Operation GEAR: The Gardener of Gratitude

Jacob's document there was a blast from the past haha. I reread one chapter from the original version of this fic where you had Matt find out and very upset with it (for obvious reasons lol). I do like you had the orb relate to the city's history morseo here.



Mhm yeah Shaymin is still keeping something from the group, but I suspect that'll be revealed sooner or later.

All right, now the battle! Quite enjoyed it a lot overall. That was a tough battle indeed considering half of Rosalita's Pokemon are weak against ice types. I do like some stuff going on like the use of Role Play and Mega Evolution with Abomasnow, and Regice portrayed like a cival fighter. The Pokemon watching the fight ws a nice touch too. As for the flashback, while I liked that scene with Fernando and Rosalita there I feel it might be beter placed before or after the battle if possible? I get what you're going for, but I felt the flashback broke the flow of the action a bit there.

Now the second flashback with Fernando and his family is better placed. We get a bit more info of Regigigas's role to the kingdom, and of course Fernando is still upset not being chosen as the leader. Seems Cassy is helping Fernando out like in the last version, but this time wants the orb for herself. Matt and others probably won't react well to that.

Looking forward to more!

Heyyo! So because you submitted another part of Gardener for the next UG, I'm just gonna review the prologue and first two chapters now. Save a little something for sometime else, you know?

But that said, I fully admit I don't remember much about the original fic. It's been, oh, nearly ten years since I've read it? That's scary. So if anything, I'm probably going to compare it to Angel of Reckoning, which I do remember ... and which, to be honest, I can see a marked improvement from. Like, no offense, but it's all in the group dynamics. The thing about Angel of Reckoning is that you have Matt, but then you have two people who rag on him quite a bit and a fourth person who doesn't really interact with him. This can be funny at times, but honestly, it's also a little uncomfortable at others, either because of Nekou's overt sexuality or, not to give away too much of your personal self, but I always kinda read Matt as a self-insert. (No, I'm not saying your name is Matt. I'm saying you have a lot of similarities to his character, and in any case, it usually goes that an author pours a bit of themselves into their main protag OCs anyway.) So conversely, to see him actually competent and respected here, to see him go entire conversations where he's not insulted, is actually really, really nice. The group is all-around tighter here, and they really do read more as traveling partners who already trust one another, even if some of the group's members met the others literally only a few hours ago. In other words, there's just more chemistry in action here. Positive chemistry, which in turn makes Matt more of a likable character. (Here, he's not really going out of his way to prove that he's worth something, which means his achievements are a bit more subtle, which in short means the story doesn't feel like it's trying to push that Matt is a tech genius/scientist. It's a lot more focused on plot and building other characters, consequently, which in turn means that characterization feels a lot more careful and plot feels a lot more ... there, to to speak.)

Actually, that's another thing. Eleanor. I can really tell with her how much you've improved over the years. Like, Eleanor is a lot more than her fascination with technology, and you can tell. Her reactions (for example, to that part where Matt talks about his experiments with clean energy) aren't flip-out overexcited or anything; she feels more like a person with a strong interest in this thing, rather than a fanatic.

I know. This is probably coming out completely wrong, but what I mean to say is this fic feels solid when it comes to characterization. Even Shaymin, who can easily become annoying with its speech tics and tendency to speak its mind, doesn't feel like a cartoon character but instead like simply a wise, fully fledged character.

When it comes to the plot, I have a bit of praise and a bit of crit. First, the praise. I do like how quickly things are established. While I sort of don't quite know how to feel about the fact that we know exactly who's good and who's evil already (Idk, having some doubts about whether Rosalita could be trusted over Fernando or vice versa would've been nice to add to political intrigue, but I can also see how that might not work for this story.), I really like how quickly the quest for Rosalita to regain the crown is established. Rosalita herself is a fun character—focused, driven, and clearly a good person, if Shaymin's to be believed. Of course, there's still the question of how she'll convince the rest of her country that she's not a murderer, but hey. Political intrigue and all. I just hope it'll affect how Matt and the others go about things from here on out because 1) it'll be fun to see how long they can keep their ties to someone accused of straight-up regicide on the DL, and 2) it'll be even more fun to see what happens if they don't. I mean, Fernando was already dropping hints of how close he is to snapping with his totally friendly tour of the royal mausoleum palace, so it'll be nice to see what happens when the pretenses are finally dropped.

Plus, there's also Noel and Leon, who are just fun characters, but then again, I'm also a sucker for mysterious lackeys showing up to do the dirty work of the Big Bad now and then. It's very Team Rocket but with more competence. Idk, I just had to give a nod to clearly the best characters in this story so far.

Anyway, the crit. It's actually something Bay brought up earlier too, and that's the flow and breaks of the chapters. This is something that was a thing in AoR as well, so it might be worth noting/comparing it to that here. But baaaaasically, yeah, I kinda agree with Bay's note about how the second chapter went on for a bit longer than it probably should have. There's actually a natural break just after the Regirock battle, either right as Rosalita says "continue on" or just after Leon and Noel actually show up. See, the bulk of the part before this establish who Rosalita is, how she should be trusted, and then why she's the one who's chosen. Thus, the "climax" of this chapter is actually with the battle against Regirock, which is why it feels weird to get through that, only to realize you've only gotten through half the chapter. (That and one would assume that a chapter that includes a battle against a straight-up legendary would end once the legendary falls.) So if you break the chapter there, you'd have a complete thought in a sense, plus a cliffhanger that leads directly into a battle against Rosalita's biggest threat, which means that the focus would shift from Rosalita's establishment in the previous chapter to her quest in the next. In other words, think of a chapter like a sentence. You have a main concept in every chapter, and when that concept changes, you'll need to break off the chapter and start a new one.

Sure, this causes your second chapter to be split into two smaller, more bite-sized chunks, but to be honest, when you're working with e-writing, that's actually a good thing because of the other reason why the second chapter might be difficult to get through: the longer you go, the less likely you'll hold a reader's attention. I fully admit (and apologize for it) that this is kinda why it kept taking me so long to catch up with AoR. I'd start, but without any real way to keep track of my place, I'd end up having to start over again if I ran out of time to be in front of the computer. Alternatively, if there feels like a natural break in a chapter or if there were simply a lot of scene breaks, I'd pick that break to go do something else and then just ... kinda run into the "can't keep track of where I am" issue. Finally, there's also the fact that it's kinda a proven thing. While some folks can binge-read stuff, screens still tire out the eyes, so not everyone can binge-read a massive amount of content in one go. Shorter chapters means it's easy to break up that content and give your eyes a rest.

Or tl;dr, there's a lot that can be said for breaking up/having shorter chapters, and a lot of it centers around how to keep a reader going.

This isn't to say that I'm absolutely insisting you go back and break up the chapter. On the contrary, I'd encourage you to keep going with the rewrite. I'm just saying it might be worth it to keep in mind down the road.

So! Overall, that aside, I think this is a strong revision, and even if one didn't know this was a rewrite, it's a pretty solid story as it is. It'll be fun to see where it goes from here.

I emerge from the void to post a review here as well!

First off, I am so, so sorry it took me this long to get around to reading this!! But now here i am

I liked the sinnoh underground reference right off the bat haha. And also the stuff about the Griseous Orb has me extremely *eyes emoji*. The transition to showing it atop Fernando's staff was a rly well-done surprise.

Noooo Rosalita trying not to cry ;-; And Noel realizing that she and Matt have some similarities was really touching too.

Hmmm, Shaymin's definitely up to something here... I'm interested to see where that plot thread goes.

I rly liked this bit: "All he had to see was that she was capable of leading the kingdom, then he would come to his senses. She truly believed he would. She needed to." I like that she's believing in Fernando's capacity for change not just for his sake, but to keep *herself* going through all this.

The battle with Regice is appropriately intense, and as always you do a great job giving us the sense that this is a battle with higher stakes than usual. I also really liked the lore bit with Clear Body. It's interesting that Rosalita has to fight an uphill battle here, but manages to hold her own even with many Pokemon at a type disadvantage. The inclusion of mega evolution on the opponent's side was a neat twist!

I really liked the flashback with Fernando, too - another glimpse of the person he used to be, that Rosalita believes she can still save. And also, the way you fit Pokemon battling into the gratitude theme too. And wah, everyone cheering for her...!!

This line made me laugh out loud:
“Don’t get to countin’ your Torchic yet, Bro,” she warned. “Those eggs are all in one basket and they ain’t hatched yet.”
Clever mix of metaphors here!

Love how Rosalita wins and then immediately dissociates lmao

Regice having a male and suave voice............ /runs

ohhhhh the map being an image of regigigas was really clever!!

*joseph joestar voice* OHHHHH SHITTTTTT cassy!!!! cASSY!!!! I am on the Edge of my Seat here, that was a hell of a twist. Im almost glad i waited so long to read this bc now the cliffhanger won't be as bad but oh MAN. excited to see where this goes!!

My good friend Ren helped me with the flashback featured early in this chapter. The scene itself was almost entirely her idea, so I cannot thank her enough for it. Also, Bay’s character Jacob appears in this chapter, so once again, credit to her.

I also must give a lot of credit to my excellent beta reader, Fobbie. He really did a lot to get this chapter into shape, and always does wonderful work.

-:-

CHAPTER 6: The End of History

-:-

If the ride to Registeel’s fortress the day before had been awkward for Matt, Rosalita and the others, their trip to the Golden City proved to be positively unbearable. Eleanor drove them to the area indicated by the puzzle box’s clue, and when they got there, the cube led them off into the brush with its light.

The weight of everything that had happened so far weighed heavily on their minds, as did the knowledge of what still lay ahead of them. Noel and Leon proved the exception, unaware of the true meaning behind what they were involved in, and were blissfully untouched by the oppressive atmosphere lingering over the rest of the group. The two siblings only knew that they were going to the Golden City, and couldn’t stop talking excitedly about it as the group hiked. Sheena entertained them with conversation, as did Eleanor.

Not one word from any of them registered in Rosalita’s mind. The princess, walking at the head of the group with Matt as he held the box aloft, had shut them all out. All she could think of was something she remembered from her childhood.

~:~

La Ciudad Dorada was truly an oasis in every sense of the word. Despite being completely surrounded by miles of desert, it had plenty of water and its land overflowed with life thanks to Shaymin’s power and the gratitude of the people that fueled it. It didn’t frequently rain there, but what they proved to be enough for their little emerald island amid the sands.

But the oasis’ idyll was marred by one primary shortcoming. When the rains came to La Ciudad Dorada, they came with the force of a hundred Water Spouts. Such a violent storm was outside the young Rosalita’s bedroom window that night, and the sound of the rain pounding the glass terrified her. She tried everything she could to hide from it, drawing the semi-translucent curtain around her bed and just barely peeking out from under her silk sheets.

None of it helped soothe her fears at all. A bolt of lightning flashed near her window, but before she could react, a huge crack of thunder shook the castle. Rosalita couldn’t stop herself from screaming at the top of her lungs and diving under the sheets, where she started to cry.

Between her frightened wailing and the continued rhythm of the torrential downpour outside, she could barely hear the door to her room opening a few minutes later.

“Rosalita?” It was Fernando. Her brother tentatively ventured further into her room, focusing his attention like a laser on her bed. Though at first confused, his expression quickly turned into one of concern when her crying sank in. “Rosalita? What’s wrong?!”

Shaymin padded into the room around Fernando’s feet and called out, “You are okay, yes?”

Rosalita couldn’t reply. She just kept sobbing, although she did stick her head out from under her sheets enough for Fernando and Shaymin to see her. The prince and the Pokémon ran to the side of her bed and pulled the curtain open, Shaymin doing its best to help by tugging at the curtain with its mouth. She still didn’t stop crying, but when she looked at Fernando, he could see that her eyes were already red.

“What… is… it?!” Shaymin demanded as it pulled itself up onto the bed. Once it conquered the piece of furniture, it let out a tired huff and shook its head. “Tell us what has you so upset, yes?”

Shaymin had no idea how much it had tempted fate, but fate immediately delivered its answer. Another lightning bolt flashed through the window, followed promptly by its accompanying thunderclap. Rosalita dove back under the sheets, though her cries were starting to weaken.

“I see, yes,” Shaymin uttered, trying to take on an authoritative tone. “Lightning and thunder is very frightening, yes…”

“You’re not helping, Shaymin!” Fernando complained before turning back to his sister. He tried to pull back the sheets, but Rosalita initially fought to hold them in place. Despite this, he persisted, and she soon gave up her resistance.

“Th-The light and noise is scaring me,” she whimpered once Fernando got her out in the open.

“But it’s outside,” Fernando replied, placing his hands on his hips.

“It doesn’t matter!” Rosalita threw up her hands and knocked away a Clefairy doll that was on the bed next to her. It nearly hit Fernando on its way to the floor.

Fernando picked up the doll and carefully regarded it. Looking at the plush toy gave him an idea, and he threw it back onto Rosalita’s bed before seizing her hand and pulling her out. “Come here! I need to show you something!”

“What?” she sniffed.

“You don’t have anything to be afraid of, because…” Fernando let go of his sister’s hand and ran to the corner of the room, where Rosalita had piled all of her other dolls. The biggest of them was a huge plush Regigigas, so great in height that it eclipsed the child prince. Fernando pulled it away from the rest of the pile and positioned himself behind it in such a way that he could manipulate its arms while pushing it. He forced his voice from the back of his throat when he spoke again, making it sound deeper. “...because I am Regigigas, the great protector! When my subjects are in danger, I go forth to protect them!”

Fernando started pushing the doll towards the window. He was unable to see Rosalita while he did so, but he did notice that he no longer heard her crying.

“You will stop making Rosalita cry, storm!” he yelled at the glass, keeping his exaggerated voice up. “Stop, or I will come out there and destroy you!” As if the storm was responding to Fernando’s challenge, another lightning strike and boom of thunder occurred. The prince noticed that his sister didn’t seem to react this time, but still, he kept up the act. “That’s it! I warned you, now prepare to face my wrath!”

That ‘wrath’ amounted to the boy roaring at the storm while waving the plush Regigigas’s arms around. It was such a ridiculous spectacle that Rosalita could feel her fear melting away as her muscles unwound. She finally fell to her knees on the red carpet and broke down - broke down laughing. The sight of her brother cartoonishly challenging the elements from the other side of her window was just too much of a delight to ignore.

It was exactly the reaction Fernando was hoping for. He released the doll and ran to embrace his sister. “There we go. Isn’t that better?”

“Yes, it is…” she murmured. “Thank you.”

“Don’t you be scared of that stuff anymore, I’ll stay here to keep you safe.” Fernando put his hand on Rosalita’s head, then teasingly added, “And if I’m not enough, Regigigas can come back.”

Rosalita threw her arms around her brother with such force that she nearly knocked him over. “I don’t think I need Regigigas if you’re around. Thank you…”

Even as the storm produced another clap of thunder outside, the royal siblings descended into shared hysterical laughter. Shaymin watched approvingly from the bed, several flowers having sprouted from its back.

~:~

Thinking back on that night only made Rosalita more upset. Her hands tightened into fists and her teeth clenched behind a sharp frown, though she wasn’t consciously aware of either action.

“No, Fernando, you’re the one who doesn’t understand!” she thought, finding herself growing angry at her brother. “Regigigas is not a toy! It’s not something we have the right to trifle with! If you cannot see that, then I must protect not only the kingdom, but you from yourself!”

Rosalita remained lost in her haze of memories and emotions until a sudden shout from Matt popped her bubble. She blinked her way back to reality in time to see that they had reached a clearing, where a gigantic, sheer rock face seemingly stymied them. Easily at least thirty feet tall by Matt’s estimation, the wall in the side of the mountain seemed at once an impossible obstacle, and a warning to go no further.

“It’s right here!” he told the others. “It has to be!”

“I guess Matt’s thing is ancient golden cities like mine is machines,” Eleanor joked to Sheena, Noel and Leon.

“Something certainly does have him fired up,” Sheena said in agreement.

“What are you all waitin’ for?!” Leon demanded of them. “We gotta get there and get Princess to become… uh… Queenie, I guess! Sis and I ain’t gettin’ what we want without that, did you forget?! How can it be here?”

“You’ll see,” Matt told Leon. “It actually reminds me of what we found when we were searching for Regirock and Registeel.”

“I concur,” Rosalita said. Facing Matt with intensity burning in her green eyes, she requested, “Please use the puzzle box to open the way.”

“No, you should do it,” he replied, surprising the princess by pushing the box into her hands. He then took his laptop out of his bag, and as he opened it he said, “You’re the one with a birthright to be here.”

“That may be so, but…” Rosalita lowered her head. Did he really see things that way even though it was his adventure too, following in his grandfather’s footsteps? “I think, as Sutter Chiaki’s heir, you also have a right to visit this place.”

“But you are the heir to the throne of this land,” he countered, though in a bland tone that betrayed his inner turmoil. “Me? I’m just… an observer of what is to happen.”

Rosalita opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She instead turned away in shame. “I am so happy that this is nearly over,” she thought. “I cannot avoid telling him for much longer…”

While Rosalita contemplated her situation, Sheena came up alongside her and touched her shoulder, making her jump. “I’m sorry for sneaking up on you… are you alright?”

“Why… why do you ask?” the princess stuttered, still off-balance from her thoughts being interrupted.

“I cannot say how I would feel knowing I was about to inherit immortality and take the reins of a land my family has led for seven hundred years…” When she saw Rosalita flinch, Sheena hurried to add, “But you’re the one who can do it! You’ve proved it! To be honest, I don’t think I could do it.”

There was a lot Rosalita wanted to say in response to Sheena’s praise, but her escalating worry left her unable to put it all into words. It wasn’t just her nervousness over the immense responsibility she would soon be taking on. No, what was really striking fear into her was a sinking feeling about what she and the others didn’t know. They had no idea what Fernando had been up to back at the palace. They had no idea about Cassy leaking their location to him. As long as her brother’s activity remained an enigma, he posed a danger she couldn’t help but dread.

Even though she felt afraid, though, Rosalita knew she had little choice but to keep pressing on. Swallowing her fear, she responded to Sheena’s praise with a simple nod and smile, then lifted the puzzle box toward the graying sky.

Almost immediately, the cube erupted with light with the force of a great volcano. The blinding glow flooded the clearing, and as it spilled from its source it began etching intricate images into both the ground and the wall.

“How much more weird stuff is gonna happen today, exactly?!” Noel complained from the back of the group, covering her eyes like all the others. “Ever since Bro and I started followin’ you it’s been one thing after another!”

Before anyone could answer the hunter’s demands, the overflowing light from the box abruptly cut off. The area went back to normal in an instant, save for one significant change: the entrance of a great golden temple had materialized in the mountain while they had been blinded. Both its front and the ground before it were covered in elaborate depictions of Regigigas, Regice, Regirock, Registeel and Shaymin amongst lush forest settings.

“Once again I bring an heir to the throne here,” the real Shaymin said to its human companions. It sighed, though it was careful not to let on how doubtful and ashamed it actually felt. “And another generation I end up misleading…” it thought, sadly shaking its head. In order to hide these feelings from the humans, it immediately put on its usual demeanor and told Rosalita, “Go forth, you! March to your destiny!”

A small gasp slipped from Rosalita’s lips, but she swiftly composed herself. “Yes, of course.” The princess could see that the path into the mountain was quite dark, so she turned to Eleanor and said, “Please have Litwick show us the way.”

“You got it, Rosa!” Eleanor replied with a wink. She walked past the others, took Litwick’s Poké Ball from her skirt and opened it, allowing the candle Pokémon to materialize on her shoulder. She scratched Litwick’s cheek, earning a coo from the Ghost-and-Fire-type, and said to her, “Rosa says we need your light. Are you up for it?”

Litwick chirped happily as the flame on her head grew. Pleased with this, Eleanor made her way through the golden shrine’s entrance and into the cave. Rosalita followed closely behind, trailed herself by Shaymin, who was hanging its head as it flew. Matt, Sheena, Noel and Leon brought up the rear, with Sutter’s grandson careful to keep his camera running as they drew ever closer to the treasure they sought.

-:-

Rosalita had no way of knowing just how prescient her fears about Fernando really were. He wasn’t just on his way to the Golden City, he was going there with the Doradan skyship freshly armed with the weapons he had added to it. Despite being an incredibly complex craft using a great amount of machinery made with Arcane Science, it could be piloted by a single person. The minimal manpower requirements proved invaluable for Fernando’s efforts to keep the palace advisors and servants as far away from interfering in his plans as he could.

He sat in the skyship’s bridge, moving his right hand over the glass panel on which most of the vessel’s controls were projected. There were many levers surrounding the panel and a single handle mounted in the floor in front of the pilot’s seat, but Fernando had no need for them unless he had to change altitude, which he had no intention of doing until he returned home. Many of the city’s citizens had seen him depart in the ship, so he knew he would have to give them some sort of explanation. No matter, he thought. He could deal with that later on.

“I will protect the kingdom no matter what price I must pay. No matter what price…” he muttered to himself as the ship navigated the darkening skies. Those words soon became like a mantra to him, and he tightened his left hand around the Griseous Orb’s staff. “No matter what… no matter what… no matter what…”

Suddenly, a vision of Rosalita burst into Fernando’s mind, blocking out the control panel in front of him. He blinked several times before he was able to dispel it. Troubled by the vision, he looked out over the vast landscape below and started breathing heavily.

“Why can’t you understand?” he said out loud, his body beginning to tremble. “I was born for one reason, to protect this place… please just let me do it. Don’t make me have to give up even more…”

-:-

With every inch the group advanced further down the dark, narrow staircase, the air around them grew thicker and ever more oppressive. It was true that there was little circulation so deep beneath the mountain, of course, but the stagnant atmosphere wasn’t the main source of the weight they felt. No, it was the knowledge that all of them - even Noel and Leon - understood that every step brought them closer to the Golden City, and thus closer to the the history that would unfold in these musky tunnels. It was so quiet in the passage that Matt, Rosalita and the others could hear the steady rhythm of water dripping somewhere nearby.

After following the path Litwick illuminated for some time, they reached a point where the stairs stopped and the tunnel opened up into a much bigger chamber. Eleanor hesitatingly advanced into the larger space to see how much light Litwick could fill it with, only to discover that it was too big to get the glow very far at all.

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” she said with a shrug.

“Don’t give up just yet,” Matt told her, prompting her to turn around. She saw him give Sheena his laptop, remove his right glove, and dip his fingers into a small bowl in the wall at the end of the tunnel. “Oil,” he said, rubbing the substance in the bowl between his fingers. Turning to Eleanor, he beckoned her, “Bring Litwick over and light this so we can see what we’re dealing with, would you?”

“You got it.” While Matt put his glove back on and reclaimed his laptop, Eleanor made her way back to the bowl. Litwick hopped off her shoulder and plopped next to the reservoir of oil. “Light it up, Litwick,” Eleanor told her.

The candle Pokémon responded by chirping happily, then hopped to turn around. She lowered the flame on her head until it touched the oil, igniting the fluid.

Eleanor, with Litwick having jumped back onto her shoulder, joined the others as they watched the results of their action unfold. The flames quickly spread out of the bowl of oil, following canals set into the chamber’s walls. Bit by bit, the veil of darkness was lifted, revealing to the awestruck explorers what they had found. They had no idea when they entered, but they had uncovered a temple that dwarfed everything they’d seen to that point in both size and splendor.

Directly ahead of them was a gigantic, vividly colored mural, framed by gold pillars that glistened in the light cast by the dancing flames. It depicted countless people clad in festive clothing, dancing alongside many Pokémon. A lush landscape surrounded them, with bushes, trees and vines sprouting from the rich grass under their feet. What caught the attention of Matt, Rosalita, Eleanor, Sheena, Noel and Leon the most, however, were the images at the mural’s center. An old man wearing flowing white robes stood next to an image of Shaymin, his hands raised in reverence to Regigigas. The image of the great titan dwarfed everything else in the mural, with its tremendous arms reaching from one corner of the art to the other. All the group observing the mural could do was fan out as they took it in, humbled by the obvious gratitude it depicted.

“Yo, that’s Regigigas, ain’t it?” Leon remarked to Rosalita in wonder. “Since you said you beat those other three, that means this really is the place…”

“Princess, who’s that old geezer there?” Noel demanded.

“It’s the first king…” Rosalita softly replied. She knew plenty about her ancestor and her homeland’s history, but seeing such a depiction of them with her own eyes left her stunned. That she knew how tantalizingly close to her destiny she was didn’t help matters. All she could do was take a single step forward and cover her mouth with her hand, leaving her voice to slip between her fingers. “We call him Fernando the Great… and those are the ancient Doradan people. This is the paradise Shaymin made our land into, and the paradise Regigigas protects… as that paradise was when it was but a newborn.”

Expecting some sort of humorous comment from Shaymin after the princess praised it, both Sheena and Eleanor both pulled their eyes away from the mural’s hypnotic imagery. When they looked at the Pokémon, however, both were surprised to see it hanging its head and not reacting to Rosalita’s words.

Just then, Sheena took notice of a stone monolith in the corner of her eye. It had been right there in front of them the entire time, but with how vast the mural was, they completely overlooked it. Sheena went to the pillar and, after discovering Braille characters on it, called for the others to join her.

“What is it?” Matt asked her as the rest of the group made their way to join her.

“Look at this,” Sheena replied, pointing over her shoulder at the Braille. “Another puzzle.”

“So it is…” Rosalita quietly said. “It would appear that the tests have not ended just yet…”

Instinctively understanding what had to be done, Matt moved to the head of the group to examine the message, as he’d repeatedly done before. He couldn’t help himself from wishing it would be the last of the puzzles, though he kept those thoughts to himself. “I want this to be over, but if I got that wish, it would force Rosalita to take up her obligations sooner… I have no right to do that to her.”

Matt’s internal conflict led to him freezing with his hand just over the monolith’s message. He was seized by indecision, unable to fully commit to opening the path to their fates.

“Is something wrong?” Rosalita piped up. “Are you not able to read it?”

That interjection was all Matt needed to put his doubts down. Rosalita was fully aware of what would likely await beyond the puzzle, so if she wanted to solve it, he had faith that she was ready for it.

After sighing in relief, Matt said to her, “No, it’s fine. Let’s see…” As was his habit , he ran his finger along the Braille glyphs while he read them aloud. “He who shall wear the crown, here lies your final test. The bounty of gratitude sits before you. Complete thus the depiction of gratitude by opening the lock separating you from your destiny. But beware, for the bounty of gratitude shall only be reaped by the worthy. All others shall face the wrath of Gaia.”

“The wrath of Gaia...” Sheena ominously repeated.

“Do you know what it means by that?” Rosalita asked her.

“Only in broad strokes,” the priestess confirmed. She made her way to Matt’s side and touched the Braille, then looked up at the mural. “Gaia enriches our lives, that much is true. But the teachings of my people warn that if one misuses Gaia, it can reverse and become deadly. The bounty that Gaia normally gives us can become a corrupt force that drains the life from the land instead of empowering it.”

“Of course messin’ with ancient powers would turn out to involve a curse,” Noel said with a shrug. “Even a street urchin like me knows that much.”

“There certainly is truth to that,” Eleanor concurred, her manner much more serious than normal.

“This curse…” All the color had drained from Rosalita’s face after she heard Sheena’s explanation. In an instant, the stakes at play had risen exponentially, and she knew it. “If Fernando gets here, he could end up destroying all we have left without even realizing it…” Yet, the fate of La Ciudad Dorada wasn’t the only thing on her mind. It was something else, something far more personal, that drove her to pivot around and confront Shaymin. “I am aware that the waters of the Fountain of Life only flow when you prompt them to. What would happen if the wrong person were still able to drink from it?”

When Shaymin failed to answer immediately, Rosalita knew her worst fears were correct. Her posture weakened, but conversely, the determined expression on her face hardened even further. Shaymin saw this, but decided to still answer anyway.

“Sheena has already told you,” the mythical Pokémon admitted. “The energy of the land flows through the waters of the Fountain of Life. If it were to be misused, the consequences would be the same as those for any other abuse of that power.”

“I thought so.” When Rosalita turned to Matt, the steely look in her eyes sent a chill down his spine. “I cannot worry about what will become of me anymore. We must find the way forward.”

“I agree.” Matt couldn’t bring himself to tell her that she didn’t need to sacrifice her own well-being. “But what lock does it mean?”

Almost on cue, Eleanor piped up, “You guys, look at this.” She pointed in the direction of the wall behind the monolith, prompting the others to search there.

What they found was a second mural set into the lower edge of the first one. Though much smaller than the one that dominated the chamber, it still towered over the humans observing it. It was crafted in a circular shape, and even more unusually, it was divided into three sections that increased in size the further they went from the smaller mural’s center.

Matt approached the strange piece of art and carefully pushed on one of its three sections. It shifted slightly under his hand. “I think this is our so-called lock,” he told the others, “but what exactly are we looking at here? Clearly, all we need to do is set these wheels in the correct positions to form an image, but…”

Despite Matt trailing off, the rest of the group understood what he was getting at. There were no easily defined shapes to be found, nothing that could provide a starting point for deducing the mural’s true nature. The curved lines and dots of varying sizes spread across the wheels defied the best efforts of the entire group to solve the puzzle.

“There ain’t anythin’ there that makes sense,” Noel remarked to her brother. She and Leon had been trying to help, but to no avail. “Might as well just be blank space.”

“Space…” Something clicked in Rosalita’s head after hearing Noel’s offhanded comment. She tilted her head to get a different perspective, and the image’s meaning came into focus. “Space, that’s it!” the princess exclaimed, hitting her fist into the palm of her other hand. “This is the star map from the planetarium in the museum! I cannot believe I didn’t recognize it sooner!”

“Is that so?” Matt cocked his head to look at the puzzle the same way Rosalita did, but the clear answer didn’t come to him. “As much as I’m interested in space, I don’t know the stars here. I mean, it does look like a star map, but not one I know.”

“I shall show you.” Rosalita stepped up to the puzzle, then looked back over her shoulder. “Leon, you appear to have some muscle on you. Come here and help Matt and I put this together.”

“Sis is the only one I take orders from, Princess.”

“C’mon, Bro, not now,” Noel said with a sigh. “This ain’t the time, not when we got a good thing goin’ with Princess. Besides, we might be on a time limit. Who knows when that count could turn up.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Leon shrugged his shoulders, then went to stand where Rosalita indicated on the opposite side of the puzzle from Matt, who was busy setting his laptop up on the ground. “What d’you want me to do, Princess?”

“Help me turn each wheel until I tell you to stop.”

Together, Matt, Rosalita and Leon set about doing exactly that. They started with the outermost piece, which was also the heaviest. It took an exceptional amount of effort to move that wheel, but the three of them were able to get it done. The middle and centermost pieces were easy by comparison, and before long, they had all three wheels set exactly where Rosalita wanted them, forming a flattened but otherwise identical replica of the planetarium.

Matt, Leon and Rosalita barely had time to take a breath before the room reacted to the completed puzzle. Light erupted from between the wheels, causing Matt and Leon to stumble and fall in their surprise. Rosalita, however, remained composed. She simply stepped back and watched, holding her fist to her chest, as the light fused with the three wheels and traced the star map. Once it was fully drawn out, the entire puzzle started to slide into the wall, causing a mighty rumble that shook the entire chamber.

“Amazing…” Eleanor beamed. She had her hands clasped in front of her and a look of sheer delight on her face. “The technology here is nothing short of amazing!”

Waiting behind the puzzle was another tunnel, a little less narrow than the first but still nowhere near the size of the mural chamber. Upon its reveal, the torches lining the passage lit on their own, illuminating the path leading even deeper under the mountain.

“This is it!” Noel exclaimed. “Our ticket outta this life is right in front of us, Bro!”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment to his sister. Neither of the siblings could contain themselves at the thought of finally escaping their difficult lives, and they started to dash toward the tunnel.

“Halt!” Rosalita boomed. There was such authority and force in her voice that Noel and Leon instantly obeyed.

“That ain’t the voice of the weak little girl that count said she’d be…” Noel thought, a chill running through her body. “Glad we picked the winning side in the end here…”

“I will be going first,” the princess declared. She made her way to the threshold before turning and saying, “Matt, I want you at my side to document this.”

“Oh, right…got it.”

With Matt right behind her recording everything with his laptop, Rosalita led the others into the tunnel. They knew quite well what was coming from the way the last Braille message called the planetarium puzzle the final test. Awaiting them at the end of the path was what Sutter, Fernando VII and Sophia had all given their lives to protect.

The way two families had been torn apart by the Golden City and its secrets wasn’t lost on the rightful heir to them. Rosalita’s mind was elsewhere as she stiffly trekked down the tunnel. “So much blood has been shed,” she bitterly thought, “and to what end? All because he can’t understand that he is still important… When this is done, I am sure he’ll see the truth then. He must…”

Shaymin couldn’t see Rosalita’s face as it floated along behind her, but her body language gave it a good idea of how she felt. The mythical Pokémon, overwhelmed with shame, tried to find something to say to her, only for Matt to break the silence first.

“So you said back there you’re interested in space?” he asked the princess. “I mean, that was the impression I got.”

Rosalita sighed, internally thankful he’d given her something more positive to think about. Her posture loosened as she replied, “That is correct. Ever since I was a child, it has fascinated me. Since La Ciudad Dorada is so remote, there is nothing to muddle the light of the stars above… and space is so vast that I often wonder if there is another being living a life like mine out there.”

“Never took you for someone who’d be interested in aliens.” Eleanor had gotten directly behind Rosalita and Matt at some point before she popped into their conversation.

“I never thought of them as aliens,” Rosalita said. “To me, anything that’s out there is just another being on another planet with its own life and its own story. If you think about it, to them we would be the aliens, the strangers living in the far unknown.”

“I guess I’d never thought of it that way. That’s a fair point there, Rosa.”

“I’ve always had a dream of going into space myself,” Matt admitted to them. “Rosalita, you’re right about how beautiful the stars are. I’d love to get to be among them, even for a brief moment… but that’s not something that’s realistic for someone like me.”

“Aw, don’t give up on your dreams like that,” Eleanor said, giving Matt a playful smack on the shoulder. “Who knows how the chips might fall? I’ve thought that if I can’t make it to Avignon Town or the Azoth Kingdom, maybe I’d go get work at Mossdeep Space Center. I could make the ship that you go into space on.”

“I appreciate the thought…” Matt instinctively went to adjust his glasses, only to brush his hands against the bandages on his face. Even though his glove, he cringed at the sensation. “Mossdeep Space Center is a big part of why I have that dream, to be honest. Amanda and I went on a school trip there years ago, right after the Delta-2 mission came home. Everything I saw there blew me away.”

“Sounds like quite the experience.” Eleanor crossed her arms behind her back. “We’ve got a lot of sights to see in Kalos, but they’re all of this world. I’ve taken the tour of Lysandre Labs so many times now that the guides all know my name.”

“Now, Kalos, that’s a place I’ve never been to,” Matt replied, “even with all the trips Sutter took me on. I’d like to get there one day.”

“You’d love it,” Eleanor assured him.

The pair’s conversation wound down just as the group reached what appeared to be the end of the passage. Like the tunnel that came before, it opened into a vast space that the lights they’d been following couldn’t illuminate. Yet, as soon as they entered the cavern and fanned out, they all recognized that the chamber they stood in was unlike any place they’d previously visited. A tremendous, overwhelming presence hung in the air, its source concealed by seemingly infinite murk all around them. The sole thing any of the explorers could see lay in front of themselves - something in the darkness was glistening in what little light escaped from the tunnel.

“That must be…” Sheena trailed off, the presence in the underground chamber combining with the stale air to leave her feeling suffocated. She looked down, and gasped in surprise at what she saw. There, under her feet, was yet another vivid mural. This one depicted Regigigas with its arms spread out to their full length. “Look at that, you guys!” she exclaimed, drawing the others’ attention to it.

“Regigigas…” Rosalita said the moment the legendary Pokémon’s image entered her sight. When she inspected the rest of the artwork, she noticed that the other titans were present in it as well. Regirock and Regice sat at opposite ends, touching Regigigas’s fingers, while Registeel was positioned near its master’s head. The darkness partially obscured the trio, but enough of them remained visible for them to be recognized. “Regirock, Registeel and Regice as well…” Rosalita took a deep breath, attempting to calm her growing anxiety. “There is only one place we can possibly be.”

It appeared that the group’s progress was checked by the barrier of darkness they faced, prompting them to search for a way forward. Eleanor soon found another bowl of oil set into the wall, much like the first. It was right at the end of the passage they’d just left, so the torches threw light on it.

Taking Litwick in her hands, Eleanor said to her Pokémon, “This might be the last time we get to do this. You ready to light it up?”

Litwick responded with a happy yet determined chirp, so Eleanor placed her down on the edge of the bowl. She tensed up, infusing all the energy she could into her flame, then leaned forward so it could touch the oil.

When the liquid ignited, the fire quickly left the bowl and followed a winding path of aqueducts filled with more oil. Every inch the fire traveled further lifted the dark veil, revealing to the increasingly awestruck explorers exactly what occupied the spacious cavern.

What spread out before them was a vast complex of interconnected temples and shrines, all forged in gold. Actual, solid gold. Matt couldn’t imagine where the ancient Doradans who built it found so much of the precious metal, but there was no mistaking what the structures were made of. While it wasn’t literally a city where people could have lived, that didn’t really matter. Rosalita and Shaymin already knew about it, obviously, but for the others any remaining traces of doubt they harbored melted away. Here, buried in the deepest bowels of the earth below La Ciudad Dorada, truly was a city of gold. One as real and tangible as the stone under their feet.

The tunnel had led the group to a balcony with an altar overlooking the Golden City, as it turned out. It afforded them a perfect view of the legendary site as the flames continued to illuminate the area. Eleanor, Sheena, Noel and Leon couldn’t help but run to the railing at the platform’s edge, each of them thrilled for a different reason.

In Eleanor’s case, it was nothing more than excitement for how much her visit to La Ciudad Dorada had given her. She’d traveled there just to see the kingdom’s machines, yet when she got swept up in the search for the Golden City, she ended up finding a sense of friendship that largely eluded her in Kalos. That, in turn, had made her feel like she belonged there, bringing her peace and satisfaction she had long sought. Basking in the glow of the flames against the gold, she closed her eyes and whispered to herself, “It feels so warm…”

As for Sheena, the Golden City represented an opportunity to learn. The wanderer, the allegedly immortal Tenganist warrior priest from Ransei, was responsible for La Ciudad Dorada becoming an oasis. In that sense, Sheena thought, the Golden City and its Fountain of Life could be considered his greatest achievements. “It’s thanks to him teaching the Doradans how to use Gaia that all this is possible,”, she marvelled internally as the gleaming glow of the Golden City reflected in her blue eyes. “Being here is my greatest chance to walk his path and understand what he truly could do.”

As for Noel and Leon, what the Golden City meant to them was already well known. They hadn’t exactly tried to hide their motives from the others, after all. When they traveled to the realm at Fernando’s behest, they expected to be arriving at the Golden City after capturing Shaymin for him. They’d considered stealing the treasure for themselves, too, but seeing how vast it truly was left them pleased they hadn’t pursued that end. It didn’t matter. All they wanted was a chance to escape the desperate lives they led, and helping Rosalita was what would get them there.

“Hey, Sis?” Leon said to his sibling and partner. “I just remembered… if we’re stayin’ here, what about our crew back home in Pyrite? Weren’t we gonna help ’em too?”

“I already thought ’bout that,” Noel answered with a hearty slap to her brother’s back. “They’re pretty tough, ’specially that Renzo, but I’ll talk to Princess ’bout arrangin’ something for ’em.”

“Sounds good to me, Sis.”

As the furthest reaches of the Golden City were illuminated, one thing brought those on the observation platform together above all else. Gratitude, be it for friendship, knowledge or opportunity, filled their hearts. Though unspoken, all four also shared a sense that they couldn’t have achieved their goals without each other. Their silent gratitude was such that it even brightened Shaymin’s dour mood for the time being.

At that point, the very back of the cavern was finally brought into the light, and the source of the overwhelming presence in the Golden City was revealed at last. There, sitting on a gargantuan golden throne, was Regigigas. It was easily the most gigantic thing any of the group had ever seen; the temples surrounding the titan were like mere toys compared to its awe-inspiring size. Despite there being a wide path laid out before it, Regigigas could have easily destroyed the entire Golden City if it so desired. That much became immediately obvious to those present. All they could do was stare at the great Pokémon as it radiated power even while remaining perfectly still.

“Good thing it’s asleep…” Eleanor breathlessly said.

“Yes, you are correct…” Rosalita took a step forward and unconsciously clenched her hand around the pin on her cloak bearing her family’s coat of arms. Shaymin remained floating by her side, and noticed how her hand was trembling. “We must be cautious but prompt,” the princess continued, fighting back her anxiety. “I think we can all see quite clearly why Regigigas must not be awakened, most particularly by my brother. Sightseeing can wait until after we head to the Fountain of Life. Come, Matt, we must go…”

When she turned around, Rosalita saw Matt clutching his laptop and staring at its screen. He was slouching, his breathing had turned shallow, and his face was completely blank. Any effect the spectacle of the Golden City had on him had seemingly worn off.

“Matt?” she quietly inquired, taking a tentative step toward him. “What is wrong?”

“We’re standing exactly where Sutter stood so many decades ago,” he murmured in reply. A sigh found its way through his clenched teeth before he turned his gaze up from the screen. “When Cassy and I came to La Ciudad Dorada, I thought that walking the same path he did would help bring me closure over his death. Now, I’m here, and…” Matt sighed again, finding himself afraid to admit what he was thinking. “I’m here, and… I don’t feel anything. Please don’t get me wrong, Rosalita, this is a magnificent place… I just…” His composure was beginning to unravel. “I just… I thought that once this was over, I could finally put what happened behind me. I thought I would finally understand why he died, and I don’t…”

“Please, do not give up hope,” Rosalita told him. She spoke before she could think, and when her mind caught up with her, her sense of guilt flared anew. “This is my fault,” she thought, forcing herself to not frown and give away her feelings. “If I just told him everything, he could be at peace…”

“Rosa?”

Eleanor’s voice snapped the princess back to reality. The others had closed ranks around her while she was distracted to await her decision on what to do next.

“Yes, yes, Eleanor, I apologize,” she said, raising her hand and smiling nervously. She then turned to Matt and vowed, “You will find what you seek, that I can promise you. There is only a little… a little further to go.”

“You’re right,” he answered, straightening himself. “Thank you.”

“Rosalita, look over there.” Sheena pointed off to the left side of the balcony, drawing the others’ attention to a stone staircase leading further down. “That looks like the only way to proceed.”

“An apt observation,” Rosalita agreed. “Come. Once we are done here, I’ll…” One last pang of fear rose in Rosalita’s heart, but she fought it back. “I’ll be able to tell you everything, Matt.”

“Or maybe he can find out now.”

Before any of the group could process the sudden intrusion, a bolt of dark lightning cracked the air and struck in their midst. The resulting explosion threw them all back, scattering them across the floor of the viewing deck. Behind them, standing in the gateway to the Golden City, was Fernando.

“You!” Matt yelled at him. Overcome with fury, Matt seized his laptop and tried to stand up, but found himself unable to. It was as if an invisible force was holding him back. He looked around, noticing that the others appeared to be similarly afflicted. “What did you do?!” he demanded.

Fernando held the staff out so Matt could see the Griseous Orb atop it. The jewel was glowing and giving off sparks of dark electricity. “So it really does alter gravity,” the count noted as he closed the staff’s bulb around the orb.

“You know you are not supposed to be using that!” Shaymin shrieked at him. “Surrender it at once, you!”

“Silence!” Fernando countered, unconcerned by Shaymin’s order. He entered the cavern with slow, deliberate steps, and Heatran lumbered in behind him. “You, who refuses to defend this land, has no right to give me commands.”

“Oh, like you’re doing any better?” Eleanor spat.

Fernando’s eyes briefly flicked over to the engineer, but he otherwise paid her no mind. The sight of the Golden City and Regigigas fascinated him. There, laid out before him, was everything he’d hoped for and dreamed of his entire life, given physical form. “It truly is as spectacular as the writings of our ancestors say…” he uttered, awestruck. “This must be protected from the outsiders who would take it away…”

“You’re the one who’s threatening it!” Rosalita scolded her brother. The effect of the Griseous Orb had worn off enough that she could sit up and throw out an accusing finger at her sibling. “Why can you not understand Regigigas is not a toy or a weapon?! You’re the one being a child, Fernando! And while you go on about protecting this place, you’re the one who sent outsiders to do all your dirty work!”

That remark got Fernando to halt his advance. He stood right in front of his sister, looked down on her with an icy glare and said severely, “That is rich coming from you. I used them to find the Golden City, that is correct. But I only used them to do what I could not, and that includes getting our rightful property back. Or do I need to remind you that, you took the grandson of the outsider who started all this and relied on him when you didn’t even need to?”

“Am I supposed to be chastened by that?” Rosalita snapped. “You killed Mother and Father! Professor Chiaki too! You’re in no position to moralize to others when you’ve already gone too far!”

“That right there is why you are not worthy of the throne despite your power,” Fernando coldly replied. His voice was growing shaky, and the hand he held the staff in was trembling. “I… I did kill them. I am weak, and I did what I was capable of. What you fail to grasp is that... nobody is more precious than what we must protect. We are insignificant in the bigger picture of things, and that is why the kingdom must be protected no matter the cost. My life has made that very clear to me.”

“You’re absolutely mad,” Matt angrily interrupted, clutching his laptop and still documenting things, “but does somebody want to tell me what’s going on here? My grandfather started this?”

“You didn’t even tell him,” Fernando scorned Rosalita as he turned away from her. “You lecture me while you manipulate people yourself.”

“It’s not like you told him either…” she listlessly countered.

“Told me what?!” Matt’s anger was devolving into utter desperation, and both his tone and movements reflected it. His gaze darted from Shaymin to Rosalita to Fernando and back again before he begged, “What really happened here?!”

“What happened was your grandfather defiled the trial all kings must face,” Fernando revealed, “just as you are now. He, an outsider, made himself a part of our sacred custom. To that end, he stole one of our treasures, the golden puzzle box.”

“You’re not telling him the truth either!” Rosalita lashed out. When she saw Matt look to her in clear bewilderment, the last of her hesitation to tell him fell away. “I didn’t know how to tell you this, Matt, and for that I apologize. If you don’t wish to forgive me, I will not hold it against you. The truth is… our grandfather, King Fernando VI… he appointed Professor Chiaki as a guardian of the trials and the Golden City.”

~:~

Many decades earlier, Sutter had indeed seen the same sight Matt would see in the future. Time seemed to have no influence there. The balcony and altar, the gleaming golden temples, Regigigas and its throne, all of it was identical to how it was in the present.

That, of course, did not apply to Sutter himself. His appearance then was much more robust, with vivid blue hair that matched Amanda’s and a neatly trimmed beard. He stood at the edge of the balcony with his apprentice, a young man with a thick, black handlebar moustache, at his side.

“I can’t believe it,” the elder Chiaki marvelled at the sight before them. “The Golden City is actually real, and we found it… this is our greatest achievement, Jacob.”

“No doubt about it, Professor,” Jacob replied. “Not just the Golden City, either… if the city itself is real, then the fountain of eternal life must be real as well. Our names will go down in history for this!”

“It is all real, but you presume much to think you will gain fame from this place. If you value your life, you will tell no one outside what you have found.”

Sutter and Jacob turned away from the Golden City to see King Fernando VI approaching them, holding Shaymin in his arms. A man of great height, Fernando VI bore a striking facial resemblance to his future grandson.

“Your highness,” Sutter addressed the king, “forgive my insolence, but I fail to understand. You have helped us on our journey to this point. Why would you do that if you did not want us to document our findings?”

“We helped you because we have a much greater purpose in mind for you, yes,” Shaymin informed the pair.

“That is correct,” Fernando VI continued when the two adventurers looked questioningly at him. “Recently, I became aware of some…” The king turned his eyes down to Shaymin, who squirmed nervously in his arms. “...information. Because of it, in my capacity as king, I have decided that I wish to appoint someone outside our realm to watch over this process.”

Sutter straightened up, understanding immediately what Fernando VI was suggesting. “What would such a mission entail?” he asked.

“Guarding this,” Fernando VI said, producing the puzzle box from his robes after setting Shaymin down. He’d allowed Sutter and Jacob to use it to find the Three Pillars, and they had just returned it to him after solving the planetarium puzzle. “Everything you’ve heard about this land is true. I allowed you to find the Golden City to see if you were worthy of drinking from the Fountain of Life and using its gifts to watch over the cube until it is once again needed.”

“You want us to live forever?” Jacob questioned, completely stunned by what he was hearing.

“Not exactly,” Fernando and Rosalita’s grandfather replied. “I believe you two have proven that you will use the gift the Fountain of Life gives responsibly, and not abuse it to attain true immortality.”

“I see,” Sutter said, scratching his chin in thought. “It is true that I’ve gained deep gratitude for your kingdom’s way of life… if fulfilling your request is how I can give back to you, I will do it.”

“You’re always so brave, Professor…” Jacob remarked. “I don’t have the same courage… I’m sorry, your highness, but I don’t think I can do it. I just… don’t think I can give up my ordinary life for such immense responsibility. I’m not saying I’m not grateful for the honor, but…”

“You need not apologize, Jacob,” the king assured him. “I understand I am placing a great demand upon you both. It is not unreasonable to refuse. At the same time, I must insist that you not reveal what has taken place here to the outside world.”

“I swear I won’t!” Jacob exclaimed, placing his hand over his heart.

“Very well. Come, Professor Chiaki, we must carry out the ceremony at the Fountain of Life.”

“This way, yes!” Shaymin called from near the stairs. “Hurry!”

~:~

“That’s it…” Matt gasped. His mind was totally overwhelmed by the reality of the situation, and he had started to shut down. He dropped his laptop to the ground as he sat and held the sides of his head. “That must be what Sutter wanted Amanda and I to inherit, his role as overseer… is that why he had to die?”

“No outsider has the right to drink from the Fountain of Life,” Fernando declared, devoid of empathy for Matt’s situation. He wasn’t incapable of caring, but he truly could not understand why Matt was in such distress. “It was a mistake that needed to be corrected. And with no ability to do anything else, I… I corrected it. I hoped to recover the puzzle box at that time as well, but the academy’s guards interfered and I had to flee.”

“No, that can’t…” Matt’s face fell as his hope and drive abandoned him. “That’s it, that’s what took the only one who cared about us away? And if we had inherited his duty as he wanted… it would have been us instead… but why was he even given that responsibility? What called for it…?”

Seeing Matt falling into complete despair spurred Rosalita into action. She forced herself to her feet, pushing through the last of the Griseous Orb’s effect. The others were inspired to rise as well, but Rosalita didn’t notice them. She jabbed her finger squarely at her brother and thundered at him, “You are wrong, Fernando! All of this is wrong! You don’t have the right to deem someone worthy of receiving the Fountain of Life’s gifts or not! Only Shaymin and Grandfather did, and they chose Sutter of their own free will!”

“Grandfather was nothing but a traitor!” Fernando roared back, jerking himself around so violently his hair lashed about. “He poisoned Shaymin’s mind. That’s the only reason it ever would go along with his ideas, whatever the cause was for them! Father knew, too, and he wouldn’t do anything to protect us now! That’s why I had to do what I did!”

“And I know, too, as all the heirs to the throne do,” Rosalita countered. “Would you call me a traitor as well, Fernando? Would you take my life too?”

This truly took Fernando by surprise, and for the first time, he genuinely seemed to be at a loss for words. “I… I…” he sputtered. “Do you think this has been easy for me?!” he finally yelled, not providing an answer to his sister’s question. “Father and Mother’s faces, their voices as I struck them down… they haunt me endlessly! Do you remember what you said that day, when Shaymin named you heir? You told me I had to understand the sacrifice necessary to be a wise leader. Do you remember that? Do you?!”

“Of course, but that’s not-”

“And now I’ve learned the kind of price I must pay to save the kingdom!” he fumed. “That you would say such a thing, knowing everything we’ve been through… No!” Fernando shook his head back and forth. “Don’t make me lose any more than I already have, Rosalita. I’ve paid enough of a price. Because of that, I can’t stop… I must awaken Regigigas and protect the kingdom.” Extending his hand to Rosalita, he pleaded, “Please, you can end this right now. Give up your claim to the throne. Once you do, Shaymin will have no choice but to give me the power of the Fountain of Life.”

“You still demonstrate little understanding of the meaning of gratitude, you,” Shaymin gravely warned. “Without that, you will only face the wrath of Gaia.”

“Silence,” Fernando spat. “I don’t want to hear anything from you right now.”

“Well, I do not know what answer you think you’re going to receive.” Rosalita met Fernando’s gesture with one of her own, extending her hand to him. “It is not too late, Fernando. There’s still time. If you’re willing to put an end to your campaign, I can use my power to grant you clemency. I hate what you have done… but no matter what, I cannot hate you. Come home with me and you don’t have to lose everything.”

“Even now, you forgive him…” Sheena thought. “I must admire that.”

Even in the face of Rosalita’s forgiveness, Fernando was unmoved. “That is truly why you aren’t worthy,” he said, stepping back and shaking his head. “You will never understand the price that must be paid to protect the kingdom.”

“How can you say that, though?” Tears were welling up in Rosalita’s eyes, but they were not spurred on by sadness. She was simultaneously so angry and so distressed by the situation that her roiling emotions forced the tears out. “We promised each other we’d be the best leaders the kingdom ever had, that we’d never fight like the previous siblings did. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Rosalita didn’t see Shaymin visibly cringe at her mention of the siblings. Fernando did, but he ignored it, unaware of its meaning.

“Nothing but the words of silly, foolish children,” the count dismissed, drawing a horrified gasp from his sister. “I realize the reality of life now… No matter what I did, how hard I worked, Father and Mother told me it wasn’t necessary. They, and the land I love, turned their backs on me. That led me to finally realize something. I was born to protect the kingdom… there is no other purpose for me to be on this earth. I am nothing but a tool for La Ciudad Dorada’s survival.”

“You’re not…” Rosalita knew she would regret saying what was on the tip of her tongue, but at that point, she could no longer hold it back. The sad, broken figure self-destructing before her was nothing like the Fernando she knew. What was perhaps her worst fear was coming true, and she could do nothing but lash out at it. “My brother is a good person, maybe a little vain, but a good person. He would never say that our family had no place for him or sacrifice his humanity for anything! I can’t understand how you could become this way… I can’t even recognize who you are anymore!”

“... If you loathe me to your dying breath, that is merely another sacrifice I will have to make,” Fernando bitterly admitted. Turning to his sister’s allies, he said, “I tire of this endless talking. Matt, give me the box so I can awaken Regigigas. Wipe away the stain your treasonous grandfather put on your family name by returning what he stole.”

Seeing Matt shrink even further at Fernando’s demand, and with Eleanor and Sheena doing nothing, Noel decided to intervene. “Yo, Count. Real low blow on that dude, y’know?” She put her fist against her hip and flashed her trademark scowl. “Ain’t it bad enough you killed his grandpa? You don’t gotta rub it in like that.”

Fernando smirked. He knew exactly what reaction he wanted to provoke, and chose his next words very deliberately. “By what right do you to speak to me, the protector of La Ciudad Dorada, in such a way? You and what army?”

As soon as Noel heard this, she threw back her head and laughed. “Really, dude? The army you gave us! Let’s go, Bro!”

Leon followed his sister’s direction, throwing all of his clockwork Poké Balls right after she threw hers. Neither of them realized they had walked right into Fernando’s trap. The count grinned even more widely as the squadron of collared Pokémon materialized before him and aggressively cried at him.

“That’s what you are going to do?” Fernando taunted the siblings. Spreading his arms, he beckoned them, “Then bring it on.”

“Hah!” Leon exclaimed. “You must have more than a few screws loose in that head of yours, man. Sis, waste this fool!”

“Gladly!”

An undeniable sense of dread crept up Sheena’s body while she watched Noel issue orders to the Pokémon. She absentmindedly brought her hand to her mouth and bit her finger, thinking to herself, “Something’s not right here. I know he has Heatran, but…”

“Go get ’im!” Noel shouted. “Lickilicky, Water Pulse! Roserade, Shadow Ball! Togekiss, Aura Sph-”

At that point, Fernando switched the hand he was holding the staff with, moving it to the right hand from his left. It wasn’t until then that Sheena spotted the gauntlet on his left arm. When he started to raise it into the air, the realization of what he was doing hit the priestess like a ton of bricks.

“Noel, stop your attack!” she warned. “It’s a trap!”

“What d’you mean, Eyebrows?”

Sheena couldn’t answer before Fernando had his arm fully extended above his head. He dramatically snapped his fist shut, causing a red wave to erupt from the gem on the back of the gauntlet. As soon as the light washed over them, their collars flashed in response, and the Pokémon froze where they stood, standing with every muscle stilled to the point where their very breaths were almost imperceptible.

“What’re you all doin’?” Noel demanded of her Pokémon. Flustered, she pointed at Fernando and again ordered, “Go and get him!”

“How very, very sad,” Fernando mocked her. “Did you really think I’d give the two of you weapons you could turn against me?”

“What?” Leon gasped. “Sis, if he’s not bluffin’, he’s saying those Pokémon…”

“We still got the controller!” Noel’s panic was clouding her judgment. She tried frantically to manipulate her bracelet’s projection, to no avail. The device suddenly sparked and died, promptly followed by their entire supply of clockwork Poké Balls doing the same. The siblings could only watch in horror as the tools they’d relied on were torn away from them, the spheres falling off their jackets as they ceased to function.

Smirking, Fernando pointed his fist at his sister and her allies, leading the army of Pokémon to follow his signal. As they slowly turned to face the count’s enemies, all emotion and vitality drained from their faces and their eyes filled with a red glow, the listing Pokémon taking on vaguely undead appearances.

“Impressive, no? Those Poké Balls, the collars and their controllers are the fruits of the wisdom of Arcane Scientists in bygone eras. Developed for our military for crises that outstripped the simple bond between Pokémon and trainer,” Fernando explained. “It was meant to help give us a defense unit with perfect cohesion as a team. I am using it for its intended purpose, defending the kingdom. Now, Matt Chiaki… give me what your grandfather stole.”

“Fine…” Matt sighed in what seemed like surrender. He reached into his bag and said, “It was La Ciudad Dorada’s, you’re not wrong about that.”

“Don’t give it to him!” Rosalita implored Matt. “Everything we worked for will be lost!”

Suddenly, Matt looked up and grinned. “Who said I was giving it to him?” When he pulled his hand from his bag, it was wrapped around a Poké Ball, not the cube. “Rosalita, you misled me, and we’re gonna have to have a talk about that, but I still know which side I’m taking here! Anton-”

In a flash, the collared Electivire and Magmortar were upon Matt, responding to an order Fernando gave them with the gauntlet. Elective grabbed his arm to prevent him from opening Anton’s Poké Ball, while Magmortar pointed one of his cannons at Matt’s face. A fireball smoldered within, making his threat crystal clear.

“Do not be a fool and test me,” Fernando warned him. The count then pointed his closed fist at the others, drawing the attention of the rest of his army to them. “That goes for the rest of you, too. I want our kingdom’s property back, and I want you to give up your claim to the throne, Rosalita. Only then will I be able to give our home the security it needs.”

With Matt immobilized, the others knew they had little chance of successfully fighting back against Fernando. Noel and Leon still had their Muk and Palossand, and Eleanor could contribute her Persian, but against all eleven Pokémon under Fernando’s control at once, even Rosalita’s full team wouldn’t be able to win, with or without help. Nevertheless, the princess’s instinct drove her to action, and she started to reach into her cloak for a Poké Ball.

Much to the relief of Rosalita and the others, a solution abruptly presented itself. Having had enough of Fernando’s insolence, Shaymin snapped from its stupor and flew straight into Electivire. The force of its headbutt sent Electivire reeling, and Matt fell to his knees after being freed from her grip. Eleanor ran to help Matt up, while Shaymin shrieked and lashed its head around, generating a blade of air that drove Magmortar back when it made contact.

“To think I gave you the benefit of the doubt,” Fernando said in disgust. “I thought your mind was merely poisoned by Grandfather’s treason, yet here you are, siding against protecting the kingdom. It’s time for you to wake up and fulfill the role you were brought here for.”

Fernando didn’t fully realize how he’d pushed Shaymin’s buttons and played on its insecurities, but what he also failed to realize was that Shaymin could do the same back to him.

The mythical Pokémon scoffed, then admonished the count, “You talk about making yourself worthy of the throne? Look around, you! Exploiting the resources of your realm to blackmail your way into power? Keep your promises, you!”

“Are you suggesting I’m doing what the previous siblings did?” When Fernando said this, Shaymin grinned. He’d taken its bait, and was clearly upset by its implications. “That I’m turning the kingdom against itself?”

“That is what I’m saying, you.” Shaymin was well aware that it was fudging the truth, but for the moment, doing so seemed like the best option. “You would rather repeat your ancestors’ mistakes than swallow your pride and change your course. May La Ciudad Dorada crumble to dust before I deem one like you worthy to reign!”

“So pompous for such a small creature.” Despite his derision of Shaymin, Fernando gestured with his left hand, calling off the army. They retreated to the perimeter of the platform while he activated the gauntlet’s projector. A number of images appeared before him, but the one he brought to the front was of a device with several rings circling around an orange stone. He flicked his fingers over the image, and in response, Heatran stomped to the forefront. “One final trial,” he proposed. “Neither Heatran nor the Magma Stone that controls it comes from this land, so you cannot say I am using the kingdom against itself. You and Rosalita against Heatran and I… that will prove my worth.”

“I accept your challenge, you.” Shaymin turned back to the princess and said, “Come to my side, Rosalita. Lead me.”

Rosalita hesitated. She had an idea in mind for how to defeat Heatran, but still, the reality of the situation worried her. For one, as much as she wanted to, she didn’t trust Fernando to simply give up his quest if he lost. She knew how he thought. He’d gone too far and done too much to simply surrender, so from the start, Rosalita suspected another trap. Furthermore, while she had faith in Shaymin’s decision and was well aware it could hold its own against Heatran, the fact that it faced a Fire-and-Steel-type was still daunting. Speaking strictly in terms of type, Heatran held a significant advantage.

“He says it’s one last trial,” Sheena said, approaching Rosalita from the right. “That means it’s a trial for you, too. You’ve passed every other one with flying colors, so I know you can do this.”

“I agree,” Matt concurred, standing on the princess’s left. “You can do this, Rosalita. Don’t worry…” He reached into his bag and finished, “I’ve got a plan that should work. Beat Heatran, and it should work.”

“That you two stand with me, even now…” Rosalita’s eyes watered as she smiled, but she didn’t cry. “Thank you.”

With the backing of her friends and allies, Rosalita felt no fear. She approached Shaymin and straightened herself, standing at her full height with the poise of a queen.

“I must give you credit for the strength you’ve gained,” Fernando admitted, “but that strength is being used in a misguided fashion. It doesn’t have to be this way… you could surrender the throne and be my knight, fighting for the kingdom just like we promised each other.”

“You’re correct, it doesn’t have to be this way.” Rosalita stared across the platform at her brother and Heatran, her features fixed in a look of absolute determination. “But I won’t surrender. Not now, not ever. I’m going home after this and you’re coming with me.”

“There won’t be a home to go back to if we don’t protect it!” Fernando spread his arms and sighed in resignation. “You will never see the truth until I demonstrate it to you. So be it. After I prove my worth here I will awaken Regigigas and you shall see that I’ve always been right.” The count closed his left hand and thrust his fist forward, calling out, “Heatran, Magma Storm!”

Both Rosalita and Shaymin had expected Magma Storm to be Fernando’s opening move, so they were ready for it. Before the command even fully left Fernando’s mouth, his sister countered, “Evade it and use Air Slash!”

“Way ahead of you!” the mythical Pokémon enthusiastically announced.

As the fiery cyclone erupted from Heatran’s mouth, Shaymin initially dove toward it before veering to the right. Heatran tried to follow after it, but she wasn’t fast enough to keep up. Shaymin danced through the air, skillfully weaving around Heatran’s onslaught with deft arcs and somersaults. The Magma Storm soon abated, having accomplished little besides filling the air above the platform with black smoke, and Shaymin responded by flinging blades of air into Heatran’s armored face. While her part-Steel typing gave her a formidable natural defense against Flying-type moves, the blows still sent enough of a shock through her body that she shuddered and growled.

Rosalita noted the presence of the fumes overhead, but elected not to use them. Instead, she couldn’t resist trying one more time to appeal to her brother. “I am serious, Fernando, you need to stop this! There’s still time! You won’t get what you want no matter what happens, so please, stop!”

“I won’t get what I want unless I win,” Fernando bitterly replied, making his sister’s heart sink. “Nevermind that this is all you, Mother and Father left for me. Heatran!” As soon as Fernando raised his left arm into the air, the Fire-and-Steel-type shook off her daze and returned to her battle-ready stance. “Get into a better vantage point and use Flash Cannon!”

“Keep it in place, Shaymin! Air Slash again!”

The mythical Pokémon was able to get ahead of its opponent and send another Air Slash cutting toward her as she charged, but this time, she fired a ray of gleaming silver light straight through it. The blades of air dissipated harmlessly, leaving Shaymin to take the full force of the Flash Cannon that broke them apart. It squeaked painfully as it pitched through the air, much to the dismay of Rosalita and the others.

“Shaymin!” the princess cried, taking her eyes off the still-advancing Heatran.

As if on cue, Shaymin righted itself and grinned. “It’ll take more than that to defeat me, you!” it affirmed to its companion.

Before Rosalita could say anything further, however, a glint in the corner of Shaymin’s eye caught its attention. While it and its allies were distracted, Heatran had marched straight to the back of the viewing platform, where she used her cross-shaped feet to climb up on the wall next to the entry passage. Having gotten the vantage point Fernando called for, she had opened her mouth and aimed another shot of light at her foe. Shaymin caught notice of the oncoming Flash Cannon in enough time to only get clipped by the blast. The Grass-and-Flying-type was thrown to the ground, but had little to show for the blow than some scrapes and wounded pride.

“Now, you!” it told Rosalita. “Let’s do it!”

“Indeed.” Sweeping her hand from under her cloak, Rosalita played her trump card, the one thing she and Shaymin knew that Fernando did not. “Shaymin, Earth Power!”

“What?!” Caught by surprise in exactly the way his sister hoped, Fernando frantically manipulated the data from his gauntlet’s projection. He was searching for any tactic he could use to get Heatran to escape the energy Shaymin sent pulsing through the ground, but from her place on the wall, there was no refuge for Heatran to turn to.

The golden, glowing veins worked their way to and then up the wall before erupting under Heatran’s feet, sending her crashing violently onto the balcony. A number of stones broke off and fell along with her, forcing Matt and the others to run out of their way. Heatran voiced an angry rumble from deep within her throat as she righted herself after landing on her back. When she did get to her feet, however, her legs were wobbly, a sign of just how badly Shaymin’s Earth Power had depleted her stamina.

“I will not let this happen,” Fernando muttered to himself. Thrusting his arm forward, he commanded, “Dark Pulse!”

Heatran again opened her giant mouth, this time allowing a chain of dark energy rings to burst out of it. The assault came too fast for Shaymin to escape it, and the small explosion that occurred upon impact threw the mythical Pokémon across the platform.

“Shaymin!” Rosalita cried out, alarmed by the sudden shift in the battle’s pace. She had been ready to have Shaymin again attack with Air Slash, but she could see from the way Shaymin flinched that calling for it would accomplish nothing.

Fernando, on the other hand, couldn’t restrain himself. “Now will you finally acknowledge my worth?” he demanded, though he didn’t wait for an answer before adding, “Soon, you will have no choice but to give me what I want! Heatran, use Magma Storm to end this!”

Once more, the tornado of fire that comprised Heatran’s signature move erupted from her gaping iron maw. It seemed as if Shaymin stood no chance of escape, let alone survival, from where it was lying on the dusty floor. Rosalita and her allies all felt their perception of time slow as they watched Magma Storm draw ever closer to the princess’s partner. The one thing they all feared - Fernando actually winning - appeared to be inevitable.

Yet, when all seemed lost, a rush of energy flowed through Shaymin’s body. The burning vortex glinted in its eyes, but instead of feeling fear, it was taken by a determination to not lose. While it had no way to fly out of Magma Storm’s path in time, it instead simply rolled to the side. Magma Storm sailed harmlessly past, exploding in a fiery blast against the wall. Matt’s coat, as well as Rosalita’s hair and cloak, blew in the gusty backlash. Shaymin, meanwhile, was left covered in dirt but otherwise unharmed.

“You…” Fernando grit his teeth. Mythical or not, how could such a foolish, tiny Pokémon be giving him such trouble, when he had Heatran and so many others at his disposal? He had to consciously stop himself from sending in the rest of his army at that that point. His hand was already up before he remembered that the fight was meant to be a trial.

Rosalita glanced around herself, her brother’s hesitation affording her a moment to think. When she saw the cloud of smoke Magma Storm kicked up, an idea popped into her head. “Shaymin, use that smoke to power a Seed Flare!”

“Excellent suggestion!” Shaymin replied. It lifted itself into the air and glided straight into the plume, where it began sucking the fumes into its body. The dirt already on Shaymin got pulled in as well.

“I won’t let you!” Fernando snapped. “Dark Pulse! Now!!”

Heatran obeyed, but even though her blast of shadowy energy scored a direct hit, Shaymin’s intense focus rendered its impact largely ineffective. The mythical Pokémon remained airborne as if nothing had happened.

As the last traces of the smoke disappeared into its body, Shaymin’s eyes shot open. “Now take this, you!” it shrieked.

A blinding light radiated from Shaymin’s body, followed mere seconds later by a tremendous explosion. Fernando had to hide behind Heatran to avoid the brunt of the blast, the Pokémon holding in place despite being dazed by Seed Flare. Matt, Sheena, Eleanor, Noel and Leon were all blown into whatever was behind each of them. As the force and glow of the light abated, none of them could understand how Rosalita avoided being swept up in it.

“This is our moment to claim victory, Shaymin. Earth Power!”

Shaymin screeched the last syllable of its name as a battle cry, reared back, and pounded its forelegs into the floor. Like before, golden veins of glowing energy ripped through the ground and erupted directly below Heatran’s feet. The Fire-and-Steel-type Pokémon howled in pain and was thrown into the air despite her tremendous weight.

Fernando’s mind went blank as he watched what was unfolding before him. He’d issued the challenge for another trial to Shaymin because he was supremely confident Heatran couldn’t fail against it. One Magma Storm would have put an end to Shaymin and Rosalita’s opposition, or so he thought. Yet, right there in front of him, Heatran was crashing to the ground in complete and utter defeat.

“That’s it, Rosalita! That should be enough for my plan to work!” Matt stepped forward, clutching a green-and-black sphere in his hand. It was a Dusk Ball, and it represented what personal payback Matt could get on Fernando. “This is for taking our grandfather away from Amanda and I, you!”

With that, Matt threw the Dusk Ball at Heatran, who was lying prone on her back. Instead of the bright glow most Poké Balls used, it sucked Heatran in using a strange black light. It closed up around its quarry, fell to the floor, and started rocking back and forth. Many anxious gazes locked on to the sphere, awaiting an outcome that ultimately came with a single ping.

“Impossible…” Fernando uttered, his eyes going wide as he backed away. He went to his gauntlet’s projections with the intent of using the Magma Stone to take Heatran back, only to be met by a second surprise. The Magma Stone cracked and crumbled, leaving the mechanism’s rings to collapse into a tangled pile of metal. If there was any doubt about what had happened, the words “off line” appearing in the projection erased it.

“Your own ambition was your undoing,” Matt told the count after collecting the Dusk Ball with Heatran inside. He didn’t say it out loud, but he got some satisfaction out of rubbing Fernando’s failure in his face. “You didn’t put Heatran in one of those Doradan Poké Balls, like all the other Pokémon you gave Noel and Leon. I bet you thought you could use Heatran secretly that way, since you had the Magma Stone. Well, you just made it possible for me to capture it instead. Congratulations.”

Fernando backed up further, but said nothing in reply. The angry stares of the people surrounding him had him sufficiently stunned him into silence for the time being.

“Matt’s right, Fernando. Your ambition backfired.” Rosalita extended a hand toward her brother. “It’s time to go home. You have done so much to wound our family and to wound this kingdom, but you’re still my brother. With my authority, I can offer you clemency under our laws.”

The offer of forgiveness from his sister ironically helped Fernando refocus his mind on his goals. “I cannot let it come to that, Rosalita…”

Before anyone could stop him, Fernando closed his fist and pointed the gauntlet at Matt. His Dusknoir’s collar flashed red, and the Ghost-type used Ally Switch to swap places with Kommo-o, the nearest Pokémon to Matt. Dusknoir grabbed Matt and teleported again, this time switching with Roserade to reach Fernando’s side. He then threw Matt down at his master’s feet.

“Stop this, you!” Fernando ignored Shaymin’s order and reached into Matt’s bag, so it started flying toward him. Honchkrow, Togekiss and Yanmega attacked Shaymin to protect him, battering it away with Steel Wing, Air Slash and Ancient Power.

“You lost your own trial, Fernando!” Rosalita scolded him. She was disappointed at what he was doing, but not surprised. “Stop this! Have you completely lost your mind?!”

“Think whatever you want of me,” he replied, his voice devoid of emotion. “I still care about you, Rosalita. That might be hard to believe, I know… it wasn’t easy for me to pin my actions on you. It wasn’t. But this is all I have left. If I don’t see this through, there was no reason for me to exist. I didn’t want to lose you, too, but I will walk my path alone if I have to.”

Hearing those words deeply crushed Rosalita. In an instant, she could hear his voice echoing in her head, haunting her with things she remembered.

“It’s going to be you and me, Rosalita. We’ll be the best leaders the kingdom ever had!”

“Don’t you be scared of that stuff anymore, I’ll stay here to keep you safe.”

“We have to make another promise right now. Now that we know about this, it’s not enough to be the best leaders the kingdom ever had. We have to be better than the last set of twins. Promise me that. Promise me that we will never end up that way.”

“What could you possibly know that I don’t?! Every day I’ve been training and gathering knowledge for how to best defend this land! How can you protect the kingdom as well as I could?”

“It may not be right away, but you will see in time that the outsiders do not respect La Ciudad Dorada or its culture. They come here and take things from us while never appreciating what it is that we have here. That’s what I’ve learned. When the day comes that you understand that indelible truth, that will be the time for our promises to be fulfilled.”

And now what he’d just said. “If I don’t see this through, there was no reason for me to exist. I didn’t want to lose you, too, but I will walk my path alone if I have to.” That line repeated in her mind like a cruel, endless broken record.

“H-how could you…” she finally managed to say, holding the sides of her head. “I wanted to save you…”

“That you would prioritize a mere tool like me over the kingdom you are sworn to protect says more than enough. It’s a pity, really...” Matt tried to push Fernando away while he was distracted speaking to his sister, but the count easily held him down until he collected the puzzle box. He then stood up and backed away, allowing Dusknoir room to teleport and throw Matt back to the others. “We are done arguing, Rosalita. The future of our home is at stake, and…” Fernando hoisted the box in triumph before finishing, “...in my hands, that future will gleam as brightly as this holy city around us.”

“You won’t get the future you long for if you do this!” While Sheena and Eleanor helped Matt up, Rosalita decided to try pleading with her brother one last time. On some level she knew it would prove fruitless, but she just couldn’t give up. “Your path will only end in ruin!”

“We’ll see.” Fernando turned his back on his sister and her allies, and his army of Pokémon closed ranks to protect him from them. With the puzzle box in his right hand and his left clutching the staff, he marched to the altar overlooking the Golden City and placed the cube upon it. “Regigigas!” he called to the immense Pokémon in the distance, while raising both of his arms in a gesture of supplication to it. “I am Fernando Renato the Eighth, descendant of your servant Fernando the Great. I come before you with an entreaty for the protection of our home. Invaders from the outside are coming to tear apart our kingdom! I beg of you, awaken and be our shield once again! Please, Regigigas!!”

At first, nothing happened. Rosalita, Matt and the others could see that fact by peering between the Pokémon. But, right as soon as they started entertaining the notion that Fernando’s plan didn’t work, three familiar voices echoed through the cave. They seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere, and spoke in perfect unison.

“A body of rock. To summon the king, such a thing must be obtained.”

“A body of steel. To summon the king, such a thing must be obtained.”

“A body of ice. To summon the king, such a thing must be obtained.”

As soon as the voices of Regirock, Registeel and Regice faded, brilliant light again poured from the puzzle box. It was visible enough that the group instinctively knew the worst-case scenario was taking place.

“Fernando, put that thing down! You’re going to destroy La Ciudad Dorada!” Matt yelled at him, “not save it!”

“Your time is up, Chiaki.” The cube levitated off the altar, its light glittering in Fernando’s joy-filled eyes. “You will not poison my mind and lead me astray! I will not be my grandfather or my father! I will be better!”

The puzzle box dissolved into light at that moment, as if it were bonded to Fernando’s thoughts. Mere fractions of a second after it vanished, the entire cavern started to shake, and the air filled with a deafening rumble.

“An earthquake?!” Eleanor cried out in panic.

“He… he actually did it…” Rosalita closed her fist and pounded it against her side. “That miserable fool awoke Regigigas!”

“Tell us what we need to do now!” Sheena urged the princess. “You know more about what this means than any of us!”

Rosalita took a moment to think, then told her allies, “We must return to Lingote Palace and fortify the city. He will come for Shaymin, and at this point, I do not know what he'll do to get it. We need to make sure the kingdom is not destroyed by Regigigas's wrath.”

“That makes sense,” Matt said to himself, holding his chin and looking down.

Above the group, the ceiling of the cavern suddenly began cracking apart, and pieces crashed down around them. The first forced Matt and Eleanor to yelp and jump back, nearly colliding with each other in the process. Shaymin destroyed a few smaller rocks with its Air Slash, but doing so quickly became pointless.

When the group reached the exit, Matt and Rosalita turned around to give Fernando once last glare. They couldn't see him through his army, and he wouldn't have cared about the act anyway, but they did spot Noel and Leon still dazed on the platform.

“Move it, you two!” Matt yelled at them. “What are you doing?!”

“R-Right,” Noel stuttered. Her usual cockiness was completely gone. “Bro, let's-”

Not one of the group noticed the stone falling directly above Noel until it was far too late. When it struck her, her world instantly went black. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap.

“Sis!!” Leon cried out.

“Bring her with you!” Rosalita said. “We will help her on the way!”

Leon followed the princess’s direction without a word. He lifted his sister onto his back and started to run for the tunnel, but just when it appeared he would escape, a huge chunk of the ceiling broke off and blocked his path.

“Shaymin, help him by breaking that stone with Air Slash!”

Rosalita truly did want to save the pair, but the giant rock proved impervious to both her intentions and Shaymin's assaults. The mythical Pokémon struck it over and over but managed to cut only small pieces out of it.

On the other side, Leon stared at the obstruction and felt a sense of despair consume him. He was strong enough to climb it without a problem, but it would be no easy task while carrying Noel, and he wouldn't leave her behind. No, absolutely not. There would never be any situation where he'd abandon her. She always knew what to do, and her guidance was the only reason he'd survived the mean streets of Pyrite. Since she was the brain of their team, though, he had no idea what to do in that moment with her aid cut off.

“Matt, I need help!” he could hear Rosalita say. “Use Rhyperior and Aggron to-”

“No, you get out of here!” Leon roared, interrupting her. “Don't worry ’bout us!”

“I made a promise to you!” Rosalita countered.

“You have something out there you gotta protect, Princess!” Resigning himself to his fate, Leon fell to his knees and laid Noel on the ground. “All I got is right here with me. If Sis is gonna buy the farm, I'm goin’ with her.”

“I-” The tremors wracking the cavern intensified, forcing Rosalita to accept Leon's choice between choking tears. “Your bravery will not be forgotten. I will tell your story.”

With that, the group entered the tunnel and fled the Golden City. Fernando didn't notice them leave, nor did he overhear any of their prior conversation. He was far too obsessed with the process unfolding before him.

The lights on Regigigas's body slowly flashed, making Fernando’s eye twitch. As he raised his arms to the titan once again, he started weeping openly.

“Mother, Father, Rosalita… I always worked for the betterment of La Ciudad Dorada, but no matter what I did, you scorned my ideas…” Unable to stand up straight any longer because of his overwhelming emotions, Fernando braced himself on the altar. “Look at me now. I did it! I saved the kingdom! You have to acknowledge me now… acknowledge that my existence has a purpose! That I wasn't a mistake of fate! I had to have been born for a reason, and this is it!!”

Seemingly in response to the count's plea, Regigigas’s lights flashed faster. Not long after, its own robotic beeping started sounding across the Golden City.

“Gi… gi… gi…”




END of CHAPTER 6

That's how I hoped it would go. I didn't initially plan it that way, natch, but once it started coming together I ran with it. Happy you liked those parts!



It really is quite heavy on Matt to know what Sutter was involved in. It's significantly his distress over knowing that doing that task ended up involving Sutter (and thus, the rest of the family) in the falling out of the Doradan royals, but Sutter's intention of having he and Amanda inherit the job shouldn't be disregarded. Matt is very aware that had they done so before this happened, Fernando would have targeted them.



Your point is a valid one. I would offer, though, this position: we've seen Fernando's progression as a person over the course of his life quite extensively, both through what happens in the present day and through flashbacks/recollections. It was always my intention for one of the themes in this story to be illustrating the dangers of extremist beliefs; the way that ended up playing out was that we see Fernando's character increasingly consumed by these beliefs as his despair over feeling like he has no place in his family or home escalates. At the point where we are in this chapter, he's pretty much gone. There's nothing left of him except this, and his mental state is starting to crack under the stress.



I had some trouble writing that, since from multiple fronts it presented critical challenges: Heatran should be able to win decisively, but with Earth Power, Shaymin has a move that can equally decisively win it. I was unsure of how a short battle would go over, but it sounds like it worked alright.

Matt capturing it was something fated, as you'd know.



We'll see what happens next, won't we?



And your review was excellent as always, Bay! I'll do my best to deliver the next chapter soon!

So we have a couple new characters joining in. I don't know anything about Laura from other works and such, so I'm still trying to figure out more of her personality and role here. Wally's cameo I didn't expect, and I'm curious about the purpose of his appeareance too.

Glad to see Leon and Noel are okay! Looking forward to how they'll serve that revenge.

Onto the full truth on the civil war. At first I was like has anyone in the family after Fernando IV figured out something's wrong with the geneology. Shaymin then mentions there has been other members that did, so that puts my mind at ease over that.

I do like the scene where Rosalita knights everyone! Poor Matt taken aback when that happened, heh. Also, Mega Pidgeot is such an underrated mega just saying heh.

Looks like the second half is where a lot more action will take place. As always, can't wait for more!

Well, this is it, the climax. Time to throw everything out there.

As mentioned before, the character Door and her Audino, Knives, are from Electric Sheep by Minty and used with permission. I also want to thank Ren once more for her help with Laura, including a passage involving Laura and Swampert near the end of this chapter.

-:-


CHAPTER 8: Civil War


-:-

Having gone down the Sacred Hill, Laura and Wally found themselves in a scene that bordered on chaos. Dorada Market was packed full of both residents and tourists, all hurriedly making their way towards the hill due to the evacuation. Laura was sure she’d lose Wally in the confusion, so she latched tightly onto his hand before spiriting him through the crowd.

“Miss Champion!” the diminutive young man called out to her. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m still working on it, kid!” she hurriedly replied.

Just as the pair of trainers from Hoenn broke through the front of the horde, Laura could hear them begin murmuring about something in the sky. When she and Wally saw many of the evacuees pointing upward, they turned their eyes to the sky as well.

“Wow…” Wally said in awe, clutching his pendant as he watched Sally, Reyes, Shaymin and Mega Pidgeot fly overhead. “Miss Champion, aren’t those…”

“A Mega Pidgeot would be cool enough, but a real life Shaymin in the flesh?” Laura couldn’t take her eyes off them. “That’s a sight for sore eyes, alright. And they’re heading straight for Regigigas?”

Right then, Laura heard a voice calling to her from behind. It was faint, largely drowned out by the din of the crowd, but she still recognized it.

“Laura! Laura, this time I’m talking to you!”

Laura turned just in time to see Cassy emerge and approach her. While Matt’s classmate doubled over to catch her breath, Sheena arrived, joining her alongside Swellow, Elena, Leonel, Deivi, Isabel, and Eleanor’s Persian.

“Yo,” Laura greeted her new acquaintance. “I didn’t know you had such a gang with you. Swellow alone was pretty impressive.”

“They aren’t…”

Cassy was struggling to catch her breath, so Sheena tried to help her finish.

“I think my friend is trying to say that these aren’t all her Pokémon. We’re borrowing them.”

Cassy recovered enough to straighten up. “That’s right, but they won’t be enough for this. We need help.”

“That goes without saying.” Laura put her hand on her hip. She was still irritated over the disruption in her vacation plans, but she could see that her concerns were not of great importance at the time. “Nobody’s gonna beat Regigigas alone, that’s for sure.”

“No, Regigigas is what Matt is dealing with,” Cassy corrected her. “There are more Pokémon coming… we have to protect the civilians from them.”

“Alright,” Laura said, turning to face the city. “Alright, I got it. That buddy of yours really did get us in trouble after all, huh?”

“You could say that again,” Cassy sighed.

“No problem, though. We’ve got this.” Lowering her gaze to settle on Wally, Laura asked him, “You ready to go, kid?”

Much to her surprise, Wally already had his Poké Ball at the ready. He responded to her question with a determined look and a firm mod, making her laugh.

“I think I had the wrong impression of you, Wally,” she teased him, before getting her own Poké Ball out. “Alright, buddy, it’s time to go!” she cried as she threw it.

“Come on, Gallade!” Wally added, tossing his sphere.

Swampert and Gallade materialized next to each other, each sporting their respective Mega Stones on accessories matching those worn by their trainers. They shared a look of mutual respect between themselves, eager to see how they would fare compared to each other.

“Time to go beyond the limits, buddy!” Laura called out, grabbing her necklace to activate the Key Stone. “Nobody tells us what we can and can’t do! When they try to keep us down, we pierce into the heavens above, ’cause that’s just how we roll! Mega Evolve!”

“I don’t have a speech prepared, but please don’t underestimate me!” Wally followed up, mimicking Laura’s motion. “Gallade, my friend, Mega Evolve!”

Twin streams of light burst from Laura and Wally’s respective Key Stones, arcing through the air and connecting to the Mega Stones worn by Swampert and Gallade. They were wrapped in the bright glow, each undergoing a powerful metamorphosis. Swampert’s transformation was the more dramatic of the two; as his upper body and arms swelled with newfound muscle mass, so much so that his tiny legs could no longer fully support him and he had to hunch forward. His fins darkened and grew sharper, while his gills turned orange and became dramatically more pointed.

While Gallade’s physical changes were less prominent than Swampert’s, they were still quite noticeable. His limbs and torso turned white, while the blades on his arms sharpened and took on a red hue. The crest on his head curved, and two cape-like growths sprouted from his back, giving him the appearance of a noble hero from a fairy tale.

Once their respective transformations were complete, Swampert and Gallade burst out of their gleaming cocoons. Swampert reared back as far as he could and roared, while Gallade struck a pose with his hands on his waist, allowing his ‘cape’ to flutter behind him. Swellow, Persian and Leonel lined up to Swampert’s right flank, and Elena, Deivi and Isabel assembled on Gallade’s left.

As the one person who wasn’t contributing any Pokémon to the effort, Sheena decided to take what action she could. She turned to face the crowd of citizens and tourists behind her, many of whom had started to take notice of the Pokémon lining up to protect them.

“Focus,” she said to herself, taking a deep breath. She then brought her hands together, closed her eyes, and softly chanted, “Transcend the confines of time and space.”

As she visualized the minds of the people around her, Sheena quickly came to realize that the task was bigger than she imagined. Nevertheless, she knew she had to persevere. She clasped her hands together even more tightly, pushing her power to its limit.

“All of you are in grave danger,” she wordlessly communicated to the horde. “Those of you who are able and willing, please step forward and join us in defending La Ciudad Dorada and its people!”

-:-

The air was thick with tension as Sally, Reyes, Pidgeot and Shaymin pressed onward, the former two carrying Matt, Eleanor and Rosalita toward Regigigas and the skyship. Even though both were easily visible to the princess and her knights, they hadn’t yet encountered any resistance. Of course, all three allies knew that it was only a matter of time before Fernando put up an offense against them.

“You will not get away with this, Fernando,” Rosalita thought, clutching onto her mount while her hair billowed in the wind. “You are coming home with me even if I have to drag you with my own two hands.”

All of a sudden, both Sally and Reyes noticed something below them out of the corners of their eyes. The two flying Pokémon reared out of the way just as Fernando’s giant Kommo-o came flying past them into the sky, his head glowing with a metallic sheen. After his Iron Head missed, Shaymin flung an Air Slash into him, knocking him back down.

“Whoa!” Eleanor cried out, tightening her hold around Matt’s body. “Where’d that come from?”

Rosalita and Matt peered downward. They had been approaching the city’s wall, but before they reached it, Probopass perched herself atop the barrier. Her eyes were glowing with green light as she manipulated the other brainwashed Pokémon with Telekinesis.

“It is coming from right there,” Rosalita bitterly answered while pointing at Probopass, who sent Roserade up toward them before any of the three could speak further. The Grass-and-Poison-type started to gather energy for a Hyper Beam, but before she could fire it, Rosalita boomed, “Reyes, Brave Bird!”

The armor-clad princess held on to her Staraptor for dear life as he dove at Roserade, his body surrounded by a blue aura. He drove himself straight into the flower Pokémon at tremendous speed, dispelling her Hyper Beam and knocking her away with ease. Probopass caught Roserade with Telekinesis, though, affording her the chance to recover.

Quickly composing herself, Roserade pointed her bouquet arms at her foes and launched bursts of purple sludge at them. Pidgeot flew in and folded her wings around herself. A shield of light formed around her, and Roserade’s Sludge Bombs were drawn into it and destroyed without touching their targets. Once her Protect faded, the Mega Evolved Pokémon rapidly beat her wings to whip up a vortex of wind. Probopass telekinetically threw Roserade away from her attacker, but Pidgeot’s Hurricane curved to follow and strike her anyway.

“Did you see that?” Matt shouted. “The way Hurricane just honed in on Roserade?”

“It is Pidgeot’s ability, No Guard!” Rosalita informed him, flying Reyes up next to Sally. “All the attacks that Pidgeot uses or is targeted by will hit!”

“That could be good…” Eleanor briefly paused when Roserade vanished and Dusknoir teleported into her place. The Ghost-type spread his arms, materializing numerous boulders around himself. “...or really bad!” Eleanor finished.

Pidgeot veiled herself in another Protect, guarding herself from the stones that homed in on her when Dusknoir flung them. Sally, Reyes and Shaymin all lacked the ability to do the same, so they had no choice other than to try navigating the Rock Slide on their own. As the smallest of the three, Shaymin had little trouble flying around the stones, but the much bigger Salamence and Staraptor weren’t as lucky. Both suffered several strikes, but weathered them through sheer force of will.

“We cannot be held down here, you!” Shaymin warned its companions, both human and Pokémon. “The others can handle them. We must go to Regigigas and Fernando!”

“Yes, I agree,” Rosalita concurred. “I have faith in Sheena and Cassy. We must go forward.”

“Alright.” Matt tapped his Salamence’s neck, prompting her to turn her head back to him. “Sally, time to go.”

Sally grunted in affirmation before spitting a jet of water down onto Probopass. Pidgeot simultaneously swept Dusknoir away with Hurricane, opening the path for the four Pokémon to press onward.

As they advanced, Rosalita cast a forlorn gaze back at Lingote Palace. Memories of her childhood with Fernando flashed through her mind, and when she returned her attention to Regigigas and the skyship, her lip quivered.

-:-

As Probopass, Kommo-o, Roserade and Dusknoir hung back, the rest of Fernando’s army pushed through the streets of La Ciudad Dorada. With the city’s wall freshly breached, they no longer needed to stay with the Rock-and-Steel-type to continue their advance.

Things in La Ciudad Dorada were unnaturally quiet. Even in their brainwashed state, the Pokémon could sense things were amiss. They’d been sent with the directive to eliminate any enemies they encountered, so how empty the city seemed unnerved them through their stupor. All shared the same reflexive anticipation: an ambush was definitely coming, though from where, they didn’t know.

Or at least they didn’t know until Gallade sprang into the air, propelling himself off of a streetlamp just ahead of the army. His sudden appearance caught Honchkrow by surprise, giving Gallade an opening to slash at him with X-Scissor.

Togekiss and Yanmega, seeing their fellow flier in trouble, rushed to his aid. The former acted first, flicking a blade of air at Wally’s Pokémon with her wings. He groaned in pain as he was thrown back, only to be caught in mid-air by Tangrowth’s extended vines. With Gallade restrained, Yanmega dove at him. The dragonfly bared his fangs, aiming to bite down with a Leech Life attack, but Swellow suddenly appeared and cut him off with Aerial Ace. Seeing this, Tangrowth tightened his grip on Gallade, only for Deivi to jump from a nearby roof and slash away the vines with his own X-Scissor. Rosalita’s shiny Shiftry barely had a chance to land before Magmortar turned his cannons on the Grass-and-Dark-type Pokémon to send a Heat Wave flooding over both him and Isabel, the Luxray having darted to his teammate’s side mere moments earlier.

Both Isabel and Deivi shuddered under the painful intensity of the flames that engulfed them. Magmortar was so focused on attacking them, however, that he paid no attention to Leonel bubbling up to the surface of the nearby canal. The Bibarel burst from the water, landed on the footbridge crossing it, then rolled up into a ball and lunged at Magmortar. He collided squarely with the Fire-type Pokémon’s chest, freeing Isabel and Deivi from Magmortar’s assault.

“Bi,” Leonel said to the Luxray and Shiftry, all three sharing a look of appreciation for their mutual assistance.

While the trio were distracted, however, Lickilicky took advantage of Magmortar’s stunned state. She catapulted herself over him with her tongue and drew in a deep breath before unleashing a Blizzard while still airborne. Leonel, Isabel and Deivi were caught in the wintry blast, but while the latter two shivered and recoiled from the cold, their part-Water-type ally stood indifferent to it.

It was Rosalita’s Leavanny, Elena, that came to their rescue. She perched on an Arcane Science streetlamp with her spindly legs and spit silk at Lickilicky, ensnaring the rotund creature and cutting off her attack. Once Lickilicky was fully trapped by String Shot, Elena pulled her crashing down into the ground. Gallade then darted in and struck Lickilicky with a flurry of punches and kicks, each blow from his Close Combat forcing a pained wheeze from her.

A few feet away from Gallade and Lickilicky’s tussle, the collared Electivire leapt against the side of a building and used a magnetic pulse to propel herself toward Elena. Flames stirred to life in her mouth, but before she could put them to use, Eleanor’s Persian sprang from between two other structures. The Dark-type tackled Electivire and forced her to the ground, turning her momentum from Magnet Rise against her with Foul Play. They struggled in the dirt for a short time, rolling back and forth and snarling at each other as they fought for dominance. It was Electivire that ultimately emerged victorious, driving Persian away by spewing a Flamethrower square into her face.

With Persian left reeling off to the side, Electivire looked upward. Swellow was engaging Togekiss just above the buildings and holding his own against her. None of Togekiss’s Air Slashes were landing, as Swellow’s superior speed allowed him to weave through them with Aerial Ace. Cassy’s Pokémon wasn’t paying any attention to the situation on the ground, though, leaving him an easy mark for Electivire to cast an Electroweb up at him.

Swellow struggled within the electrified net, but the prolonged shocks it gave him sapped his strength and swiftly cut off his means of escape. Salvation came in the form of Laura’s Swampert, who lumbered out of the same canal Leonel swam through and sucker punched Electivire. The orange light radiating from his fingers flowed back into his arm, swelling his muscles a little further.

Up in the air, Togekiss, Yanmega and Honchkrow had surrounded Swellow while he was restrained by Electroweb. They were closing in on him when the net broke thanks to Swampert’s punch to Electivire. Swellow immediately regained his strength and shrieked at the top of his lungs, generating a powerful soundwave that drove Togekiss, Yanmega and Honchkrow away. He then dove into Yanmega, slashing the dragonfly’s right flank with his beak.

Meanwhile, on the street, Electivire crackled with angry sparks. Her body was only slightly bruised by the blow she’d taken, but her wounded pride had left her livid with rage. She spun her arms around to build up strength, generating errant electricity that sparked around her body. She then used Magnet Rise to leap many feet into the air before turning downward and aiming her fist at Swampert’s head. Electivire wanted to set off an Earthquake that would injure all the Pokémon in the vicinity, but had every intention of catching Swampert in the epicenter.

Swampert, however, had other plans. Had Electivire not been so blinded by her fury, she would have realized something was wrong when Swampert simply waited for her to draw near. By the time she noticed anything at all, it was already far too late. Once Electivire was within reach, Swampert pulled back and punched her again. The Water-type’s strike was more powerful than the first, owing to the enhanced strength Power-Up Punch granted him. His muscles swelled even further once the second punch landed, while Electivire was flung into an iron aqueduct nearby, bursting it and spewing water all over the street.

-:-

The sweltering desert winds wrapped around Fernando as he stepped up to the skyship’s bow. They licked at him like tongues of fire, making his hair and cape flutter as he watched his sister near from above.

“Rosalita, why?” he sadly mused, watching his sister approach with Matt, Shaymin and Pidgeot accompanying her. It was Matt’s presence that turned his despair into anger, and he grit his teeth. “To stand against me with an outsider’s aid… from a Chiaki, no less. You truly have lost your way.” Fernando pointed forward with his staff. “None shall stop what I must do… even you, Rosalita. Regigigas, it is time!”

Regigigas slowed its advance, while Fernando used his control gauntlet to make the skyship retreat behind the line established by the titan. The count’s enemies immediately recognized the shrewdness of his strategy.

“He’s making us come to him,” Matt observed, “and we’re gonna have to go through Regigigas to get there.”

“It is unavoidable,” Rosalita agreed, shaking her head at the situation.

Outside of the humans’ notice, Shaymin narrowed its eyes. Looking at Regigigas called to its mind images from the first civil war, of fighting a losing battle against Fernando III’s monstrous Mega Steelix until the gratitude of the people helped turn the tide, all while Regigigas tore the kingdom apart. That had happened because of Shaymin’s carelessness, and now, its attempts to hide that truth only led right back to the same fate.

“There is only one thing left to do, you,” Shaymin said to itself, just loud enough for Matt and Rosalita to hear. “One last chance for redemption.”

Its mind made up, Shaymin extended its legs and darted straight toward Regigigas. Even though the two humans fighting alongside it had heard what it said, it was not until it flew off and left them behind that they realized what it intended to do.

“Shaymin, stop!” Rosalita screamed after her friend. She reached out toward it, but for what reason she didn’t know. “Pidgeot, go help Shaymin!” she ordered her guard’s Pokémon.

Pidgeot chirped in affirmation of the command, then shot through the air to catch up to Shaymin. The mythical Pokémon wasn’t happy to see her, and made no secret of its feelings.

“Why are you here, you?!” it demanded, scowling. “Go and help Rosalita! This is my responsibility, you!”

As the pair flew side-by-side, Pidgeot shook her head. She replied to Shaymin’s demand with a flurry of trills, and by the time she was done, Shaymin’s eyes had widened to their full round size.

“She sent you to assist me…” Shaymin’s shock soon wore off, and it smiled. “I must learn to stop underestimating her, you. But you shouldn’t be in dang-”

One of La Ciudad Dorada’s protectors cut off the other when Regigigas roared robotically. Its top four dots blinked on and off in pairs, followed promptly by a gust of chilled air blowing from the center of the diamond they formed. Fearful of the Icy Wind, Shaymin hid behind Pidgeot and let the Mega Evolved Pokémon counter with her Heat Wave. The two gusts collided in a burst of steam that nullified both, leaving their users unharmed.

The plume obscured the two sides’ view of each other as it spread out. Realizing this presented a fleeting opportunity, Shaymin popped back out from behind Pidgeot and threw an Air Slash into the steam. The blades dispelled much of the cloud on its way through, carrying on until they buffeted Regigigas’s body. There was little initial reaction from the titan aside from an angry, mechanical growl, but that wasn’t the case for long.

Regigigas retaliated by raising one of its immense arms and pointing it at Shaymin and Pidgeot. A cluster of pink light formed between its fingers, soon solidifying into countless diamonds. Two beams composed of pink light laced with diamonds shot out from the cluster, each aimed at a different target. Shaymin flew around and away from the one pursuing it, but No Guard ensured Pidgeot’s found its mark. Pidgeot hung back and cloaked herself in Protect to escape harm.

Even while the part of Diamond Storm aimed at Pidgeot exploded harmlessly against her Protect shell, Regigigas shifted its fingers so the other half would keep chasing Shaymin.

“You’ll never catch me, you!” the mythical Pokémon boldly declared. Even so, it knew that the situation as it stood was merely a stalemate. Something had to change, and when Shaymin cast its eyes downward, it got an idea. “Follow me!” it cried to the enslaved titan.

Had Regigigas been thinking for itself, it wouldn’t have fallen for Shaymin’s obvious trap. But with Fernando’s machines warping its mind, all it knew was to attack. Shaymin dropped to a much lower altitude, flying just above the desert floor. When Diamond Storm changed angles to follow, it struck the ground and detonated in a huge blast of smoke and sand. Now free from immediate danger, Shaymin dove head-first into the plume and absorbed the grit into its body.

Up above, Pidgeot saw what Shaymin was doing and whipped up a Heat Wave to distract Regigigas. The great titan crossed its arms to shield itself from the tide of fire, leaving them riddled with small burns.

That cover allowed Shaymin to get behind Regigigas while its attention was diverted. “Take this, you!” it screeched, light already beginning to pour from its body.

Regigigas had no chance to react before Shaymin darted toward its back and exploded. Its Seed Flare packed such a punch that it knocked Regigigas forward, sending the giant down to its hands and knees. The impact of its fall was such that the desert sand beneath it was thrown easily at least a dozen feet into the air.

While Regigigas’s thought process was impeded by the armor’s influence, its emotions were still present, albeit warped. The same all-consuming rage it felt at Fernando for his actions was redirected at Shaymin, and its entire body shuddered as it growled in fury. A swarm of iron chunks materialized around it, and when it roared, they were sent flying in all directions. Shaymin again took advantage of its speed and size to dance deftly around the onslaught, but Pidgeot was not so lucky. She couldn’t put up Protect fast enough and got caught in the Metal Burst, feathers flying as the iron sheared them from her body. Even Sally and Reyes were endangered by it, but they were flying at enough of a distance to avoid it fairly easily.

“Are the two of them going to be okay?” Eleanor asked from her place on Sally’s back.

“I’m not sure,” Matt replied. “I don’t know how long they’ll last against Regigigas.”

“That is why we must make haste in fulfilling our mission,” Rosalita informed her allies. Even as she addressed them, she kept her gaze locked on someone else.

They were near the skyship, and could see Fernando at its bow. He was watching them intently, remaining fixated on his sister. Yet for all the anger and frustration driving him, he made no effort to stop them as they flew overhead, circled around and descended to land on the skyship’s deck. No, he knew there was no reason to stop them. This was how it had to be.

“So at last, we stand at the precipice of fate,” he greeted Rosalita as he stepped down from the bow to confront her. Matt and Eleanor got off of Sally as she dismounted from Reyes, and Fernando knew his words for them would have been far less polite. “The game of life and death for the kingdom has reached its final round.”

“I would once have begged you to stop,” Rosalita said to him, hitting him with the same cold fury that he showed her at the train station the day he returned from murdering Sutter. “Not now. You have been consumed by darkness, Fernando, and I am going to tear you from it.”

“If that is what you think, Rosalita, then you are already lost.” Fernando tightened his hold on the staff to the point where his knuckles turned white. “La Ciudad Dorada will be protected. I will save it. There is nothing more to be said.”

“Yet you are so blind that you fail to see you are the only one threatening it!” Rosalita countered. “All the damage done to the kingdom has been because of you!”

“I am not the one standing alongside the descendant of the man who first befouled our home. The man who started all of this so many years ago!” The count reached into his cape and retrieved the one clockwork ball he kept for himself. “I am, however, the one who is going to fix it!”

With that, Fernando threw the sphere into the air and it burst open, releasing his Dragonite. She turned her head toward the dark clouds and howled as soon as she materialized.

Every muscle in Matt’s body tensed involuntarily when he saw Dragonite. His mind immediately went back to the day he saw the horrible sight of Sutter’s body. Every one of the witnesses to Fernando’s escape described the same thing - a Dragonite wearing a strange, glowing collar. The same collar on the neck of the Dragonite now standing before him.

“That’s the Dragonite you used to kill my grandfather, isn’t it?” Matt already knew the answer to his question, but some tiny part of him wanted to hope that somehow, it wouldn’t be the case.

“It’s the same one I used to correct a problem all those years ago,” Fernando icily replied.

That was it, the confirmation Matt never wanted to hear. The moment the last syllable of the count’s answer left his lips, Matt felt a rush of adrenaline surge through himself. He knew that if Cassy was present, she would have tried to stop him from flying off the handle. But as it was, her influence wasn’t there, and he reflexively snatched a Poké Ball from his bag and flung it with a snap of his wrist. Anton was summoned to the deck of the skyship, and without a word, Rosalita dispatched Adiela to join him.

“You would stand against me, your own brother and La Ciudad Dorada’s protector?” Fernando snapped. “And with this heir to a defiler at your side?!”

“I do it to save the kingdom,” Rosalita said back. “You will come to realize that.”

“So you would rob me of even that one last reason for my existence…” Fernando took a step back. “You truly are horrible, Rosalita. If you wish to be my enemy, so be it… Dragonite, Bubble Beam!”

“Sally, Hydro Pump!” Matt reflexively countered, thrusting his arm forward.

The two dragons’ attacks collided halfway, creating a wave of water that swept across the skyship’s deck. Adiela and Anton both retreated from the threatening liquid, while Dragonite and Sally simply ignored it as it washed over their legs.

“Now it’s our turn,” Rosalita declared, her armor clanging when she jabbed her fist into her hip. Looking to her Pokémon, she said to them, “Adiela, Wild Charge! Reyes, Brave Bird!”

Both the Rapidash and the Staraptor cried out, building their spirits before rushing Dragonite. Each of them surrounded themselves with intense energy, whether it was Adiela’s yellow, sparking electricity or Reyes’s blue aura. However, even as the pair barreled toward her, Dragonite remained unmoved. Behind her, Fernando was busily manipulating his gauntlet’s projection.

“Do you think I am a mere child?” he taunted his sister with a smirk. As a result of his prompting, Dragonite raised her arms and caught both of Rosalita’s Pokémon before they could make contact, drawing a horrified gasp from the princess. “No. You will learn that the challenges of leadership have no such easy answers.” Turning to Dragonite, he quietly but firmly ordered, “Thunder.”

Electricity surged through Dragonite and into the bodies of the two stunned Pokémon in her grasp, making them wail in pain. She firmly held them for several seconds, subjecting them to the shock until she finally let go. Adiela and Reyes reeled back, and excess bolts of electricity scattered all around them.

“No…” Rosalita whispered, her nerves rattled by the brutality of Fernando’s tactic.

Both Matt and Eleanor sensed just how shaken their ally was. Eleanor went to her side, promising her, “Rosa, it’s not over! I know you can win this!”

“I agree,” Matt added before returning his attention to the battle. He heard Rosalita thank them both, but his only response was to take some of the burden off Adiela and Reyes. “Anton, go and use Avalanche!”

The Rhyperior swung both his arms forward, smashing his cylindrical fingers together. A swarm of icy boulders solidified in the air around him and crashed down onto Dragonite, burying her under their weight as their cold made her howl.

With her brother’s Pokémon immobilized, Rosalita carefully stepped back and whispered to Matt, “Have you any more Revival Herbs? I have an idea, but it is dependent on them.”

“Plenty,” Matt confirmed, rummaging in his bag so the vials would clink together.

“Most excellent. Just follow my lead.” Tilting her head toward Eleanor, Rosalita added, “We will get you the opening you’re waiting for.”

Eleanor stiffened up. “I… I’m ready,” she said.

Across the deck from where Rosalita and her allies were hatching their plan, one of the ice chunks burying Dragonite shifted and fell from the pile. Mere seconds later, she burst through the rest by whipping up a Hurricane around herself, powerfully roaring all the while. The remnants of Anton’s Avalanche shot in all directions, most of them flying over the sides of the ship. Some others instead went in Matt, Eleanor and Rosalita’s direction, forcing Sally to melt them with her Flamethrower while the humans shielded their faces.

“Give it one more attack to soften Dragonite up, if you please,” the princess quietly asked Matt.

“I can do that.” Matt raised his hand into the air, then pointed forward at Dragonite and called out, “Anton, use Rock Wrecker!”

Anton brought his hands together, and tiny stones emerged from the holes in his palms. They merged into a single entity that swelled until it became a boulder of gigantic size, which Anton grasped and lifted over his head before flinging it at Dragonite.

“Stop it with Bubble Beam!” Fernando rushed to order his Pokémon.

Even though Dragonite put all of her strength into her counterattack, it was not nearly enough. The boulder crashed through all of the bubbles she blew and struck her, exploding into dust when it made contact. Dragonite fell onto her back from the immense force, covered in injuries but still not defeated.

“That was… a bit more than just softening it up,” Eleanor teased.

Dragonite was already getting back on her feet, so Rosalita immediately followed up by saying, “Reyes, this is on you now. Final Gambit!”

As soon as Rosalita issued her command, Matt understood why she asked him for Revival Herbs. He went in his bag to get one even as he watched Reyes dive-bomb Dragonite. Rosalita’s Staraptor had less strength left in his body than he had against Regice, so the aura generated by Final Gambit was less intense than it had been then. Still, when Reyes drove his beak into Dragonite’s chest, the orange light exploded with enough force to send Dragonite right back down. Reyes faced a similar fate, getting thrown and landing near his trainer.

Rosalita didn’t have to tell Matt what she wanted from him. He simply passed the Revival Herb to her as she walked over to Reyes, and she didn’t even stop to collect it. She lowered herself down next to her Staraptor, opened the vial and removed its contents.

“Thank you, Reyes,” she said to him as she placed the Revival Herb in his mouth. “You have displayed admirable bravery today.”

“Starr,” Reyes softly trilled. He slowly chewed on the herb while Rosalita stroked his wing, comforting him.

That moment of peace did not last long. Dragonite’s collar, sensing that its wearer had fallen in battle, released an energy pulse as its blue light blinked. Fernando’s Pokémon was back on her feet in a heartbeat, fully revitalized. She roared with such might that Matt, Rosalita and Eleanor thought they felt the air itself shake.

Luckily for them, Reyes was able to rise to the challenge. Invigorated by the Revival Herb, he sprang back up and spread his wings in an attempt to menace his foe.

“Reyes!” Rosalita exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Are you ready to go?”

The Normal-and-Flying-type Pokémon nodded to his trainer and chirped, so she climbed onto his back. She then shot a quick glance over to Matt.

“That must be the lead she meant,” he realized. “Sally, come on.”

“Good, he got it,” the princess thought as he got on his Salamence. Turning to Fernando, she knew she had to provoke him. “Will you do what you must to grasp victory with your own two hands?”

“How dare you!” Fernando yelled up at his sister as she and Matt went airborne on their Pokémon. He leaped onto Dragonite’s back and prompted her to take flight by tapping her with his heel. “You would doubt even that? If I must prove myself to you, so be it!”

“That’s right, Fernando, follow us,” Rosalita thought, watching her brother and Dragonite lift off the skyship’s deck. She gave Eleanor a curt nod, then said to Reyes, “Let us go.”

Reyes trilled, then pushed off away from the skyship with a mighty flap of his wings. Sally promptly followed.

“The fact you retreat from me is proof you still lack the mettle to lead!” Fernando thundered after them. “Dragonite, Bubble Beam!”

The count’s Pokémon aimed at Sally and Reyes, and expelled a torrent of blue bubbles from her mouth. Matt and Rosalita, having heard Fernando issue the command, peered over their shoulders and saw the oncoming assault.

“Sally, behind you!” he alerted his Salamence.

“Reyes, take a hard left!” the princess ordered.

Once they were fully aware of the threat’s proximity, Sally and Reyes split off in different directions. Bubble Beam sailed harmlessly between them, further stoking Fernando’s frustration. Since he could not pursue both of his nemeses, he pulled Dragonite to the left so they could give chase to Rosalita.

“Come back here, Rosalita! Watch me save our home!!”

Meanwhile, down on the deck, Eleanor watched Matt, Rosalita and Fernando ride away into the dark, cloudy sky.

“That’s it, then,” she said, subconsciously pinning her arms against her sides. She spun on her heel and headed toward the ship’s bridge, mumbling to herself, “Time to get to work.”

-:-

Swampert, Gallade, Elena, Deivi, Isabel, Leonel, Persian and Swellow were holding their own for the most part against Fernando’s forces, but the army’s relentless push had forced the allies back. Their conflict had spilled out into one of La Ciudad Dorada’s main roadways, affording them more space to exchange blows.

While the other Pokémon fought around them, Isabel glared at Elena and roared with all her might, radiating the bright light of Helping Hand. Rosalita’s Leavanny absorbed the light into her body, leaped at Lickilicky, and slashed the Normal-type with her glowing arm. Helping Hand’s influence strengthened Elena’s Leaf Blade to such a degree that Lickilicky was thrown into the side of a building despite her weight, breaking a deep crack into its stone and shattering its windows.

Elena had barely landed back on her feet when a flurry of Air Slashes struck around her, forcing her to jump back and nearly collide with Isabel. Rosalita's Luxray pushed in front of the Leavanny and vengefully roared at their assailant, Togekiss. A Thunderbolt sparked from her mane and shot in Togekiss's direction, but the Normal-and-Flying-type gracefully twisted around and avoided it. From her vantage point in the sweltering air, she smiled condescendingly down at Isabel and Elena. Even while under Fernando's control, she had enough freedom of thought to shoot a mocking sneer at her foes. After all, how could they reach her when she was so agile?

If Togekiss had more control over her faculties, she would have perhaps known not to let such arrogance consume her. With the warping effects of her brainwashing, her self-confidence kept her still until Swellow smashed into her with his metallically-glittering wings. The impact snapped her back into reality, and she retaliated with an angry, ear-splitting shriek that manifested as soundwaves. Swellow responded in kind, but his Boomburst drowned out Togekiss’s Hyper Voice.

Cringing in pain from the deafening noise, Togekiss seethed before pushing her wings together to form an Aura Sphere between them and flinging it into Swellow. The blow stunned Cassy’s Pokémon for a moment, giving Togekiss a chance to try and fly away, but it wasn’t long before Swellow was back on her tail. She pursued Togekiss across the city, the pair of them racing in blue and white blurs over La Ciudad Dorada. Eventually, the chase circled around toward the street where the other Pokémon were fighting. As they turned back, they darted past an iron weather vane cast in the image of Shaymin’s Sky Forme and made it spin.

As they neared the melee, Togekiss flipped over backward to throw another Aura Sphere at Swellow. She’d assumed that the attack would stop Swellow from chasing her, even if briefly as it had done earlier. Her action proved to be grossly miscalculated, as as soon as the orb sailed at him, Swellow pulled his wings in tight and dove straight into the orb. With one swift motion, the bird sliced through it and then slammed into Togekiss, throwing her back onto a nearby roof with a pained cry.

Swellow’s moment to indulge in his victory proved short-lived. Mere seconds after his Aerial Ace knocked Togekiss down, a ray of pink light laced with tiny stones struck him and sent him crashing to the street below.

It was a Power Gem attack deployed by Probopass, who was floating toward the battle with Roserade, Kommo-o and Dusknoir at her side. The Rock-and-Steel-type deposited Roserade and Kommo-o in the midst of the brawl, while Dusknoir loomed overhead and clenched his body up. The jagged yellow line on his stomach flashed a sinister glow and he reared back, opening the mouth underneath it. He had conjured numerous wisps of blue fire within, which rained down on the resistance against his master’s army. Most struck the ground between their targets, but Persian, Elena, Leonel and Swellow took direct hits, sending the four flying back with burns across their bodies.

Two of the fiery orbs went further astray than any of the others. One hit a fountain built against a house on the street. A Shaymin sculpture atop the fountain was broken off along with a portion of the pipe underneath, causing it to spray water into the air. The other collided with a streetlamp on the opposite side of the path, cracking the Arcane Science bulb powering it. After a moment of sparking and flickering, the entire device violently exploded. Its detonation far exceeded anything the lamp’s unassuming appearance would have suggested, consuming the entire street and blowing away both sides of the battle within.

Even though a battle had been fought there, it was not until the blanket of blinding light from the blast started to lift that the street truly looked like a war zone. The buildings and paving stones around the area had been dashed into mounds of rubble, a situation that as bad as it was, had but by a stroke of fate not been much worse. Arcane Science energy could did inherently create heat or fire, but if exposed to fire like that of Dusknoir's Will-O-Wisp, the energy would have reacted explosively. With the nearby streetlamps dented and scuffed from debris, the fact that the detonated streetlamp did not create more fire was likely the sole reason why a cataclysmic chain reaction with the other lamps hadn’t leveled the entire street, if not beyond.

Not that it mattered much to the Pokémon, at least at that point. Both those loyal to Fernando and those opposing him were strewn haphazardly around the street. They hadn't quite fainted, so Swampert and Gallade didn't revert to their original forms, but the blast injured them badly enough that they wheezed and struggled with their footing.

Unfortunately for those defending La Ciudad Dorada, Fernando's forces still held a trump card. Their collars, sensing the state his Pokémon were in, flashed red as their failsafe programming took over. Each collar released a pulse of crimson energy through its wearer, and in seconds, their wounds were healed. It wasn't long before they rose, standing over their opponents as if they had vanquished the guardians themselves and crying out in victory.

Yet, the battle was far from over. Probopass, who had floated over the explosion and escaped harm, once more lifted all of her teammates with her Telekinesis. The army set their collective sights on the Sacred Hill and Lingote Palace and set off, intending to finally fulfill the directive programmed into them.

-:-

Shaymin and Pidgeot fought against Regigigas with all their might, but even as powerful as they were, they could not stop its relentless march. Every one of the great titan’s tremendous, earth-shaking footsteps brought it closer to the city, and to potential unspeakable horrors that neither Shaymin nor Pidgeot cared to think much about.

Shaymin flew straight in front of Regigigas and shrieked, “Listen to me, you! You are the kingdom’s protector! You must free yourself from this!”

Regigigas was unmoved. Its four uppermost dots blinked, and a gust of chilled air blew from the space at their middle. Shaymin screeched in fear and abruptly pulled away, but Regigigas shifted to the left in an attempt to catch it.

Just then, Pidgeot swung around Regigigas's right side. Like how her trainer had been raised from childhood to protect the royal family, she was determined to keep Shaymin safe. She dive-bombed the titan’s flank while emanating a purple and gold aura, forcing a pained, static-filled buzz from Regigigas but only enraging it even further. It stopped pursuing Shaymin and raised its right arm in Pidgeot’s direction, pinching and then separating its fingers to bring a Diamond Storm to life between them. Pidgeot, exhausted from using Giga Impact, could do nothing but hover in place until the blast of diamonds struck her, sending her spiraling to the sands below.

“Pidgeot!” Shaymin exclaimed in dismay. The mythical Pokémon grit its teeth and rose to a vantage point above Regigigas before it could catch up. “Take this, you!”

A short distance away, Rosalita watched Shaymin rain Air Slashes down on Regigigas. She'd been observing them since just before Pidgeot got shot down, and when the titan swung one of its arms at her lifelong friend, her lip quivered.

"Shaymin, please…" she whispered.

"You must see that your resistance is futile, Rosalita," Fernando shouted at her from Dragonite's back. "Look around you. All you are doing is prolonging the inevitable! If my army is stopped, when Regigigas reaches Lingote Palace, you will have no choice but to surrender. If you do the right thing now, this can end immediately!"

"When Regigigas reaches Lingote Palace?" Rosalita repeated, her eyes widening in horror. Images of Regigigas ripping through La Ciudad Dorada flashed through her mind, and her fear only deepened from how similar the scenes of destruction were to the first civil war. "Fernando, even you must see the madness in this! You are going to destroy what little of our kingdom survived the last time! There won't be anything left for you to protect!"

"Then if you still care about me, surrender now. This is my purpose. It must be. I cannot live another day thinking I have no reason to exis-" Something in the corner of his eye caught Fernando's attention, and he pulled Dragonite to face it. "Bubble Beam!" he commanded.

Dragonite managed to cut off the incoming Flamethrower right in the nick of time, turning it into harmless steam with her Bubble Beam. While the cloud of vapor separated the two sides, Sally flew up next to Rosalita and Reyes.

"He's completely gone," the princess uttered, staring at her armored hands as they trembled. "There is not one iota of my brother still alive in this person… he is-"

"Rosalita!" Matt yelled, snapping her back to reality. He tightened his grip on his Salamence before quietly hissing, "Rosalita, focus! We’re the only ones buying Eleanor time to stop all this!"

"That's right…" Rosalita drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm herself. "You are right."

There wasn't time for the pair to converse further, as Dragonite tore through the remaining steam with Thunder. Reyes and Sally split from each other to evade it, but their escape only further angered Dragonite and her master.

The ever-escalating sense of frustration Fernando felt at the situation finally threw a switch in his mind. To that point, he'd been holding back. He had still been hoping Rosalita would see he was right and surrender. But at that moment, as he sat on Dragonite's back with the sounds of war all around him, he came to what he considered a terrible realization.

"Rosalita will never come around to what I am saying," he thought. Deep down, he'd known this to be true from the time he saw Rosalita erecting the city's walls. He just refused to fully believe it at first. Now, with no doubt left as to where she stood, he felt true despair creeping up on him. He soon found a useful target for his spiking emotions when his eyes settled on Matt and Sally. "Dragonite, use Horn Drill on that Salamence!"

While Dragonite gave chase to Sally in an attempt to finish her with one decisive blow, Eleanor was busy on the skyship's bridge. Finding the right switches to flip to get into its systems was the easy part. She could do that kind of work in her sleep. What demanded significantly more time and attention was what came next. She was surrounded by easily at least a dozen different holographic projections as she stood at the control panel, manipulating them to dig into the ship's programming line by line.

"All I gotta do is wipe that collar control system outta here," she said to herself. "Shouldn't be too hard."

-:-

The damaged streetlamp's detonation echoed all the way across the city, forcing an uneasy quiet over the throng of people amassed in Dorada Market. They didn't know what exactly the blast meant, and that lack of information put them on pins and needles.

Much of the city's population were corralled to the end of the market against the Sacred Hill. Some trainers and their motley crew of accompanying Pokémon, recruited by Cassy and Sheena with the aid of Laura and Wally, shielded the crowd. The priestess stood firm at the forefront of the gathering, her hands locked together and eyes pressed shut as she used her empathic ability to reach out to where the explosion came from.

Suddenly, one of Sheena's thick eyebrows twitched. She'd connected to an overwhelming presence, one that radiated the same kind of impenetrable fury she tried and failed to pierce in the garden a few days prior. It forced her out of her trance, leaving her to stumble and gasp for air.

"What happened?" Cassy demanded.

"They're coming," Sheena replied, her warning quickly growing more urgent. She turned to Laura, Wally and the other trainers and repeated, "They're coming! Prepare yourselves!"

Laura ate the rest of the Shaymin cookie she’d been snacking on before pivoting to the trainers. "You heard her!" she boomed, crossing her arms. "Time to show 'em just what you guys are made of!"

The cry of the tallest Pokémon from the group, an exotic, long-necked Exeggutor, let the crowd know that the battle had already come to them. She’d spotted both Probopass and Dusknoir emerge over the city once again.

“Exeggutor, do what you have to! Dragon Pulse!” her trainer, a young woman wearing a light white dress and an orange sun hat, commanded. The sightseer then turned to her second Pokémon, a Greninja standing calmly at her side, and said, “Greninja, you go as well! Help Exeggutor with Water Shuriken!”

Without hesitation, Greninja scaled his towering companion’s neck. Once he reached a height sufficient enough to give a clear shot, he clapped his free hand against the bubble on his knee to form two throwing stars made of water. He flung them in Probopass’s direction at the same time Exeggutor’s three heads each fired an intense energy beam. The three rays combined together and took on a draconic shape as they approached Dusknoir, who shielded himself with his arms to lessen the impact. Probopass didn’t fare as well against Greninja’s attack. She rocked in midair when the Water Shurikens hit her and had to land on the roof of a building at the edge of the market.

Greninja wasn’t finished, however. Seeing how little Dragon Pulse accomplished, he bound up to Exeggutor’s head before leaping off and diving at Dusknoir. He pushed his right fist against the palm of his right hand to form a blade of glowing black energy, which Greninja used to slash the Ghost-type right as he lowered his arms. The blow forced them apart, and Greninja deftly landed back in the square. He barely had time to rest before Electivire emerged from the nearby road and cast an Electroweb over him, the shock making him scream as he tried to cut the charged threads away.

The members of Fernando’s army started invading Dorada Market en masse, charging in from multiple roads leading into the market from the city proper. Their method of attack opened numerous fronts for the resistance against them to fight. Worse still, some of them didn’t even keep with the already loose formation. Togekiss, Yanmega and Honchkrow flew into the square instead, while Kommo-o climbed atop one of the buildings and roared at the sky. That bone-chilling cry combined with the way Fernando’s army encircled their enemies struck fear into the people of La Ciudad Dorada, and an agitated, panicked chattering grew from the crowd.

“Stay focused!” Laura encouraged the trainers, her arms still tightly crossed. “We have to keep them away from the people and Lingote Palace!”

“I’ll take charge of these few…” said a young woman with long, messy dark hair and a flowing black dress that made her appear to be a witch. Training her strange, spiraling eyes on Electivire, Lickilicky and Dusknoir, she brought her purple handkerchief to her mouth and hissed to her Pokémon, “Decidueye, Frenzy Plant.”

The young woman’s Decidueye, a tall owl Pokémon, wrapped his cream-colored body in his long green wings. His orange eyes flashed from underneath his leafy hood, and he let out a scratchy, barking cry. Giant, thorny roots erupted around him and ripped through the ground, engulfing and whipping at their three targets. Each lash produced visible injuries on Electivire and Lickilicky, but while Dusknoir was groaning in pain just like them, his wounds were less overt.

Seeing his partners wither beneath Decidueye's merciless assault, Magmortar trained his cannons upon the owl. Fireballs flared to life inside them, only to get prematurely destroyed when an Emboar belonging to an older woman sprayed him with boiling hot water.

"Well done, my dear Emboar," his trainer praised him, a gust of wind making her black trench coat and white scarf flutter. “Now, use Head Smash.”

Emboar slammed his clublike arms together, snorted, and charged headfirst into Magmortar with speed belying his size. Both he and Magmortar were knocked down, but even with how sore and weak the raw power of the violent blow left him, Emboar was able to push himself right back up. Magmortar remained still on his back until his collar flashed, its pulse once again reviving him.

A few feet away. Emboar's trainer was growing agitated. "Don't let that awful thing overwhelm you, Emboar!" she called out as Magmortar stood over him. "Scald!"

The porcine Pokémon pursed his lips, but before he could spit the hot water at his foe again, Magmortar clubbed him over the head. With any sort of immediate counterattack cut off, Magmortar kept hitting Emboar, switching back and forth between his arms as he used Dual Chop over and over.

Just when it seemed as if Magmortar had Emboar beaten, a pulse of blue electricity surged into him and pushed him away. Emboar's trainer turned to see a younger man in a red trench coat next to her, standing alongside a brown-and-yellow mongoose Pokémon.

"I noticed your Emboar was in trouble, Madame," he said, adjusting his red fedora before nonchalantly flipping a coin. "Gumshoos and I knew we could assist you."

"Much obliged," she replied, bowing politely.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the market, Fernando's Yanmega, Togekiss and Honchkrow were being challenged by a Gliscor and Vikavolt accompanied by an Audino riding on the former's back. The airborne groups were rapidly closing the distance between themselves, making a clash imminent.

"Knives!" the Audino's trainer shouted to her Pokémon. "Give that Yanmega a Charge Beam!"

The Audino gave a pitched chirp in response to her trainer, then cupped her hands around her mouth. A ball of electricity churned between them for a moment before shooting out, striking Yanmega with the sound of a thunderclap.

As Yanmega reeled back, the Vikavolt's trainer stared in awe. "I've never seen an Audino so strong," he marveled.

"Knives really is great, isn't she?" The young woman shoved her hands into the pockets of her grey hoodie and looked up at the man in the golf shirt, then added, "But you have a Vikavolt. Show me what you've got."

"R-right…" The intensity on the part of Audino's trainer gave the golfer a chill. "Vikavolt, use Thunderbolt on Honchkrow!"

Sparks flew between Vikavolt's long, jagged mandibles as he gathered energy. Once he had enough, he loosed it all in one tremendous blast. Togekiss tried to protect her teammate by flicking an Air Slash straight into the electric onslaught, but her act did nothing to slow it down. Honchkrow was easily overwhelmed by the Thunderbolt, while Gliscor swooped toward Togekiss with Knives still along for the ride.

"Your turn, my partner," the Ground-and-Flying-type's flashy trainer said while adjusting his bow tie. "Sky Attack!"

"Knives, jump off now!"

The Audino gracefully leapt from Gliscor's back and landed on the stone ground of the market, leaning to brace herself with her arm. Behind her, Togekiss attempted to stop the glowing Gliscor's dive with an Icy Wind, but even though it did send a chill right to the scorpion's bones, he remained undeterred. When the two airborne Pokémon collided, Gliscor's aura exploded, casting a dramatic light over the square.

Knives, meanwhile, was soon joined by a Leafeon and Glaceon belonging to a young woman. Unlike many of the other tourists, she was appropriately dressed for the hot weather, wearing light, white summer clothing that complemented her flowing blue hair and gave her an obvious air of wealth.

"We have to work together here, there's no other choice!" Knives's trainer demanded as she ran up to the woman. She found the way the lady flaunted her wealth distasteful, but swallowed her annoyance for the time being.

"Oh? And you are?" The lady seemed like she was in a bubble, almost as if she was unaware of the chaos around her.

"You can call me Door…" Right as she said her name, Door saw Probopass and Dusknoir closing in on Knives, Leafeon and Glaceon. "...and you better wake up and help me out here!"

“Door? A nice name… I’m Sarah, pleased to meet you.” Sarah’s continued nonchalance in the face of the oncoming threat only left Door even more annoyed. Just before Door could yell at her, though, a glint flashed in her eye. “It seems we are in a spot of trouble,” Sarah said, staring with surprising intensity at Dusknoir and Probopass. “Leafeon, Glaceon, I do believe Shadow Ball would be best.”

“I… what?” Door stammered before shrugging her shoulders. “Whatever. Knives, you use Shadow Ball too!”

Knives, Leafeon and Glaceon lined up next to each other, and the latter two opened their mouths to form dark, purple-and-black orbs while Knives formed one between her hands. Probopass and Dusknoir reacted to the threat by conjuring magnetic spheres and wisps of blue fire, and both sides assailed each other simultaneously. Fernando’s two Pokémon made no effort to escape the Shadow Balls, simply floating in place and enduring the blows. Knives, Leafeon and Glaceon, on the other hand, did their best to avoid the onslaught of Magnet Bomb and Will-O-Wisp. They danced safely around Dusknoir’s supernatural flames, but try as they might, they could not evade the magnetic silver spheres. Knives and Leafeon shrugged off the impacts from Magnet Bomb, but the same could not be said for the Ice-type Glaceon, who was struck square in his torso by the Steel-type move and collapsed to the ground.

“Oh, Glaceon!” Sarah cried in dismay. “Are you-”

“Porygon-Z, use Electroweb!”

Just as it seemed that Dusknoir and Probopass would pick Door and Sarah’s alliance apart, a Porygon-Z flew in and cast a charged net over them, binding them down as they were electrocuted by it. The two young women turned to face their savior, who was soon joined by its trainer, a bespectacled man in a burgundy coat.

“You girls alright?” he asked them while Porygon-Z twitched next to him. “Glaceon took quite the hit.”

“Don’t worry about Glaceon, I can help him,” Door replied. She then narrowed her eyes and hissed, “I’ll tell you now, don’t call me ‘girl’ again. Ever.”

“Fair enough,” the man laughed, adjusting his glasses.

Nearby, a third woman was watching the conflict in the square through a high-tech visor. Her two Weavile stood at her feet, warily observing their surroundings in case they needed to protect her.

“Are you seeing this, Banks?” she said into the microphone attached to her visor, watching as Knives healed Glaceon with a pulse of pink energy. Roserade suddenly bound over Probopass and Dusknoir and readied a Hyper Beam above her head, only for Porygon-Z to explosively disarm her with a Hyper Beam of its own. “The Pokémon wearing collars attack relentlessly, and when defeated, the collars appear to be healing them. They’re not staying down long.”

“That’s the potential of Arcane Science energy!” the voice of an old man answered through her visor. “The practices of Arcane Science allow humans to harness the life energy of the land using machinery, giving it virtually any application you can imagine. That is why I sent you to investigate La Ciudad Dorada, after all!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” the woman teasingly told her boss. She shifted her gaze toward the center of the market, where a martial artist and a young man wearing a black bandana had their Poliwrath and Zoroark wrestling with Fernando’s Tangrowth. “I don’t think either of us ever imagined something like this would happen.”

“Stay safe out there, Kidd. I don’t want to lose my best employee!”

Kidd lowered her eyelids and deadpanned, “I’m sure you don’t.”

Meanwhile, just as Kidd hadn’t yet participated in the battle, there was one of Fernando’s Pokémon that hadn’t either. Kommo-o was still watching over the conflict from his perch atop one of the houses. Even in his brainwashed, controlled state, he knew he couldn’t stay out of the battle any longer. All across the market his teammates were facing stiff resistance from the gathered trainers, and their progress toward Lingote Palace was completely stymied. They were failing to accomplish the goal programmed into them via their collars.

He would not fail like them.

Kommo-o wound his powerful legs up and leapt from the roof, his weight shaking the ground when he crashed down into the square. Every Pokémon not already occupied with an opponent turned to stare at him. They’d all seen him arrive with the other members of Fernando’s army, but many had forgotten all about him once their attention was diverted and he held back. His presence sent a wave of fear washing over them, and matters weren’t helped when he stretched his neck and roared mightily toward the dark sky.

“Poliwrath!” the martial artist shouted to his Pokémon. The Water-and-Fighting-type had still been grappling with Tangrowth, but when her trainer called for her, she flipped over backward and flung Tangrowth back for Zoroark to take care of. “Hit that Kommo-o with Dual Chop!” her trainer ordered, mimicking the motion of a karate chop himself.

Poliwrath croaked in affirmation and sprang toward Kommo-o, her hands glowing with green light. Kommo-o turned toward her and lazily glared at her. The Dragon’s eyes lacked a single ounce of fear in them, but were instead filled to with condescension bordering on pity for her. How could such a weak creature dare to challenge him?

The Dragon-and-Fighting-type Pokémon casually batted Poliwrath away, sending her crashing into a nearby sales booth. He then set his sights on the Sacred Hill, but before he could press onward, two Ice Beams caught him squarely in the chest. Kommo-o snarled and whipped his head around, identifying the source of the resistance as Kidd’s two Weavile.

“Not enough,” Kidd realized when she saw Kommo-o’s fury. “Both of you use Laser Focus!”

Both Weavile locked their eyes on Kommo-o, only for him to take notice of their act and begin rushing towards them.

“It’s game over if Kommo-o hits them with Sky Uppercut, like it did to Poliwrath…” Just then, Kidd noticed both Weavile’s eyes flash. Her fluffy brown pigtails shook as she hurried to tell them, “Use Ice Beam now!”

Kidd's twin Weavile brought their claws together, chilling the air between their tips. The moisture in the air soon solidified and shot into Kommo-o's chest, both rays twice as intense as the prior ones.

Kommo-o angrily growled and glared down at the Weavile. Such small, insignificant Pokémon, and yet, they had stopped him dead in his tracks. Maybe, if he was in his right mind, he would have relished the challenge as an opportunity to assert his dominance. The influence of his collar robbed him of that. His simplified thoughts told him only one thing - destroy all who stood in his way and take Lingote Palace.

Tongues of fire wrapped around Kommo-o's fists, and he swung them against the two Ice Beams, cutting off the freezing onslaught. Kidd's Weavile slowly backed up and nervously glanced at each other, well aware of the danger they were in.

"Allow me to take care of this," the witch trainer told Kidd, stepping between her and Kommo-o. Decidueye soon joined her, and she pulled up her left sleeve, revealing a black bracelet with a green crystal set into it.

"A Z-Ring!" Kidd exclaimed in surprise.

The witch crossed her arms, causing a shadow in the shape of Decidueye's head to appear from the crystal. "The living world and spirit world connect as one," she recited. She leaned forward and hid her face behind her hands, causing a plume of energy to flare up around her body. "Where the line between life and death blurs, the truth of existence shall be found."

Decidueye stood before his trainer as she straightened up. When she separated her hands and pushed her head forward, the energy around her flowed into Decidueye. An arrow of light made of multiple interlocking triangles flashed in front of him.

"And now, that which belongs in the spirit world shall be brought back there!" the strange young woman cried. "Decidueye, use Sinister Arrow Raid!"

Decidueye shrieked viciously and rocketed skyward with a powerful beat of his wings. At the apex of his ascent, he threw his wings open, scattering numerous arrow-shaped quills from his plumage. With the quills surrounding him, he dove in Kommo-o’s direction like a missile. He pulled back at the last moment and flew over Kommo-o’s head, but the quills all struck their target before exploding in a huge plume of spiritual energy. Decidueye landed in front of his trainer to observe his work with satisfaction.

As the purple light faded from around Kommo-o, the humans and Pokémon opposing him discovered that he was down on one knee. Slowly he rose, and although his armored scales were covered in gashes, he was more infuriated than injured.

“It survived?!” the witch hissed in disgust and surprise.

At first, Kommo-o growled at Decidueye and his other enemies, but such a display soon ceased to satisfy his erupting rage. He howled at the sky and crossed his arms, subconsciously mimicking the motion he had been opposed with moments earlier, and started rubbing them together. This action scraped his scales against each other, creating a horrible, steadily intensifying noise.

All seemed lost as Kommo-o prepared to overwhelm the palace’s protectors with a supercharged Clanging Scales. Just as he lifted his arms above his head, however, he was suddenly struck in the face by a simultaneous Shadow Ball and Gunk Shot. He staggered back and turned his angry gaze at whoever it was that had the nerve to ambush him in such a way.

Somehow, a Palossand and a rainbow-colored Muk had gotten between him and his foes without his notice.

“It’s ’bout time for you to pay for turnin’ on us like that!”

Kommo-o shook off the sludge from Gunk Shot to clear his vision in time to see Noel descend into the market with Leon at her side. Even under Fernando’s brainwashing, he recognized his former masters, lowered himself, and growled threateningly at them. Sheena was the only human of the resistance group to have a reaction to their presence, as she was the only one to have already met them.

“You actually did survive!” the priestess exclaimed.

“Of course Sis and I did,” Leon replied, smugly pointing at himself with his thumb and grinning broadly. “Ain’t you learned not to underestimate us yet?”

Noel flashed a proud smirk at her brother, then jabbed her finger at Kommo-o and sharply said, "You turn your back on us like everyone else, and for who? The little prince? We'll take you out and then go beat him!"

Kommo-o's attention shifted to Noel and Leon alone, focusing exclusively on them while the others vanished from his mind. He lowered his head and charged at them, the scales on his head glittering like metal. Palossand moved in front of Muk and protectively stretched to cover him. The sand in her body hardened into steel as well, and the impact of Kommo-o's Iron Head against her resulted in little besides a horrible scraping noise.

"Thanks for that one, Bro," Noel said in gratitude for the Iron Defense shield. "Now, Muk, how's about another Gunk Shot?"

Muk slithered on top of Palossand and choked another glob of sludge right into Kommo-o's face and eyes. He flailed and clawed at his face, trying desperately to pull the thick, sticky substance away, only for the mass to split apart the more he attacked it. Once he managed to partially clear his eyes, he roared and swung his fist at Muk and Palossand only for something to hold him back mid-punch.

The hunter siblings both started laughing, and Noel slapped Leon on the back.

"Look at that, Bro! Kommo-o's all confused… it thought we came alone!"

"You were right when you said gettin' them with us was a good idea, Sis."

"I am the brains after all."

Initially unable to see what was holding his fist back, Kommo-o howled in rage and started flailing again. It was when he raised his arm above his head that he finally saw his assailant - hanging on to his fist was none other than Mega Gallade.

"Gallade, you're safe!" Wally cried in relief. "I was so worried!"

"He ain't the only one we picked up on our way here," Noel smugly revealed.

Practically on cue, Mega Swampert, Persian, Swellow, Elena, Deivi, Isabel and Leonel all came running into the square. Gallade joined them by kicking off Kommo-o's fist and backflipping to land perfectly on his feet.

"Thanks for finding my buddy Swampert!" Laura told the siblings once she embraced her Pokémon.

"You ain't got anythin' to worry 'bout," Noel told her. "The whole lot of 'em had their lights knocked out, but we helped 'em get back together again. Figured you all would need the support."

"Y'know, Sis…" Leon cut in, his eyes flicking over to Kommo-o as the dragon rubbed away the sludge, "...I ain't usually the one who does the thinkin', but it looks to me like it's time to serve up that revenge we were talkin' 'bout."

"You're right on the money, Bro." Noel turned to Wally, Laura, Sheena and Cassy and asked them, "You guys want in on this?"

"You don't have to ask us twice."

Cassy hadn't bothered to check with the others, but she happened to be right, as they all shared her sentiment. The humans clustered together while their group of Pokémon did the same, bracing to all attack Kommo-o.

"All right, go!" all six of them cried in unison.

That prompting was all the Pokémon needed to bring their full power down on Kommo-o. Gallade swung his arm to flick a blade of purple energy at the dragon, Swellow unleashed a deafening blast of sound, Swampert bound toward Kommo-o with his fists wrapped in icy air, and Persian fired a Dark Pulse from the gem on her forehead. Rosalita's Pokémon joined in, with Elena leaping forth to slash Kommo-o with Leaf Blade, Leonel rolling to tackle him, Deivi spitting a Seed Bomb, and Isabel using Thunderbolt. Palossand and Muk also contributed with Shadow Ball and Gunk Shot, respectively.

All the different attacks in the onslaught hit Kommo-o at roughly the same time, and all he could do was cover himself with his arms in a feeble act of defense. The sheer amount and variety of energy he was hit with triggered a huge, bright explosion that the humans in the market had to shield their eyes from.

The light from the blast faded a short time later, revealing Kommo-o lying prone across the broken stone ground. It had taken everything they had, but the defenders of the Sacred Hill had won the war. The enemy army's leader had fallen, and the other Pokémon knew they stood no chance, even with the collars influencing their minds. They started to slowly retreat, too dumbfounded to escape any faster.

"That's right, you losers! Run!" Noel mocked them. "Run and tell that Fernando we're comin' for him!"

With that, Noel threw back her head and started laughing maniacally. Leon, Wally, Laura and the other tourists and townspeople, meanwhile, started celebrating their victory. Things had been frightening for a lot of them, with worry about the oncoming danger consuming them once Rosalita set off the evacuation alarm. Now, their relief and jubilation flowed freely.

Sheena and Cassy, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at Kommo-o.

"You sense it too, don't you?" Cassy asked, a bead of sweat rolling down her brow.

"I do," the priestess ominously replied, clenching her fist in front of herself. "I don't even need to use my Transcendence to tell. Something is wrong."

Sheena's warning turned out to be a prophetic one. The light on Kommo-o's collar shifted from red to black, a change that made both her and Cassy feel as if their hearts had stopped. Kommo-o's eyes completely filled with a dull red glow as the collar's influence scrubbed away what free will he still possessed. All that remained by the time he stood back up were simple directives: destroy the enemy and take the palace by any means necessary.

Kommo-o clenched up and let out a horrific screech that shattered the windows near him. It wasn't until then that the vast majority of the people in the plaza realized what was happening, and their celebration instantly turned to murmurs of panic.

"Sis, what's happenin'?" Leon asked, his voice shaky.

One thing Noel usually prided herself on was her ability to project an image of strength even when she had none. That talent had helped her and Leon get through countless nights on the bleak streets of Pyrite. Yet, in that moment, even her base instincts failed her. She couldn't find a single word to reassure Leon with.

Meanwhile, Kommo-o's collar released another energy pulse. When it washed over the other Pokémon in the army, their collars turned pure white. Not only did this wipe away their limited autonomy, it made them into subservient soldiers under Kommo-o's control. They all disengaged from what they were doing and dragged themselves to their master's side.

"M-Miss Champion, what do we do now?" Wally stuttered. The way the army closed ranks around Kommo-o had made him realize what was coming, but like Leon, he needed reassurance.

Luckily for him, Laura sensed how he felt. "Don't worry, kid. I've got your back." She crossed her arms again, and without turning her head called out to all her allies, "This is it! If this is how they want to go, well, it's time to show them just how we roll!"

With that, the two armies issued their battle cries, charged at each other and began to clash. The war wasn't just not over, it was just beginning.

-:-

Shaymin was many things. The creator of a kingdom that lasted over half a millennium. An unaging, nigh-immortal guardian. The guide of the humans who came and went serving La Ciudad Dorada during their time on Earth.

But that day there was one thing Shaymin wasn't, and the weight of all its work burdened its mind thanks to that one shortcoming. For all its power and all its effort, it wasn't strong enough to stop Regigigas's relentless march. It had ceaselessly buffeted the titan with everything it could muster, but Regigigas shrugged off every assault. Its periodic counterattacks didn't hit Shaymin, but that didn't matter. What mattered was the mission Fernando forced upon it.

Regigigas had to reach Lingote Palace no matter who or what stood in its way. Aside from Shaymin and Pidgeot harassing it, there had been little impeding its journey. That changed when it finally reached the walls protecting La Ciudad Dorada. Regigigas walked right up to the barrier, but stopped moving when some its memories resurfaced.

The wall. It wasn’t there the last time Regigigas went to La Ciudad Dorada. But why was it there now? At first, Regigigas couldn’t remember, but the more it pondered the situation, the more of its memory punched through the armor’s influence. Images of chaos and war came to the titan’s mind, of burning buildings and vast, violent conflict. Finally, it remembered - the last time Regigigas went to the city was during the first civil war, and it had wrought that devastation searching for Fernando III. Now, though… what was it doing now? The last thing it could clearly remember was being woken up by someone familiar to it. Fernando III’s descendant, that was it. The kingdom was again in crisis, and it was once more a Fernando who had wandered from the path of gratitude, so how could it be serving the will of such a person?

Up above Regigigas, the skyship started to cross over the wall. Matt and Rosalita were still locked in combat with Fernando, with the count’s Dragonite managing to hold both Sally and Reyes in check. He glanced down at Regigigas and clenched his teeth when he saw that it had stopped moving.

“Regigigas, what are you doing?” he growled to himself. He couldn’t focus on the titan for long, as he heard Matt command Sally to use Flamethrower. “Dragonite, block that with Thunder!” he ordered.

Dragonite’s lightning bolts and Sally’s flame met in the space between the combatants, and the combined energies exploded into a smoky cloud. Fernando seized on the opening to guide Dragonite downward and head for Regigigas’s side.

Suddenly, Shaymin emerged seemingly out of nowhere and charged into Dragonite’s chest. As it held Fernando’s mount back, it yelled, “You must stop, you!”

“Do not get in my way, Shaymin! I’ve no time to deal with this sort of nonsense!”

Fernando tapped Dragonite on the shoulder, and in response to his prompting, she grabbed Shaymin in her hands and spun around. She then beat her wings to whip up a whirling Hurricane, blowing the mythical Pokémon away from her.

With Shaymin’s obstruction dealt with, Fernando turned his attention back to Regigigas. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into you,” he said to it, “but I need you to keep going.”

After activating his gauntlet by closing his fist, Fernando pointed it toward the wall. The gem on its back emitted a flashing red pulse, which the armor soon replicated. In an instant, Regigigas’s memories and free will were suppressed once again. At first, the titan shook back and forth and desperately tried to resist the armor’s power, but its resistance was soon choked out, and its behavior returned its prior robotic state.

“Reyes, Brave Bird!”

Rosalita and her Staraptor came tearing through the fading smoke, but Fernando and Dragonite pulled back to evade them.

“If we stay near Regigigas, Rosalita may try to stop it,” he realized. Acting on that fact, he taunted his sister by saying, “Last chance to stop what you're doing and watch me save our home.”

“Never!” she immediately answered, unwittingly taking Fernando’s bait. “Reyes, use Brave Bird again!”

"That's right, come this way," Fernando thought as he turned Dragonite around. To ensure Regigigas followed his orders, he closed his left fist and pointed it at the wall before leading Rosalita away.

The armor emitted yet another crimson pulse, and before it fully faded, Regigigas pulled its right arm back. Once again, it was only able to focus on accomplishing the mission, and the wall was in the way of that. It had to be eliminated.

In one motion, Regigigas punched the wall with all its might. Its tremendous fist pierced completely through the barrier, sending stone shards raining onto the buildings below. Regigigas could have just broken straight through at that point, but a tiny spark at the very back of its mind kept it from doing so. The armor's control was starting to fail again. Even so, Regigigas couldn't stop itself from acting out its programming. It was as if Regigigas had become an unwilling passenger in its own body.

Instead of simply breaking through the wall, Regigigas reached into the giant hole left by its punch and pried the two sections of the barrier apart. It took all of Regigigas's strength to separate them, and both the stones and the underlying mechanisms made horrible grinding noises as they were forced to move. Regigigas's act gave it an unimpeded view of the city, but even as it towered over the structures in front of it, it was greeted by an unexpected sight.

Waiting for it on the other side of the wall was a detachment of the palace guards' Pokémon. Two Golurk, eight Bronzong, and four each of the Bisharp, Sigilyph and Escavalier stationed themselves there while the rest stayed behind at Lingote Palace. Unbeknownst to Fernando and thus to Regigigas, Edrei had commanded them to take up positions at the edge of the city in case this very scenario came to pass. Their standing order was as simple as Regigigas's: should the great titan arrive, they were to hold it back with everything they could muster.

One of the Bisharp, clad with faded armor riddled with dents and scratches reflecting his many years of combat training, had assumed leadership of the squadron. He turned back to the Pokémon under his guidance, cried out in a high pitch, and waved his arm at their designated target. The others reacted without hesitation, all firing beams of silver light directly into Regigigas's face. Each Pokémon made the best of their respective training, using their strength and endurance to ensure there was not a single break in their Flash Cannon bombardment.

The sustained attack checked Regigigas's advance, but dealt little actual damage. The salvo left the titan more annoyed than hurt from the constant blows to its face, and every time another shot made contact, its mechanical growling grew louder. This anger ironically led the spark of free thought in Regigigas's mind to grow stronger, but it was nowhere near enough to stop the giant from lashing out. While still holding on to the two sections of the wall it had pried apart, Regigigas leaned forward and bent down at the knees. Countless jagged chunks of iron materialized around it, and by springing back to its full height, it unleashed the Metal Burst on its foes. The iron pieces rained on the guards' Pokémon like a downpour of heavy spears, not only slicing at them but smashing the structures beneath them apart.

Having recovered from Dragonite's Hurricane, Shaymin observed the complete overwhelming of its allies with a sense of dismay. Time was up, and the mythical Pokémon knew it. Regigigas wasn't just awake, it was here. An immediate, present threat no longer taking up some nebulous point in the future. Nothing could stand in the way of it annihilating La Ciudad Dorada, if that was what Fernando desired.

"There's one thing, actually," Shaymin realized with a nervous gulp. "Me…"

Shaymin couldn't lie to itself. For all the bravado it displayed in its Sky Forme, and all the genuine strength backing that bravado up, it was scared. Not just the kind of fear that so many children of La Ciudad Dorada felt from the thunder of the kingdom's storms, but the sort of all-consuming terror one experienced when facing a threat to their life itself.

As it floated in place and trembled, Shaymin's eyes flicked across the land it was responsible for protecting, and it spotted the numerous fronts the war was being fought on. Matt and Rosalita. The tourists in the market. Edrei, his subordinates, and their Pokémon. All of them were fighting with everything they had to save La Ciudad Dorada.

"What am I thinking?" Shaymin said to itself. "Their lives are brief when it comes to how long they are on this Earth. I have lived for centuries, and yet, I hesitate." The mythical Pokémon took a deep breath and felt its nerves calm as it exhaled. "I have nothing to fear. It has been a good life." Recalling the time it had spent with all the kings and their families over the years, Shaymin smiled, resigning itself to what it had to do. "If this is the end, I will fight until my life is no more!"

Having firmly established its resolve, Shaymin shrieked at the top of its lungs and darted straight for Regigigas. The titan didn't react at all to its approach at first, and had Shaymin not been so reckless, it would have realized it was being led into a trap. Regigigas certainly didn't want to take such action either; its stirring consciousness was screaming at it to stop, but the armor had too tight a hold on its mind.

As things were, Shaymin drew far too close to Regigigas before the top four dots on the titan's face flashed and an Icy Wind whipped up at their center. The mythical Pokémon squealed and tried to pull away, but ended up getting swamped by the freezing gust. Shaymin reeled through the air, immobilized by the cold chilling it to the bone. It was left completely vulnerable, and Regigigas took the chance to reach out with its right hand and tightly ensnare Shaymin between its gigantic fingers.

Up above, Rosalita nearly lost her grip on Reyes when she saw Shaymin's fate. "Shaymin!!" she gasped in horror, watching as Regigigas squeezed the tiny creature. When Shaymin disappeared into Regigigas's grasp, Rosalita could see not only her future but the future of her land and people go along with it. Should Shaymin meet its end, it would be the end of everything she knew.

"Shaymin lives forever, but it's really no more immune to death than my grandfather or your parents, right?" Matt ventured after guiding Sally to hover next to Reyes. When Rosalita nodded to him, he turned away and scowled helplessly. "We have to buy Eleanor time, but what can we do? Nothing we tried has been able to stop Regigigas! The two of us can't do anything al-"

"The Golden Sky Bouquet," Rosalita interrupted, her realization earning an inquisitive look from Matt. "When Shaymin heard the voices of the people expressing their gratitude, it erupted with a breathtaking power," she explained, recalling the stories of her youth. Even though she now knew them to be rooted in lies, she still believed in their message. "The shining golden light washed over Regigigas and all the land, revealing to it the people's remorse. Now calmed, Regigigas returned to its slumber, and peace reigned once again."

Understanding what the princess was suggesting, Matt asked her, "How do we do it?"

Before she could answer, Rosalita spotted Fernando coming around on Dragonite to attack them again. "I shall take care of that," she hurriedly told Matt. "You keep him from interfering!"

“Wait, how am I-” Matt’s inquiry went without notice. Rosalita was already gone, racing toward Lingote Palace on her Staraptor’s back. He laughed gently to himself when he turned his head and saw Fernando coming his way. “I guess that’s why she’s the princess and I’m the knight.”

Even though he still firmly believed Rosalita and Reyes would be more suited to holding her brother back, Matt trusted her judgment. He guided Sally to take a position between Rosalita and Fernando, forcing the count to pull Dragonite to a stop. The air between the two sweltered with not only the heat of the desert but the burning hatred each held for the other.

“Get out of my way!” Fernando growled at him. “I have no time to waste on the likes of you!”

“Say I did, then what?” Matt pressed down on Sally’s back. A flame flicked from her mouth, and Fernando realized they weren’t going to give in to his demand. “If I let you go after her, what will you do then?”

Fernando sighed in irritation. “How many times do I have to say the same thing? She will watch as I defend our kingdom from those coming to destroy it! That is my rightful place!”

“You are the only one destroying this city!” Matt angrily countered. Gesturing toward the city below, he continued, “Look around at your kingdom, Fernando! Look at it! La Ciudad Dorada is being destroyed by your actions, and who are the ones fighting to protect it? The outsiders you hate so much! You said you wanted to prove your existence wasn’t a mistake and that you had a place to belong in your family. You are destroying that place!! There won’t be anything left for you to have a place in!”

The searing winds blew through Fernando’s hair and under his cape as he gazed down at the city. His city. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have paid the words of someone like Matt any mind, but those words had forced his attention onto what was taking place below their duel.

He saw Regigigas towering over the guards’ defeated Pokémon, with the structures around them smashed to bits by Metal Burst. The road that had been incinerated by the explosion of the streetlamp. The war unfolding in Dorada Market. Shaymin trapped in Regigigas’s grip.

Fernando’s eyes went wide and his breathing grew shallow as a horrifying realization invaded every inch of his consciousness. It was true, La Ciudad Dorada was being destroyed. It was also true that there were numerous people, both city natives and those foreign to it, fighting to defend it. But if they were protecting the kingdom, there had to be an enemy for them to fight. Those in the market were locked in combat with Kommo-o and its ally Pokémon, while on the opposite end of the city, the guards’ partners and Shaymin had fallen to Regigigas. Kommo-o, Regigigas, and the other Pokémon… they were the enemy destroying the kingdom. But were they really? None of them were acting out of their own free will. Whether due to the collars or the mechanical armor, all of them were attacking on behalf of the mastermind who shackled them with the devices, and there was only one person guilty of that.

Fernando was the enemy, the threat to his beloved home. There was no way he could deny it to himself. Matt was right. He was right, and that was the absolute truth. In that instant, when he finally realized what he had done, Fernando’s mind broke. He could feel everything - his dreams, his education, his childhood promises with Rosalita - crashing down on him, crumbling just like the mountain Regigigas and the Golden City had been buried beneath. He would never have a place in the kingdom, and that realization caused him to completely lose his grasp on reality.

“Silence yourself, you scoundrel!” he roared at Matt, unable to accept what he could see with his own eyes. “I will never let an outsider, let alone one of the same blood as the man who corrupted my kingdom, speak to me in such a fashion!”

With that, Fernando brandished his staff. The container on its top opened, and sparks flew from the Griseous Orb as the jewel’s energy charged. Matt, realizing what Fernando was going to do, prompted Sally to fly away. His effort was in vain, however, as the bolt that cracked from the Griseous Orb directly struck his Salamence. Sally growled in pain, and when gravity’s pull on her intensified, she started spiraling downward. Both she and Matt knew that they would be badly injured if they hit the ground, so without Matt even giving her a direction, Sally changed the angle of her pitch so she would fall onto the deck of the skyship instead.

Matt tumbled off Sally’s back when she crashed. He groaned and pushed himself up just in time to see Fernando land and jump off of Dragonite.

“Once I eliminate you, the corruption will be undone!” the count yelled, pointing at his nemesis. There was such a fire in his eyes that Matt almost felt surprised they hadn’t turned red. “Now go burn with your grandfather! Dragonite, Horn Drill!”

Just like she had done with Sutter years earlier, Dragonite lunged at Matt, intending to strike the same sort of killing blow with her spinning horn. Before she could reach him, however, Anton appeared and blocked her path by grabbing her arms.

“Oh, right, Anton stayed behind…” Matt said in relief.

The two powerful Pokémon pushed against each other, but with the power her collar granted her, Dragonite gradually overwhelmed Anton. Even though she had been ordered to attack Matt, she turned her wrath on Anton first, forcing her Horn Drill closer and closer to his face. A sudden neigh interrupted their clash, and moments later, Adiela smashed into Dragonite’s side wreathed in crackling bolts of electricity.

Meanwhile, Rosalita and Reyes arrived above Dorada Market. By that point, all of Fernando’s Pokémon besides Kommo-o had slumped over, exhausted by Kommo-o controlling them. The Sacred Hill’s defenders were mostly still standing thanks to Door and Knives healing them with assistance from a local nurse’s Clefable using Soft-Boiled. Even then, Kommo-o was more than able to fight on alone, battling to a stalemate despite being overwhelmed in terms of numbers.

While Greninja, Zoroark, Swellow and Decidueye launched an assault on Kommo-o, Rosalita flew over to the other trainers and the people they were protecting.

“Listen to me!” she called out to them. “In order for this to end, I need you to express all the gratitude you can! Think of anything in your lives you feel gratitude for and send those thoughts to Shaymin! Otherwise, Shaymin will die and the city will go with it!”

“Shaymin will die…?” Wally said to himself, a chill running down his spine as he watched Rosalita head up to talk to the guards. “Miss Champion, I don’t understand what is happening…”

“Just do what she said,” Laura replied. “It’s the only choice we’ve got. What do you feel gratitude for, kid?”

“Well…” Wally began, though he hesitated at first. Gallade bumped his arm, and when he saw his loyal partner, he felt better. “I’m thankful for Gallade and my other Pokémon, who have always stuck by my side. Being a trainer is tough, but I’ve come so far with them… also, I am thankful for my health, after I was sick for so long… what about you, Miss Champion?”

Laura turned to the Swampert at her side, and he met her gaze curiously.

“If there’s one thing I’m grateful for, it’s you, buddy,” she said. “You’ve seen me at my worst and still stuck with me. Not just you, but everyone back home. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”

Swampert smiled bashfully, as if to say that he felt the same.

All around them, the panic of the battle with Fernando’s army was replaced by a strange sense of serenity. What had been screams of terror and orders for combat turned into words of gratitude, even as the Pokémon continued working to hold Kommo-o back. The citizens and tourists found themselves no longer afraid of what would happen, their optimism swelling as they thought of all the good they had in their lives.

-:-

Inside Regigigas’s hand, Shaymin was suffering. The titan was squeezing it with just enough force to subject it to agonizing pain without immediately killing it, but even then, Shaymin knew it couldn’t hold out for much longer.

“Ah… ahh…” the mythical Pokémon cried, its voice strained. With each tightening of the titan’s squeeze, Shaymin felt its life ebb and waver, its lungs barely able to fight the crushing grip surrounding it for breath.

Suddenly, just when Shaymin felt like it was about to succumb, countless voices sounded in its head. It perked up as soon as it heard them. They were expressing thanks for all sorts of things, from family bonds to good health to companionship and everything in between. As Shaymin listened to them, it realized it no longer felt like giving up. In fact, even though Regigigas hadn’t loosed its Crush Grip at all, Shaymin no longer felt any pain.

“These voices…” Shaymin said out loud, as golden light started radiating from its body. It had to think for a moment, but it soon remembered where such a thing had happened before. “The gratitude of all the people… just like in the first civil war, you’ve decided to end it like this, you?” It grinned, thinking of Rosalita. “I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. You’ve always been a daring one, you. If this is your choice, so be it!”

The golden light strengthened to such a degree that it spilled from between Regigigas’s fingers and bathed La Ciudad Dorada in its warmth. On the skyship’s deck, Fernando ceased his attack on Matt and ran to the guardrail to see what was happening, while Rosalita stared in awe on her way back to the craft.

“So this is the Golden Sky Bouquet...” she uttered.

As the erupting light continued to intensify, the same triangular arrow shape from the witch trainer’s Z-Ring flashed in front of Regigigas’s hand. Within its grip, Shaymin had gained so much strength that it was able to begin pushing the titan’s fingers apart.

“You need to return to your senses, you!” it screeched at its brainwashed captor. “If you can’t do it by yourself, I’ll set you straight myself, Regigigas! Now take this!!”

Both Shaymin’s power and the gleaming glow radiating from its body reached a peak. Harnessing the immense amount of gratitude it had been given along with its own life energy and the Gaia flowing in the land nearby, it unleashed an explosion that dwarfed any Seed Flare it had ever used before. Its detonation was so vast in scope that it consumed Regigigas, freeing Shaymin from its Crush Grip and sending the titan skidding back from the ruined wall and away from the city. By the time it stopped moving, hills of sand had collected behind its immense legs.

The skyship was also caught in the turbulence, throwing Matt, Fernando and their Pokémon down onto the deck. When the count pulled himself back up on the guardrail and saw what had happened, he flew into even more of an unhinged rage.

“I won’t let you get away with using something so sacred against me, Rosalita!” he yelled out at the open sky, unable to see his sister. He snapped his fist closed to activate his gauntlet and commanded, “Regigigas, Metal Burst!”

For all the immense power Shaymin wielded with Golden Sky Bouquet to overwhelm Regigigas, it still hadn’t defeated the titan. That left Regigigas able to harness the same power in its counterattack. It clenched its body up as a giant swarm of iron pieces appeared around it, then swung its arms skyward to send them flying at Shaymin. Despite it being Regigigas’s strongest Metal Burst yet, Shaymin still had strength to spare and used it to navigate the storm of steel with little effort. Not only that, while Regigigas was occupied with Shaymin, it was suddenly hit from behind by a Hurricane from Edrei’s Mega Pidgeot. He’d forgotten all about the guard’s Pokémon after she fell into the desert earlier.

“That was the Golden Sky Bouquet?” Matt wondered, still uneasy on his feet. “Rosalita wasn’t kidding about it…”

Fernando lashed around and spat at him, “You have no right to invoke its name!” Pointing his fist toward Matt, he started to say, “Dragonite, Hor-”

Dragonite braced herself in preparation to strike, but her order never came. Fernando was so consumed with his fury at Matt that he left himself completely open to an ambush from his sister. Reyes dove into him from behind, forcing a sickened wheeze from him as he fell once more to the ship’s deck. Rosalita then leapt off her Staraptor’s back, landed near her brother’s prone form, and ripped the gauntlet from his arm while he was still dazed.

“Consider this the end of what you’ve done,” she scolded Fernando as she backed away from him, “and the beginning of justice being served.”

Rosalita threw the gauntlet down, and Fernando snapped back to reality just in time to see her raising one of her legs over it. In an instant, all his anger turned to sheer panic.

“No, Rosalita, don’t do it!” he cried out. “You won’t be able to stop it!”

“You have sacrificed any right for me to listen to you,” she coldly replied, believing his response meant she wouldn’t be able to stop his army. She drove her foot straight down into the gauntlet’s gem, shattering it with her years of well-honed, athletic strength.

The moment Rosalita destroyed the gauntlet, Dragonite’s collar started to flash, and Fernando’s Pokémon froze in place. Regigigas reacted in the same fashion, and even though those on the skyship couldn’t see it happen, Kommo-o and the rest of the army in the market also ceased all movement.

“What is this, Rosalita?” Matt asked her, ignoring Fernando’s increasing panic.

“Without the control device, the Pokémon can’t receive commands even if the system is still active,” the princess explained. She raised her voice for what she said next, making sure her brother heard every venomous word. “Of course, we have an answer for that as well, don’t we?”

It was not until that moment that Fernando finally realized Eleanor was nowhere to be seen. “Where is the engineer?” he begged Rosalita on his hands and knees, well aware of Eleanor’s talents. “What have you done?”

Rosalita turned her back and ignored him. Coincidentally, Eleanor’s voice came through the ship’s radio mere seconds later. It was loud and clear, allowing Matt, Rosalita and Fernando to hear her every word.

“Hey, you guys!” she called out from the bridge. “Wanna see a magic trick?”

Matt lowered his eyelids and deadpanned, “I suppose it doesn’t surprise me she’d do it like this.”

“This is a two-way radio, Matt. I can hear you,” Eleanor snarked back. “Doesn’t matter, though. Now, for my coup de grace, I call this one ‘Making Your Crazy Brother’s Evil Smile Disappear!’ Abracadabra!”

Although Matt, Rosalita and Fernando couldn’t see her do it, when they heard a loud click from the other end of the radio, they all knew it was Eleanor hitting the shutdown key. If they hadn’t already realized it, they would have when Dragonite’s collar sparked and detached from her neck. The red glow faded from her eyes as, for the first time in years, she was able to think fully for herself. She stumbled and looked around herself in confusion. The last place she remembered being was Fernando’s workshop in Lingote Palace, not the skyship and certainly not over La Ciudad Dorada. Fernando, that was it. She remembered him, and she remembered that the last thing that happened before her lost memories was him putting the collar on her. She roared and launched an electrical bolt at him, and although he sprang up to defend himself with his staff, it blasted the Griseous Orb clean off. The jewel fell off the side of the ship as Fernando backed against the rail.

Meanwhile, in Dorada Market, the collars on Kommo-o and the rest of the army fell off as well, releasing all of them from Fernando’s control. They all had the same memories as Dragonite, so when they came around and realized they were faced with a huge group of Pokémon opposing them, they retreated in frightened surprise.

Finally, Regigigas’s armor buzzed as it shut down. The individual pieces cracked and fell off the titan’s body one by one, and once they were gone, it too was free.

“Well done, Adiela,” Rosalita told her Rapidash, petting the Fire-type Pokémon’s muzzle. Adiela replied with a content neigh before the princess returned her to her ball.

“You did a good job, too, Anton. Thanks for your help.”

While Matt recalled his Rhyperior, Rosalita finally turned her attention to her defeated brother. Stepping forward with her hands planted firmly on her hips, she said to him in a grave voice, “Your ambitions are at an end, Fernando. I still want to show you mercy… but right now, the only place that is fitting for you is the dungeon.”

“This isn’t over,” he mumbled, so low that Rosalita couldn’t make it out.

“What did you say?” Rosalita demanded.

“I said this isn’t over.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” she said with a sigh. “You aren’t well, Fernando. It’s time to face reality - we completely stopped your invasion ourselves.”

“But it’s not over.”

-:-

On the skyship’s bridge, Eleanor leaned back in the pilot’s seat. It took every ounce of her care to not put her feet up. She would have done so, but she knew to avoid accidentally hitting any of the controls.

All of a sudden, the control panels all turned a bright red color and an alarm started sounding in the room. Eleanor snapped to attention, only to discover that the systems she had just been manipulating had vanished. In their place, the control panel was projecting two images. One was of belt-like objects strapped to a giant, glowing sphere, while the other was a countdown timer that immediately started running.

“What’s this?” she cautiously asked herself. She then turned her attention to the holographic navigation globe, which was projecting a map of the kingdom with an arrow pointing towards the mountains.

-:-

Matt and Rosalita had to brace themselves against some of the iron structures fixed to the skyship’s deck as it abruptly began turning around.

“Rosalita, what’s happening now?!” Matt shouted over the sound of the wind.

“I don’t know!” she replied.

Just as suddenly as it began, the skyship finished its pivoting maneuver. As soon as it did, however, the skyship started flying away from La Ciudad Dorada, its speed increasing by the minute.

“Hey, guys?” Eleanor murmured through the radio.

“Eleanor, talk to us!” Matt called up to her. “Is there something going on?”

“Uh… I was gonna ask you the same thing. Somebody wanna tell me what these belt things are? Why there’s a clock counting down?”

Both Matt and Rosalita turned to Fernando, but it was the princess that spoke first. “Fernando…” she hissed, “what have you done?”

“No price is too high to protect the kingdom,” he confessed, barely having the energy to open his eyes even slightly. True, absolute despair gripped every cell of his body. “I thought that if our treasures could not be protected, it would be better if they were destroyed.”

“But you said you wanted a place to belong!” Matt yelled, unable to do anything else. “And you snapped when you saw the city was being destroyed! How can you say that now?”

“I wanted a place to belong before I understood what my place actually is. As I am the scorned prince, the only place I belong is ruling over the ruins left behind…”

“How can you say that?!” Rosalita pleaded with tears welling up in her eyes. “You always had a place in our home! A place with me, at my side!”

“That can never be, not now.” Fernando took one limp, lifeless step forward and let his head tilt over. “As long as there were two of us, two siblings, this would always be the hand fate deals us.”

“You’re wrong! There never were siblings before, that’s the truth!”

Fernando moved his head so it tilted in the other direction. “You do not need to try and make this hurt me any less by lying to me, Rosalita. What’s done… is done. If our treasures are destroyed, the outsiders will not steal them… so I prepared a contingency plan in case I was defeated. I set a time bomb on the skyship’s engine and programmed the autopilot to take it to the Golden City if the collars were shut down."

“You what?!” Rosalita gasped in horror.

“You’re an absolute maniac!” Matt roared at Fernando. He rushed toward the count, demanding, “Disarm it!”

“Impossible.” Before Matt reached him, Fernando undid the pin holding his cape up, allowing it to fall to his feet. Underneath it, he had a flightpack identical to those Noel and Leon used. He lifted into the air and out of Matt’s reach, then added, “Once it has activated, there is no stopping it. If you want my advice, save yourselves while you still can.”

With that, Fernando flew off over the desert and away from the skyship. Matt briefly considered pursuing him, but he quickly realized there were much more serious matters to deal with and discarded the idea. Instead, he hurried back over to Rosalita’s side.

“What do we do now?” he asked the princess, who was covering her mouth with her hand and nearly hyperventilating. “There has to be some way to stop this, right?”

There was a long, tense silence before Rosalita finally lowered her hand and replied. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted. Just saying those words tore her heart in half. She was soon to be the queen. She had to know how to lead her people. And yet, there she was, facing an existential threat to the kingdom and unable to figure out what to do.

“What if we have Regigigas destroy the ship?” Matt suggested. He felt the urgency of the situation just as much as Rosalita did. “It certainly has the power to…”

“No, that won’t work.” Rosalita looked down at her feet. “The skyship’s engine is an Arcane Science generator, running on the same unique energy that everything else in La Ciudad Dorada does. That is why this situation is so dangerous.” The princess shut her eyes. Images of horrific destruction played through her mind, of houses, factories, mountains, temples, even Lingote Palace itself being consumed by an apocalyptic explosion. “Normally, Arcane Science energy is safe. But, if it is exposed to the flames from Fernando’s bomb, a catastrophic chain reaction will occur. If it detonates on the ship’s current course, the Golden City, the Fountain of Life and the entire trial path will be annihilated along with the mountains and everything living there. If we were to destroy the skyship…”

“Regigigas would cause an explosion and set the bomb off early…” Matt realized. “We’re too close to La Ciudad Dorada, aren’t we?” When Rosalita nodded, he rushed to say, “Can we send the skyship somewhere else, then?”

“Also not an option. If we were to even come close to detonating such a device outside of our own borders, it would be called an attack on Lapidaria and lead to the end of La Ciudad Dorada as an independent kingdom. They would be completely justified to invade us.”

“Guys…” Eleanor listlessly said through the radio. “There is one thing left I can do. Only I can do it.”

“What is it, Eleanor?” Matt asked her.

“I can’t disarm the bomb from here. I might be able to if I went to the engine room, but there may not be enough time. It’s not a sure thing. What I can do is disconnect the autopilot and send the bomb to the one place it can detonate safely.”

“Where is that?”

Eleanor ignored Matt’s question and instead addressed Rosalita. “Rosa, please, there’s something I want you to do. Please let Persian, Rotom and Litwick live in the palace with you. Take good care of them, and make sure the people of La Ciudad Dorada know what I did.”

Matt failed to realize what Eleanor was implying right away, but it dawned on Rosalita instantly. “Are you sure that this is the only way?” she questioned, bringing her fist up against her breastplate.

“You’re…” Matt finally understood what Eleanor was planning to do after hearing Rosalita’s words. He grew emotional, yelling up at the bridge, “You can’t, Eleanor! You don’t have to do this! There’s got to be some other way… let me go! Let me take it!”

“No,” Eleanor replied. Though her friends couldn’t see it, she sadly shook her head. “It has to be me. I’m the only one who can fly this thing… and you must continue to live, Matt. You’ve got a whole life ahead of you and your sister still needs you. I’ve never really had a place to fit in until I came to La Ciudad Dorada… if I can show my gratitude by saving it, I will not be afraid. I’m begging you, don’t blame yourselves.”

“But...but…” Matt couldn’t come to terms with what was happening, but deep down, he knew there was no way he could change her mind. “Fernando wasn’t happy with killing Sutter and his parents, now he has to take her life too?!!”

“I will care for your Pokémon as if they are my own,” Rosalita said, staring up at the bridge with a look of sheer determination. “And I shall enshrine your tale in Doradan history for all of history. You will never be forgotten, Eleanor. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Thank you, Rosa… now go! We’re running out of time for me to get this thing outta here!”

“But, Elea-”

Rosalita cut Matt off mid-sentence by grabbing the collar of his coat and pulling him over to Sally. She pushed him onto the Salamence’s back, then said, “Sally, fly him down to the ground. I’ll be right behind you.”

Sally gave a short nod and grunted in assent, tiny embers issuing forth from her mouth. While the Dragon-and-Flying-type lifted off the skyship’s deck and took Matt away, Rosalita sprinted over to Reyes and mounted him. She barely had gotten situated on her Staraptor’s back when she saw Matt climb off Sally, intending to keep trying to persuade Eleanor that there were other options.

The princess sighed irritably and said to her Pokémon, “He won’t listen. Reyes, you’re going to have to take him down to the ground yourself.”

Reyes cawed and lifted off from the deck with a powerful beat of his wings. He darted straight toward Matt and seized Sutter’s grandson in his talons. Knowing there was no way to escape safely, he gave up and went limp.

-:-

From the bridge, Eleanor watched Rosalita leave on Reyes with Matt in tow. Sally followed, while Dragonite departed as well. Once she was alone aboard the skyship, she made her way over to the navigation globe and reached underneath it. She took all the wires running from the main console into the globe in her hand and tore them out. The projection of the ship’s course vanished, and a message reading ‘Auto navigation system offline - manual control’ appeared in its place.

Seeing this, Eleanor dropped herself back in the pilot’s chair and slipped her goggles on over her eyes. “See you later, guys,” she said out loud, even though nobody would hear her.

With that, and thinking only of her friends and the Pokémon she was leaving behind, Eleanor grasped the control stick and pulled it all the way back. The skyship pitched its bow skyward at a sharp angle, and when Eleanor set all of its speed controls to maximum, it rocketed off into the clouds.

It took all the strength Eleanor could muster to keep the skyship on its ascent. She could hear the iron around her vibrating from the immense force it was being subject to, and the higher it went, the colder and thinner the air became.

“Come on…” she told the ship as she felt herself start to gasp for air as the skyship pierced through the clouds. “Come on! Don’t you fail me now! Come on!!”

The skyship almost seemed to reply to her, as she noticed its engine groan as she pushed it to the limit. She wasn’t sure, however, if it actually had made the sound or if what she heard was merely a product of delirium as her supply of oxygen grew thin.

Yet, even as her consciousness started to slip thanks to the altitude, she felt remarkably little fear. When she told Rosalita and Matt that she never really had a place she felt like she belonged in before, she meant it.

“I’m… I’m okay with this,” she said to herself. “Maybe I’ll… come back in another life after all. N-now…” Eleanor realized she was shivering. “N-now, the b-best thing I c-can do… is s-save them…”

Once she noticed her involuntary reaction to the extreme cold, Eleanor felt the harshness of her environment far more than she had to that point. She could tell she wasn’t going to be able to stay conscious much longer, but she also knew that once she blacked out, that was it. She would not be waking up again. Worried that she would lose control of the ship before finishing her mission, she put everything she had left into forcing it even higher.

Luckily, before she lost consciousness, the ship broke through the last of the clouds. Beyond that layer, she was granted a stunning view of the stars beyond Earth. She would never be able to make it any further into the upper atmosphere, so she certainly wouldn’t be able to reach the stars, especially not in the skyship. Seeing what existed just beyond the limits of the planet, in the infinity she would soon be a part of, was good enough.

“Th-thank you…” she barely managed to utter, the brutal cold and thin air nearly consuming her. “I-If this… is the last th-thing I see… I’m so h-happy for i-it…” Her mind wandered to Matt and Rosalita back on the planet’s surface. “Y-you g-guys… you were r-right… the s-stars, they truly are b-beautiful…”

Eleanor glanced slowly over to the timer, which was flickering as the skyship’s systems failed. It didn’t matter anymore if they were going to fail, she realized, when she saw the countdown was in its final ten seconds.

With nothing more to say, and barely enough strength to do anything, Eleanor closed her eyes and smiled. The clock hit zero, and a blinding light began to tear through the ship.

Back in La Ciudad Dorada, it appeared to those left behind as if a second sun had appeared in the sky. Sheena, Cassy, Noel, Leon, Laura, Wally, Door, Edrei, his guards, and all the other tourists and citizens watched from on and around the Sacred Hill with their Pokémon as the immense, brightly gleaming sphere shined cleanly through the dark clouds.

Matt and Rosalita, meanwhile, observed the detonation from the desert outside the city. He fell to his knees in the sand, unable to hold himself up any longer. Regigigas, Shaymin, Pidgeot, Sally and Reyes were nearby.

Whether human or Pokémon, every living thing in the kingdom turned their eyes toward the sky with the full knowledge that Eleanor’s sacrifice saved them. It was an act that connected them all together in gratitude.





END of CHAPTER 8

Well, the climax is done. Now we can finally begin winding down, but don’t think things are over just yet…

-:-

CHAPTER 9: The Meaning of Gratitude

-:-

Eleanor's sacrifice brought a decisive end to the war Fernando’s actions instigated. In the hours following her death and the count's disappearance, a newfound sense of peace settled in over La Ciudad Dorada. The clouds overhead seemed to recognize this and left the sky, allowing the evening sun to bathe the desert kingdom in its warm rays of hope.

Exhausted by the time it spent subjugated to Fernando's will, Regigigas made its way back to its place of rest in the Golden City. Matt and Rosalita followed it there on Sally and Reyes with Shaymin accompanying them, and once they arrived, they waited for Cassy and Sheena to catch up with them. There was still work left for them to do.

"This place is as amazing as everyone said," Matt quietly told Rosalita as they walked together toward the Fountain of Life at the heart of the Golden City. He stopped and lightly set his hand against one of the golden pillars, which like all the others was glittering in the setting sun. "I'm glad we made it here."

Rosalita glanced over at Matt, and her lips curled into a slight frown. Even as her own nerves over what was to come made her scratch at her palms, she could read him like a book. Everything, from his murmuring speech to his slacking posture, gave away just how distressed he was over Eleanor's fate. He'd been that way ever since her act of sacrifice, and the princess shared a look of mutual concern for him with Shaymin. She didn’t put it into words, but what had happened weighed heavily on her mind, too.

"When we are done here," she thought to herself, "we must do something to lift our spirits. We all need it…"

Just then, the pair could hear a voice overhead. "Look, there they are! Matt! Rosalita!"

Matt and Rosalita looked up to see that it was Sheena, sitting behind Cassy on Swellow's back, who had called out to them. Cassy tapped Swellow's shoulder and guided him to land in front of the pair.

"Are you alright?" Cassy hastily inquired, tightly clutching her bag. Her feet weren't even on the ground before she started her question. Matt turned away and didn't answer, leading her to grow visibly angry. "What did Fernando do to you now?" she demanded, her words coming out as a hiss between her gritted teeth.

"Nothing, not directly to him," Rosalita answered for Matt, earning her a glare from Cassy that she ignored. "We won the war, but not without loss."

It was then that Sheena spoke up. She'd been surveying the area since landing and was growing more confused by the moment. "Where is Eleanor?" she asked. A chill ran across her skin from Rosalita’s statement and the subconscious realization it fostered.

No answer came from either Matt or Rosalita, leading Cassy to begin piecing the truth together. She lowered her head, causing her bangs to cast a shadow over her eyes. “What happened to her in the end?”

“Fernando had a timed explosive strapped to the engine of the skyship,” the princess explained in a manner devoid of emotion. She simply felt too drained to do anything more than turn her sad, partially-closed eyes to Cassy. “Eleanor gave her life to fly it to an altitude at which its detonation would be safe.”

Sheena gasped in horror when her friend’s fate was confirmed. They hadn’t known each other for long, but in their few days of traveling in La Ciudad Dorada, they’d grown close.

The priestess brought her right hand to her mouth and bit at one of the fingers of her white glove. “Eleanor was having such a good time on our adventure… she was looking forward to seeing you take the throne, too, Rosalita… and now she’s gone…”

“There’s nothing we can do to bring her back now,” Cassy bitterly noted, turning away from the others. “All we can do is see this through to the end. It’s what she would have wanted us to do.”

“You are correct,” Rosalita concurred with a tired, sad sigh. “We must press on… come, let us head to the Fountain of Life.”

A painful, uncomfortable silence settled over the remaining members of the expedition as they continued down the path leading straight to Regigigas’s throne and the Fountain of Life. Even though they weren’t yet at the titan’s feet, its immense size made it easily visible to them as they trekked toward it.

Shaymin, floating behind its human allies, had plenty on its mind but no knowledge of what it should put into words. “Should I reassure her that everything will work out okay here?” it thought. “Promise to help her find Fernando? Just… let her know Eleanor’s in a better place? What should I do?”

In what was perhaps a lucky coincidence for the mythical Pokémon, it felt a strange sensation. It looked down and quickly noticed that there was light radiating from its body, which prompted it to then turn toward the sky. The sun was dropping below the horizon, Shaymin realized, and it knew what was about to happen.

“Rosalita!” it called out, making the group pause and look back at it. Her name was the last word it could manage before the light completely enveloped it.

“Oh, Shaymin…” Rosalita said, making her way over to her lifelong friend and partner. The mythical Pokémon morphed back into its Land Forme and plopped to the ground, sneezing when it landed. “I’m sorry, I forgot all about this.”

“Don’t worry yourself, yes?” Shaymin’s more timid speech pattern made Matt realize just how used he’d gotten to the brashness of its Sky Forme. The Grass-type contentedly nestled itself in Rosalita’s arms when she picked it up. “It is not important right now. What is important is fulfilling the final part of the trial of succession, yes.”

“That is right…” Rosalita’s armor creaked on her when she drew in a deep breath and exhaled to steel her nerves. “That is right,” she repeated. “We’re almost there. Everything will be done when this is finished.”

The princess wasn’t joking when she said they were almost at their destination. She only had to lead the group for a few more minutes before the pathway they were on gave way to a spacious square not unlike Dorada Market, a similarity that was not lost on any of her companions.

“Instead of the Sacred Hill, though, there’s Regigigas…” Matt observed. His comparison was quite literal, in fact, as the titan on its throne stood at a roughly equal height. Regigigas easily dominated everything else in the area, and could have flattened the humans standing before it without even getting up. It was then that Matt truly appreciated just how powerful the titan really was.

He wasn’t the only one feeling such a way. Sheena and Cassy, having stayed behind at the Sacred Hill during the battle, hadn’t yet gotten to see Regigigas up close. Its commanding presence, even at rest on its golden throne, cowed them both into nervous silence.

Rosalita was on edge, too, but not due to Regigigas like the others. “Where is the Fountain of Life?” she asked the Pokémon in her arms.

“Right there,” Shaymin replied, jabbing one of its pudgy arms straight ahead.

As it turned out, there was an ornate golden fountain sitting just in front of Regigigas. Rosalita and the others had completely missed it thanks to how thoroughly the titan dwarfed it. Realizing her fate was finally at hand, the princess dashed the rest of the way to the wellspring, leading Matt, Sheena and Cassy to follow her there.

“So this is it,” Cassy said, carefully looking over the finely carved curves of the fountain. The sacred nature of what was about to happen wasn’t lost on her or any of the others. “What people throughout history have searched for here…”

“I still can’t believe my grandfather drank from it…” Matt adjusted his glasses, which were still sitting awkwardly on his bandaged face. “It’s the fountain that ended his life, too…” he mentally added, recalling the reason for Fernando’s first crime.

Rosalita carefully leaned down to set Shaymin on the edge of the empty, dry fountain, never taking her eyes off the Gracidea-shaped statue at its top. “Everything in my life has been leading to me standing here…” she breathlessly said to herself. The pieces of her armor were clinking together from her trembling, but even though she heard the noise, it didn’t register to her. She was too preoccupied with the deluge of memories flooding through her mind, memories of herself, her parents, Fernando and Shaymin. All the friends she’d made along the way. Everything she’d lost. “All the expectations placed upon me by those who have walked this path before… and all the promises I’ve made…”

Suddenly, Regigigas began beeping and its seven dots started to flash.

“It’s still awake!” Matt exclaimed, thrusting his arm in front of Sheena and Cassy despite being unsure of what it would do to protect them. “Get back!”

“Wait,” Sheena gently said. She clasped her hands together, but did not recite the chant to activate her powers. “Right now, I can feel Regigigas’s intent without even connecting to its heart,” she told him, anticipating what he would ask. “It is not going to attack us… it’s completely peaceful.”

“I wish you would have mentioned that earlier,” Cassy sarcastically remarked. “It scared me out of my skin.”

Rosalita had been looking over her shoulder after she heard Matt yell, but returned her attention to Regigigas when she saw that they were aware of the titan’s benevolent nature. She knew it all along. There was nothing for them to be afraid of, not when they had done nothing wrong to earn Regigigas’s wrath. It was Fernando and Fernando alone who was to blame for everything.

When that thought entered her head, Rosalita felt a chill run through her body, but she swiftly suppressed it. “Now is not the time to be concerned with him.” With that, she raised her arms up to Regigigas. She didn’t do so in a ragged, hysterical fashion like Fernando had done. Instead, she simply bowed her head in respect and brought her hands toward her kingdom’s great protector as an act of true supplication.

“Regigigas, I am Rosalita Renata the First, the blood of Fernando VII and Sophia,” she said to the giant. “I humbly come before you to accept the responsibility bequeathed to my father and the men before him. Grant me the power of the Fountain of Life so that I may lead La Ciudad Dorada with the wisdom of true gratitude.”

Regigigas beeped again, then did something that even caught Rosalita by surprise - it spoke. “We welcome you, our successor,” it replied to her in a voice that sounded like many different people all speaking at once. “You have passed the trials of the Three Pillars and proven yourself worthy of inheriting our crown.”

“What’s with the way it’s talking?” Matt quietly asked Sheena, hoping she could shed some light on the situation. “Why does it sound like a lot of people at once and why is it referring to itself as a collective?”

“I can’t tell.” Sheena shook her head. “I couldn’t connect with it now if I tried. Something’s blocking me out.”

Somehow, Regigigas heard their exchange. “Grandchild of Professor Sutter Chiaki, our overseer. We are those who have come before. Those who have become a part of Gaia. We thank you for standing alongside our heir as your grandfather did for us.”

“You’re welcome, Regigig-” Matt cut off his expression of gratitude when he realized how Regigigas had identified itself. His mouth fell open as he asked, “Those who have come before, who my grandfather stood alongside…? Are you…?”

“It cannot be,” Rosalita flatly said. Despite her words, she badly wanted to believe her interpretation of the titan’s speech was correct. “Regigigas, how can you be those who have led La Ciudad Dorada if you were here before we were? If you really are them, allow me to speak to my father!”

“I am merely Gaia’s vessel, in addition to being your kingdom’s protector.” Rosalita and the others understood this to be Regigigas referring strictly to itself, but the princess cocked her head, still confused by what she was hearing. “We… we are those Regigigas carries within.” At that point, the many voices within Regigigas’s collective began to fall away until only one remained. “I’ve waited so long to see you here, Rosalita.”

Rosalita’s eyes widened when she heard the one voice with which Regigigas now spoke. “I-it… it cannot be…” she whispered in shock.

“Allow me to come out and see you.”

Regigigas raised its right arm off the side of its throne and spread its fingers, a green glow surrounding each of the three digits on its hand. The titan’s gesture caused veins of gently flowing green light to radiate from the ground throughout the Golden City, originating from the Fountain of Life.

“What’s this?” Cassy demanded, looking around with a sudden sense of panic. One of the waves of light approached her, and although she jumped back, it still washed over her.

“Cassy!” Matt shouted fearfully.

“It…” Much to her surprise, there was nothing more than a warmth inside the light. “It’s actually really warm and comfortable… it feels good.”

“Warm and comfortable?” Matt blinked when he realized he was feeling the same sort of sensation. “I think I feel it, too…”

“This must be Gaia’s flow…” Sheena posited. “The life energy of the earth and all living things…”

“Regigigas, I do not understand!” Rosalita called up to the giant. “What are you doing?”

Regigigas did not answer the princess’s plea. Instead, the individual voice that had last spoken to her addressed her from a particularly intense flare of Gaia energy nearby. “Now we can see you with our own eyes once again, Rosalita.”

The princess pivoted around so fast that she nearly slipped and fell on the stones under her sollerets. Two human figures appeared within the flare, their features initially obscured by its gleam. With each step they took toward Rosalita, they became more and more recognizable until they finally emerged from the energy entirely, and as soon as Rosalita could clearly see them, her already wide eyes filled with tears. Every inch of them both was indelibly etched into her memory, from the man’s striking resemblence to an aged version of her brother to the glistening blonde hair and stately poise she inherited from the woman.

“Mother… Father…?” she stammered as Fernando VII and Sophia stood before her. She didn’t entirely understand how or why they were there, but her overflowing emotions kept her from thinking about it very much. It hadn't been all that long since the last time she saw them, but to her, it felt like forever. Rosalita threw herself into her parents’ arms, and she started to cry. “Mother! Father!! You’re here! I don’t… how? Why?”

“We wouldn’t miss our princess’s big day for anything, Rosalita,” Sophia told her, gently patting Rosalita on the head.

“We have seen all your exploits,” her father added. “Everything you and your allies did on the way to this point. You have made us and our ancestors proud.”


“But… but…” Rosalita was only becoming more overwhelmed by getting to see her parents again. “Fernando killed you both… and you’re here…”

“Just like those who have come before us, when our lives end, we become a part of Gaia.” The fallen king smiled proudly at his daughter as she looked up at him. “In a sense, this is our immortality. One day in the future, you will join us here, but for now… your place is in the world of the living, as Queen Rosalita. Regigigas let us come here to witness you ascend the throne.”

Hearing her name with the title of queen only overwhelmed Rosalita even more, but she managed to stop weeping. “I have made so many mistakes on the way here… do I really deserve it?”

“Leading with wisdom does not mean being flawless,” Fernando VII assured her. “A wise leader learns from their errors and becomes a better leader for them. And you recognized that you could not take all of this burden alone…” He gestured with his head toward Matt, Sheena and Cassy, who were dumbfounded by what they were seeing, before finishing, “That shows me that you are already wise beyond your years.”

"Yes, you are correct, Father. They have helped me so much…"

"Would you introduce us to your friends, Rosalita?" Sophia requested, setting one of her white lace gloves against the brooch on her crimson dress.

"I would be delighted to." Rosalita led her parents over to her three allies, who were still staring slack-jawed at the sight of the resurrected royals. "Mother, Father, please meet Sheena Carnet, Cassy Natsuka and Matt Chiaki."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances," the previous queen greeted them. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring for my dear daughter."

"It's no big deal, really…" Matt replied. His attempt to downplay his involvement earned him an elbow in the side from Cassy.

"Matt…" she muttered irritably, "...how many times do I have to remind you to show proper respect?"

"Oh, no, it is fine," Fernando VII chuckled. "I understand you may not be used to our customs. It is no matter." The fallen king's upbeat nature soon grew more grim. "Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for my son. He has harmed you all, but perhaps you most profoundly, Matt Chiaki."

Fernando VII put his hand on his chest and bowed his head to Matt, making both Matt and Cassy step back in surprise. Cassy was shocked that the king would show a commoner such respect.

"On behalf of the entire House of Fernando, I apologize for my son's murder of Sutter Chiaki." Fernando VII lifted his head back up and continued, "You should know he spoke highly of you and your sister. I rarely saw or heard that man light up as much as he did when he discussed you. It was his sincere belief you would accomplish great things as the heirs to his work."

"I-I…" Matt stammered, thoroughly overwhelmed by what he was hearing. "Thank you, but… Amanda really deserves it more than I do."

"Nonsense. You proved yourself as you walked this path, just as Rosalita did." While Matt shrank back and tried to process his emotions, Fernando VII turned to Sheena and Cassy. "I should not disregard you two, either. I can only hope your fine work here has given you each something invaluable to take away."

"Oh, it definitely did," Cassy said, almost reflexively. She didn't elaborate until she realized the questioning gazes of those around her had turned her way. "I mean, I prefer studying, so getting to read all the books I did… that's something I don't get to do every day."

"I came to La Ciudad Dorada hoping to learn more about my peoples' connection to this land," Sheena added, her voice serene and content. "Just by speaking to you, your highness, I now know that a major teaching in our beliefs is true."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked her.

"Many Tenganist sects believe that when someone passes from this world, they become a part of the flow of Gaia. Just by having the king and queen here before us… we know it's true."

"There is someone else…" Rosalita spoke up before catching her error. "Or I should say there was someone else. Eleanor Laplace was an engineer interested in our Arcane Science, and she sacrificed herself to ensure our survival."

"We know." Outside of Fernando VII's sight, Rosalita's allies looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what to make of his statement. "Rosalita, you must never forget those who have departed your world. Their wishes become a part of those they leave behind."

"I understand, Father." Rosalita's face hardened into the look of determination Matt and Sheena knew so well. "I already plan to memorialize Eleanor right away upon taking the throne."

"That is a just course of action, Rosalita. I applaud you." Sophia frowned and glared at the palm of her right hand. "To think our son destroyed so many lives and came close to destroying La Ciudad Dorada itself, all for his hatred of outsiders."

"Mother, please forgive me for saying this, but you are wrong." For the second time, Matt, Cassy and Sheena all felt their mouths fall open. None of them could believe she was breaking with her mother in such a way.

"Rosalita, explain yourself," Fernando VII firmly said.

The princess's resolve barely wavered in the face of her father’s challenge. "I am sorry, Father. I know how this must sound, since you and Mother are only here because Fernando killed you." She stopped to briefly consider what she said. "It is so confounding to think about how you are here… regardless, I do not think Fernando did this all out of hatred. I believe him when he said he only wished to understand his place in our kingdom. We didn't try enough to help him understand why his ideas were wrong because we ourselves were making mistakes. We all failed him, and that is my judgment as the kingdom's next leader." Recalling her father's words, she repeated, "Leading with wisdom does not mean being flawless. A wise leader learns from their errors and becomes a better leader for them."

"Rosalita…" Fernando VII's expression softened, and behind him, Sophia smiled in delight. "You learn quickly. I am proud of you."

"It is true," Sophia picked up from her husband, "while we were a part of your world, we did not fully understand things ourselves. There is so much one learns when they join with those who came before."

"You’re right," the king agreed. "We now know what we should have known in life, and what we needed to help your brother. Unfortunately, for us, it is too late."

"So that responsibility falls to me now," Rosalita realized. Her breath grew short as she turned to look at the fountain and Shaymin. The weight of her position was back on her mind. "And there's something I must do in order to take on that responsibility."

“That is correct, Rosalita.” Fernando VII stepped forward and placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. She could feel his touch through her armor. It was strangely warm, as if he were still truly alive. “From that day so many years ago, when we summoned you to the site of the first Gracidea and Shaymin selected you, this has been your destiny. Your time has finally come.” Turning to the mythical Pokémon, who was still sitting on the edge of the fountain, he called out, “Shaymin, it is time! Bring forth the waters of the Fountain of Life with your Aromatherapy!”

“Yes,” was all Shaymin said in response.

“How fitting that it says that now…” Matt thought to himself. He watched Shaymin scale the fountain, not noticing until then that its finely carved arches formed a convenient path for Shaymin to climb.

When it reached the top of the fountain, Shaymin settled into the center of the Gracidea statue and started to glow. Veins of light worked their way down the fountain, eventually heading underground. A few seconds passed before crystal-clear, pure water erupted from the fountain, flowing from numerous points all up and down its statue. It radiated with the same glow of Gaia energy as the rest of the Golden City. The mythical Pokémon then jumped from the fountain and bound over to Rosalita's side.

“Go forward, yes?” Shaymin urged the princess, who had frozen in place staring at the pristine, shimmering water. She knew what kind of power it held and what it meant for her, and although she had mentally prepared for it, seeing the water underlined how real everything was.

“No, I have to do this,” she said to herself, taking another deep breath to reinforce her nerve. She took one slow but decisive step in the fountain’s direction, followed by another. “Just one step at a time…”

“Rosalita, stop!”

The peaceful scene was suddenly interrupted by a shrill shriek from the sky overhead. Rosalita paused and turned her head upward, an action the others all also took. They were just in time to see a disheveled-looking Fernando land and discard his flightpack.

“Have you not had enough already?” Cassy snarled at him. Matt and Sheena nodded in agreement as they glared at the count. “Go away!”

“I… I cannot. I cannot leave.” Fernando shakily moved forward, his head tilted and his arms hanging limply at his sides. “Rosalita, I cannot allow you to take that power. Not before I know the land’s judgment of me… not before I know if I still have a right to be here after all I have done.”

“Fernando Renato the Eighth, cease this at once!” his father commanded, the king’s booming words echoing off the golden buildings around them. “You have done enough!”

“Father?!” Fernando gasped in horrified surprise. Spotting Sophia nearby, he exclaimed, “And Mother, too? You can’t be here!”

“But we are here, Fernando,” Sophia said, trying to speak in as gentle a manner as possible. “You have a place, you always have. It is in La Ciudad Dorada with Rosalita.”

“No, no, no!” Fernando grabbed his head with both hands and shook it back and forth. “It’s about far more than that now! This cannot be real… I must be hallucinating. That’s it. I’m imagining what Mother and Father would say to me, of course.”

"You are wrong, Fernando!" Rosalita boldly declared. His abrupt arrival had shocked her, but she swiftly decided to take charge of the situation. It was what a leader would do. "Mother and Father are very much real, and they speak the truth." She pressed her hand against her breastplate and implored, "I want you to come home with me, Fernando. This is my decision as both your sister and your queen."

"I cannot!" Fernando violently rejected her. Seeing his parents and the pleading look in his sister's eyes had caused all the shame he felt for his actions to intensify anew. "There may be nowhere I can go after what I have done. You cannot make that judgment, Rosalita. Only the kingdom can decide my fate!"

"Fernando, it is up to those in the world of the living to determine their own fates."

Ignoring his father's advice, and still dismissing the king's presence as a trick of his broken mind, Fernando dashed for the fountain. "I must drink from it… then I will know the answer…"

With every step he took, Fernando felt his long-held dream getting closer. All he had to do was get to the fountain. Once he drank from it, he’d have the answer he sought for so long. He just had to make it a little further, and and he would know.

And then, as soon as it started, his sprint ended. Rosalita grabbed him from behind in a tight embrace, holding him with all her strength. He could feel all his momentum evaporate nearly instantly.

In his surprise, Fernando looked back over his shoulder and sputtered, “R-Rosalita?”

“There is so much I could say to you right now,” she murmured. “Indeed, there is. But what I want to say to you right now is… I’m sorry, Fernando.”

Those three words shook Fernando to his core. "What have you to be sorry for?" he quietly asked her. "After everything I have done, I don't deserve-"

"It does not matter!" Rosalita interrupted, tightening her hold on her brother. "I failed you, Fernando. We all did. I never showed enough gratitude for how much you love our kingdom. If I had stopped being so self-absorbed with my training for the throne, I could have given you the hand you deserved in finding your place. To think I neglected you after you helped me become the person I am… it disgusts me to my core!"

Listening to Rosalita lay such blame on herself broke Fernando's heart. He went limp in her arms, feeling all his strength evaporate as he finally understood how badly he had hurt her. His beloved sister, the one who he had protected from their childhood, was blaming herself for his crimes. His murders. His treason. Ultimately, even his endangering La Ciudad Dorada's survival. She was telling him she felt disgusted with herself, but deep down, he knew he was far more disgusted with himself for making her feel that way in the first place.

"Rosalita, are those your true feelings?" he asked her while staring blankly up at the late evening sky.

"They are," she replied.

That was it, the answer Fernando felt he had to hear. He'd hurt her far too much, and there was no forgiving that.

"You know, Rosalita," he said, "I have always admired your will. Even when your confidence flags, you never stop pursuing what is right. You have always had the strength to face your fate head-on."

"I have only done what is necessary." Rosalita let go of Fernando, and he turned around in time to see her hold out her hand. "Right now, doing this is what I deem necessary. I should have given you this hand many times in the past. Please let me make up for my failures by giving it to you now."

"You always were the stronger of us. Even now, you prove that to me." Fernando slowly started to reach out to his sister. "You truly are able to make your own answers to life's questions, no matter what."

Rosalita smiled in relief. "Thank you." Just before Fernando's fingers met Rosalita's, however, he paused. Still believing in him, she said, "I know this is difficult for you to come to terms with. Come, we will face this challenge together. We’ll face all the challenges the future holds together."

Behind the princess, Matt had a different read on the situation. He shared a worried glance with Sheena and whispered to both her and Cassy, "Something's wrong."

"You are strong enough to make your own answers…" Fernando repeated, "...but the truth is, I am not."

With that, Fernando changed the angle of his hand and shoved it into Rosalita's breastplate, making her gasp in horror as he pushed her away from him. Once the one obstacle to his quest was removed, he made it to the edge of the Fountain of Life.

"Don't do it, Fernando!" Sophia called out after him.

Ignoring his mother as a figment of his imagination, Fernando dropped to his knees and plunged his head into the shimmering water. "Finally! Finally, I will know the truth of my existence!" he mentally rejoiced, opening his mouth to take one big gulp of the fountain's bounty.

Rosalita ran up behind him and yanked him out of the fountain by the collar, but by then it was too late. Fernando had already swallowed the water. He looked upon his sister, their parents and their equally horrified audience in satisfaction.

"What have you done, Fernando?!" Rosalita shrieked, equally furious and appalled. "What have you done? Was everything I said meaningless to you?!"

"No, of course not. And if it helps you feel better, I meant everything I said, too." Much to her surprise, Fernando tightly hugged her. "I had to know the land's judgment of me. That has no reflection on you. As I said, I could not live with the torment of not knowing." The count let go of his sister and stretched his arms out, looking over them curiously. "I believe I have my answer… I do not feel anything, even though I managed to drink from the Fountain of Life..." Fernando put his arms down and sighed in resignation. All his years of work had finally come to an end, but not the end he had hoped for. It saddened him, but he also felt a burden lift from his shoulders. "That proves beyond any doubt that you are the true heir, Rosalita."

"You absolute fool!" she angrily reproached him. "Even though I must bring you back home to face justice, I know there must be a future for us. We promised each other we'd be the best leaders La Ciudad Dorada ever had, remember? I would still value your advice, even now. I should have let you know that years ago. I'm sorry, but you did not have to do this!"

“There was no other way,” Fernando said, sadly shaking his head. “As twins born to the royal bloodline, it was always fated that one of us would be cast aside.”

“But it did not have to be that way!” Rosalita desperately protested. “I told you, the historical account of the war was falsified! There never were any siblings before us, so there really was no reason for us to be divided the way we were. There can still only be one ruler, but we can work together for the kingdom!”

The count dismissed his sister’s claim with a wave of his hand. “Thank you, but you still do not need to try and mislead me. There was simply no other way besides hearing through Gaia whet-”

Fernando was suddenly seized by an unseen force, cutting him off mid-sentence. He entered a trance-like state and stiffened from head to toe as Rosalita backed away from him.

"What's wrong?" she nervously questioned him. When he gave no reply, she lashed around to their parents, who were watching in mournful silence. "What is happening to him?!" the princess demanded in panic.

"No way is he really the king after all," Cassy uttered. “I refuse to believe that.”

"No…" was all Fernando VII could say. "No, he is not."

Rosalita, Matt, Cassy and Sheena all stared at the younger Fernando, waiting for something to happen. None of them had any idea of what to do, and with the king and queen remaining silent, they knew nothing about what was really happening. The one thing all four of them could conclude was that something was undeniably wrong. Fernando's limbs had twisted into unnatural angles no human could maintain so rigidly without hurting themselves, but his face conveyed no pain. His expression remained fixed in an inscrutable state, with his wide eyes glaring toward the sky but plainly looking past it, as if he were trying to see something beyond.

"I saw it…" he suddenly uttered, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he broke from his trance.

"W-what?" Rosalita stammered, unprepared for him to speak.

"I saw it…" Fernando listlessly repeated. At that, the force locking him in place released his body all at once. He fell backward against the side of the fountain, unable to hold himself up. "I saw the truth about everything, about the grandson of Fernando the Great, his betrayal of his heir, about the war…"

"How?" his sister asked. She wanted to say that he should have listened to her, but those words were lost when she looked down at the emotional wreck sitting at her feet.

"I don't know!" Fernando cried out, meeting Rosalita's gaze and allowing her to see that his one tear had become many. His body and mind were burning with the knowledge that had just been seared into him. He felt like he wanted to tear off his shirt to get at what was underneath, but also go even further beyond that, ripping his flesh from his bones if that was what it took to exorcise the soul-crushing shame that was claiming him.

Fernando VII and Sophia drew closer to the siblings with Matt, Sheena and Cassy following, but they remained at a fair distance. “The Fountain of Life shows those who drink from it that which they need most to see,” the king informed both his children and their audience. “It was so for myself, and for all those who came before me.”

“Then it was not my place that I most needed to know, but the reality of what I was doing…” The younger Fernando drove his fist into the ground in anguish. Nearby, Shaymin hid its face behind the grass on its back, itself ashamed by what its lies had led to. “What have I done, Rosalita? I became the very thing we swore we wouldn’t! While you kept your word all this time, I broke it!”

“It might hurt that you broke one promise we made to each other,” Rosalita tried to reason, “ but we can still keep others. It’s not over.”

“The fact that I hurt you in such a profound way is exactly why it’s over,” he argued. “Not just you, but Mother, Father, all the people of La Ciudad Dorada and those who tried to help it… Shaymin sacrificed its conscience to ensure our family and our subjects would live peaceful, rich lives in ignorance of the past, and all I did was take it for granted. I see that now with perfect clarity…” Fernando turned his head away from his sister. “I deserve nothing less than to be stripped of my name and exiled from this land of gratitude, seeing as I have shown none for what it gave to me.”

“Well, I am not doing that,” Rosalita flatly declared, taking Fernando’s hand in her own. “If this is what it takes to get you on your feet and moving forward again, consider it an order from your queen. I command you to return to La Ciudad Dorada with me.”

Fernando said nothing, but he offered no defiance when Rosalita tried to pull him up. His silence was why, when she found herself unable to get him to stand, she became confused.

“Come on, Fernando, don’t fight me. Stand up.”

What she didn’t expect was for him to be equally confused. He fell back against the fountain again and looked down over himself with his eyes narrowed and lips pressed together.

“Rosalita, I’m not doing this. I can’t move my legs. I… just can’t.” On top of his legs being immobilized, he suddenly started feeling lightheaded. “Something’s wrong,” he said out loud, his tears abruptly ceasing. “I do not feel right.”

The princess opened her mouth to speak, intending to try and extract further information from her stricken brother on his condition. Any words she could have mustered died off in her throat, however, when she glanced over Fernando’s body for herself. Her eyes went wide in terror once they settled upon Fernando’s feet.

Not only his extremities themselves but the boots he wore over them had transformed into gold. The same genuine gold the ancient Doradans had assembled the city around them and all their other riches using. It was creeping up his legs, too, slow and yet unrelenting in its progress.

“What’s happening to him now?!” Rosalita fearfully demanded of her parents. “What in Shaymin’s name is this?”

“I am afraid there is a way the Fountain of Life prevents those not deemed worthy from claiming its power,” Sophia grievously informed her children, “even if they manage to drink its waters.”

Matt found himself unexpectedly remembering something he had nearly forgotten. It was a seemingly minor piece of information he had seen during their adventure, but he now realized its true meaning. “But beware, for the bounty of gratitude shall only be reaped by the worthy,” he recited, recalling the message on the monolith at the Golden City’s gate. He covered his mouth, muffling his voice somewhat. “All others shall face the wrath of Gaia.”

"Gaia gives bountiful life to those who use it with wisdom," Sheena added, her own dread over what she saw taking place keeping her voice soft. She felt disconnected, as if she thought everything wasn't real despite her senses and education telling her otherwise. "But if used unwisely, it will instead drain life away."

"I refuse to accept that." Rosalita's facade of bravado masked a darker realization, one that she knew deep in her heart she had to face even as badly as she wished not to. She turned her green eyes to Regigigas, but they were not full of the intensity that so characterized both siblings. They were watery, although Rosalita didn't realize it. "Regigigas, I beseech you, stop th-"

The princess gasped when she felt her brother seize her wrist. She already knew what he would say, but silently prayed she was wrong.

"No, Rosalita, don't…" he weakly urged her, and in an instant, her heart sank. Her prediction was right. "This… this is how it should be."

"Says who?!" she protested, in full defiance of reality. "There is not a single person with the right to decide this for us!"

"This was the fate that befell the third king when he betrayed our kingdom." Nearly the entire length of Fernando’s legs had turned to gold by then, and he was growing delirious. "I have c-" Fernando paused to cough. "I have committed such profound crimes… not just against La Ciudad Dorada, but against you, Rosalita. It may be hard to believe, but right now, that is what hurts me the most, now that I have seen the truth… this is justice for what I have done."

"How… how can you say that?" Rosalita's face curled, her emotional veneer starting to crack. "None of your actions could hurt me more than having to face the future we promised each other without you…"

Much to Rosalita's visible surprise, Fernando summoned all of his ebbing energy to reach out to her. She gasped and her eyes went even wider when she felt his hand touch her cheek.

"Be strong, Rosalita. Be like you always have been." Fernando laughed softly to himself, but halfway through, it turned into another cough. "What a fool I truly am… to think I believed you would surrender the throne. That I forgot your compassionate nature is backed by a will of the strongest iron. You have never wavered in your strength, even in times of doubt. By standing so resolutely against me in order to serve the kingdom's best interest, even when surrendering would have been so easy… it is truly inspiring, Rosalita."

"I only did what I had to…" The princess put her head on her brother's shoulder, not noticing how her entire body was shaking. "Why did all of this have to happen? Why did that threat ever have to arrive?"

Fernando gave no response, and a blanket of quiet despair settled in over the Golden City. Sophia, unable to watch her childrens' anguish any longer, buried her face in her husband's regal robes. She had never forgotten the day they were born, the offspring of a king and a royal minister's daughter. The queen had once thought that fairytale dream she lived would last forever, a fantasy that now seemed to cruelly mock her with how it had shattered. For his part, Fernando VII could offer Sophia nothing but unspoken support. Even he was moved to tears by the generations of tragedy now unspooling all at once in front of him and being inflicted upon his beloved children.

Seeing their grief, Shaymin padded up to Fernando VII and Sophia. "I apologize, yes…" it said to them. "This all happened because I lacked faith in the people who gave me a home. I failed you."

Behind the royals, even Matt, Sheena and Cassy - those most targeted by Fernando's campaign - found themselves caught up in the overwhelming sadness of the circumstances. While Sheena held her hands together in silent prayer, it was Matt of all people that spoke up.

"Even after everything he did…" Matt recalled the day he saw Sutter's body. He still hated Fernando for taking away the only real parental figure he and Amanda had, but it was that bond he shared with his own sister that overrode all his other emotions about what he was now seeing. "They didn't deserve this…"

"I'm surprised to hear you say that," Cassy chimed in.

"Well, it's how I feel,” he insisted.

Cassy said nothing further, and silence again settled in among those gathered at the Fountain of Life. What seemed like forever passed before Fernando broke that veil by speaking up again, his voice even weaker than before.

"Hmph… how ironic that only now do I realize what my place truly is.”

“What?” Rosalita felt her breath catch in her throat. She lifted her head from Fernando’s shoulder to stare at him face-to-face and asked, “What are you speaking of?”

“What a fool I was not to see the truth sooner…” When Fernando failed to immediately answer her question, Rosalita shook him by the shoulders. That act snapped him back to reality, and after coughing, he said, “No matter what our customs say or don’t say about siblings, there is no way around the fact that only one of us could take the throne. Rosalita… I did so much to you, fought you with such ferocity… and yet, you walked through the flames and emerged unscathed on the other side. If there was any doubt, that erased it… you are the leader La Ciudad Dorada deserves. My place… was always to be the stepping stone for you to reach that exalted position.”

The soon-to-be queen found her stomach turning from what she was hearing. What little remained of her strong facade was starting to give way, and she had to sniff to stop herself from crying right then and there. “Calling yourself nothing but a stepping stone… after everything that I’ve said, how can you still place such little value on your life? Can you not see how important you are?”

“On the contrary… this is what gives my life value.” Fernando tried to raise his arm up to touch his sister’s face again, but found himself unable to; the corruption was working its way up his torso and limbs. “The fact that my life could be used to elevate one such as you, to fully forge you into a warrior who will fight for our kingdom until the very end… I am at peace with that.”

“But… Fernando…” Rosalita froze when she caught sight of the gold replacing her brother’s upper body. She was initially too overwhelmed to react, but that soon gave way to a state of sheer panic. “No, not yet! It cannot be this way! You can’t go and leave me here to-”

“Hush,” he softly urged her, flashing her an incredibly weak but content smile that only devastated her even more. “The kingdom’s future… it is bright. Be strong, Rosalita. Be strong and lead it into that future… let them all see that strength that I know. In the end…” Fernando paused. His glittering petrification was nearing his neck, telling him time was short. “...even if I became your enemy, I fulfilled our promise after all… with the aid I’ve given you, you shall be the greatest ruler La Ciudad Dorada has ever seen…”

That was it. There was no way Rosalita could maintain her composure any longer. "You still are the brother I always knew, nobody else…" Tears flowed freely down her face, and she sobbed, “Th-thank you, Fernando… I’ll keep my word to you. I’ll always keep it…”

“I… give you my gratitude as well, Rosalita…” The count felt his neck start hardening, and knew his throat would soon be next. Summoning the last of his strength, he looked straight into Rosalita’s eyes. “I… I thank you, Rosalita… for standing alongside me in this life. It was… quite a fascinating one. Thank you for… being my sister.”

Satisfied that he had said everything he wanted to, Fernando closed his eyes and smiled. He could hear Rosalita’s weeping grow stronger, but he had faith in her. If he hadn’t lost his speech, he would have told her that while she might find things too painful to deal with in the moment, she would persevere. There was nothing she couldn’t do, he firmly believed, and with time, she would come to understand. If it meant elevating Rosalita and the kingdom to even greater heights, he was at peace, truly believing that even his own life was an acceptable price to exchange.

When he expressed his gratitude for her, Rosalita froze. A barrage of images from their past flashed through her memory, reminding her of all the time they’d spent together. Their cheerful playing in the garden atop the Sacred Hill. The first time their parents took them to meet the people they would one day lead. All the years of dedicated, almost obsessed preparation they shared for their future. How even after their individual interests started to diverge, they still supported each other, with Rosalita attending the plays Fernando created and his watching her compete with Adiela. Each memory only pushed her further into despondence, but one stood above all the rest: the two of them, still just children, sitting in the garden and watching one of La Ciudad Dorada’s legendary sunsets.

“Why could you not see that you were always more than just a tool for the kingdom?” she whimpered. “You never needed to be anything besides my brother… nothing had to change for us, we only had to be the same people we always were… it never had to come to this…”

It was at that point Rosalita stopped speaking and just watched as the golden transformation claimed the last of Fernando’s body, pushing over his nose and soon engulfing his entire head. Every inch of him had become the precious metal. Nothing remained of the human being he once was. Rosalita had tried to fracture herself from what was happening with all her might, but there was no denying it anymore. Count Fernando VIII, her beloved brother, was gone.

“Why?!” she cried out anew. Rosalita threw her arms over the newly-formed statue’s shoulders and sobbed directly into its chest. “Why did any of this have to happen?”

Behind her, Fernando VII and Sophia held each other even more tightly. Even as a spirit, the king could feel himself slumping. “Look at what has become of our children…” he uttered in despair. “I failed them as both a king and as a father. I should have done something to prevent this…”

“It’s already too late,” Sophia sadly pointed out. “The time for us to intervene would have been many years ago… there is nothing we can do now but bear hope for Rosalita’s future…”

“I don’t know how she can do it…” Matt bitterly said. He, Sheena and Cassy had stepped out from behind the royals, but he was the only one of them who spoke. “Look at how many lives have been torn apart by this catastrophe.”

“A catastrophe it is,” Fernando VII agreed, hanging his head.

“There must be something we can save, yes?” Shaymin piped up. The mythical Pokémon bound over to Rosalita, who was still crying on the petrified body of her brother. “Rosalita… please…”

“This all happened because nobody really knew what to feel gratitude for…” The princess’s words cut Shaymin to the bone, but it knew she was right. “So much of our history was wrapped in lies… he fought for something that was never real. The lying has to stop or future generations will be caught in this same tragedy for a third time…”

“I agree with you, yes,” Shaymin emphatically said, forcing its sense of guilt aside temporarily. “The right time would have been when your grandfather discovered the truth, but I do not believe it’s too late.”

“I wish… I wish Fernando could have known just how important he really was… but…” Rosalita had arrived at a conclusion. A soul-crushing one, but a conclusion nevertheless. All she had to do was resolve to follow it, just as Fernando IV had struggled with his decision to lie centuries earlier. If Fernando IV’s falsehoods had been crossing a line in the name of peace, she reasoned, what she wanted to do would hopefully allow the kingdom to step back behind that line. “The people deserve peace, and we’ve seen that lying to them only pushed the conflict off onto a future generation,” she finally declared, sniffing and trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. What she had to say next was more painful than anything she could imagine, but it was a necessity. “I cannot… there is nothing I can do to restore Fernando’s life now. All I can do is take his wishes and the stories of those who cannot go into the future onto my own shoulders… I… I must untangle all the lies and lead the people through this turmoil into the peace that waits beyond it.”

As her parents, Shaymin and Matt’s group watched, Rosalita rose back up. The loss of Fernando weighed on her, as did Eleanor’s sacrifice and all the destruction Fernando’s campaign had wrought. Yet, she could feel her brother’s will giving her the strength she needed to push back against all the adversity. He had been completely sincere in his wish to save La Ciudad Dorada, she firmly believed. How he wanted to accomplish that was where the problem lay.

“Even with all your crimes, I thank you, Fernando,” Rosalita quietly said. “You showed me what my rule must be about. You may be gone, but…” Just saying those words made her pause, but she quickly recovered. As sad as it made her, she had to move on, to reach that future so cruelly denied to so many others. “I swear, you will live on with me.”

Shaymin plodded closer to the princess, nudging a dish-shaped lilypad with its nose. Numerous flowers had sprouted from its back, the product of Rosalita’s expression of gratitude. “I take it that you are prepared, yes?” it asked her.

Rosalita eyed the glimmering water in the Fountain of Life, and for an instant, she hesitated. “I just saw that water drain away Fernando’s life and transform him into a statue…” she contemplated, a drop of sweat rolling from her brow even though the desert air was beginning to cool. “If I were to consume it as well…”

Sensing Rosalita’s consternation, Shaymin assured her, “Remember, the bounty of gratitude shall only be reaped by the worthy. You are worthy, yes.”

“You are correct,” she replied, composing herself. Rosalita could feel the expectant stares of her parents on her, but they weren’t the only ones placing their hope in her. Every single man, woman and child living in La Ciudad Dorada was trusting that she would continue the kingdom’s peace and prosperity, as so many generations of leaders had done before her. “There is no way I can let Mother, Father, or any of them down,” the princess mentally resolved.

Glancing over her shoulder, Rosalita saw that her parents, Matt, Cassy and Sheena were all watching her with anticipation. None of them said anything, so she turned back to the fountain. She picked up the lilypad Shaymin brought to her, then inhaled and closed her eyes.

“Fernando, Mother, Father, Eleanor, Professor Chiaki… all of you, I will take your stories into the future with me. In that way, all of you will live on. I swear it.” At that, Rosalita puckered her lips and gently exhaled through them before peering down at the fountain. “There is no reason to delay this…”

The princess slowly and deliberately lowered herself to her knees in front of the wellspring. Nestling the lilypad carefully with both hands, she dipped it into the water before raising it back out. Rosalita stopped to stare at the modest amount of liquid it held.

“The future of my home and its people all relies on this,” she thought. “I mustn’t hesitate any longer.”

Rosalita brought the lilypad to her lips, and despite her resolve, hesitated for the briefest moment before tilting it back and ingesting the water.

“What happens now?” Matt nervously asked. Like when Fernando drank from the fountain, nothing appeared to occur at first for Rosalita either.

“Wait,” Sophia urged him.

True to the former queen’s word, within seconds, Rosalita shot up like a bullet, standing completely straight and staring at the sky while the lilypad went flying from her hand. Both Matt and Sheena gasped in surprise, and Matt went to run to Rosalita, only for Sophia to hold him back by putting her arm out.

"This is how it always is," Fernando VII informed them. "None of us should interfere. What she will see is for her to experience herself."

Matt shrank back, his mind not entirely at ease. "If you say so…"

Rosalita remained unaware of what was going on behind her. She rigidly stood with her arms spread wide, seemingly transfixed on Regigigas. In that moment, however, she couldn't even see the titan. Regigigas, Shaymin, the Golden City and her parents and friends - for her, they had all vanished into thin air.

While her body was still, her mind brought her to a place far away. She found herself at the foot of what she recognized as the Sacred Hill. La Ciudad Dorada was also nowhere to be seen, a community of modest canvas tents sitting in its place.

"I've never seen the Sacred Hill so bare…" Rosalita observed. True to her comment, it was just a huge accumulation of dirt, completely devoid of any life. The way she knew it, even the hillsides had flowers growing from them.

While she pondered the Sacred Hill's state and the presence of a tent village in her hometown’s absence, she overheard people conversing. Nearby, there were two farmers in light canvas clothing talking to a third, older man whose presence forced a surprised gasp through Rosalita's lips. She recognized him instantly, thanks to his shaggy, golden hair, thick beard and the gnarled staff he carried. There was no way she wouldn’t, not with how many times she had seen his face before.

"My ancestor…" she said to herself, "Fernando the Great…" Seeing the revered first king helped Rosalita make sense of many of her questions. "This vision, it is what La Ciudad Dorada once was…"

One thing she didn't yet know was why she was seeing a fantasy of those times in the first place. She considered trying to ask one of the three men, but when one of them looked right at her and didn't react, she concluded that they couldn't see her. She changed tactics, walking closer so she could better listen to them. As she drew nearer, she saw one of the civilians poking at the ground with a wooden tool. A Zebstrika, Camerupt and Ursaring waited with them, while Fernando I's Delphox was at the future king's side.

"I'm telling you, Chief," the man reiterated to Fernando I, jabbing the earth again in frustration, "the land's giving us nothing."

"Have a look," the second farmer added. "Ursaring, show him."

Rosalita quietly watched the Ursaring hand a burlap sack over to Fernando I, who passed his staff to his Delphox before taking the bag. She identified the plant he pulled from it as the Lapidarian Topo, a foodstuff native to the region. The berries on its root were horrifically shriveled, however, so much so that Rosalita barely recognized them. She'd never seen a Topo plant in such a state. A healthy Lapidarian Topo bore firm, pink fruit, not the withered, brown offshoots she was looking at.

"This is the state of your entire crop?' Fernando I asked as he examined the dehydrated, dead root. When the farmers nodded, he grimaced. "We won’t last very long before our food reserves fall into a state of depletion..."

Circumstances did not allow Rosalita the chance to think about what she was seeing, for as soon as her ancestor spoke, reality warped around her once again. Days, weeks and months sped past her like a video being run on fast forward. Sunrises followed sunsets, over and over, until the princess’s mental trip through time came to an abrupt end, dropping her off on top of the barren hill. A veil of darkness hung over the desert settlement, furthering her anxiety as she looked around. There were only two people with her on the peak. Fernando I was there with his Delphox, having not changed at all in appearance since she last saw him. The supposedly immortal wanderer was there as well, and it both his presence and the single Gracidea planted in the dirt that confirmed to Rosalita where she was.

“The founding of La Ciudad Dorada…” she marveled. Rosalita wished that she could interact with the two legendary figures from the past, but she had to resign herself to her inability to catch their notice. She instead watched as the wanderer approached the edge of the hill, his Lucario and Golisopod following behind him.

“Hear me, people of this blighted land!” he thundered to the villagers, who were gathered at the foot of the Sacred Hill. His deep and commanding voice made a chill run down Rosalita’s spine, even in her ethereal state. “Reach deeply into your hearts and find everything you can feel gratitude for! This will give the Gracidea the ability to restore life to your home!”

Though she could not see the villagers from where she was, Rosalita knew enough about history to anticipate what would happen next. She followed the wanderer and his Pokémon back over to the Gracidea, which had already started flickering with a exponentially intensifying golden light. As the glow grew stronger, wind began gusting around the Gracidea, sending both the wanderer’s cape and Fernando I’s ragged robes fluttering. Nearby, Delphox, Lucario and Golisopod shielded their eyes from both the light and the gale accompanying it.

“Gardener of Gratitude, these people call out to you!” the wanderer shouted, raising his hands into the air. “Even as the gifts of Gaia’s energy have left them, they speak words of gratitude for what they still have! I beseech you, bringer of purity, hear their cries and bless them by saving this land!”

Rosalita swore she could have been the Gracidea actually move in response to the wanderer’s plea. A beam of light shot from it up into the sky, while at the same time, pulses of green energy flowed through the earth from where the flower was planted.

“Gaia’s energy…” she whispered in awe. Seeing the creation of her home first-hand, a tale she long believed to be nothing but a fixture in history books, deeply moved her. Even though she was well aware that her presence could have no effect on the events playing out, she felt compelled to bring her hands together and express gratitude herself. “Thank you for giving me such a wonderful home, and thank you for giving me the family I received… thank you for my friends and my people, and for letting us all live in peace and comfort…”

A silhouette appeared in the beam of light and slowly descended toward the Sacred Hill. Its shape was at first murky and indescribable, but as it got closer, its features became more defined and there was no mistaking what it was. The canine body, long ears, scarf and jagged tuft of hair all confirmed that it was Shaymin in its Sky Forme, appearing in La Ciudad Dorada for the very first time. Seemingly as a herald of the mythical Pokémon’s arrival, an even greater wave of Gaia burst through the Sacred Hill, causing grass and flowers to erupt from its surface en masse.

Just as suddenly as it had come, the vision of La Ciudad Dorada’s creation fell away, returning Rosalita to reality. Regigigas, the Golden City and the Fountain of Life all reappeared before her, overwhelming her senses and making her fall down next to the statue that was once her brother.

“Rosalita!” Sheena cried out. This time, there was no keeping Matt’s group separated from her. Both he and Sheena pushed past Rosalita’s parents and rushed to her side, Cassy following soon after. While she and Matt helped Rosalita stand back up, Sheena asked, “Are you alright? What happened?”

At first, Rosalita said nothing. She gradually opened her eyes, revealing to those around her a soft, almost imperceptible glimmer in them. When she finally spoke, it was to Fernando VII and Sophia. “Mother, Father… I had a vision, just as Fernando did.”

“What was it, my dear?” Sophia wondered.

“I saw the state of desolation our land once fell into…” she described. Before continuing, she gently freed herself from Matt and Sheena’s grasp and took a single step forward. “And then, I saw Fernando the Great and the wanderer bringing life back to our home and turning it into La Ciudad Dorada. I… I get it now. I know what I have to do…” As she so commonly did, Rosalita pressed her fist against her chest. This time, however, the compassionate smile so indicative of her true nature crept onto her face. “Everyone’s lives were so simple in the beginning of our kingdom… so peaceful and prosperous. They never needed all these lies to feel gratitude… now, more than ever, I know that I must have faith they can accept difficult truths and move forward into the future. I can… I can feel myself connected to everyone who’s come before me now. I know I am right.”

“It is more wonderful than I ever could have imagined to see you embrace your responsibility…” Sophia praised her daughter.

“Yes, I must agree,” Fernando VII added. “I am so, so proud of you, Rosalita. You have come so far and grown so much… there is only one thing you are incorrect about.”

Rosalita cocked her head, surprised by her father’s words. “What is that?”

Fernando VII smiled more broadly than Rosalita had ever seen him smile before. “It is not our kingdom anymore, it is yours. Our time is over now. As of this moment, you are no longer Princess Rosalita, you are Queen Rosalita the First.”

Rosalita's eyes watered up once again, but it was not sadness swelling within her, it was pride. Pride in her accomplishments. Pride in the fact that her parents and seven hundred years of predecessors had faith in her to carry on their legacy. And just as importantly to her, pride that she would get the chance to fulfill her promise to her late brother. Overcome with joy, she threw her arms around Fernando VII and Sophia.

"Mother, Father, thank you!" she beamed. "Thank you for everything! I shall honor you with all that I do, I promise!"

"You already have," Sophia said as she stroked the top of Rosalita's head anew, "many times over."

The royal family's shared embrace was interrupted by Regigigas's beeping. Fernando VII turned upward and contemplated the kingdom's great protector as its dots flashed.

"Rosalita, our time together is unfortunately at an end," he revealed, understanding what Regigigas was indicating. "Now is when you must go into the future, where we are unable to follow. I implore you, always be strong."

"I will," the newly-crowned queen replied. She felt no more fear or despair. Her newfound connection to her ancestors helped her replace those worries with a sense of hope. "I gave Fernando my word years ago, and I shall give it to you as well. For now, though… might I walk with you and Mother one last time?"

"Of course," he said with a nod. "Let us go."

Rosalita joined her right hand with her father's left, and vice versa with her mother. The three of them then made their way toward a particularly intense flare of Gaia energy that had appeared. As they walked, Rosalita couldn't help but think of all the times they had done exactly the same when she was a child. Her memories of those times in Lingote Palace, the garden and La Ciudad Dorada brought a wistful smile to her countenance. Her sadness over how that chapter of her life was at a close had declined significantly. The memories would always be there, with Fernando and their parents living on within them.

When they reached the precipice of Gaia’s flow, Fernando VII and Sophia separated from their daughter and turned around to face her.

"Well, this is it." The former king chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry... as prepared as I was for this day, I did not think about this part very much."

"You don't need to be so straightlaced, Father." Rosalita gave his shoulder a playful push. "It is not something to be worried about right now."

"There's that wisdom of yours again," Fernando VII said to her. "I know everything shall be safe in your hands."

"He's right, Rosalita," Sophia added. "We gave you all that we could to prepare you, but what truly matters is what you do on our own. I have great confidence in you."

"Thank you, Mother." The new queen bowed her head in respect to her predecessor. "I will make the two of you proud."

"I know you will." Fernando VII glanced back up at Regigigas for a brief second. "We will meet again one day. For now, Rosalita, take care of yourself and our home."

"I will," Rosalita declared, fully accepting her role. "Mother, Father, I bid you farewell!"

"Goodbye, dear," Sophia replied.

Rosalita and her parents waved goodbye to each other as the flare of Gaia enveloped the royal couple. Soon, they were gone, along with the warm energy flowing through the Golden City. She could instinctively tell that with their exit, the coronation ceremony was over. Something she had considered a vague 'tomorrow' for years had finally come.

"Queen Rosalita the First…" she said to herself, considering her new station in life. “It sounds… right.”

Shaymin, meanwhile, scampered up to its companion after stopping the Fountain of Life's waters. "Now that things are up to you, what will be your first act?" it inquired.

Rosalita scratched her chin and pondered Shaymin’s question for a moment before picking the mythical Pokémon up. “I must address the people as soon as possible and inform them of the truth,” she decided. “We shall return to Lingote Palace at once to begin preparing.”

“I will do whatever I can to assist, yes,” Shaymin promised, sagely nodding as it spoke. “This all happened because of me. I must help fix it.”

Rosalita pet Shaymin's back, and flowers popped out of it as it curled up in her arms. She then turned to Matt, Sheena and Cassy, and as soon as she did, Cassy got ready to jab Matt with her elbow yet again.

"You should kneel wh-" Much to Cassy's surprise, both Matt and Sheena had already dropped to one knee in deference to the new queen. With her intended reproach rendered useless, she shook her head and laughed instead. "Took you long enough," she sarcastically said to him as she knelt herself.

"You may stand," Rosalita informed the three after making her way over to them. "I will inform the guards that you are to be granted quarter in the palace. There is much work to be done, so we must return right away."

-:-

Back in La Ciudad Dorada, Edrei was supervising his subordinates in their cleanup of the fire-ravaged garden atop the Sacred Hill. As he watched the other guards remove the remains of the scorched plants, he scowled and clenched his staff tightly in his right hand.

"This is all just foul," he bitterly thought. “So many years of life, wiped out in the blink of an eye…”

The captain's mind wandered back to his own childhood spent upon the hill. As the son of the previous guard captain, he too had grown up in Lingote Palace and played among those flowers as a boy. Custom dictated that he and the royal siblings of similar age were not to mingle, owing to their dramatically different stations in life, but all three defied that tradition. He became Rosalita and Fernando's closest non-relative friend, but as they got older, their duties started to diverge. Ironically enough, that divergence ultimately pushed Rosalita back into his orbit when she asked to train with him. At the time of her request, she still believed Fernando would be king and wished to join the guards so she could act as his personal knight in accordance with their childhood promise. It was that training, which she elected to continue even after being named crown princess, that played a big part in her building up both her physical strength and the power of her Pokémon.

As he reminisced, Edrei absentmindedly looked at the Key Stone set in the back of his gauntlet. He'd inherited both it and his Pidgeotite from his father. "I let you both down," he thought, gazing up at the sky. "Father, I failed in my duty. I do not deserve this position or to call your precious items my own… and Rosalita, I am ashamed I doubted you. I know you better than that..."

"Captain Edrei!" one of the women in his squadron called to him, snapping him out of his daydream.

"Yes, what is i-" He stopped mid-sentence when he spotted most of his subordinates clustered around one of the elevators with their staves drawn. Fearing that the war was not yet over, he sprinted to join them, the individual pieces of his armor clanging together as he ran. "Move, let me see!" he ordered the guards.

When the group split to afford him a view of what had them so alarmed, he was greeted by the sight of Noel and Leon with their hands in the air.

"Yo, you the boss of these guys?" Noel asked him, correctly perceiving his higher rank at first glance. She put her left hand on her hip and scowled, as she so often did. "Wanna tell 'em to back off a lil' bit?"

"Why would I do such a thing?" Edrei countered. "I know who you are. What kind of fool do you take me for?"

“We made a deal with Princess,” she explained. “She said she was gonna take us in when all was said and done, so here we are.” When Edrei seemed reluctant to believe her story, Noel crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “I ain’t stupid, I know how these stories usually go. The knight in shining armor who keeps the princess safe has a crush on the girl he’s gotta keep secret ’cause tradition says so, but he’d do anythin’ at all to please her.” Noel opened one eye and raised her finger. “How much of that was right? All of it? Do it for her.”

Edrei’s face had flushed before Noel even finished speaking. Somehow, the roughneck from Orre had read him like a book. He couldn’t admit that, though. Instead, he tried to ignore Noel’s taunts and sputtered, “Wh-why should I believe you?”

Noel gave Leon a playful smack. “’ey, Bro, I was totally right.”

“You said it, Sis. Dude’s as red as a Spelon Berry!”

The siblings shared a hearty laugh at Edrei’s expense, and he was too flustered to do anything about it. His subordinates picked up the slack by brandishing their staves, an act that cut Noel and Leon’s mirth off.

“Whoa, calm down!” Leon exclaimed, putting up his hands in a defensive posture. “We ain’t doin’ nothin’!”

“Do all of you got brains made of the same metal you’re wearin’?” Noel said with her usual scowl. “If we were gonna do anythin’, we woulda did it already. And if we were gonna run, don’t you think we woulda instead of comin’ and helpin’ you all?”

“That does make sense…” Edrei conceded. Turning to the other guards, he ordered, “Take them into custody. We’ll sort this out when Rosalita returns.”

“Wait, just wait one minute!” Noel yelled at them when they moved in to detain her and Leon. “We got a demand!”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Edrei sighed. “You are in no position to demand anything right now.”

“Is it really so hard to keep Bro and I together?”

Noel’s question gave Edrei pause. The idea that all she wanted was to stay together with Leon was the last thing he anticipated hearing her say. “You… what?” he stuttered.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna get anythin’ else. Bro and I’ve been together since we were little squirts on the streets.” She looked up to her brother, who smiled at her. “That ain’t endin’ now.”

“Fine,” the captain acquiesced, “there’s no reason I should say otherwise.”

-:-

Late that night, Rosalita was walking down a hall on Lingote Palace’s top floor with a lantern in her hand to light the way. Her soft, pink slippers made not a single sound as she ambled along the corridor’s red carpet.

Things had been very busy once she returned home with Matt, Sheena and Cassy in tow. Immediately after giving Edrei the order to allow her three surviving allies to stay in the castle, she had to deal with the issue of Noel and Leon’s detention. Edrei had still harbored doubts regarding their account of their bargain with Rosalita, so her confirmation of their claims caught him by surprise. They were less than thrilled to have to spend a full night in the dungeon, but grudgingly accepted their situation when she told the guards to treat them as guests.

After that came an impromptu meeting with the nobles who acted as advisors to the crown. Raul’s earlier communication with his fellow court members saved Rosalita a significant amount of time in convincing them of what had taken place. She made certain that all of her aides were on the same page before tasking them with making arrangements for her address to the people of the kingdom. Such an event required much coordination, so they went about their work as soon as she ordered it.

It wasn’t until all that work was done that Rosalita finally got a chance to try and unwind. The day was won, and now she could rest. Being able to remove her armor and take a long, hot bath was a relief after all the stress she’d faced just in the last day alone. She even almost fell asleep in the water while one of her handmaidens washed her hair. Ironically enough, when she actually tried to go to bed, restlessness kept her awake. Her plush sheets and airy nightgown did nothing to help her.

That was why she was in the hallway at such a late hour. It led to one of her favorite places, the palace’s observatory. She approached the grand doors that marked its entrance and paused to appreciate the intricate golden lines sprawled across them, which depicted a sky full of shooting stars above a single Gracidea planted in the Sacred Hill.

“How wonderful,” she said to herself before pulling one of the doors open. The carvings had always been one of her favorite works of art.

Beyond the threshold was a sizeable chamber lit by lamps hooked on the walls. Its most notable feature by far was the giant glass dome that hung overhead, affording a spectacular view of the stars above the remote desert kingdom. Much to Rosalita's surprise, Matt and Sheena were there, the latter using one of the observatory's ornate telescopes while the former sat at a table in the center of the room, quietly drawing in a sketchbook. Both turned from what they were doing when they heard the door open.

"Oh!" the new queen exclaimed when she saw her friends. "I did not expect to see you two here."

"I could say the same for you," Sheena replied, leaving the telescope and making her way to the table where Matt was. "Is something wrong, Rosalita? You should be resting for tomorrow."

Rosalita fidgeted. "I know, but… to be truthful, I could not sleep. There is too much on my mind."

"Let's talk about it, then," Sheena suggested as she pulled out a chair for herself. "What has you worried?”

Even though a seat was available for Rosalita, she was initially reluctant to take it. “I know I said I am ready to take on my new responsibilities, and I am… that is not a lie. But…”

“But?” Sheena questioningly repeated.

“I do harbor some concern that with all the duties I now have, I will lose everything already dear to me.” Rosalita turned away from Sheena and grimaced. “To tell the truth, I am scared. Everything that lies ahead for me is so different from my life to this point. The more I ponder that unknown, the more uneasy I become, and I must face it alone.”

“No, that’s wrong. You aren’t alone.” Sheena reached across the table and took Rosalita’s right hand in her own, making the newly-crowned queen look back at her. “I won’t lie and tell you that what’s ahead of you will be easy. It won’t be, but you aren’t ever facing it alone. Besides Matt, Cassy and I, you’re going to have the people of La Ciudad Dorada behind you. Shaymin said you lived as one with the people, unlike your private ancestors. They know you and who you are. There’s no need for you to turn yourself into someone else. Just be who you always have been, and everything will be okay.”

“Sheena…” Rosalita was so moved by Sheena’s words of reassurance that she felt herself nearly tear up again, but she kept that swell of emotion in check. “...thank you. I think… I think that was exactly what I needed to hear. You are correct… I cannot afford to lose who I am, not for my sake or for the people who will place their faith in me. If I were to become the same as my parents and those who came before them, all I would be doing is perpetuating the cycle that led us all here. I remember something else Shaymin said now.”

“What’s that?” the priestess wondered.

“It said it chose me because I am different from my ancestors. Because I’ve lived with the people and I know their lives on a personal level. That’s why I was chosen instead of Fernando, who would have simply maintained the status quo…” Coming to this conclusion made Rosalita feel sad about Fernando’s fate yet again, but it also bolstered her confidence. As much as she mourned her brother, she’d accepted that there was no way to undo what had happened to him. “The only way forward is to embrace the future with my own hands, not those of anyone else… and those who couldn’t go with me must not be forgotten. I understand now… all of this happened because of lies told to maintain a false peace, so I am here to unravel those lies and lead La Ciudad Dorada into real peace…” Cheered up by her newfound certainty in her purpose, Rosalita placed her left hand on top of Sheena’s. “Sheena, thank you. Thank you so much for helping me figure that out.”

“You’re welcome,” Sheena replied with a smile. “I’m proud of you. You'll do great, I'm certain of it."

"If everything happens for a reason, I'm fortunate I got to meet you, Matt and everyone else. Thank you." When she said his name, Rosalita realized Matt had remained completely silent during her entire exchange with Sheena. He was still sitting there on her left, quietly drawing in his sketchbook. "Might I ask what it is you are working on?"

Matt didn't answer immediately, and when he did, he spoke in a low voice that bordered on a mumble. "The stars in La Ciudad Dorada's night sky," he revealed while remaining fixated on the paper. "I took up painting because one day, I hope I might figure out some way for Amanda to see again." Matt stopped drawing and subconsciously ran his fingers over the bandages on the left side of his face, tracing along the edges of his own damaged eye. "I've been painting things I want her to see, and, well…"

"You need not say any more," Rosalita said, seeing his obvious distress. "I sincerely hope you succeed in restoring her sight. Even if you do not accomplish that goal, I still would like to meet her. Please consider coming back to La Ciudad Dorada with her one day."

"Maybe…" Matt replied, continuing to avoid Rosalita's gaze.

-:-

By mid-morning the next day, La Ciudad Dorada was abuzz with anticipation. The royal advisors had spread the word of the upcoming royal address on Rosalita's order, but absent any significant detail, it gave rise to significant speculation regarding the event's nature. All the secrecy practiced by past generations only stoked the conjecture further.

Among the hordes gathered at the Alliance Battle stadium for the address, there was certainty that they would hear the reason for Regigigas's appearance and the attack of the brainwashed Pokémon. That much was obvious. Rumors abounded when it came to the particulars. Word even started to circulate that a transition of power had taken place, inducing much consternation among a wide swath of the kingdom's population. The raids on Lingote Palace and the city walls led to the word 'coup' being thrown around, although there was disagreement on whether such subversion had succeeded.

Such worries were the farthest thing from Rosalita’s mind as she made her way down the hall connecting Lingote Palace to the arena. She knew, after what Sheena told her the previous night, to have faith that everything would work out. Clad in red-and-white robes fringed with gold, she carried herself with the same poise she so admired her mother for as a girl. Her clothing, created specifically for her by her handmaidens from the finest silk and quickly finished in time for the address, glistened in the sunlight flowing through the hall from the full-length windows lining it.

As she walked, Rosalita reached to her chest and gripped the pendant she wore. It had previously belonged to Sophia like her rings and other jewelry, but the pendant carried special significance to her. It was made of a ruby with gold set into it in the shape of Shaymin’s Land Forme, and Rosalita had always been dazzled by it. She was fascinated by it even before she was old enough to fully understand why adults wore jewelry, and the first day Sophia let her try it on was a memory she still treasured. Back then, it didn’t fit on her at all, but now it suited her perfectly.

“Mother, please look upon me and smile,” she thought to herself while clutching the pendant. Her mind then wandered to the golden, jeweled crown sitting on her head. It had been specifically made for her, just like her robes. Despite that, she still felt it carried the weight of her father’s legacy as king. “You too, Father. I will go my own way, but I will never forget to honor the path you both guided me along to get here.”

Shaymin, who had been walking alongside Rosalita, dashed ahead of her once they could see Edrei waiting for her at the end of the hall. "You are ready for this, yes?" it asked its friend and partner.

"I have never felt more prepared than I do right now," Rosalita replied. "My head is clear. I understand my obligations, and I know I am still myself. This is what I was born to do."

"Most excellent!" Shaymin happily exclaimed. "The road here hasn't been an easy one for either of us. I must say, this has been a humbling experience, yes… I have made many mistakes myself. Together, we must fix them."

"I agree," the new queen said. Shaymin jumped up into her arms, and she scratched its cheek. "When we are done here, I will get you cookies."

Shaymin became so excited it nearly leapt right back out of Rosalita's arms. "Cookies?! Now I almost wish for your speech to go quickly, yes!"

Rosalita couldn't help but laugh at the mythical Pokémon's innocent enthusiasm. They arrived at the end of the hall soon after, where a heavy red curtain separated her from the royal family’s viewing balcony in the arena.

"Queen Rosalita," Edrei greeted her, trying with all his might to remain perfectly composed and at attention.

"Captain Edrei," she responded with a smile, "thank you for your diligent service."

There was so much Edrei wanted to say to her. Both had ended up following in their parents' footsteps, and even though he knew it would one day come, actually seeing Rosalita as queen overwhelmed him. All he could actually put into words was, "I am just fulfilling my duty. Please wait here for your introduction."

"Again, let me extend my gratitude," Rosalita said to him. In that moment, such a sentiment was all he wanted. He bowed to her, both as a gesture of respect but also to hide the pleased smile that stretched across his face.

Rosalita, Edrei and Shaymin soon heard horns blaring on the other side of the curtains. Upon their sound reaching her ears, Rosalita put Shaymin down on the ground and brushed her hands across the front of her robes.

Her time had come.

-:-

Outside, Matt, Cassy and Sheena had front-row seats on the battlefield as the trumpeters backed up. Rosalita had arranged for their accomodations at the event, informing the guards that they were to be considered special guests. They glanced around at their surroundings as the people of La Ciudad Dorada fell silent thanks to the horns’ fanfare.

“I guess things are getting started,” Sheena observed.

“You can say that again,” Matt added, adjusting his sky-blue necktie. It, like the white dress shirt, dark green slacks and matching hat he now wore, had been given to him to replace the ragged coat Sheena salvaged from Registeel’s fortress. A new, lighter coat in the same green color lay folded on his lap.

Sitting between Matt and Sheena, Cassy fidgeted nervously in her seat. Matt failed to notice her, but the priestess did. “Are you alright?” Sheena asked her.

Cassy’s immediate, involuntary reaction was to tighten her hold on Swellow’s bag, which she had taken to wearing herself. Before she could give any sort of verbal response, a man clad in red military garb stepped forward, taking up a position right at the center of the field.

“Now presenting the new ruler of La Ciudad Dorada and the master of Lingote Palace,” the man announced, “Queen Rosalita the First!”

The silence in the arena was broken as quickly as it came, giving way to applause and cheering as Rosalita entered through the curtains. She calmly walked to the edge of the balcony, where a microphone was set up for her address, but waved to her people instead of starting to talk right away. Their enthusiasm despite the confusing, dramatic events surrounding her accession to the throne buoyed her hopes that everything would turn out alright.

“Surely you have much to say to them, yes?” Shaymin urged her after pulling itself up onto the balcony’s railing.

“That is right…” she replied. When she approached the microphone and prepared to speak, Rosalita found herself seized by a sudden rush of nerves. Her audience really was comprised of her people now. Their peace, their prosperity, all of it rested squarely on her shoulders. She started to sweat, but then remembered the connection to her predecessors she had gained. As soon as she thought about that, she could almost feel her parents and brother on the balcony with her, encouraging her to keep going. That helped Rosalita center herself again, and she took a deep breath to calm her mind before beginning her address.

“My friends, much has taken place in our beloved kingdom of La Ciudad Dorada recently. Many of these events may have left you frightened, worried that perhaps the wonderful state we have long lived in will wither away and die. I am here to give you my word that such an event will never happen. I have faith in you all that you will work side-by-side with me to ensure our peace survives forevermore. With that said, I have discovered what took place in La Ciudad Dorada over the past several days is the end result of many generations’ worth of lies being told. These lies were told in the name of peace, but tragedy has now visited our land twice due to them, and as your new leader, I am putting an end to them once and for all. What binds us all together is our love of La Ciudad Dorada, so these secrets are no longer necessary to keep us together.”

Rosalita exhaled and looked over at Shaymin before continuing her speech. The mythical Pokémon was grimacing in guilt, but there was an unspoken understanding between them that what Rosalita was about to do was necessary.

“Let us first begin with the raid on La Ciudad Dorada that occurred yesterday. That attack was the work of my brother, Count Fernando VIII.” A faint murmuring erupted among the crowd at this news, and Rosalita had to internally acknowledge how much it still hurt her. Still, there was no turning back. “After I was chosen to inherit our father’s throne over him, Fernando grew despondent, as he believed that he did not have a reason for existing. More recently, a message threatening La Ciudad Dorada arrived, and Fernando wished to awaken Regigigas to repel this threat. When he was spurned, Fernando murdered our parents and framed me in the hopes that his gambit would lead to him taking the throne.”

“I wonder if revealing that so soon was a wise idea,” Matt said to Sheena and Cassy when the murmuring around them escalated dramatically.

“Please, there is still much more to be said,” Rosalita pleaded with the crowd, harboring the same concerns as Matt. “Fernando held back and allowed me to pursue the trials of the Three Pillars, as all Doradan rulers must do in order to officially be crowned. He then ambushed us in the Golden City and placed Regigigas under his control using Arcane Science technology. That is why Regigigas attacked La Ciudad Dorada. The Pokémon army that you so courageously united with visitors to our kingdom to fight against was also a part of Fernando’s strategy. Luckily, I was not alone in standing against this threat from within.”

Rosalita looked down from the balcony and locked eyes with Matt, making him nervously lower his hat over them.

“As a part of his plan, Fernando enlisted Matt Chiaki, the grandson of the great explorer Professor Sutter Chiaki, to act as an unwitting pawn in searching for the Golden City. Matt, along with his partner Cassy Natsuka and friends Eleanor Laplace and Sheena Carnet, aided me in foiling Fernando’s plot once they learned the truth. Their names will go down in Doradan history as pivotal allies who prevented the second civil war from destroying our kingdom and everything we have held dear. However, I must call special attention to one of them in particular.”

Closing her eyes, Rosalita thought about Eleanor’s Persian, Rotom and Litwick, the new residents of Lingote Palace. One of the hardest things she’d had to do the previous night was inform them of their beloved trainer’s fate, news that they took as hard as she had expected them to. All three remained hidden in the room Rosalita had given them for almost the entire night, with the only indication of their coming out was the empty food dishes left in front of their door.

“Eleanor Laplace was an engineer who hailed from Orsay City in the region of Kalos,” Rosalita stated to her people, her heart sinking anew as she thought about what happened. “She possessed an innate understanding of machines, even those powered by our Arcane Science designs. Like my other allies, Eleanor fought with her entire heart and soul for La Ciudad Dorada’s survival. However, at the decisive moment, Fernando activated a time bomb aboard the royal family’s skyship, which would have destroyed the Golden City, its surroundings and everything living there. Eleanor sacrificed herself to carry out an act of heroism only she could perform, by piloting the skyship into the atmosphere so the bomb would detonate safely. I will… I urge you all to join me in honoring her memory. Our kingdom would not survive in the form we have always known if Eleanor did not lay down her life for us.”

Rosalita had to stop and sniff back a tear.

“She was not the only life lost during Fernando’s campaign. At the end, Fernando threw himself into the Fountain of Life, the source of our leaders’ longevity, in a desperate bid to determine his place in La Ciudad Dorada. Because he was unworthy of the fountain’s power, Gaia inflicted a harsh judgment upon him. His life was forfeit, and his body transformed into a golden statue… the true tragedy of this all is that he feared being cast aside as my twin, as our history would suggest must happen. This is the great lie I have discovered. When our first civil war took place, it was not between King Fernando III and his twin brother, as has been taught to generations of Doradan citizens. King Fernando III betrayed our traditions and attempted to attain true immortality by imprisoning his own son along with Shaymin.”

At that, the murmuring in the crowd returned with a vengeance. Such a turn of events didn’t surprise Rosalita at all. As the truth about the civil war was something she anticipated would provoke a reaction, she’d already steeled herself to carry out the revelation.

“That is correct,” she continued. “The first civil war was fought between Fernando III, his son Fernando IV, and the forces loyal to each. It only concluded when Regigigas awoke and consumed the Gaia energy giving Fernando III life. Once the battle was over, Fernando IV decided he would spread the lie that an unknown twin brother caused the war out of fear the people would lose faith in our leadership right when La Ciudad Dorada was still a nascent nation. While I understand why he did this, we have reached a time in our history where this lie is no longer needed. We must walk hand-in-hand together into our shared future, and no longer be shackled to a false image given to us by the past.

Because we must reach that future, I am hereby announcing the following measures. First, the royal family will no longer conceal the Golden City. We will form a council of knights to act as its protectors, and then open it as part of La Ciudad Dorada’s historical tour. The mining community in the desert and abandoned fortress in the mountains shall also be restored, all so those who embark on the tour can gain a firsthand appreciation for our traditions and how our people have lived while we continue working to protect these sites. Finally, I have ordered an entirely new section of our museum to be created documenting the truth about both civil wars. No longer will the facts be available only to a select few in the royal family. Soon, these truths will be released to the public for all to learn about. We must change in order to prevent these tragedies from taking place yet again. Please, I ask of you all, join me and let us go together into a peaceful and prosperous future!”

While her people applauded her, Rosalita looked up at the clear blue sky and thought to herself, “Fernando, I hope I have made you happy, wherever you are. In some way or another, I intend to keep our promise.”

-:-

Later that afternoon, Rosalita managed to catch up with Matt at the train station before he boarded. Edrei and his subordinates, who traveled there with her, held back the sizable crowd that developed around her as she spoke with Sutter’s grandson near the train.

“Must you really leave us without partaking in our festival?” Rosalita asked him with Shaymin sitting on her shoulder. “It is the customary celebration for when a new leader takes the throne. Security may be heightened due to the threat we received, but I intend to hold it as a way of guiding La Ciudad Dorada back to normalcy. I would be honored if you attended it.”

“I’m sorry, Rosalita, I must refuse.” Matt lowered the edge of his hat, casting a shadow over his uncovered eye. “Too much has happened here. I can’t… I can’t be here any longer right now.”

“I understand. These last few days have certainly been difficult for us all,” Rosalita expressed. It saddened her to look at how he bore both the physical scars of Fernando’s campaign and internal wounds she could only imagine. “He was dragged into this years ago, and it is finally over,” she wordlessly considered. “I cannot place the emotional burden of being here on him given what Fernando did to his family…”

“I should have never responded to Fernando’s letter,” he abruptly said, snapping her out of her thoughts. “If I never came here, you would still have your brother with you. It’s thanks to my efforts that he found the Golden City and drank from the Fountain of Life… Eleanor would still be here, too. She would never have been caught up in this and never have been aboard that skyship…” Matt pounded his fist against his bag and took sudden notice of the blazing hot sun. It made him start to feel dizzy as he mentally replayed the circumstances of the skyship’s destruction. “All of my own working with machines should have given me some knowledge to do something.”

Matt’s outburst caught Rosalita off-guard, and she initially didn’t know how to answer it. “You cannot blame yourself for my brother’s crimes,” she finally said. Seizing his free left hand with both of her own, she assured him, “The only one to blame is Fernando, and as hard as this is for me to say, he has faced justice for what he did. That includes the decision Eleanor made to save us. He put her in that position, not you, and it was her choice to take the actions she did.”

“Yeah, but…” Matt felt no further drive to dispute Rosalita’s words, so he turned away from her instead. “I guess.”

Seeing his clear unease, Rosalita decided to change the subject. “What shall you do now?”

“I’ll be heading back to Lapidaria’s capital, Amaranth City,” he replied, growing only slightly more lively in his speech. “Amanda’s there waiting for me, and we’re going to be meeting up with our friends and their daughter soon.”

“But Cassy is not going with you?” the new queen inquired.

“She said she had something she still wanted to do here,” Matt offered with a shrug. “She’ll probably want to participate in your festival herself, too. Regardless, she told me she’d catch up with me when she was done.”

“Would you mind some other company on the ride?”

The new voice in the conversation belonged to Sheena, who had just arrived at the train station herself. Her existing amity with Rosalita got her through Edrei’s blockade, and her presence brightened the queen’s expression.

“I am glad you caught up with me, Sheena,” Rosalita said. “Matt, I think it might be helpful for you if you aren’t alone on your trip, as Sheena suggested.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Matt turned to Sheena and questioned, “Why, though? Didn’t you have your own plans for your trip here?”

“There’s one way in and one way out of La Ciudad Dorada, so why should either of us head back to Amaranth City alone?” Even though she had answered his question with another question, Matt knew Sheena was right. “Besides, I still wish to speak to you regarding your grandfather’s research into my people. There’s a pretty long train ride ahead of us, perhaps it would be best if we didn’t spend it thinking about what happened these last few days.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” Matt admitted. Just then, he noticed something pinned to Sheena’s coat. It was a red-and-gold military medal bearing the shape of a Gracidea beneath its ribbon. “What is that?”

“Oh, yes, I nearly forgot,” Rosalita interjected, answering for Sheena. She produced a small box and handed it to Matt, who opened it to discover an identical medal. “This is the Gracidea Order, one of the greatest honors our family can bestow upon an individual. Matt, you earned this for your assistance in defending La Ciudad Dorada, just as Sheena did.”

“Thank you, Rosalita…” was all he could say. With his coat slung over his right arm he couldn’t put the medal on, so for the time being he closed the box and placed it into his bag.

“No, I should be thanking you. All of-” The sound of the train’s whistle cut off what Rosalita was going to say, and she decided against repeating it. “Unfortunately, it would appear our time together is reaching its end. I want both of you to know you will always have second homes here. La Ciudad Dorada will always welcome you with open arms, whenever you feel like returning.”

“I’ll definitely come back one day,” Sheena promised, placing her hand on her chest and bowing her head. “Until then, keep on being the best leader you can be for your people.”

“I will make that promise with you,” Rosalita affirmed.

“Until next time, then,” Sheena said as she climbed aboard the train. “Matt, let’s get going.”

“Right. Rosalita, goodbye for now.”

“I look forward to the day you visit once again!” Rosalita called after him.

Matt gave a short nod of acknowledgement to the queen’s words, then boarded the train himself. Before he got fully up the stairs into the coach, he looked back over the platform and froze at what he saw.

There were two figures in the distance, far behind the crowd gathered to see Rosalita. He couldn’t clearly make them out, but he could have sworn that they were Sutter and Eleanor. One had a long coat much like his grandfather’s, and the other, a billowing skirt like Eleanor’s. He was so taken aback by the sight that he rubbed his eyes, but when he blinked, they were gone.

“I guess that this is a chapter in my life that’s closed now,” he mused, “if I’m leaving Sutter behind here. I did complete his work… but I still should have been able to do something...”

The train’s whistle blared out across the station again, forcing Matt to stop gawking and get fully aboard before it pulled away. Rosalita waved after it, bidding her friends a final farewell until the day they would meet again.

-:-

Unbeknownst to Matt, Sheena, Rosalita or anyone else on the platform, the apparitions of Sutter and Eleanor were real. From their vantage point, Sutter watched the train to Amaranth City depart. Once it had left, he turned back to Eleanor and smiled at her, then both directed their attention to Fernando’s liberated Dusknoir, who was there with them.

“I would say it’s about time we get on our way as well,” Matt’s grandfather declared.

“Yes,” Eleanor agreed.

Dusknoir grunted his assent and reached out to both Sutter and Eleanor, gripping the two phantoms in his broad, gray hands. He gradually drew the pair of spirits into his ghostly body before sinking into the earth, all in order to bring them to the other side.

-:-

Meanwhile, with Rosalita, Edrei and all the guards occupied elsewhere, Cassy traveled to the area of the city damaged by the clash with Regigigas at the wall. She carefully traversed the wrecked terrain, navigating over the broken chunks of stone, following something she was observing using her phone. Swellow was with her, but she was still wearing his bag herself.

After some time exploring the area, her phone started giving off a beep, signaling to her that what she sought was nearby. She hastily followed the direction the phone indicated to her, nearly slipping once or twice on the wreckage in her rush to reach the marked spot on its screen.

A large boulder was lying in the specified spot when she arrived, so she turned to Swellow and ordered him, “Break that with Steel Wing!”

Swellow chirped in compliance and smashed the stone with his metallic, glittering wings, turning it to rubble. Cassy waved away the resultant dust with her hand and reached into the newly-opened hole, retrieving what awaited underneath - the Griseous Orb, left behind when Dragonite smashed Fernando’s staff aboard the skyship.

“Finally…” Cassy said in awe, her eyes widening and the orb shining in them. She placed it down for a moment and reached into her bag, taking out a perfect duplicate of the jewel that she swapped with the real one. With that done, she tapped the screen of her phone several times and brought it to her ear. “Mercury, it’s Séduire,” she addressed the person who answered her call. “Everything worked out exactly how Finansielle told us it would. I threatened them, and they ended up inviting me right in their front door. They never suspected a thing. Yeah, I’ve got the Griseous Orb.” Pausing for a second, she slipped her bag back onto Swellow’s body. “I’m sending Swellow to you with the real thing now, while I return the fake to them. Now that we’ve got this thing, Polaris is nearly done manipulating Team Galactic, right? Good. I can’t wait to destroy Team Galactic for what they did to me.”

With that, Cassy tapped the screen again, dismissing her call. The image of a double helix twisted into the letter ‘P’ briefly flashed on it before disappearing.




END of CHAPTER 9

Here we are, the final portion of this story. This epilogue will be presented a little differently than the other chapters; instead of a full-fledged narrative, it will be made up of little scenes highlighting different characters and situations following the conclusion of the main plot. Only the last two scenes are full-fledged scenes and not the little ones I described.

There’s some actual swearing at the end of this.

-:-

EPILOGUE: Blossoming Hope

-:-

"Swellow, dodge it and use Aerial Ace!"

Cassy's Swellow just barely managed to somersault away from the Water Shurikens flung at him by the Greninja belonging to the young woman in the orange sun hat. His deft movements caused the crowds gathered in the Alliance Battle arena to erupt in a cacophony of cheering that only grew when he drove his beak straight into Greninja's chest.

The Alliance Battles were held every day in La Ciudad Dorada, but this one was different. It was just one part of the festival celebrating Rosalita's accession, and the new queen was there, watching from the balcony reserved for those of her station. Shaymin was at her side, eagerly devouring the cookies made in its image.

"Nice move, Miss Cassy!" Wally exclaimed to her. He and Laura were the other members of Cassy's team, backing Swellow with Gallade and Swampert respectively.

"I knew I was right about that Swellow," Laura added.

"Thanks," Cassy replied. With the Griseous Orb delivered to her superior hours earlier, the burden that had weighed on her from the moment she arrived in the city was gone. Her mind was at ease, so she had no problem relaxing and joining the festivities. "This is far from over, though," she said to Wally and Laura, warily eyeing their opponents.

Across the battlefield, Greninja recovered and stood alongside his own allies, Door's Audino and the witch's Decidueye.

"Guess I gotta pick up the slack," Door irritably sighed. She thrust her hand out and called to Audino, "Knives, hit Swellow with Charge Beam!"

The pink rabbit trilled and brought her hands together, forming a sparking ball of electricity between them. Before she could fully execute the attack, Decidueye stepped up next to her.

"Yes," hissed the witch, bringing her hand near her mouth. "You give Gallade a Spirit Shackle as well…"

While a ray of electricity burst from the sphere between Knives's paws, Decidueye slung one of his arrow-like quills and shot it at Gallade. Swampert, bearing a natural immunity to Charge Beam's voltage, lept in front of Swellow to absorb the shock. Swellow, in turn, intercepted Decidueye's Spirit Shackle before it could reach its target.

As all three Pokémon vocalized their thanks to each other, the crowd roared anew, both entertained by the action and heartened by the gratitude the Pokémon displayed.

-:-

Meanwhile, as the rest of her fellow tourists were enjoying the festival’s opening, Kidd left La Ciudad Dorada behind. She drove into the desert in her sturdy yellow SUV, a vehicle that had served her well in her many exotic adventures. While Kidd was at the wheel, her two Weavile played in the back seat with one of the deactivated collars used by Fernando's army, which they'd collected following the battle of Dorada Market.

"So that's that, Banks," she said to the hologram of her superior being projected from the middle of the SUV's dashboard. He was an elderly, narrow-eyed man dressed in a dark suit with an oversized bow tie. "It doesn't seem like Gaia energy will help the foundation's goals on its own. It's too volatile, and only chosen ones may use its power."

"In the end, I suppose it's not a surprise," Banks replied. "Gaia has its uses, but it won't open up any avenues for us in driving humanity forward at this rate."

"I wouldn't be so quick to completely write it off," Kidd suggested. "I obtained a piece of technology built using the principles of Arcane Science. If we can understand the ins and outs of how Arcane Science works, it should advance the foundation's prosthetics development project."

“There’s the fountain of great ideas at work!” the old man beamed. His enthusiasm earned him a sigh of exasperation from his employee, but he pressed on undeterred. “So, Kidd, what’s the next stop on your tour of Lapidaria going to be?”

“I think I’m gonna hit the resorts in Amaranth City for a little while and relax,” she answered, resting her right wrist on the steering wheel. “Once I’ve recharged my batteries, I’m thinking about heading off to explore the Lapidarian Highlands. There’s still so much undocumented about them.”

“That sounds like it’ll make for quite the story!” For the second time in mere moments, Kidd had to sigh at her boss. She liked him, but knew well how tiring he could be. “When you go, make sure you get photos, videos, the works. The foundation will make a full-court multimedia push to get your accomplishments out there, Kidd! You’ll be an inspiration to the public once again!”

“Don’t you worry, Banks, I’ll get what you want. I always do. Over and out.” Kidd dismissed the hologram by pressing a button beneath it, causing Banks’s image to flicker and fade away. Before she even had a chance to take her finger off the switch, a crash from the back of her truck made her jump. “You guys, be careful with that thing!” she called back at her two Weavile, who had dropped the collar on the floor while playing with it. “I know you’re having fun, but please try not to destroy that. It’s very important.”

The Weavile duo looked at each other and pouted, then turned to their trainer and vocalized their contrition.

“It’s alright,” she assured them. “I promise we’ll play all you want when we finish crossing this desert.”

-:-

The festivities continued well past sunset that night, showing no sign of abating. Once the sun had left the sky, the Doradans replaced its light with a great bonfire in the market square. All around the towering pyre, many adult townspeople partook in the traditional dances of their home, while children ran around and played with toys made by Dorada Market’s artisans. Many tourists, unfamiliar with such customs, snapped pictures and recorded video to memorialize the celebrations.

At the center of it all stood Rosalita. Closely accompanied by Edrei and a group of other guards, she was busy greeting the people she was responsible for leading. Before descending the Sacred Hill to meet with them, she had been nervous. It was the first time she was seeing them face-to-face after accessing the throne, so that feeling didn’t surprise her. Yet once she was actually in the square and speaking with them, she felt right at home. Nothing had changed for her when it came to that.

Meanwhile, Edrei stood behind his queen, closely watching her every move. The years he’d spent alongside her, both when they were children and when they trained together, helped him become familiar with her quirks. That she would so closely associate with the people certainly struck him as odd, given the way her parents and the generations before them kept so strictly to themselves. As time passed and he observed her behavior more, he grew to understand she would always be someone who forged her own path in life even with the duties imposed upon her.

Getting to see Rosalita enjoying herself so much while also taking on the most important job in the entire kingdom warmed his heart, and there was no place Edrei would rather have been than at her side.

-:-

As soon as Matt and Sheena arrived at Amaranth City's train station, they headed straight for the hotel where he and Amanda were staying. It wasn't the most extravagant of the city's many resorts, but it still sat comfortably in the upper echelon of luxury.

Matt and Sheena split up when they got to the hotel. While he went to retrieve his sister, Sheena obtained a table in one of the resort's restaurants and waited for them. To pass the time, she ordered some tea. While sipping it, she glanced around at the lush, colorful floral arrangements set up throughout the restaurant.

"We're not in La Ciudad Dorada anymore," she thought, "but those flowers are beautiful enough to have come from there. Perhaps I should spend more time in Lapidaria and really get a look at what this region has to offer."

"Sheena!" she heard Matt call out to her, snapping her from her reverie. "We're here!"

The priestess turned to see her friend approaching the table, pushing Amanda in her wheelchair while an Arcanine followed them. Matt had described his sister to her but wasn't until then that Sheena could truly appreciate Amanda's personality. Just at a glance she could perceive Amanda radiating serenity from how relaxed she looked.

"Hello," the blue-haired young woman greeted Sheena, waving in her general direction and flashing a peaceful smile. Amanda then folded her hands in her lap and said out loud, "Sheena, right? Matt told me a little about you on the way down."

"I certainly hope all of it was good," Sheena replied, setting her teacup down on its saucer.

"Sure was!" Amanda's smile broadened, leaving Sheena stunned by how disarming it was. Matt wheeled her up to the table, and while he sat down across from Sheena, Arcanine curled up at Amanda's side. "It sounds like you guys had quite an adventure. I can't wait to hear all about it… but first, Matt told me you had things you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes." Sheena paused for a sip of tea. As she lowered the cup from her lips, she noticed Amanda staring intently at her, having followed the direction of her voice. "I've been working to learn more about the history of my people, the Tenganists. I understand your grandfather spent considerable time researching us, so I wanted to find out what he discovered."

"The Tenganists…" Amanda repeated. Sheena couldn't tell how to interpret her flat tone, and Matt's blank expression didn't help at all. "Grandpa certainly did do a lot of research into them, I know that. The thing is, he was really touchy about the subject. He always got oddly serious whenever the Tenganists came up and tried to discourage us from asking questions. Honestly, it was a little scary."

Sheena's eyebrow twitched involuntarily, and before she knew it, she had the teacup at her lips again. The time it took for a sip gave her a chance to sort through her confusion. Once she thought through what she knew about Sutter, she realized another avenue of questioning. "What about his apprentice, Jacob? Did he know anything?"

"Probably," Matt answered while leaning on his clasped hands. "If there's one thing I knew about that guy, it was that he documented everything."

"That's right," Amanda agreed. She reached out to pet Arcanine, and he moved his head so it was under her hand. "He wrote extensively about the adventures he went on with Grandpa, and we got to read his journals."

"Most of them, anyway," Matt continued. "There was a period in the early '50s Sutter wouldn't let us read about, and the book disappeared by the next time I looked for it, like it never existed."

"The early 1950s?" Sheena exclaimed in surprise.

"You know something?" Amanda wondered.

"Not exactly," the priestess clarified, "but something is wrong. Your grandfather tried to discourage you from learning about the Tenganists and concealed details of his travels in the early 1950s from you. That timeline matches up with a forbidden tale from Tenganist history that even I know little about… something terrible happened in the early 1950s but knowledge of it has been suppressed. Now I wonder if your grandfather was involved in it, whatever that disaster was."

An uneasy silence settled in over the table. Matt, Amanda and Sheena all realized the magnitude of their potential connection, but none of them knew where to begin doing anything about it.

-:-

True to her word, Rosalita only made Noel and Leon stay a single night in the dungeon before releasing them. She allowed them to go about their day-to-day lives after that, although under strict observation from guards she assigned to them. The siblings chafed at their scrutiny, but kept their misgivings to themselves. They both considered it preferable to being imprisoned.

A few weeks passed before Rosalita summoned them to the palace. Fearful that they were about to be jailed again for something, they almost considered trying to flee but ultimately decided to place their hopes on Rosalita's plans for them. Much to their surprise, she kept her promise about giving them a comfortable enough life. True to her word, she informed them that she had found both housing and a legitimate job for them.

That was how Noel and Leon ended up at one of La Ciudad Dorada's iron forges. It was hard but honest work, and that was all either could have asked for.

Putting his muscular build to good use, Leon carried three newly-made pipes over his shoulder. He dropped them next to Noel, who was taking a break from welding various metal constructs together. She hadn't seen him coming, so the pipes crashing to the floor made her jump.

"Aah!" she shrieked. "Geez, Bro, you gotta sneak up on me like that?"

"Sorry, Sis," he apologized. "I was caught up thinkin' and didn't really pay attention."

"No sweat, Bro. What's on your mind?"

In a fit of irony given what Noel had said, Leon wiped sweat from his brow. Thanks to their years in the Orre desert, neither sibling thought much of the temperature in the forge, but it got to Leon in that moment.

"Ya think this is gonna fatten our wallets enough to give our old crew a hand?" he asked his sister. "I'm still worried about 'em, y'know?"

Noel chuckled. Before she answered, she brought a box of scrap metal over to her Muk, who was sitting a few feet away. The Poison-and-Dark-type Pokémon eagerly leapt at the container and began devouring its contents.

"That big heart of yours is what our crew loved 'bout you, Bro," she said, playfully slapping Leon on the back. "It might take a while, or it might not. Who knows? All I can say is, we'll go find as many of 'em as possible. I promise."

"You know, Sis…" Leon flashed a wry grin at Noel. "You like actin' tough, but you got a real heart in there, too."

Noel's face immediately turned red, and she grew flustered. "Wh-what're you t-talkin' 'bout, Bro?"

-:-

After retreating from Dorada Market, the Pokémon that Fernando had controlled fled La Ciudad Dorada altogether. Kommo-o led them across the desert and into the mountains. Their long trek ultimately brought them to the vicinity of the Golden City, where they took up residence in the nearby woods.

Upon their arrival, the native Pokémon were wary of Fernando's former troops. That fear didn't go unnoticed by the group of Pokémon, but they were at a loss for what to do about it. While under Fernando's control, they'd gone on such a rampage that none of them could blame the local Pokémon for staying away.

That reticence on the part of the natives left Kommo-o in a bind. Since he assumed leadership of the group, their well being was in his hands. Yet, he was just as exhausted from the battle and subsequent flight across the desert as his charges were. Even with help from Dragonite, who hadn't fought as much as the others, he'd never been able to recover enough to dedicate himself to aiding them.

Before long, the situation reached a breaking point. Kommo-o and Dragonite had just finished distributing berries they collected to the rest of the group when the former's body finally gave out. Kommo-o collapsed to the ground, and when Dragonite aided him in standing back up, they shared a grim glance. Both recognized the reality they were thrust into. If Kommo-o couldn't work any longer, that placed his duties squarely on Dragonite, and there was no way one Pokémon could pull it off alone.

Just as Dragonite started helping Kommo-o drag himself away, a noisy chattering from overhead caught their attention. The two dragons looked up to see three Swoobat descending toward them, each clutching masses of Revival Herbs in their claws. Two Sigilyph followed behind the Swoobat, using their psychic powers to carry a large pile of assorted berries. Kommo-o and Dragonite, realizing that the local Pokémon had come to provide much-needed assistance to their group, murmured in relief. For the first time since gaining their freedom, they were able to believe things would turn out okay.

Not far from where the Pokémon had made their camp, Regigigas sat peacefully upon its throne in the now-open Golden City. Kommo-o, Dragonite and the others didn’t know that it had been watching over them instead of returning to a fully dormant state.

-:-

As weeks turned into months and La Ciudad Dorada settled back into its usual state of peace, construction commenced on the new museum exhibit Rosalita announced in her speech. She planned for it to feature several new works of art and writings to explain the truth of what had happened in the two civil wars. Creating such pieces would take the kingdom’s artisans some time, so the area where the exhibit was to be built was cordoned off to allow basic preparations to begin.

There was one feature already set to be installed, however. It was the one Rosalita personally treasured the most - the golden statue that had once been Fernando. She had him placed in the museum right away, reasoning that that would be the place he would most want to be. Even though he would never be a part of the line of kings he had once so desired to join, Rosalita knew he would be happy simply getting to forever be within eyesight of them.

-:-

The Lapidarian Highlands were mountainous terrain far to the north of La Ciudad Dorada and the rest of the continent that stretched across the land, connecting its western and eastern coasts. Their vast scale, unforgiving landscape and frequent dense fog made them an area few ever visited and as a result, they had a reputation as one of the planet’s last unexplored regions. Even Sutter, who had brought Lapidaria’s other wonders to the attention of the world, barely explored them.

That isolation suited the wanderer just fine, having chosen a spot on a cliff deep in the mountains to make his home. He sat on one of the giant, glowing crystals lining the valley with Lucario and Golisopod, playing a melody on his flute while the two Pokémon moved back and forth with the tune.

Their peace was interrupted by the distant but distinct sound of a modern passenger jet flying far overhead. The wanderer stopped playing and turned his tired eyes toward the sky. Every time he thought he had finally managed to understand the technology of the time, something new appeared to baffle and amaze him all over again. That was just one of immortality’s many curses, he frequently lamented, but airplanes held a special place in his mind. He had never been able to stop being awed by the idea of humans inventing machines to fly, even though his earliest exposure to such devices came as a child in Ransei so many centuries ago.

-:-

Even though Fernando VII and Sophia had hinted at Gaia holding the true secret to life after death, they never hinted to Rosalita or the others that what amounted to a whole other world awaited within it. That other world reflected reality like a mirror, so the Gaia version of Lapidaria had deserts, mountain ranges, jungles, and everything else its real-world counterpart possessed.

Once he understood those facts about the world he found himself in, Sutter set out to make the most of his afterlife. He traveled to the reflection of the Lapidarian Highlands, intending to correct one regret he still held and finally explore them. With a gnarled walking stick in his hand and a makeshift backpack slung across his shoulders, he made his way down a path into the deeper reaches of the Highlands’ mountainous maze. Eventually, Sutter stopped and took out a compass.

“It would appear we’re still heading north by northeast,” he said out loud. Stowing the compass, he looked back over his shoulder and asked, “Bring me my map, would you?”

Eleanor emerged from the fog behind Sutter and ran to his side. “Sorry for losing you, Professor!” she apologized, bowing her head to him. “Let me just grab that for you…”

From her own bag, Eleanor produced a map and a pen, then handed both items over to Sutter. Matt’s grandfather unrolled the map, which was covered with marks denoting where he and Eleanor had already traveled, and sketched out a further addition to the road they were following.

“It’s gonna be a big job covering this entire region, Professor,” Eleanor commented.

“That’s why I’ve got a new assistant,” Sutter replied. “One who already proved she’s good at this kind of work.”

Eleanor couldn’t help but laugh and smile. “Can you at least let me carry the compass, Professor?” she jokingly asked him. “I didn’t get a chance to build you the machines I wanted to before we left, so…”

“Alright, here you go.” Much to Eleanor’s surprise, Sutter tossed her the compass and stuffed the map and pen into his backpack. “Once we finish exploring the Lapidarian Highlands, we’ll head back and you can build all the machines you want for our next expedition.”

“You got it, chief!” Like she had done for Sutter’s grandson in life, Eleanor greeted his promise with an enthusiastic salute.

With that, the explorer and the engineer set out together, once again heading into the fog of the lost world they wished to experience.

-:-

Like clockwork, the rainy season was upon La Ciudad Dorada once again. Rosalita had seen it so many times over her life that the storm raging outside her bedchamber window no longer bothered her. She felt more intimidated by the blank document sitting on her desk in front of her than by the torrential downpour, lightning and thunder.

“Writing speeches is one thing that never gets easier,” she said to herself, tapping her quill pen on the desk. “I had so much I wanted to say that first time, but it is so tough normally...”

Rosalita turned around and looked across the room, past her plush canopy bed. Shaymin was there in the corner, sleeping on the Regigigas doll from her childhood. Eleanor’s Persian, Rotom and Litwick were asleep around the doll, with her own Pokémon scattered around the rest of the room. Seeing them at rest made Rosalita smile, and she turned back to her task.

“Maybe I just need to get writing.” She moved the document to the side and opened her desk drawer, retrieving a leather-bound diary that she opened to a blank page. As soon as she did this, something clicked in her mind and she immediately began writing. “It is hard to believe it has been six years already…” Rosalita narrated out loud as she wrote. “Maybe one day I will finally get up the nerve to put some of these thoughts in a letter and actually send it. For now, though… but, yes, it is already six years since my accession to the throne. La Ciudad Dorada has prospered so much since then, and my plan for revealing our history has worked perfectly. The response to the exhibit regarding the civil wars has been excellent, as has the expansion of the tour. There has been a great spike in interest in and engagement with our history from visitors, which led to new connections being forged between them and the Doradan people as they work together to learn new things. I think Fernando…” Even six years later, Rosalita had to pause and wipe away a tear. “I think Fernando would have been happy to see this. Doradan theater is seeing a renaissance as well, and he would love that. We are also forging new connections between La Ciudad Dorada itself and the outside world in general. Maybe he would not be so thrilled with that, but… I have to believe that by now, he would have come around to see the benefits. The Knights of the Golden City are doing an excellent job protecting our treasures, so he would have nothing to worry about. Do you remember when we were traveling together, how I said that La Ciudad Dorada did not even have a Pokémon Center? That has changed. There has even been talk of Lapidaria finally creating its own Pokémon League to accompany the Battle Frontier, and La Ciudad Dorada is in the running to host its conference tournament if it happens. I would suspect Amaranth City to be the front-runner, but La Ciudad Dorada has not yet been ruled out. Could you imagine if we won that right after all? The attention of the world would be upon us, and all could know the ways by which we live.”

Rosalita closed her diary and placed her quill back in its inkwell. After a moment, she gently laughed to herself. “I guess I pretty much wrote my speech after all. It just needs a little cleaning up…” Leaning back in her chair, she gazed out her window at the storm raging beyond it and quietly added, “Matt, I wonder how you are doing? There is so much going on out there in the world at the moment… I will not presume to know everything about it, but I am aware of the conflict roiling many regions right now…”

-:-

Far away from La Ciudad Dorada and the humid shores of Lapidaria, the Kanto and Johto regions were firmly in winter’s grip. A blizzard was raging across much of the border between the regions as well as Kanto’s westernmost cities. Despite that snowstorm, a luxury train was traveling right through it, heading for the Indigo Plateau.

Matt was one of its passengers, accompanying his late friend’s daughter on her way to participate in the Pokémon League that would be held there. She was riding in another cabin, but Matt wasn’t alone in his. Sitting next to him at the table was a woman wearing a black trench coat, whose similarly-colored hair had red streaks in it and was so long it rivaled the length of Rosalita’s. Matt’s own appearance had changed since his adventure in La Ciudad Dorada; his injured left eye now covered by a golden mask.

“So that’s it,” Matt said to her. “That’s the story of what happened in La Ciudad Dorada six years ago.”

“You weren’t kidding, that was one hell of a story,” the woman remarked. Peering at him from behind her angular, rose-colored glasses, she asked, “So that’s how you ended up having to become a robot, huh?”

Matt sighed. “I’ve told you plenty of times, Nekou, not a robot.”

“C’mon, I’m just giving you a hard time. You know me well enough by now.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But anyway, to answer your question…” Matt raised up his arms, showing that both of them were now made of metal. “...that’s only how the left one and the eye happened. The right arm and left leg, they happened shortly afterward, during the final battle with the remnants of Team Galactic.”

“I know some of that story already, and I know you know that I know.” Nekou winked at Matt and flashed a mischievous grin at him, but her expression soon darkened. “Even after looking at all of the files on you, though, I don’t think I really appreciated just how fucked up your life has been. You’ve really been through more than one person deserves. I’m glad you’re on my side, even with all the shit I’ve pulled you into.”

“It’s not your fault,” Matt said in an attempt to comfort her. “Besides, I’m the one who should be saying thanks for you being on my side. Seeing you living however you want has been giving me hope that maybe, one day, I can leave the past behind and finally be able to live freely, too.”

“I guess breaking out of what others planned for us to do is something we share, huh?” Suddenly, Nekou started laughing. When Matt cocked his head at her, she added, “It’s funny we said those things. That’s what gratitude is, isn’t it?”

Matt couldn’t help but chuckle himself. “Yeah, you’re right about that. If Shaymin was around, we’d be seeing flowers popping out of its back right about now.”








THE END