Three months later...

"Are you sure we need a house in Celadon?" asks Bronze, sipping his morning coffee.

"Are you sure we need plumbing?" asks Reginae.

"Uh, yeah. I think we can all agree we need plumbing." Ferro says.

"I like plumbing." I agree. Ever since we got plumbing (and light, and heat) installed in the woods cottage, which I've found myself unable to abandoned, the place has become far more inhabitable and less like some bizarre, pointless one-cabin camp in the middle of Nowhereland, Johto.

Reginae continues, "My point is, plumbing is a necessity. As would be procuring a home in the nicest place on the planet."

"Really? To me, it just seems like an inefficient management of resources." Bronze folds his arms, imitating Reginae's high-pitched voice. Reginae frowns, nostrils flaring. It's the same dumb face Bronze makes when he's angry, and I hope the Typhlosion knows it.

"We're going to have unlimited resources when we finally get around to making that specialty team, kicking Lance's ass, and becoming the new Champions for realsies." Dill says. "Now let me remind you, I may or may not have volunteered to be on said team, so..."

"Do we need the Champion position, though?" I sigh. "We've gone over it like a thousand times. It's risky, it's a little stupid, it'll make Lance even more obnoxious than he already is."

Reginae shakes his head. "Ashley, Ashley. If you don't get another job, then we're going to run out of money eventually. Hence we become the Champions of Kanto and Johto and everyone starts throwing money at us!"

LIlly laughs, a bleating sound I've missed all these years. "You do realize the Champion actually does things, right? It's a job."

"Fine. New proposition," Reginae says, drawing himself up with almost regal flair. "Speaking of jobs, you could work in Celadon! Have you talked to Cecily lately? I guarantee she could land us a position at the gym."

"I don't want to work in a gym," I cross my arms. "I only have one Grass-type and gardening isn't as much fun as going at large clumps of foliage with a weedwhacker."

"Or me." Bronze says, raising a paw.

"Or Bronze. Bronze is a great weedwhacker." I agree, tilting up my own coffee mug.

"Toast to that," Toxis says, raising his own mug. It's a custom one, labelled "World's Best Six-Foot Demon Rodent". It's a specific label, sure, but Toxis insisted on it for old times. Dill asked for an Impala and some angel wings not long after. He has the latter upstairs in his "room" (which belongs to five other Pokemon, granted, but we're going to renovate soon), but we had to turn down the former after it became evident Dill thought he'd be driving the car.

"Even if you don't want to work at the gym, you'd like to see Cecily again, ehhh?" Reginae says with a smirk.

"Psh," I say, thinking about late night text conversations and the ten or so people Cecily has introduced me to over the internet. "Don't taunt me with the promise of human interaction. I'm content with being a sad, foul-smelling hermit in the woods with my twenty-something incorrigible children."

"Twenty-something?" asks Lilly. "Did you seriously forget how many of us there are?"

"I've lost track of how many kids you guys have, and if Suicune and Ethan count or not. Twenty-something is a nice middle ground."

"Forget middle ground! Let's go back to Johto." says Sky. "I promised Stratus and Castiel we'd tour when they're older."

"I don't know about that. Kanto sounds exciting too, and we never got a chance to explore it." Khrys says, cradling an Eevee in his arms. Castiel is technically Toxis and Dill's poorly-named offspring, adopted from outside Bill's house, but Khrys and Sky chip in a lot. There's also Chrona, Bronze and Lilly's adopted Bulbasaur from Professor Oak, but she's not a fan of travel... or anything, really. Chrona's a bit of a grump.

"We could go steal Blue's position. Then you wouldn't need a type specialty!" suggests Dill.

"The League will have my hide." I mumble, thinking of Blue. The poor man was crushed when I returned Red's coat, although he was thankful for my assistance when he hosted the funeral. There were surprisingly many people, but few knew the kid or the ghost he'd become. They just knew the Champion.

That's another reason I don't want the position.

"The League can go screw themselves." calls Shika from the other room, where she and Ten are sitting together (how romantic) and reading a cooking book.

"It'd be a breeze. Basically no danger." Dill continues.

In the back corner of the refurbished room, Reginae and Bronze are still hung up on the original issue. "Have you ever been to Celadon?" asks Reginae heatedly.

"Admittedly, no, I haven't." Bronze shrugs.

"Boys, boys. Stop fighting." I say.

"We're not fighting. We're having a civilized disagreement."

Lilly laughs again. I wasn't lying. I'd listen to it all day. "Alright, give Ashley a break. Want to come out on the porch? I've got lemonade."

"Us?" Bronze asks.

"Her." Lilly corrects herself. "I'd like to talk to Ashley for a moment."

I follow the Ampharos onto the porch, and she pours me a glass before slumping against the new patio with a sigh. Everyone else is inside, save for those of our number who are out on some kind of mission (see Aerie and Crimson, grocery run; Ethan, with Suicune again). Lilly looks around for them before relaxing. "Okay. I wanted to talk about Kalos." she said.

"Shauna?" I ask, sipping my lemonade.

Lilly's ears bolt straight up and she fires a few harmless sparks from her head. "W-who told you?!"

"Sky told me." I say, "I didn't want to bring it up with you until you were ready."

"Sorry," Lilly says, covering her face with her hooves.

"I know you'd never break Bronze's heart like that, and I understand that you guys want to keep some parts of Kalos confidential. There's nothing to be sorry about." With another sip, I add, "Plus, I'm not into them myself, but girls are cute."

"I know, right? I just couldn't- and I wasn't into- and she-" Lilly stomps a hoof on the ground, "Urgh! I wanted to make her happy, but this was one situation where compromise wasn't going to work. There was no way to let her down easy. She was alone, terrified, and she had no one. Like us, without the team! She didn't even have a Morty to tell her who she was or why this was happening to her. I wanted to help her but in the end all I did was hurt her and my team. I still think about them. I'm still thinking about them!"

"Then you're better than me." I say. "They're lucky to have had a trainer who'll never give up on them, even if it's going to cause heartbreak on both sides for a long time."

"I can't be better than you." Lilly shakes her head. "We lost a lot of Pokemon in Kalos, too. I kept thinking, 'Would Ashley do this?' It was a mess."

"You didn't have to be infallible." I put a hand on her shoulder. "You just had to be yourself. To survive. Not only did you do that, but you managed to get the whole team organized, too, from what I've heard from Bronze."

Lilly gives me a stiff nod. "I... I guess."

I put down the empty lemonade cup, feeling refreshed. The sun is still tucked behind the horizon, just about to rise and shine in the distance, but hey, my team is full of early risers. "You have anything else? I'm always here to talk if you need me. Heaven knows I have plenty of my own shit to sort through, and you've always been there for me."

"O-oh." Lilly says, "Incoming."

"What?"

Few things shake up the day like a Dragonite landing at your doorstep, but even more of an upset is having a Dragonite land on your door carrying Morty (look, I've tried to pin him down as my 'love interest' or 'mentor' or 'morally ambiguous friend', but I gave up), especially when that Dragonite is Bella.

"It's been a while. Where's Lance?" I ask.

"Out investigating irregular energies near Kalos."

"Did you say irregular energies? Near Kalos?" asks Lilly.

"Yes. They're the ones Ethan's been working on with the legendary council," Morty says. "They detected your energy levels near the rift, so this is probably all of your faults. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Oh no, we accidentally broke the universe or something... for the hundredth time running." I say. "So it's a day ending in 'y'. Give me the real news."

"I didn't have any. Lance lended me Bella because he knows you hate my Drifblim." With his most charming smile, Morty says, "Would you like to go for a ride, Ashley?"

I hop aboard Bella, who takes off at her usual breakneck speed. Morty's hand is the only thing that stands between me and a terribly anticlimactic death. As we ascend into the air, the world beneath grows small, and I can't help but think of that day up on Mount Silver. We haven't been to the peak since, but we have been to New Bark a couple of times. We could go everywhere if we wanted. I'm more sure of this than ever as we climb higher and higher, to where we can touch the clouds- this world is ours. We're young.

"You've got a few Pokemon on you, don't you?" asks Morty.

"Why, will we need anyone?" I say, realizing I should have at least bought a few reserve members along.

"No, but I like to be prepared."

"For what? Next big adventure?"

"Oh Arceus I hope not."

With a laugh, I agree, "That makes two of us."

"Then what do we do now?"

"We could get to know each other a little better. Start a real romance. Try to start a garden on top of the hastily buried past. Whatever sounds good to you, I'm game."

"I'd like that. All of that." I say, and I can believe it. A few months ago, planning for my future never extended past 'beat Red', and with that gone, the future is the best kind of dubious black abyss on the horizon.

The kind that isn't threatening to destroy your universe as you know it.

Morty must have some kind of plan, because, he lets go of the Dragonite, never a smart move at this altitude, but he doesn't stop for a heartbeat as he presses his hands against my shoulder and kisses me.

When we part, I caress his face with one hand, holding onto the Dragonite with the other.

In his eyes I see not the dawn sky above, losing the last of its stars, but the mirror of my own internal starscape, teeming with everyone I've lost.

We are filled with light.

The End.

(A/N: The author's note will be up tomorrow. I need to go to sleep- and judging by all the comments I've been receiving, so do all you. Ha, ha. It's been a wild ride guys.)