Chapter 20: A Third chance?
Orange eyes glowed in the smoke of the Overheat. Soon the orange light expanded and encompassed the entire outline of a Ninetales. Kel wasn't the only one who didn't seem to understand how this attack left Aurora almost untouched.

"Marshadow? Care to explain what the hell is going on here?"
"Perhaps Aurora can tell you more. I just know that this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Apperantely, she is immune to Plot-powered attacks or something."

He had barely spoken when the cloudless sky above the volcano darkened. Stars flashed and the moon, not the real one as it obviously was destroyed, appeared from the steam of the crater's lava. After a second of shock for the possessed Mon, all the power of the moon shot down, ending the battle.

The moon disappeared again, the cloudless sky became visible again and the smoke had also cleared, revealing a somewhat shaky Aurora.

"See? Nobody... beats a Plot Warrior with her own weapons!"

In front of her, the defeated Arcanine lay on the ground, struck by the same force that had already brought down the Anti-visionary.

"Say, can I finally have an explanation now? Because I don't understand anything anymore!"

Seeing that Kel was already moving again, Aurora delayed Tyrantrum once more.

"As soon as we get this thing cleared up, alright?"

In a rare bout of understanding, the fossil was cooperative. Slowly, Kel seemed to wake up again, his eyes no longer filled with Plot energy.

"Where... what... happened? Where am I?"
"You are safe for now. Whatever it was no longer has control over you."

However, when the Arcanine saw the Ninetales that he had abandoned at the iceberg, he immediately panicked.

"So I... did it... Aurora? Am I dead? I am finally dead, aren't I?"

In this broken, vulnerable state, Kel seemed like a completely different Pokemon than anything Aurora had seen of him before. Seeing him like that aroused pity beneath the anger of the past.

"You're alive, just like everyone else here."

However, her words didn't seem to have the desired effect. Rather, they only increased the panic in Kel's behavior.

"That can't be! I saw you die! With my own eyes! And I... I can't be alive, and neither can you!"

Aurora wanted to reply, not understanding, but Marshadow intervened in the conversation.

"I... might have to explain a few things to you later, Aurora... but Kel, I told you that I would help her when we last saw each other, didn't I? I kept that promise!"

Kel was still very uncertain and cowering between the three didn't care much about that though.

"So, now that we've cleared that up, I suggest we take the helmet and go. Anyone disagree?"

The Plot Warrior looked over at the league founder, unamused.

"Yes. Yes I do disagree."

She carefully approached Kel and stretched out a paw.

"Come with us, Kel. We want to help you."
He winced again.

"No! I can't! I don't want to! What... if it comes back? What if it takes control again? I don't want to hurt you! Leave me... leave me alone!"

The contrast between this Arcanine and the Growlithe that Aurora knew only weeks ago was indescribable. All the events had left Kel as nothing more than a husk.

"Kel, listen to me. I believe you that you don't want to hurt anyone, whether you believe me or not. It's best for all of us if you come with us. If whatever "it" is comes back, we'll have you under our radar and we won't have an enemy somewhere we don't know. Besides, I'm quite optimistic that this helmet you're wearing can limit that weird force sufficiently, at least for now. But you need that helmet and we also do. So please, Kel, come back to Kira Town with us."

This time the words didn't seem to scare him, but he still seemed reluctant.

"N... no. Just take the helmet if you need it! I don't deserve another chance! I... I've already had two chances. And I wasted both of them."
"And all good things come in threes! Then you'll get a third chance, Kel."

Still with a fearful look in his eyes, he looked at Aurora.

"You... are really ready to give me another chance? How? After everything... I don't understand you. I don't get it..."

Slowly he straightened up again.

"But... I guess I don't have to. Okay... I... I'll come with you."

When Aurora turned around, she was surprised to receive not one, but two critical looks.

"Don't you dare try to change my mind, you two!"
"I don't plan to. But I really don't understand why you forgive him even though he left you to die."

The Pokemon addressed just stared at the floor as he listened to the current members of Polarna Vatra.

"I obviously can't be sure, but I think that Kel's first home has shaped him too much. And at the same time, I trust that he has learned from what happened."

Now the Arcanine also intervened.

"I... I want to improve. I want to be better, I promise. And I will try everything. But... I don't know if I can do it. Maybe I'm just too selfish, too rotten..."
"If that's the case, then we'll see. But I won't draw any conclusions without proof. So... let's go back. This mission was a success."

So the way of the four Pokemon back to their home Kira Town began. On the way there, however, there was a lot to discuss. And the time had to be put to good use. Which is why Marshadow started immediately.

"So, Aurora... and I guess you too Tyrantrum. I... have to confess something to you. I was... not completely honest about the events on the iceberg. I was afraid that you wouldn't even give me a chance, because the actual story is more unbelievable than my lies. Previously, I wanted to tell you, but now with Eternatus... and the qualifier match... I honestly just kind of forgot about it."

Kel, who had regained some of his old self, also joined in.

"Wait... you lied? About that stuff? So Aurora doesn't know..."
"No. So, let me explain. Aurora... as hard as it may be to believe... what Kel said earlier is true. He really watched die. In your fight against Epsilon on the iceberg... you were killed."

The shadow saw from Aurora's look exactly what she thought about this explanation.

"I'm serious. However, I spoke to Epsilon again after I had chased him away from Kel. One of the reasons why I joined you back then... was because Epsilon himself had contradicted the Plot. You are important to the Plot, Aurora. And back then... Epsilon took your life. When I spoke to him again, he had to realize his mistake and gave you a new life. Because the Plot cannot end before chapter 25."
"Excuse me? Are you... like drunk or something?"

Marshadow was not surprised that his words met resistance, especially by Aurora.

"It's... the Plot, what the Plot is for Epsilon and many others... is a kind of progression of fate. You could say it's a kind of story, divided into chapters. But so that this story cannot be too short, it needs a main character. You Aurora, are this main character! And one of the rules the Plot had Epsilon follow: The story has to be at least 25 chapters long. On the iceberg, however, we had only reached the tenth chapter."

Aurora fell silent for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"So what you're trying to tell me is that Epsilon killed me but gave me a new life? Because he still needs me for a while? Which chapter have we supposedly reached now?"
"I don't know exactly. According to my calculations, the Plot should be about twice as advanced as it was back then. Accordingly, around chapter 20. That means that the time is coming soon."

A look into the distance followed. All three Pokemon were interested to see how Aurora would react. This knowledge was not something you learned every day.

"You know, Marshadow... I don't believe a word you're saying."

Of all the ways Aurora could react to the new knowledge, this was... not what Marshadow had expected.

"Well, that was a little on the nose. I believe all that talk about the chapters. But Epsilon does not have the power to give life. Not even he is that powerful. I'm happy to believe you that you believe that, but I was probably just wounded and he healed me."
"But..."
"No buts, Marshadow. That topic is done now. Have I made myself clear?"

The shadow agreed sullenly. Aurora herself immediately changed the subject.

"So... Tyrantrum, you wanted to know what exactly happened up there. And Kel, I think you did too, even if you only half-understood it. It all started in the battle against Eternatus back at the league tower."

Kel immediately interrupted her.

"It started in the what now?!"
"I'll tell you later about the things you missed. And believe me, there was a lot. But for now, just try to follow along. So, when we got there at the end of the battle, Eternatus wanted to use a special attack as his last weapon out of desperation. A Plot-powered attack. In his case it was Explosion. At the time, I had no idea that something like that could happen. That's why... it's honestly pure luck that we defeated him and that Marshadow and I are still alive. But when that attack hit me... I heard a voice inside me. I can only assume that this voice was the Plot itself."

She paused again briefly and looked into the distance.

"I have to deviate for a moment. A few days earlier, I had a conversation with Zoroark, which ultimately led to me researching Epsilon's history and... after a few emotional hurdles, I understood that the Plot gave Epsilon the task of cleansing this world of betrayal and grief, but that he didn't want to take the sins from the hearts of the Pokemon, but rather destroy the whole being. And that's how I decided that I would overthrow Epsilon, for the Plot that had accompanied me my entire life."

Several times during these explanations, she noticed Kel twitching fearfully, every time she said the word "Plot".

"I decided that Epsilon was not truly a warrior of the Plot. And that this was my title to hold. As a true Plot Warrior, not a misguided one like Epsilon. And when Eternatus' attack hit... I heard this voice telling me that a Plot Warrior could not fall to her own weapons. When I woke up again, I had absorbed all of the Plot energy and was able to use it myself to win the fight. And just now... well, I was just optimistic that it would work again. It seems that Plot attacks cannot wound me. On the contrary. When Plot energy is used against me... I somehow absorb it..."

"And next time, tell me this shit sooner. What am I supposed to think when you just jump in front of Overheat of all attacks?"

Despite his anger, Tyrantrum seemed relieved by the truth.

"I would have told you. But well, now you know how it is. And I am very sure that this power will come in handy in the future war against Epsilon."

While Tyrantrum and Marshadow seemed understanding, Kel was basically a walking question mark.

"I didn't understand anything from this whole story! What the hell did I miss?! How long was I gone for?"

"Well, pretty much exactly six weeks at this point, as far as I remember."

The expression of fear on Kel's face that he wore after his release from possession returned again.

"Six... six weeks? But... but... four days... four days, I thought. The whole rest of the time... I... just missed weeks of my life? How?"

Aurora looked at the other two people present, but they also seemed at a loss. Kel, on the other hand, seemed to have lost all connection to reality.

"But... if I... for such a long time... how can all this... why..."

A slap to the back of the head stopped his little breakdown.

"Calm down, Kel. We'll find out what happened. It's just one of many questions for us to answer soon."