This is it! The final chapter and the climax of Giratina and the Sky Warrior: AAML edition! I would just like to thank all the reviewers who pushed me through this movie and boosted my efforts. I would like to give a special shout out to my good friend Darkness Shadow, who let me use his character and his Pokemon throughout these past three chapters. For any of you who grew to like D. Shad, don't worry, he WILL make another appearance one day, as will everyone's favorite helmet toting comedian, Brad. Enough of my babbling! In the words of the guardian of Sonzonia City, "Let's get the fun started!"
_
Chapter 31
Normal POV
The group of heroes followed Shaymin through the sky as they closed in on Zero's giant airship. "He can't…he won't!" Ash said determinedly. "We will all help Giratina!" Shaymin declared.
Zero noticed their arrival, and ordered Magnezone to take them out. As the two opposing sides closed in on each other, the battle would soon begin.
"Let's do this for Giratina and D. Shad!" Brad roared. The rest of the group roared in approval, and the battle began.
"I'll take care of that Magnezone!" Shaymin exclaimed. Shaymin didn't have to take it on by its own will, Magnezone wanted to take out Shaymin as well. It and its smaller minions chased after Shaymin around the airship, firing 'Discharges' at it.
Shaymin bounced off of Magnezone's face and knocked it off course. Then it made a U-turn and fired an 'Energy Ball' that sent Magnezone falling down. With Magnezone out of the way, Shaymin went on the attack to take down the Magnemite and Magneton.
Meanwhile, Charizard was doing flips and twists in the air, firing 'Heat Waves' and 'Flamethrowers' while its passengers held on for dear life. "You're doing great Charizard! Keep going!"
Bolstered by its master's encouragement, Charizard gained its full strength back as it poured on the speed and showed off its aerodynamics.
Dawn and Newton were zigzagging back and forth to avoid numerous 'Thunderbolts', as Piplup fired 'Bubblebeams' to keep them off their tail.
As for Brad and Brock, they had a lack of Pokémon that could ride on Staraptor, so they used themselves as decoys for a substantial amount of Magnemite. "Ha! It'll take more than that to knock us out!" Brad yelled.
Zero watched as the battle raged, and finally turned to leave. "Prepare to enter the Reverse World." Zero said to his holographic computer. "Yes sir, right away." the computer replied. Zero turned to go into the ship's bridge, while the Magne-army took down the group of heroes.
Meanwhile, the group had flown above the laser cage that surrounded Giratina, they had to disable the machine before Giratina would perish, so the first thought that came to mind was to use some muscle.
"Pikachu, use 'Thunderbolt'! Charizard, use 'Heat Wave'!"
"Surskit, 'Ice Beam'!"
"Piplup, 'Bubblebeam', now!"
The attacks fired at the laser force-field, but no damage came to it as it merely bounced them off. "It didn't do a thing!" Ash growled.
"Then I'll have to go in and stop him myself!" Newton exclaimed. As he said that, Brad and Brock were busy retreating from a large group of Magnemite and Magneton, and unfortunately they had led them right to the group.
Seeing what the real threat was, the Magnemite chased down Charizard, trying to bring down the dragon before it could do any more damage. But before they could get close enough, Shaymin confronted them and knocked one out with an 'Energy Ball'.
Shaymin relaxed for a split-second, but it soon had to be on the move again, that Magnezone simply wouldn't stay down, and it wanted revenge BADLY.
"That does it! We've gotta take down that Magnezone for good!" Ash growled. Ash turned Charizard around and had it fire at the Magnezone that was firing at Shaymin.
Charizard managed to hit quite a few Magnemite and Magneton before getting to Magnezone, and then it finally got lucky with a well-placed 'Flamethrower', and Magnezone fell down once more.
Unfortunately, Magnezone hit its target first. "Shaymin!" Dawn cried, as she watched the grass/flying-type plummet to earth after getting directly hit from a 'Mirror Shot'.
"Let's go Charizard!" Ash yelled. Charizard roared ferociously and swooped down to catch the small Pokémon. Ash reached out his arm, snagged Shaymin, and then tucked it safely under his arm.
"Well done! Now clear the path for me! I'm going in!" Newton yelled. Newton and his hovercraft tucked in behind Charizard, who fired a 'Heat Wave' to scatter the roadblock of Magnemite and Magneton. Then they landed on the airship where Newton immediately hopped off the hovercraft and charged for a door that was hidden underneath him.
"I should be able to get in through here!" Newton exclaimed. Just as he said that, Brad and Brock also landed. "Let me go with you!" Brock exclaimed.
"Very well, but we've got to hurry!" Newton exclaimed. Brock hopped onto the platform as well. "Good luck you guys, we'll take care of the Magnemite!" Ash exclaimed.
"Alright! Shieldon, 'Flash Cannon', go!" Newton ordered. Shieldon opened its mouth and blasted a hole through the metal door.
"Now that we're on the ground, I think it's time to call for backup!" Misty exclaimed. Misty sent out Staryu, Vaporeon, and Corsola to team up with Surskit.
Ash sent Charizard back into the skies to act as the aerial assault, then called out Chimchar and Buizel to help out Pikachu.
Dawn also called for extra help from Ambipom and Buneary, and the Pokémon fired their special attacks out into the air, holding off the Magnemite and Magneton in any way possible.
All of a sudden, the Magnezone appeared for the third time and began firing at them. Tired of the constant returns, Charizard took matters into its own hands.
It grabbed Magnezone by the magnets, blasted a 'Flamethrower' right in its face, then did three midair flips and hurled Magnezone down to earth. And just for good measure, fired another 'Heat Wave' just to ensure that Magnezone was thoroughly finished. "Yeah Charizard!" Ash cheered.
Charizard gave a two-claw salute, and then took off to take out some more Magnemite and Magneton. "Ash, I think Charizard just might be Pokémon of the year." Misty joked, as she ordered Corsola to fire a 'Power Gem'. Ash laughed and then ordered Chimchar to launch a 'Flamethrower'.
Meanwhile, Newton and Brock had arrived inside the computer room. "Zero, stop this at once!" Newton roared.
Suddenly, a holographic screen appeared with Zero on the transmission. "You're too late…I invite you to sit and watch as the execution of my beautiful plan is made real!" Zero chortled.
The transmission was cut off, leaving Newton and Brock on their own. "Isn't there ANYTHING you can do?" Brock asked.
Brock didn't get a verbal answer, as Newton sat at the computer chair, pressed a button on his backpack, and two mechanical arms with two fingers each emerged from it.
They quickly started clicking keys on the computer, attempting to hack into the mainframe. "I guess he forgot. This thing's MY design!" Newton said.
An alarm went off throughout the ship, as Newton broke through the firewall of the computer. By now the scan was in its final stage. "Hurry Newton!" Brock watched as the number went from 90% to 94% in a matter of seconds.
Finally Newton was finished, and only one flashing red button remained. "Alright, how do you like this?" Newton roared. He jammed the button down, and the entire keyboard glowed white. The scan was at an unbelievably close 99% complete, when the systems within the ship began to shut down.
Outside, the group felt the sudden loss of power when the ship rumbled. Their attention immediately turned to Giratina, who was slowly being released from the harmful lasers.
Not only that, but the turbines of the ship ceased their power output, and the entire ship system went down thanks to Newton's handiwork.
The cage that held Giratina suspended in the air began spewing metal, and parts were falling off at a fascinating rate. Finally the last of the lasers shutdown, and Giratina fell onto the ship, causing another rumble.
As soon as they made sure they had their balance, the group cheered, and Brad finally came in from riding Staraptor. "Looks like the guy knew what he was doing." he said. "Hey, has anyone seen D. Shad?" Dawn asked. When Dawn said that, the group realized that their heroic friend had most likely been killed before they got there. But they didn't have time to be sad, since the ship was moving in an odd fashion.
"You did it Newton!" Brock cheered. "Yes, but we must get out of here immediately!" Newton exclaimed. Newton charged out of the room, hotwired the elevator, and ran back outside with Brock.
Outside, the battling group had their own troubles. The ship was making noises that were just plain unnatural. Before they could ascertain what was happening, Newton and Brock emerged from the ship.
"I'm sorry." Newton said. "What do you mean? You saved Giratina!" Misty exclaimed. "Yes, but to shutdown the systems I had to shut down the engines too." Newton said.
"Doc, you mean to tell us…" Brad was cut-off. "Yes…it means that this thing is going down." Newton said.
The group screamed in terror as the ship plummeted in a nosedive. "Everybody return!" they cried. All of the Pokémon withdrew into their Pokéballs, except for Charizard who was still abusing all the Magnemite, and Staraptor who still had Brad on its back.
"Charizard!" Charizard turned to see its master waving frantically, and then it noticed that the ship was falling down fast. It threw away the Magnemite it was currently giving a noogie to, and swooped down to where its master stood.
Ash hopped onto Charizard's back and then took Misty's hand to help her on. She wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and they took off together. Brock joined Brad atop Staraptor and they took off as well.
And finally Newton and Dawn took off riding the hovercraft. They moved in to check on Giratina, who was still lying limp on the ship. The giant Pokémon gave one last struggle to move, but all it did was force itself to fall faster than the ship itself.
The group gasped as Giratina plummeted. They poured on the speed to get to the ground as fast they could, so much so that they neglected to notice an escape pod shoot out of the airship.
Giratina created a mini-tidal wave when it splashed into the water below, and the group quickly ran to the lake area to check on Giratina.
But Giratina hadn't surfaced from the water yet, and while they waited, they saw the giant airship crash into the side of the canyon.
"That should do it for Zero." Brock said. Just then, Giratina slowly crawled out of the water and made it onto dry land. Only to pass out due to extreme pain and lack of strength.
"Oh no…it can't be." Misty whispered to herself. Pikachu, Piplup, and Shaymin all moved closer to Giratina's body, looking for any signs of life.
Pikachu then slowly turned its head towards the group, and shook its head sadly. "No…we're too late." Newton growled.
"We were so close." Ash said, fighting back tears, his right hand balled into a frustrated fist. Dawn's hands went to her mouth in shock and sadness, and Misty just cried freely into Ash's shoulder.
"I'm sorry D…we failed you." Brad mumbled, looking to the ground. For the first time since the group met him, they actually saw the hardnosed comedian…crying out of grief, both for Giratina…and the friend that gave his life to save his city.
The group turned to leave, all except for Dawn who just stood in shock. She simply couldn't believe it. They had fought so hard, their Pokémon fought so hard, D. Shad died for their cause, and all for nothing.
Ash and Misty came to snap the coordinator out of her state of shock. When she felt two hands grab her shoulders, she blinked and looked to her left and right.
"Come on Dawn, there's…there's nothing we can do now." Misty said sadly, her voice still cracking from crying. Dawn nodded sadly and almost turned to walk away, when she thought she caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye.
When Dawn pulled away, her friends asked what was wrong. Dawn looked as closely as she could through her misty eyes, and saw a glimmer of hope among all the sadness. "It's breathing!" she gasped hoarsely.
The group turned around and looked closely at Giratina's body, and saw a slight rising and falling of the giant Pokémon's lungs. "It IS breathing! Giratina's alive!" Misty gasped.
Ash ran towards Giratina and got right next to its enormous face. "Giratina, come on!" he cried. "You must pull through!" Shaymin added.
The group waited for any sort of response, but they soon regretted not asking for a GOOD response. Giratina merely gave a low moan; it was in bad shape and getting worse by the minute.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Brad asked. "Corsola can use 'Recover'…but there's no way it's strong enough to help Giratina." Misty said sadly.
At that moment, Shaymin flew up and lied down on Giratina's weak body. It then began glowing in a bright-green aura. Thinking it was 'Seed Flare' again, the group backed up nervously. But Shaymin's next statement made them think otherwise. "Giratina…stay with me!"
Shaymin now glowed even brighter, and waves of green energy started flowing throughout Giratina's body. "Of course! 'Aromatherapy'! That's one of Shaymin's moves!" Newton exclaimed.
As Shaymin continued its attempt to revive Giratina, hundreds of Teddiursa, Stantler, Ursaring, Sentret and Furret slowly came out of the forest behind them, all just as worried for Giratina as the humans were.
"Do you really think Shaymin can do it?" Misty whispered, gripping Ash's arm nervously. "It's…just got to." Ash replied just as nervously.
The green waves of energy continued to flow throughout Giratina's body, although at the moment no visual signs of improvement could be seen, only making the group think that Shaymin was straining itself for nothing.
Finally Shaymin gave out and stopped glowing. The energy waves dissipated as Shaymin gasped for breath from exhaustion.
For a moment, Giratina stayed motionless, but then, slowly but surely, Giratina got back to its feet with revived strength. It stomped the ground with purpose, and gave a roar of triumph.
"Shaymin did it!" Dawn cheered. The humans began dancing with joy, except for Brad who could only summon a small smile.
When Shaymin went to hide behind Dawn out of fear, they stopped dancing to confront Giratina. "Giratina, it's Shaymin who made you feel better!" Ash exclaimed.
Giratina looked down at the group and gave a smile. "Pikachu, wait!" Ash exclaimed. Pikachu was hopping up Giratina's scales to get up close to its feet, and gave a friendly greeting to the legendary Pokémon. Giratina happily reciprocated the gesture.
Then Shaymin flew up to its face with renewed confidence. "Thank goodness you're alright." it said.
Newton gave a small chuckle, and then looked behind him where all the forest Pokémon were standing, now happy that Giratina had pulled through.
"Guess they were all worried about Giratina, huh?" Brock said. "They would know what was at stake. And just how important the Reverse World is." Newton replied.
"So I guess all's well that ends well." Misty sighed. The group agreed full-heartedly. "Hey, where's Brad?" Ash asked.
The group looked around, and eventually their eyes caught the comedian kneeling down in front of the flower bed. Brad held the keys to D. Shad's truck tightly in his fist, and then wedged them into the ground in front of him. "As far as anyone will ever know…here lies Darkness Shadow…the greatest hero Sonzonia City…or the world could ever ask for." Brad thought sadly.
Brad got up, took one last look, and then went to join the others, without looking at them. Now the group had reality hit. Giratina was indeed alive, but they had lost a great friend in the process. "Would it be wrong I wonder…to hold out some hope that the guy's still alive?" Brad asked rhetorically.
The rest of the group hung their heads low; the celebration for Giratina wore off as they thought of the friend they had lost. "I wouldn't mind so much if I just knew what happened to him." Misty whispered sadly.
The group stood there a few moments more, when suddenly a geyser shot out of the water. The group turned around and saw a mini-airship floating in the air, dripping from the water it had just surfaced.
"Is that…?" Ash paused. "It's Zero." Newton growled.
The group watched as the ship underwent a transformation. The wings extended two blades out the front of them, and a blade came out from the bottom of it. And so the ship floated there, ready for battle.
"I couldn't care less what you think you've done…NO ONE gets in my way!" Zero roared. The ship charged a blue fireball that looked identical to the ones belonging to Giratina. The still weak Giratina attempted to counter with its own, but its full strength hadn't returned yet.
"It can't end this way!" Ash growled. It wouldn't. Just before Zero could fire, a barrage of red spheres of energy nailed the one-man ship.
On the inside, Zero growled. "Now what?"
The group looked to the sky to find the source of those lasers. They managed to spot a small dot that was quickly moving in. "You don't think it could be…?" Dawn paused.
More shots were fired at the ship, and it dodged them. "I said stay out of my way!" Zero roared.
The dot was becoming identifiable now, as it continued to fire a barrage of red blasts. The entire group's eyes lifted and no one could contain the smile that appeared on their lips. "It's D. Shad!" they cheered.
Indeed, D. Shad was the one firing at Zero's ship, using the gauntlet on his hand, and riding on top of Garchomp, he fired laser bolts at the ship with amazing effort.
Although no one could hear him just yet, D. Shad did say to himself, "As long as I have breath in my body, you and everyone else like you in this world, or ANY world, will never triumph!" D. Shad continued to fire while the humans on the ground cheered just because he was still alive.
"That does it!" Zero turned the ship to face D. Shad and Garchomp, and fired a blue fireball. Garchomp quickly moved out of the way and dodged it. "I wasn't even trying!" D. Shad heckled, "Now you'll see my ultimate power!" D. Shad turned a knob on his gauntlet, and fired a more powerful, but slower blast.
Nevertheless, it hit perfectly and Zero's ship took more damage. "I have no time for this!" Zero roared. Zero steered the ship towards the glacier that was behind it, and blew by D. Shad and Garchomp and missed clipping them with the wing by just a mere five feet.
However the blowback was more than enough to send Garchomp off course. Struggling to at least make a decent landing, D. Shad and Garchomp crashed down to the ground with a loud bang, and the group immediately ran to tend to him.
"D. Shad, are you ok?" Ash cried. Luckily this time, D. Shad managed to keep his consciousness, but it was then that the group saw just how much of a beating D. Shad had taken doing whatever it was he did.
D. Shad's arms and legs were scratched up and trickling blood, his bottom lip was trickling blood as well, and his face was scratched up too. He had bruises on his head that were an ugly shade of purple, his shirt was ripped to shreds, revealing more scratches and cuts that were bleeding all over his torso.
Nevertheless, D. Shad struggled to his feet and stood tall, and then helped Garchomp to its feet as well. "D!" Brad exclaimed with more emotion than intended. D. Shad limped to turn around and face his friend, awaiting another comment.
"Dude I – you look terrible D." Brad joked with a relieved chuckle. "Oh I dunno, I think this makes me look dramatic, don't you?" D. Shad joked back.
Some sparks suddenly came flying out of D. Shad's gauntlet, stinging the wounds on his arms. "Shoot. It got damaged in the crash." D. Shad growled.
He tossed the gauntlet to the ground and walked past the group with a determined look on his face. The rest of the group followed suit, as they awaited Zero's next move.
Out of nowhere, Zero swooped up into the air at high-speed, startling the onlookers, then he created a portal inside the glacier and disappeared from sight.
"He's gone!" Ash exclaimed. "He's gone to the Reverse World…Zero's managed to acquire all of Giratina's powers!" Newton explained.
Through the portal, the group saw Zero flying around inside the Reverse World, he finally came to a stop to stare them down in his ship. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Look at you all in your pathetic, filthy world! Disappear all of you!" Zero yelled maniacally.
"I don't like how he said that." D. Shad growled. Without warning, everyone including the Pokémon gave a cry of anguish as a shockwave knocked them all backwards out of nowhere.
"Clutching his abdomen, Ash slowly sat up. "What was that?" he asked. "Zero's attacking the real world from the Reverse World!" Newton exclaimed.
"D. Shad's in really bad shape, we've got to do something!" Brock exclaimed. D. Shad was still conscious, but he had no strength to move anymore. His fatigue paired with his numerous flesh wounds had left him drained of energy.
"Sorry I can't help you guys, but if I move a muscle right now, I may not have that muscle later." D. Shad chuckled softly.
"Just relax D, we'll handle this." Brad said reassuringly. Newton pulled out a first aid kit from his backpack, and proceeded to clean off D. Shad's scratches and cuts, earning a groan from D. Shad as the antibacterial cream began to sting on his arms and legs.
"Without warning, another shockwave came, luckily it just missed them. "If we don't do something soon, we'll all be killed!" Misty cried.
Just then, Giratina gave a mighty roar, and created a portal to the Reverse World with the intentions of defeating Zero.
Reacting quickly, Ash ran for the hovercraft and activated it. "I'm going too!" he exclaimed. "Ash, what do you think you're doing?" Misty screamed.
"Giratina needs help and I'm going to help it!" Ash replied. "Then I'm going with you!" Misty exclaimed. "No way Misty, I can't take the risk of losing you. I'm going alone." Ash said sternly.
Misty would've argued, but the determined look on his face showed that he wasn't budging this time. So instead, she merely moved up and gave Ash a good luck kiss on his cheek. "Be careful." she whispered.
Ash gave her a thumbs-up, and readied for takeoff, except this time Charizard held him back. Charizard weakly pointed its claw at itself, volunteering to go to the Reverse World as Ash's escort instead of the machine.
Ash could see just how little energy Charizard had left. After all the beatings it took fighting with Giratina, the Magnemite and Magneton, and plus having been carrying Ash and whoever else jumped on his back for the past eighteen hours with barely any rest, and having just been hit by a Reverse World shockwave, it was unknown to even Ash how Charizard could even still be standing.
Yet here it was, volunteering to go into battle once more, knowing that if it did go it could very well be killed by Zero and his madness. Inside his head, Ash thanked Charizard for sticking by his side for so long, no matter how tough the situation got, he could count on his old friend to stick by him almost as closely as Pikachu himself. But just like with Misty, Ash didn't want to risk losing a friend.
"Not this time Charizard, you need to rest." Ash said. Charizard grunted lowly and turned its head away from Ash, upset that he had just rejected its assistance. Knowing why Charizard was upset, Ash floated up to its ear and whispered, "Take care of Misty for me."
Charizard looked up to its master with determined eyes, and gave a thumbs-up that Ash reciprocated. Then Ash took off for the portal left behind by Giratina. "Wait for me!" Shaymin followed Ash through the portal, determined to have part in this heroic effort.
The portal vanished after they went through, leaving the whole group to wait in anticipation. "Good luck Ash." Misty whispered, as a lone tear escaped her cerulean-blue eyes.
Back in the Reverse World, Zero was flying at high-speeds through the toxic clouds that had been formed. "My lovely Reverse World…they won't tarnish its beauty again! The Reverse World's true power will forever shine through!" Zero exclaimed in a lunatic-like tone.
Zero began slicing away at large pillars of ice in the Reverse World, which caused shockwaves in the real world. "Wha – What's going on?" Misty asked.
"The glacier…" Dawn gasped. "It's moving!" Brock added.
"Zero's doing this." Newton growled. "But how?" Dawn asked. "Doc, you said that they support each other, right?" Brad asked. "That's right." Newton replied.
"So if he messes something up in there, we take the damage?" Brad asked. "Precisely…Zero! You KNOW the real world and the Reverse World support each other! Do you really want to destroy that?" Newton yelled.
Unknown to the group at the time, deep within the depths of a nearby cave, help was awakening and would soon be on its way.
His cry fell on deaf ears, as the only voice that Zero could hear at this point was his own maniacal one. He laughed crazily as he continued to chop away at the support beams that held the glacier in place in the real world.
He would've continued, but just then, Giratina appeared and roared its challenge. It fired a fireball of immense power at the ship, and it took the direct hit. Zero growled as he tried to keep his ship under control.
And as he did that, a 'Thunderbolt' and an 'Energy Ball' also struck his ship, but with much less consequence than Giratina's attack caused.
"Zero, give it up!" Ash yelled. "Stop this now!" Shaymin added.
"Why? You just don't understand…I'm protecting this place!" Zero roared. "That's Giratina's job! And if you really wanted to protect this place, you'd listen to reason!" Ash yelled. Giratina roared its agreement, and the battle for possession of the Reverse World continued.
Meanwhile, the glacier was still moving forward in the real world, threatening to destroy everything in its path. "We've got to do something!" Brock yelled.
"I've got an idea! Dawn, call out Buneary and Swinub, we're gonna make some ice!" Misty exclaimed. Dawn called out her two Pokémon, while Misty called out Vaporeon and Surskit. "Finally, I can help now." D. Shad said weakly.
D. Shad handed Brad Floatzel's Pokéball, and told him to send her out. "She'll know what to do." D. Shad said. Brad tossed out Floatzel, and it joined the four other Pokémon by the side of the lake.
"Swinub, 'Ice Shard'! Buneary, 'Ice Beam'!"
"Surskit, 'Ice Beam'! Vaporeon, 'Blizzard'!"
The four Pokémon, plus Floatzel and her 'Ice Beam', fired their freezing attacks at the water, and the water slowly began to glaze over with a thin sheet of ice. Then, all the other Pokémon from the forest that knew an ice-type move helped by firing as well.
The entire lake froze over and the glacier was forced to stop. "The glacier stopped!" Dawn cheered. "Don't stop! We can't afford to let our guard down!" Misty exclaimed.
If Ash was gonna risk his life fighting alongside Shaymin and Giratina versus Zero, then she was gonna do everything she could to help him from the real world.
Meanwhile, Giratina was back to full strength thanks to being where it belonged. It went head to head with the ship as one of its scales glowed purple and it slammed into it with all its might. Unfortunately, the ship had a mechanical advantage due to it virtually being a mechanical Giratina.
The ship blasted its thrusters and slammed Giratina into an iceberg. Then it charged a powerful fireball identical in size and power to one of Giratina's. "You have no chance! All of your powers now belong to me!" Zero exclaimed. The tone of his voice proved that Zero was not only evil, he had lost his sanity.
Zero fired, and Giratina just barely managed to get out of the way before being destroyed at point-blank range.
It then vanished out of thin air, leaving Zero to wonder where it went. He may have had all of Giratina's strength and power, but that didn't necessarily mean he knew how to use it.
Giratina appeared from above, and fired a fireball that made a direct hit with the hull of Zero's ship. "Alright, now it's our turn!" Ash moved in on the ship, but not before calling for some backup from Chimchar and Turtwig.
"Chimchar, use 'Flamethrower'! Turtwig, 'Energy Ball'! Pikachu, 'Thunderbolt'!"
The three Pokémon fired their attacks at the ship, and with a little help from Shaymin's 'Energy Ball', Zero's ship took extra damage in its vulnerable state.
"What part of 'stay out of my way' don't you understand?" Zero roared furiously. Giratina fired another fireball, but Zero dodged it and then swung around to go on the offense.
But Giratina was ready, and it faced the ship head on with its own fireball. The two attacks collided and an Armageddon like explosion took place between them. "We've gotta hurry before it's too late!" Ash exclaimed. Ash charged for Zero's ship, and had his Pokémon fire off another barrage of attacks.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the glacier was beginning to gain ground again, as the frozen lake began to give way under the strain of the enormous ice block. "No use! It's not stopping!" Brock exclaimed.
"If this keeps up, it's gonna crush the Flower Garden!" Dawn cried. "That's not all that'll be crushed…all the villages and towns just ahead…they're all doomed to be destroyed." Newton said.
"No…no…NO!" D. Shad felt a spike of energy surge through him, as images of his city and all who he had become responsible for came to a devastating end. All the people who had come to admire him as their hero and guardian, wondering what had happened to him and why he wasn't there to save them, they were haunting him already.
He wouldn't allow his city to die because of his weakness, he just wouldn't. Covered in bandages and still bleeding in certain areas, D. Shad forced himself to his feet and limped over to where the others stood.
"D, there's nothing you can do!" Brad said. "I won't leave my city to be crushed by this…maniac! There has to be a way to stop it! You guys make an iceberg to stop it, try anything!" D. Shad roared.
The Pokémon obliged and created an iceberg to try and stop the glacier, but just like the lake itself, the ice was shattered like thin glass.
"It can't…just end this way." Misty whimpered. Suddenly, the group felt the Earth rumbling beneath their feet. "Is that Zero again?" Brad asked. "No…look up there!" Brock exclaimed.
The group looked up the mountain, and saw a colossal Pokémon slowly trudging up the hill. "Is that a…" Brock paused. "A Regigigas!" Newton finished.
The Regigigas roared and a herd of Mamoswine came charging up the mountain and down the other side. After calling for its army, Regigigas came climbing down as well.
"Look at all the Mamoswine!" Brock exclaimed. "It's the cavalry!" Misty cheered. "And here comes some more!" Dawn cheered. Indeed, on the other side of the mountain even more Mamoswine were charging down.
But while Regigigas was trying to stop the glacier, the group could see the battle taking place through the mirror image the glacier was giving them. And they saw that Giratina was tiring, and was starting to lose badly. "They're having trouble in there!" Brock yelled nervously. "Come on Ash, you can't fail!" Misty whimpered to herself.
Inside the Reverse World, Zero blasted yet another fireball at Giratina, and this time, the tired giant took the hit directly and fell to the ground with a loud thud. "The Reverse World belongs to me!" Zero exclaimed maniacally.
Zero fired at the ice tower looming above Giratina, and sharp shards of ice began raining down on the Reverse World dwelling Pokémon. "No! Giratina!" Ash cried.
While things were turned from bad to worse in the Reverse World, things were hopefully beginning to get better in the real world. The Regigigas slammed its hands into the glacier, just as the hundreds of Mamoswine slammed their giant tusks into it to help.
They could hear the beeping noises being made by Regigigas as it distributed all its strength into its powerful arms and tree trunk-like legs. And it appeared as if the combined strength of the mighty Mamoswine and the legendary Regigigas would be enough to stop the glacier.
"Look at Regigigas and the Mamoswine!" Dawn exclaimed. "They're all trying to stop the glacier!" Brock added. For a moment it seemed to be working, but then Misty noticed something horrible. "They're giving ground, it's too heavy!" she exclaimed despairingly.
Indeed, the glacier was beginning to move again despite all of the powerful Pokémon trying to hold it back. Then in the mind of a certain fire-dragon, something echoed loudly. "Take care of Misty for me."
One thing was for sure, Charizard would make good on that order. Wearily, Charizard walked past the group and onto the icy lake. "Charizard, where are you going?" Misty asked.
Charizard didn't bother to turn around, it simply kept on walking. "I think I know." Brock said. His guess would be correct. Charizard squeezed through and found a spot to push on, and with all its Charicific Valley produced strength, it began pushing on the glacier as well.
"Charizard's got the right idea." D. Shad said. D. Shad called out some more two more Pokémon, his Lucario and his Golem, and he ordered them to take Garchomp, and the three of them would help push on the glacier and hold it back.
So they went with Garchomp and found a place to push on as well. Now with the extra bit of muscle, it seemed that the glacier had slowed slightly, but it hadn't stopped just yet. "Time for one last helper…" Misty said quietly.
She clutched a Pokéball in her hand, knowing that this was the final person in their party who could be of any help. "Gyarados, go and help stop the glacier!"
With renewed strength, Gyarados emerged with a roar, and joined Regigigas, the Mamoswine, and the trainer Pokémon in pushing against the glacier.
"Send Happiny out there Brock!" Dawn exclaimed. "No way! I know how strong Happiny is, but it'll be killed if it goes out there!" Brock defended.
"We'll all be killed without everyone who's able pitching in." D. Shad said. Brock reluctantly grabbed Happiny's Pokéball, and tossed it out.
Happiny cheerfully emerged, but then saw Brock's forlorn expression. Brock pointed it out towards the glacier, and told it to go push on the glacier. Happiny turned around and jogged over to the glacier and began to push as well.
"It'll be fine Brock." Brad said reassuringly. Brock was NOT convinced. Misty noticed Brock's worried expression, and thought about how she'd feel if that was Azurill out there pushing. So she came up with an idea.
"Charizard, look down to your left!" she screamed. Charizard slowly moved its head down, and saw the tiny Pokémon pushing on the glacier with all its might. Understanding what Misty wanted, Charizard carefully stepped behind the baby-Pokémon to assure that none of the Mamoswine would step on it.
Misty turned back to Brock, who seemed to be a bit more relieved, but not much. "Is it stopping?" Dawn asked nervously. It looked as if the glacier had stopped gaining ground, but only for a moment, as it seemed to have a mind of its own, and it was determined to stay on its course of obliteration.
"It's still moving!" Brock exclaimed. "What is it, possessed? There's nothing else we can do, that's the last of our muscle!" Brad growled.
There was indeed nothing else THEY could do, but Regigigas still had one final trick up its sleeve. Because of its 'Slow Start' ability, Regigigas was only at half-strength. But now with its full power restored, Regigigas poured on the power.
It glowed in a bright orange aura, and the waves emanating from Regigigas spanned throughout the entire glacier, and not only did they manage to stop it, but they actually managed to push it back a bit. But there was one catch, because of the energy waves, their mirror had been distorted, so they could no longer see what was happening in the Reverse World.
Energized by the progress being made thanks to Regigigas' extra power boost, all of the Mamoswine, Charizard, Gyarados, Happiny, Lucario, Golem, and Garchomp all poured on the power as well, adrenaline coursing through each and every one of their veins.
The group cheered as all of the powerful Pokémon managed to hold back the glacier at least for now, now all they had to do was wait and see what the outcome of the Reverse World battle would be.
Speaking of which, Zero had closed in on the trapped Giratina, and was ready to fire a fireball at point-blank range. "Giratina…this will all be over…very soon." Zero snickered.
Zero charged the attack, but it detonated before he could fire thanks to two 'Energy Balls', a 'Flamethrower', and a 'Thunderbolt'.
"Pikachu, use 'Thunderbolt again! Chimchar, 'Flamethower'! Turtwig, another 'Energy Ball'!"
Ash's Pokémon fired at the airship, and Zero had now gone from angry to furious. "Out of my way!" he growled.
Zero turned the ship around and slammed the wing into Ash and his hovercraft. Ash held on for dear life as the hovercraft spun around uncontrollably, and then harshly deposited him on the ship. Ash forced himself to his knees and watched as the hovercraft fell down into nothingness. "Sure wish I had Charizard right about now."
Ash dusted himself off and stood back up. "Alright, are you all ok?" he asked. His Pokémon smiled and replied with enthusiasm. But that enthusiasm quickly disappeared when four mechanical arms emerged from the ship.
Ash, Pikachu, and Chimchar managed to dodge them, but Turtwig was caught off guard by the sudden grab. As they retreated, eventually Chimchar also got grabbed by the metallic limbs.
Ash and Pikachu ran until they ran out of room, at that point they were forced to fight. Pikachu 'Thunderbolted' one arm, and then Shaymin appeared and blasted the other one with an 'Energy Ball'.
"Hey Shaymin!" Ash said with relief. "A simple thank you will suffice." Shaymin joked. Ash heard cries of anguish coming from the ship, and he saw Turtwig and Chimchar being electrocuted by the arms that held them as prisoners.
"Turtwig…Chimchar!" Ash grabbed their Pokéballs and quickly returned them to where they belonged. Then just as he took a second to catch his breath, Zero opened the cockpit of the ship and confronted him.
"Hey! You stop destroying this place, Zero!" Ash growled, Pikachu in front of him with furiously sparking red cheeks.
"If anything is destroying this place, it's the real world!" Zero countered. From beneath its icy prison, Giratina roared its objection.
Zero turned the ship around, taking one last chance to convince Ash that what he was doing was right. He slowly steered the ship over to where another toxic cloud had formed.
"There! Look at that toxic cloud! Don't you see this glorious world is constantly being polluted! So don't you understand, I'm protecting it!" Zero closed the cockpit so as not to breathe in the poison, leaving Ash to face it alone.
"No! The real and Reverse worlds support each other!" Ash yelled. Ash quickly covered his nose and mouth with his shirt so as not to breathe in the poison, but he obviously wouldn't last long surrounded by it.
"Ash! I'll take care of this!" Shaymin began absorbing the toxicity into its body, and the flower that had moved from its head to its neck became black in color from all the garbage it had taken in.
While Shaymin did that, Ash turned and saw what was happening in the Real World through a huge one-way window, and saw that the glacier Zero had sabotaged was being stopped, but not for much longer due to the exhausted looks on the Pokémon's faces.
Even Regigigas itself was becoming fatigued, and they began to lose ground once more. "Can they really hold it back?" Brock wondered out loud. "Come on, you can do it Regigigas!" Dawn cried.
The group admired Dawn's optimism, but not even their Pokémon thought that Regigigas was strong enough to hold it back forever. If Ash didn't do something soon, they would all die for sure.
"We've gotta do something!" Ash exclaimed, muffled by his shirt over his nose and mouth. When Ash saw that Shaymin absorbed most of the poison, that's when an idea hit him harder than Misty's mallet.
"Shaymin, use 'Seed Flare' now! We gotta knock Zero out of here!" Ash exclaimed. "I don't think so!" Zero growled.
Yet another arm protruded from the ship's interior, and this time it went after Shaymin. "Alright Pikachu, 'Thunderbolt'!" Ash ordered.
Pikachu sparked a bit, and then launched the attack and fried the arm into a state of immobilization. "Oh really? YOUR turn to be knocked!" Zero growled.
Zero was ready to flip the ship upside-down to knock Ash off, but suddenly something grabbed onto the ship and held it back. "What the…?" Zero said in shock.
Ash regained his balance, and then saw Giratina grabbing onto the ship's tail and keeping it in place. "I warned you to stay out of my way!" Zero roared.
Zero blasted the thrusters, and the fire that shot out of the ship spewed right into Giratina's face. The giant roared in anguish, but held on nevertheless.
"No…Giratina! Shaymin, it's up to you!" Ash yelled. "I'm ready!" Shaymin replied. Shaymin flew to a safe distance, and then readied its most powerful attack.
Shaymin glowed like a powerful green beacon, and now Zero knew he was getting forced into a corner. "Raah! I've had enough of you!" he roared furiously.
The ship charged one last fireball, and aimed it at Shaymin. "Now Shaymin…GO!" Shaymin followed Ash's order, and blasted a hole in the Reverse World with 'Seed Flare'.
Zero's fireball was literally blown away by the sheer power, and Ash had to hold on as hard as he could to avoid being blown off himself.
Shaymin fought against the pull of the portal to avoid being sucked out before it knew its friends were safe, and lucky for a certain evil trio, their curiosity had gotten them close to the action, and they were blown up and out of the Reverse World and into the skies.
"What's that?" Dawn exclaimed. "Shaymin opened up a portal!" Newton explained. "Shaymin did?" Dawn asked. "That means it used 'Seed Flare'! I hope they're alright!" Misty cried.
Zero was determined not to go down just yet, so he too fought against the pull of the portal. But Giratina finally summoned the strength to fire one last blue fireball, and blasted Zero out of the Reverse World forever.
Ash had been knocked off the ship when Giratina blasted it, so it quickly disappeared and teleported so it could catch Ash before he fell to his death.
Zero groaned as he tried to maintain control, but the ship simply had no more power to do anything except crash. It slammed on top of the glacier with a hard crash, and parts started falling off in bunches. Then it slid off the edge of the glacier, where Regigigas was now pushing with only the trainer Pokémon helping, since the Mamoswine were scared off by the ship's crash.
"Now! Let's finish the job!" D. Shad limped as fast as he could onto the icy lake with his Floatzel, and was soon followed by the rest of the group.
"Floatzel, use 'Ice Beam' and put that insane asylum reject on ice!" D. Shad ordered.
"Vaporeon, help out with 'Blizzard', and Surskit, use 'Ice Beam'!" Misty ordered.
"Quick Buneary, use 'Ice Beam'! Swinub, 'Ice Shard'!" Dawn ordered.
The five Pokémon fired, and the ship soon became a part of the glacier, leaving Zero forever sealed inside. "All systems have been shut down." his computer said.
"Recover data on Giratina." Zero said. "All systems down, unable to recover." the computer replied. "Oh no." Zero gasped.
Every light within the ship began shutting off. "Every single one of my glorious plans…they're ruined." Then and there, Zero closed his eyes and decided to let go of life, so he died inside the cockpit, with his computer echoing "all systems down" before silence invaded it forever.
"That's it. He's finished." D. Shad sighed. Before they could relax, the portal spit out something else. A green, white, and pink figure that was now sliding across the ice. "I'm really not that good with the cold!" Shaymin transformed back into its Land Form and fell down screaming.
"Aah! Shaymin!" Dawn ran to catch the small grass-type while still trying to keep her balance on the ice. Shaymin landed in her arms and she held it tightly. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I am the teensiest bit scared." Shaymin replied. "Where's Ash? And where's Pikachu?" Misty asked nervously. "They must still be there!" Shaymin replied.
"He can't be gone…can he?" Misty asked. "I…don't know…I didn't see him after I used 'Seed Flare'." Shaymin replied. Misty took two steps forward before she collapsed onto her knees. "Ash, where are you?" Misty whimpered. The water-trainer bit back tears, imagining that Ash had done what D. Shad ALMOST did.
The truth was, Ash was just fine; he was riding on Giratina's back, taking the first actual look of the Reverse World without being in mortal danger. What Zero said was half-true. The Reverse World was indeed a beautiful world. Quiet, clean, and without any sense of something bad happening.
But to Ash and Pikachu, it would never be home. "Giratina, can we please go home? I miss my friends." Ash said. Giratina didn't utter a sound; it simply gave Ash something to remember.
It repaired the pillars of ice with a beautiful, purple veil of glitter. And as Giratina magically repaired the damages done in the Reverse World, the glacier in the real world gained its natural support back.
"Misty…look." Dawn said softly. Misty looked up from the ice covered lake, and through the tears she was fighting to keep inside her eyes, she was the glacier had stopped, and Regigigas, the Mamoswine, and all their Pokémon had stopped pushing on it.
"It stopped." Dawn said. "Everyone in the village is safe, and we owe it all to Ash." D. Shad said. "Yeah…to Ash." Misty whispered, a lone tear escaping her cerulean-blue eyes.
Just then, the glacier started wavering like a rock thrown into a pond. "What's that?" Brock asked. Misty looked up once more and saw that a portal was being opened up.
The group waited in anticipation for what would emerge from the portal, and when a large figure appeared, Misty's heart skipped a beat.
"Hello down there!" Ash happily waved to the other humans below. "He's alive…HE'S ALIVE!" Misty cheered. Her tears flowed freely now, but she had no trouble showing everyone her tears of happiness.
"Misty, Dawn, Brock, Brad, D. Shad! We did it guys!" Ash cheered. Ash punched the air in celebration, as Giratina flew around the skies with Ash riding on its back.
Giratina then landed in front of the group, with Regigigas and all the Mamoswine standing by. Giratina lowered its head to allow Ash to hop off, and the first thing he was greeted by was Misty's body embracing his.
Ash immediately hugged her back tightly, rubbing her soft back. "I'm so glad you're alright. Don't ever scare me like that again." Misty said, her tears still flowing.
Ash pulled back a bit to wipe them away with his thumb. "You know you sound like my mom? I'll be careful until the next time we have to save the world." Ash joked.
Misty giggled and pulled him close again. "You're such a jerk." she giggled. They looked down for a moment to see that Buneary was embracing Pikachu in a tight hug, and Pikachu was firmly reciprocating. They looked up at each other again, but quickly looked down again when they heard a quiet "smooch" and saw a blushing Pikachu.
"You're contagious Mist." Ash joked. "I'm the good kind of germ." Misty countered. "Please, nobody cure me." Ash joked. They laughed at each other's jokes.
They finally pulled away from each other so Ash could greet the others. "Hey guys, you alright?" Ash asked. "Yeah, we're fine, but I think I could use a doctor." D. Shad joked.
Ash chuckled lightly at that. Suddenly, Giratina took off to the skies. "Hey Giratina, wait!" Ash yelled. Giratina turned for a moment to say goodbye, and then climbed higher into the sky. "Where's Giratina going?" Shaymin asked.
Newton activated his GPS device and gave Giratina one last scan. "I'm wondering if Dialga's near." Newton said finally.
"If it is, we'll be ready for it." D. Shad said. The group watched as Giratina disappeared from sight, in search of Dialga.
As the sun set on the exciting day, the group was left wondering many things. One of them being where were they going to sleep for the night?
"You know, tomorrow my friends will probably be here." Shaymin said. "Oh, that means that this'll be the last time we'll get to spend time together." Dawn said, her voice dripping with disappointment.
"Yeah…I guess it will be." Shaymin said, just as sadly. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't we set up camp here so we can see Shaymin off?" Brock suggested.
"That sounds great. Quite frankly, I don't wanna go anywhere until the pain in my muscles go from unbearable to just excruciating." D. Shad joked.
"You guys would really stay to watch the Flower Bearing?" Shaymin asked. "Of course Shaymin. We still have to say goodbye." Dawn said, her voice cracking on "goodbye".
The Flower Garden suddenly became awkwardly quiet. Quite honestly, no one wanted to say goodbye to the small grass-type. Shaymin had grown on them in the past two days, and no one wanted to lose a good friend. But the one who would be hurt the most was Dawn, she had fallen in love with the cute little Pokémon ever since it first arrived, and now she would probably never see it again.
Ash felt sorry for Dawn, he had seen a lot of forced goodbyes ever since his journey started, but there were two that stood out in his mind. One being when May's little brother Max was forced to say goodbye to Jirachi, knowing that he would never see it again. And the other of course was when he had to say goodbye to Misty after the Johto League.
As the gang set up a campfire, Ash went off into the forest by himself to think; little did he know that he had a tag-along trailing him.
He sat down on a smooth rock and put his face in his hands, just weary in mind, body, and spirit. "It just isn't fair…we always have to say goodbye to the people or Pokémon that affect us the most…I'm gonna miss Shaymin, and Dawn will too, even more than I will."
By now his tag-along had caught up with him, and saw that he was troubled in his mind. This particular tag-along had a perfect remedy for something like that.
Misty softly hugged him from behind, and Ash ran his hand over her fingers before gripping them softly. "Hey Mist." Ash said quietly.
"What's on your mind Ash?" Misty asked, walking in front of him. "Tomorrow morning we have to say goodbye to Shaymin." Ash replied.
"Yeah, I know. I'm gonna miss it, you know? It may have been a pain in the butt at the start, but given time, Shaymin turned out alright." Misty said.
"Exactly. We all grew to like Shaymin, which only makes saying goodbye that much harder. No one wants to lose a good friend. I know the feeling way too well." Ash said.
"Dawn's probably gonna hurt the most, she loved Shaymin more than any of us." Misty said.
"That's exactly what I was thinking…you know Mist, sometimes I wonder what hurts more…losing one of your own friends…or watching someone else lose one, because I've felt both, and they seem almost equal." Ash said.
"Well that's just because you've got a heart the size of a Wailord." Misty joked.
"Heh heh, no Mist. I mean it. I mean, I lost you in Johto, and I just felt so drained. Then I met up with Brock again and met May, and later on we met her little brother Max. So I figured, new people and new adventures, less pain." Ash said.
"I always thought that I'd be able to forget too. But I never did, you stuck to my brain like gum that gets stuck to your shoe." Misty joked.
"And you did too. You know, I was so happy when I saw you again on my way to the Kanto Battle Frontier; I even went as far as to carry your backpack for you. When your sisters called to tell you to come home early, I felt drained again. And you know what Misty; I'm tired of that horrible feeling in my heart." Ash said.
"I can understand how you feel about that Ash, I felt so annoyed that I had to leave early, I actually wanted to stay with you as long as you were in the Kanto area. But I just couldn't leave the gym to my sisters at the time. Daisy and I were only just beginning to get along better, and she still didn't have a clue on how to battle. Saying goodbye to you again…I just couldn't bear it, but you know me, I gotta hide my emotions in front of people." Misty chuckled at the end.
"I couldn't stand it either." Ash said softly. Ash scooted over and allowed Misty to sit next to him on his rock, them he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, he needed the warm feeling of Misty's presence to try and soothe his troubled mind.
Misty wrapped her arms around his waist and scooted even closer to the sad trainer. They were so close that their legs touched each other, and her face was mere centimeters away from his. Ash felt a small smile tugging at his lips as the warmth of Misty's love invaded his heart and soul. They sat in silence for a while, staring at the moonlight through the foliage of the tall trees. Finally Ash broke it with a question.
"Can I tell you a little story?" Ash asked. "Ooh, a bedtime story?" Misty joked. Ash chuckled and went ahead.
"Once every thousand years, a comet called 'The Millennium Comet' is visible here on Earth for only a week-long period. So me, Brock, May, and Max went to go see a carnival based on that very event. There was a magician there named Butler, and his assistant named Diane. And we didn't know this at first, but Butler was a sort of scientist interested in legendary Pokémon." Ash continued,
"He had this special crystal, which contained Jirachi, the Wish Pokémon. When Butler heard that Jirachi apparently liked Max, Butler let him keep the crystal. Now get this, when Max started to fall asleep that night, May began singing her mother's lullaby, and just like that, the crystal started glowing, and Jirachi magically appeared where the crystal used to be. Now on the next day, Butler's clowns decided to quit…" Misty cut Ash off.
"Let me guess, you and Brock volunteered to take their place." Misty figured.
"Heh, yeah. So anyway, after the day ended and we were cleaning up, an Absol came looking for Jirachi, now we thought that Absol wanted to hurt Jirachi, but as it would turn out, Absol wanted to PROTECT Jirachi from Butler." Ash continued,
"Late the night, Butler took Jirachi from Max while we were sleeping. The only reason we caught him in time was because May was sitting by herself on a rock and Butler didn't notice. What Butler wanted was for Jirachi to absorb the comet's power so he could create a Groudon as part of a revenge scheme." Ash continued,
"We managed to get Jirachi away from Butler with a little help from Diane, but what we didn't know was that Butler knew exactly where we were going thanks to a GPS device he stuck on Diane's bus. So the next few days we basically just stayed on the move to avoid Butler, but as the days went by, Max was becoming more and more depressed." Ash continued,
"So at the end of the fourth day, Max comes up to me and asks me for advice. He said that he'd be really sad when Jirachi had to leave, and asked what he should do. Here's what I told him, I told him that I lost a friend once too, and I missed HER every day, but I knew that she'd always be in my heart, and so Jirachi would be in his." Ash paused to see Misty's reaction.
Misty blushed a soft pink as she realized who the "her" he was talking about was. She was touched to know that Ash had never forgotten her, and was always remembered as his best friend. "So go on." she said softly.
"Well, Max thanked me, but he was obviously becoming more and more restless. He even went as far as to scream at May and told her to stop counting down the days left on the Wish maker she had bought. So on the final day, Max was forced to say goodbye when Jirachi opened its 'Millennium Eye' and absorb the comet's power so it could go to sleep, but then Butler appeared and captured Jirachi again." Ash continued,
"So then Butler recreated Groudon using Jirachi's power, except this Groudon wasn't really a Groudon. It was what Butler described as 'pure evil', and it was not what he had intended to make. It began sucking up the Earth's energy, and it even ate everyone except for Max and I. When Jirachi started glowing, a white meteor made by Jirachi slowly dragged Groudon and caused it to explode, allowing everyone to be released from its belly." Ash continued,
"So then the excitement ended, and Jirachi asked for one wish from Max. It wanted to go to sleep listening to the lullaby that awakened it in the first place. So we all started to sing and Jirachi turned back into a crystal and thanked everyone for what they'd done. So now through tears, Max wished Jirachi a goodnight and sweet dreams." Ash concluded.
"And there was this one time when May bonded with a Manaphy, but if you don't mind, I'd rather skip that story, I'm too depressed to tell another sad story like that." Ash said.
Finally Misty got to speak, "I understand Ash. You know, from personal experience I would say that losing a friend would hurt more than watching someone else lose one, but after hearing all that, I think watching may hurt more, at least for you it does."
"How am I gonna get through this again Mist? A guy can only handle so much." Ash asked, staring at the ground. Misty gently placed her hand onto his face and turned him toward her. "Just like you did all those other times, just lean on your friends for strength and ride it out." she said softly.
Ash grabbed her hand away from his face and held it in his hand, then he smiled at her, and Misty smiled back. "Come on Ash, Brock's got dinner ready by now, let's head back." Misty said. Ash nodded and stood up. Misty followed suit.
She turned to walk back, but Ash held her back. "What's wrong Ash?" she asked. "Nothing. Just…thanks for listening to me…again." Ash replied.
"Anytime Ash, that's what I'm here for." Misty whispered. Ash pulled her in for a tight hug, and Misty gladly accepted the loving gesture. They held each other for a few minutes before they finally walked back to camp hand in hand.
When they got there, the group was sitting around the campfire, and their Pokémon were sleeping in the clearing a few yards away. Shaymin was quietly snoozing in Dawn's arms. The couple sat themselves down with the others and took their bowls of soup that had been sitting there for a while and had cooled off substantially.
"So where'd you two go?" Brock asked. "Just went into the forest to think a little." Ash said. Brock nodded in understanding. He knew what was going on. Ash didn't like saying goodbye, and he needed some time to be comforted by his beloved Misty.
"So tell me D, we all thought you were dead, what happened?" Brad asked.
"I'll pretend that you didn't ask again because these two lovebirds just showed, and I'll tell the story again." D. Shad joked. Ash and Misty blushed and shrank back. They would've left altogether if they weren't just as curious as to why D. Shad was still alive.
"Well, after I took off on Garchomp, that darn Magnezone showed up out of nowhere with his whole army and zapped me and Garchomp. We crashed into the side of the canyon and I rolled down and finally stopped on a ledge.
When I finally came to, I found that the ship was gone and I could relax, but then that little ship showed up, so I had to get back to work. But lemme tell ya, it hurt to even breathe at the time." D. Shad said.
"Well with all that blood oozing out of you, no wonder." Brad said. "Yeah, I'm just glad I had great friends to see me through." D. Shad said.
"Well as soon as we get back to Sonzonia, we'll get you to Nurse Joy so she can do some damage control on your body." Brad said, "By the way, where DID you get that gauntlet anyway?"
"Ugh, look, I stole it from J's ship, ok? I figured as long as I was there, I'd expand the horizons of my equipment. I already made blueprints on it, so i can just make another one." D. Shad explained.
"Wow D. Shad, you're awesome." Ash said. "Naturally. I'm the coolest." D. Shad said jokingly. The group had a good laugh before Newton finally piped up.
"If you don't mind, I would like to point out that the Flower Bearing begins at dawn, so going to sleep would be wise." Newton said.
The group agreed and settled down into their sleeping bags. Before they fell asleep however, they heard a quiet sniffling coming from Dawn's sleeping bag. The entire group knew exactly what it was and why Dawn was crying. The following morning would be a sad day for all of them.
The next morning the group and all of their Pokémon awoke to watch the sun rise over the canyon wall, it shined brightly in a variety of reds, oranges, and yellows. Then they heard a rustling in the flowers behind them.
They turned around and saw a Shaymin, and then another Shaymin, and then even more Shaymin appeared, all greeting each other and readying for what was to come. "Shaymin, are they all your friends?" Dawn asked. "Sure are." Shaymin replied.
"Good thing we weren't late." Ash said. "True…thanks to you all for getting me here." Shaymin said, its eyes starting to water as the inevitable grew closer.
When the sun rose high enough over the canyon, the Gracidea Flowers started to bloom in a grand display of pink. "Just…beautiful." Dawn gasped.
"Shaymin, it's great to be able to see this place." Ash said. "Does that mean you're grateful to Shaymin?" Shaymin asked with a wink. "Yeah, you bet I'm grateful." Ash replied.
"I'm grateful too Shaymin. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and thanks to you, we get to see it." Misty added.
Just then, Shaymin hopped out of Dawn's arms, and said something without meeting their gaze. "Ash…Misty…I must say I'm grateful to you too." Shaymin said.
Ash and Misty both felt pangs in their heart, and the tears that would inevitably be shown were starting to form. "Thanks Shaymin." they said.
The Shaymin already in the Flower Garden all transformed into Sky Form, and began flying around the sky, leaving only one Shaymin left. "Dawn, Ash, Misty, Brock, ALL of you…I'll never be able to thank you enough…but I'll try…thank you!" Shaymin turned its face toward them, and tears were streaming down its face.
Shaymin then hopped down into the flowers, and took one last glance at the group. "Here is where I say goodbye." Shaymin said. "Yeah…we know." Ash said. "Have a wonderful life Shaymin." Misty added.
Shaymin walked off and transformed into Sky Form along with its friends. One thing was for sure, if it would never see the group again, it was going to make sure to give them something to remember.
Shaymin flew up into the sky just as a strong gust of wind came and blew the Gracidea Flower Petals into the sky. All of the Shaymin then quickly flew in circles, creating a sort of whirlwind of petals, and the sky framed the fantastic display of pink and green.
"It's…a sky bouquet." Dawn said. The Shaymin then swooped down low so Shaymin could get say one last thing, "Farewell my good friends!"
Ash, Misty, and Dawn ran after the Shaymin as far as they could, and watched them fly off into the sunrise. "Goodbye Shaymin." Dawn croaked. The tears were now freely flowing down her face, as Shaymin disappeared from sight.
"Make a pretty garden everybody!" Dawn shouted. "And someday…I hope…we'll see you again." Ash cried. Now the tears that Ash had been fighting back were let loose like a dam breaking. But he wasn't alone, there wasn't a dry eye to be seen, even Brad had tears in his eyes.
But Dawn was heaving most of all, Shaymin had chosen her to grow close to, and now it was leaving, even if it wasn't necessarily by choice.
Ash and Misty looked into each other's tear-stricken eyes and nodded. They walked up to Dawn and surrounded her in a group hug, to comfort both her and themselves. Brock, Brad, and D. Shad joined in on the group hug, and took one last, long look into the wild blue yonder, where Shaymin the Sky Warrior had flown. Dawn felt slightly better being surrounded by her loved ones, but nevertheless she sobbed harder, which only made Ash sob harder as well. Once again, he had seen his friends go through the pain of saying goodbye.
After a while, D. Shad broke the silence. "Hey Brad, you still have the keys to my truck?" he asked. Brad's head snapped up in realization. "Shoot! I wedged them into the ground somewhere for your – eh – memorial." Brad groaned.
Through the tears, the group choked out a chuckle. "If only I had a magnet or something." Brad said. Just then, Charizard walked up holding a Magnemite. "Err, thanks." Brad said. And so the comedian went in search of D. Shad's keys, and as soon as he found them, the group would once again be on the road to Sinnoh.
_
A/N: And that's it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed for giving me the motivation to hurdle the biggest obstactle I've had so far! But did I fault on the jump? That's up to you guys. So let me know how you guys feel about this final chapter of the movie, and soon I'll be working on the next episode. For those of you who may have any suspicions about D. Shad and his origins, well, you'll have to find him on your own. xD You wanna know where the name "Sonzonia City" came from? Take a look around the internet for a certain forum. And one last thing I'd like to mention...I was quite honestly crying while I wrote this last part, I earnestly hope that I wrote it so that you readers felt the emotion I did while writing. Keep an eye out for updates!