to say as it lost consciousness.
End of chapter
Ending notes:
Did that first part remind you of anything that's happened in this story? To make her more unique, I'm making Lillie speak very technically and not use conjunctions, to emphasize how calculated and intelligent she is...as well as her growing disconnect. I thought it would be cool if she got a scene offscreen through a phone, in the background via others talking about her, and now in the foreground with a scene directly centering on her since she'll gradually become more important. Do you think Burnet is unfairly exploiting her connection to Ash or not?
It's easy to run away after making a mistake. Even the most awesome people can feel that way and think of a good excuse to do it. Of course, Cynthia is doing that literally, but Iris did that in a figurative way, both angering someone important to them. Ironic isn't it? Are they as different as they think? I'll let you be the judge of how good Cynthia's excuse is when it's revealed.
Because Iris' Pokemon did not stand a chance, I didn't make the battle very long or extravagant. I added some internal thoughts from them to make sure the moment was special for them, and the sequel will flesh out those feelings. If you like a certain manga author, you probably will recognize the concept of "You can heal all you want, but you'll still be mentally drained."
I hope the visualizations of N and Cilan didn't seem too forced, I thought it would be more interesting that way then Iris just realizing that stuff by herself when asleep. You might now realize the story has been vague on what exactly Iris did to help Cilan...because it wasn't very much. Iris also admitted to Ash earlier that she was now starting to think she could have done more. N was there to assure you she remains in Iris' thoughts, and that I haven't forgotten about the teases of him.
Sorry for having two scenes that didn't have either Ash, Iris, or their Pokemon in them, but they are too important to leave to inference.
Answers to reviews:
UltimateCCC: Ash won't ever become a don, but in Don't Hide Yourself From Me, Paul will certainly be dealing with one. It's set in this timeline, and the first chapter is published! The ending of this will connect to that. You can follow me as an account to get emails whenever I post something. The legacy of Eternatus will stretch far, no doubt.
Glaxy: I appreciate how excited you are for the future of this story! Indeed, both Kanto and Alola will be visited at length by Iris. I can't promise you that everything you expect to see will happen in the stories, but I'm sure you'll love still love them when they happen! The fishing trip will be fun, though it will be a while before it happens. Keep in mind that Iris has spent significant time in Johto and has many fond memories there, in addition to her home region of Unova. She just couldn't get the language down before she left.