—START—
-3rd Person POV-
It was finally done, over and finished, never to be looked back on again.
The last new world gate had been a fever dream of emotions, battle and the most terrifying encounter Star had even been in.
As much as she was the strongest trainer the region had, the Champion of Reborn, that doesn't prepare anyone for what she just pulled off.
Puppy was a force of nature that's for sure, a god she and her Pokemon had stared down in the dace and fought.
It was the climax of the story…of one story.
"Wow, you look like shit" She had just gotten out of that portal and the first one to receive her was the green haired rival known as Fern.
Star didn't answer him, instead just stared with the most deadpanned expression she could muster, while Anna giggled for the first time since she helped her in the new world.
A happy Anna was a good thing after all this dream sickness ordeal, but did it have to be at her expense?
Thankfully Star did have someone on her side. "I wouldn't mess with someone who just captured God" Noel commented, halting the laughs from the other two with fern only muttering 'a fragment of God' while the little girl looked ashamed of herself. "Are you ok?" the black haired kid then asked the champion.
The nod was all the confirmation they were getting.
Star saying anything was a particularly rare event that not even death could force out of her, only the campion of Reborn decided when to do so.
So the nod was confirmation enough for him.
"Do you want to return to the nightclub?" Noel asked again, the conversations with Star tended to be pretty unilateral, but he enjoyed them nonetheless, as she was one of the few people that actually listened to him.
He could say with confidence he understood Star's moods even if her face wasn't showing what she felt. Something most people the seventeen year old trainer knew couldn't do.
So when he saw how tense that smile she wore right now was Noah could only get more worried.
In the end he let it go after she nodded to his question, but he was going to have a conversation with her later in the club.
(she always answers to Adrienn, maybe that could work) asking them to get what was bothering Star was a good idea.
Their Champion had the bad habit of keeping all that pained her to herself in order to make them happy, and sadly, she was really good at it.
"What are you two standing around for? Let's go" Fern, the ever impatient one, along with Anna were already by the exit of the giant tree, cutting Noah's observation and prompting the girl to go after them.
On the way there Fern and Noel both noticed slight things about Star that worried the two of them, even if Fern wouldn't admit he worried about her ever.
She had a small limp in her step, her black clothing and silver hair were incredibly dirty, in her neck and leg there were forming some bruises, all indications of the battle that took place.
It must have been excruciating, taking all of her and her Pokemon to save Anna.
This was not the first time she returned in a state like this, nor it was the worse state she had ever returned in, so both of them trusted the girl to recover like she always did.
Lyn had been cruel in her methods after all, this was just a battle, not the torture the child liked to employ, and they had seen star recover from that.
"So, what exactly are we telling the others?" Fern eventually broke the silence once they went past the central hall.
Star's input was the same it always was, silence. "The truth, we found a way to Puppy, and got Anna back" Noel answered for her, knowing that their friend wouldn't choose to hide anything from them.
And once again they all fell into silence as they walked.
Two days had passed since they returned from the new world gate.
To celebrate the end of the anomalies all of the gym leaders, elite four members and friends Star had made on her travels enjoyed a grand party.
The dangers of team Meteor were now a thing of the past and the region could now prosper in a way that would turn Reborn into the strongest nation there was.
…A real prosperous future…
One two people wouldn't see grow.
As the others dance, sing or play whatever game they had in mind, Star walked up to the bar, where a certain old man had served a drink to himself and was simply enjoying the atmosphere.
"ah, my lord, your presence it is a joy for this one" was the greeting of the man. "is there something I can serve you?" before the man pulled out the drink menu for the champion to choose something he didn't expect happened.
"Elias" The contrast of Star's seriousness, saying his name with such a somberness, and the party was like day and night, something that worried the Elite Four trainer. "Once the party is over, meet me in Reborn's main train station"
He couldn't ask anything out of her.
Without saying anything else, nor looking back, Star left the party without anyone noticing as the celebration distracted them from the event.
Or, it did for almost everyone.
"It is quite the sight to have her words reach our ears" Radomus had gotten close to the bar after the girl had left, he was wearing a children's party hat. "I do wonder why she would cite you in such a place"
The two of them didn't get along, so once he heard him, Elias was already preparing a snarky remark. "If my lord requests me I comply, I wouldn't question her after all her efforts"
"I would never doubt her, do not twist my intentions" Replied the psychic leader. "There has been gloom around her ever since she returned with Ana, It concerns me"
"maybe she simply desires some experienced wisdom, as such, she reached to me, it's an honor she has granted me"
"that's a preposterous assumption, there is no need to go to you when she has my intellect on her side"
The two old men continued to bicker during the party, by the time someone else noticed them, the theme of conversation had drifted so far that they weren't even talking about Star anymore.
But it stayed in the back of their mind, whatever could she want, that she was willing to speak when many situations of horrible proportions hadn't made her.
"I am here like you asked my lord" Star had been waiting in front of Reborn's station, her calm disposition replaced by a frown that showed a lot of frustration.
She wasn't wearing her usual black dress with light blue highlights either, instead opting for a while shirt with black leotards and some form of blue waist cloth.
It was pretty different from her usual style.
hearing the man's voice got her attention, causing her to sigh. "Let's go then" the two of them entered the building, buying two tickets for a train to the Tourmaline desert.
The people in the station talked to her and smiled just by seeing her, the influence the girl had on the city and her actions in helping all of them made her some form of celebrity outside of being Champion.
As a kind stranger who didn't turn people down when they needed help.
The car of the train they selected was empty other than the two of them, most others were too since no one went to the desert these days as there was still too many dangers, and this situation gave Star the perfect opportunity to explain.
"Do you remember the future we visited?"
It had already been quite some time since the two of them traveled through time, but it was an experience Elias wouldn't forget.
"Of course, it is an event that I like to remind myself as to make a better future" he answered, adjusting his glasses. "is there a complication with time we must solve?"
Star looked at him, a complicated expression adorning her features.
"Do you remember why I was in the Reborn in the first place?" she asked another question.
(My lord is talking more than I have ever witnessed, is she trying to get me to see something?) The question he was posed with now didn't have a direct answer like before.
According to Star, she had been in her way to Reborn to get stronger for whatever reason, however the train she had come in was blown up by team Meteor and she had supposedly died there.
It was through Anna's wish to bring someone capable of stopping Lyn, that the current champion had survived the explosion of the train and was allowed to continue her adventure.
So if she was asking as to why she came here. "It was to grow stronger was it not? Or is there a motive we've missed?"
"I suppose that was the motive I gave, yes" halfheartedly agreement only emphasized that was not the truth. "but no, what brought me to Reborn was Anna's wish altogether"
That was unexpected.
"there was never any intention of me coming to reborn, I was never in the original timeline on the train" she revealed, her arms crossed.
"You see I am not from this time, I probably cant be considered a fully born human either, what I am is a being known as the interceptor" the name interceptor was something Elias had read from somewhere before, of Garufan origin, but he couldn't remember what it was.
"What Anna's wish did was bring me, the interceptor, born ten years from now, to this timeline" The idea that Star wasn't even born yet was absurd, yet when it came out of her mouth he couldn't just deny it.
"Anna needed someone capable of standing up to a god basically, and fate is simply a god's plan for everything" she lifted her hand, and a armored gloved appeared over it. "as the interceptor, I can intercept fate and change it, that's what Anna needed"
"but there was a catch, I would never stay here forever, I would return to Aevium eventually"
It explained so much of her sadness back there, her stopping the final anomaly meant only one thing.
Her time in Reborn was over.
"My lord if I may interrupt" the girl stopped talking when he asked. "why share this with me, I understand and appreciate you confiding in me, but I am sure most others would qualify better for this"
"you are right, I trust Heather, Aya, Adrienn, Cain and most of the others more, not that I doubt you now, but the reason is that there was one other person in that future we saw that wasn't there for ten years other than me"
It clicked, like a puzzle piece that simply made everything fall into place.
"We're returning to your future…and since we witnessed everyone in the future save for the two of us…" Elias was cut off from continuing.
"it means I brought you back with me, and I need to keep time as unchanged as I can" The dark timeline she and Melia had gone through was nightmarish and while there was no Storm-9 to stop at the moment she wouldn't take her changes.
"If that's the case then we would be ending a closed time loop then?" As a worshipper of Arceus the range of magnitude and capabilities of the three main children of the deity had been a subject of study of him, as such he had a more intricate knowledge on their domains.
Star nodded as a confirmation. "Celebi will take us to new East Gearan city in the future from there we will teleport to the Teila resort, where we will meet past me and tell her what she needs to do, then Celebi will transport her to the beginning of the time loop"
"Is it safe to assume the wish was what initiated this time loop then?" it was the only conclusion that the priest could get to if they were about to inform past Star of what to do. "if lady Celebi is to take us to the past, what is the purpose of coming to Tourmaline?"
"We're just getting away from the city…I…am too much of a coward to say goodbye to everyone"
Sure she could excuse herself saying that they weren't aware of what happened to her in the future, but she could still change that.
Yet she choose not to, because in her own words, she is a coward.
"It is a hard situation, you were aware it would happen eventually my lord, there is no shame in hurting by this goodbye" Elias tried his best to soothe the girl. "you have faced a multitude of situation where everyone else would have run, your bravery knows no bounds yet it is not endless"
"there is no shame in being scared of something"
Star was grateful for those words, she really was.
The rest of the way was time Star used to catch Elisas up to speed on the whole situation back in Aevium.
Whether it was Team Xen and their leaders, what it meant to be an interceptor or why it was most likely the reason she was the one the wish chose to help them instead of any of the other interceptors.
The league being a cover for defending against Madame X, the Archetype, Vitus Theolia all of it was summarized in a way Elias had enough time to process it.
By the time they were left on the little platform in the desert, Elias had a good picture of what was going on in the future.
"What of your silence?" he asked as they stepped of the platform. "In all my time alongside you or against you never have I heard you talk more than I have this day" And that was the truth.
To most others, while Star was a kind soul who wished to help, she was also an unstoppable force, a silent wave that devastated any who opposed her, even when it seemed as she was completely beaten, she just took it, and continued.
All in silence.
"I'm not someone good with words, so I tend to let others talk, but I wasn't like this back on Aevium"
She looked on, at the expanses of sand ahead of them, not to be looked back on.
"Before I came here I met with someone named Adrienn on Gearen, he said he was a gym leader in Reborn" Elias was surprised Star had met Adrienn even before coming here. "He was helping reconstruct Gearen from the dump that it was saying that it was a favor for an old friend"
"That's quite the unexpected meeting, but my lord, what does that have to do with your silence?" he asked again, the real question left unanswered.
"Because I told myself not to funnily enough" Star jokes, but it was true, the few things her future self had told her not to do were things she never did. "now I get why I did, it's because Adrienn is a very attentive individual, I knew that if my voice was heard by them, they would recognize it once I return to the future"
"Isn't that a bit farfetched my lord? " and he was right, simply because two people sounded similar or even looked alike didn't mean they were the same person.
Specially when the other was supposed to be ten years older.
"it would be yeah, if in the few conversations we had before me coming here they were always comparing me to 'their champion' and when they spoke like that, I'm sure they weren't talking about future Shelly" there was always that weird comparison Adrienn and later Aya made when they first met.
That Star felt familiar to them, not only that, since her name was the same, things began to become more than a coincidence.
Time travel wasn't strange for them either, as they had already met the time traveling Star again.
All that evidence made it clear to Elias why Star chose to remain in silence.
The two of them had been walking for quite some time now, arriving at the train wreckage that stood on the more aways parts of the desert. "I thought about going to Mirage Tower, but this should do"
Star forcefully opened a door from one of the cars that, while damaged, was still intact, taking the only pokeball in her belt and throwing it. "Celebi, it's time can you please take us forward in time?"
"Brii bi" the green time traveling Pokemon was out and floating happily in circles around Star.
She then proceeded to circle Elias too, as a greeting. "A pleasure to be in your presence Lady Celebi" he greeted back before turning to Star. "my lord, I couldn't help but notice you lack the rest of your team, are you leaving them behind?"
Star almost looked offended and only the fact that it was a pretty logical thing to ask was what stopped her from giving an aggressive answer. "They all know what's going on, I promised to get them back once I get to the future and they've accepted the wait"
It hurt her to leave them for so long, but they couldn't come, Celebi couldn't take so many of them so her primary team decided to stay with them until she returned to take care of everyone.
"very well, I shall trust your judgement" Was all Elias said.
"don't say anything to her" was the last thing the Interceptor told her companion.
Celebi then opened the portal to the past as instructed, and the two of them walked in.
A pink haired Star had just entered her room in Tesla's house Terajuma.
After an incredible long day and having to face the trial Melia prepared in order to get the annihilation spell she was completely out of gas.
The vestiges of friends being betrayed or failed by her were a nightmare for her to see, and she still wasn't sure which of the two was the reason they looked at her with such hate.
"That spell better be worth it" She grunted as she fell to her bed.
Her bed, her room, she never really expected it to be a place she could call that.
Her nothingness of an existence outside of being an interceptor never truly gave her a home, and she would forever be grateful for Tesla's acceptance into hers.
"Yeah sorry but you'll have to stay a little longer away from here" a voice, her own voice interrupted her attempt at a relaxing trip.
In front of her, coming out of what looked like a portal was…herself, only that she was blonde.
Behind her was a man with black shades that looked like an old priest.
"Who are you?!" with haste she prepared a Pokeball in her hand, with Infernape(Honey) ready to come out if necessary.
Her clone looked at her funny, almost as if she had expected this.
"Bloody f…okay, follow the script" soon the other Star covered herself in the armor resulting of her power, just to undo it later. "Ok kid, let me explain"
"I'm you but a year older, currently I'm exiting a time loop, the one you're about to enter, because of a wish, what you have to do is go to ten years in the past do things and then you'll become me, understood?"
Clearly the past Star was absolutely not having this, with enough nonsense in her life. "What a-?" but before she could even begin to voice a complain, her supposed future her interrupts.
"The armor Is something only we have as interceptor, neither Cresent nor V have shown any kind of usage of something like that despite being one too" was the first proof of being the same person. "the names of the people that conform our body soul amalgamation are Aevis, Aevia, Axel, Ariana, Aero, Alain with Aevia being the one who'd body we look like"
"No, I'm not an illusion of Clear" as to prove her point Star decidedly cut one of her fingers with a knife that was laying around in her room from eating here. "Solid and bleeding, she can't make those"
"If you don't believe anything I say then what will happen is a repeat of our attempt at saving Vivian" Was the future Star last evidence ending it with. "We both don't want to see the alternate timeline that will result from this, believe me" which was why she stopped it in the first place.
And she wasn't sure if a time gear amulet would protect them from a timeline change from an Arceus.
For the past her, this was insane, it was strange, like everything she was about to do was accounted for, every question, demands of proof of things only she would know.
The consequences of messing up time.
The meaning behind it crystal clear.
"We've had this conversation already haven't we?" Finally, past Star accepted what was going on.
With resignation, she looked at her future counterpart, taller, more buff looking and clearly more resolved than her.
She had grown from what had been going on in the past.
And sure enough, Star nodded at her. "I was in your place, now what you're going to do is just walk behind me, where a portal will open, you get one question"
"also, all of our Pokemon remain here, you can't take them"
As she said that Celebi, who had been content sitting on Elias shoulders finally made an appearance, creating the gate to the train where she was supposed to begin her adventure in reborn.
Past Star wanted to question why she couldn't take her friends with her, the presence of literal Celebi, but she saw her future self also had no pokeballs on her, meaning she wasn't the only one who left something behind, so she put all pokeballs on the table and said a heartfelt but short goodbye as the future her had already made her gate.
As for her one question. "What am I supposed to do there?" she was returning eventually to the exact moment where she left as the situation clearly showed, so her worries for her friends here could wait.
"Just do what we always do, what we believe it's right…and don't treat it like a temporary thing, make friends, enjoy it as much as you suffer it" With those words out Star pushed her past self into the portal, giving her no time to react. "And don't speak"
After that, it closed, leaving Elias, Star and Celebi all together in one room.
"Celebi, take Elias to Sashila village with teleport" Star asked suddenly. "Elias, I want you to tell everyone else that I have something important to tell them in the rose theater tomorrow in the league building under the big building in the middle of the village"
"remember to use my name, don't call me my lord and ask them to take you there too, if they don't then Celebi please take him there tomorrow" Star didn't wait a moment after the other her left. "if they don't believe you then Celebi will take you, there's an inn in Sashila where you can stay"
Elias didn't question her and neither did Celebi, accounting that she had a plan in place for this.
There wasn't, all she knew was that tomorrow there was a party in the Rose Theater and that she wanted Elias gone right now.
She didn't want him, nor anyone see this.
And mimicking his past self, Star collapsed in the bed.
The situation finally catching up to her, all the friend's life she would miss, the promise she made to future Shelly, who was now the current one, broken.
Her hair color soon enough changed back to Pink, the hair change was a neat trick she learned through her Reborn travels that made her not need dye anymore.
And as everything was left in silence.
Star for once in her short exitance allowed herself to cry.
As leaving friends behind had always been her most prominent fear.
Someone had come inside the house when she walked in.
Not to say it was a bad thing, finding a pair of extra shoes at her door had been quite a delight, as she recognized who those belonged to.
she loved whenever Star visited, whether it was alone or bringing Amber with her.
Ever since she got fly and her badge to use it she's taken a liking to coming here.
That kid was already part of her family, one she knew Amber considered a sibling already.
However, when she went up the stairs to greet her, all she could hear were cries.
When her mother was lost in the SS Oceana, Star had been a devastated mess, but she didn't cry.
The attacks on Terajuma didn't make her either when her friend fell into a volcano.
And from what she could tell, the later issues they were having when they came to visit didn't push her this much either.
So hearing Star cry, it worried Tesla a lot, because of the implication that finally, in all her travels, she was being pushed too far.
The single mother prepared herself for a rough conversation, knocked twice and opened the door.
The room was in darkness, in the bed was Star, with no pokeball on her belt all of them left on the table.
The door creaked the more she opened it, making the girl aware of her presence.
When she noticed her presence was acknowledged Tesla turned the lights on, to get a better view on Star.
It was clear something was different.
"Tesla…sorry for crashing in without warning" she softly apologized.
Her demeanor wasn't as weak as her voice portrayed, rather, it was the one of someone tired, someone who was letting it all out, just venting.
The crying was much the same.
"Dear, I told you this was your room" the elite four member smiled at the girl. "you can come whenever you need"
"I know, thank you" Star did her best to wipe her tears away.
At the same time, Tesla walked closer to her finally getting to see how much she had changed.
But that wasn't important at the moment, rather, the reason for her tears were. "now, is there anything I can do to help you?"
"…No, everything is done…" even in tears, she smiled.
At the end of the day, she had done what she was supposed to and returned home stronger than ever, ready to take on Team Xen.
All she needed was to let her feelings settle.
"I'll hold you to that, but if you want, I can make you the rose tea you like so much" was the mother's offer to the girl. "we can talk about what happened if you want too, maybe that'll ease your mind"
Star really missed Tesla, she really did. "Yeah, I'd like that"
The Star from Reborn was someone who suppressed herself, her emotions and voice for the sake of keeping time stable, that's why none of them could know the truth about Star's presence.
The Star from Aevium on the other hand, didn't have those limitations, as such, she didn't have to hold anything back.
"I've been away from more than a year" was Start's first confession.
Both trainers spent a good amount of time of the night talking.
The surprise in Tesla's face when she revealed she was the previous champion of Reborn, the one who had supposedly disappeared was a quite a sight to see.
Star couldn't help but laugh.
The explanation behind the time travel wasn't something she went much in depth in and Tesla didn't pry it out of her, respecting Star's desire to keep certain parts of the story to herself.
All in all, it was what Star needed, a way to ground herself back into her own time, while accepting that yes, she had left people behind, but they were living their best lives.
In the end, morning had arrived which meant Star had to make her way to the Rose Theater
"Do you have to go? I'd feel more comfortable if you had a proper rest before leaving" Tesla, being the worrying hen she is, tried to reason with her to stay a bit longer.
"No time should be wasted Tesla, beside, I'm a champion now, I can take a bit of tiredness"
The woman just smiled at what basically was one of her daughters.
"Ok Hun, I'll trust you" the smile she gave her portraying all of the emotions she wanted. "Go on then"
Star left the house after giving Tesla one last hug.
Ready for what's to come.
—END—