Preparing For The End

 "He really just got up and left?" Shauna asks.

I nod quietly.

She sits across from me in the hotel room, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her eyes deep pools full of sympathy. The team is clustered around us. There's an empty hole where Bronze used to be. Even though he'll be gone for three days at most, there's a bitterness to his absence, especially given the circumstances under which he left.

"Is it my fault?" I ask. "Did I do something wrong?" When no one replies, I add, "Can I fix it?"

"He's a Fire-type. We're pretty hard to get." Rune says objectively, being snarky as usual.

Pich slaps him with his wing.

"Ow!"

"You need to be a little more sympathetic." she scolds. "You're lucky the team has the patience to put up with you."

"Well, I don't run away and take a third of the team with me. I sit here and attack things with my stick, which mind you, is a skill that comes in very handy very often." Rune boasts.

Chrona takes his stick with a vine and he turns around, growling at her playful expression, which on Chrona's usually apathetic face looks like mild interest. "What if someone was to, say, take this stick and use it for herself? I'm decently sure anyone can hit things with a stick."

"Everyone needs to shush up and let the trainers work things out!" scolds Luna, who as far as I know is usually silent. The entire team is shocked by her outburst as the Delcatty retires back to a corner of the room, leaving the silence quiet in the air.

"Well, this is awkward." Rune mutters. "Can we at least try to lighten the mood a little? It's like a funeral."

"We're heading towards all of our funerals if we can't get the whole team united." Thistle points out. "Family protects family. Your former team may be far closer than ours, but all of you agreed to protect Shauna and risk your own lives the second it was offered. I know that you're a far stronger, far more competent network of souls and hearts than you look, one capable of working as a single unit that could wipe out Team Flare with one blink of those golden eyes. However, if you falter for a second to argue over petty things, you're going to end up falling alone."

"I know that!" Rune snarls, annoyed at being shown up by a fellow starter.

"We all know that." Akita corrects. "I fully plan on dying on this team if that is what is required of me. As long as my services are required, I will provide my claws."

"Shauna is my liege." adds Thistle.
"Hold up, hold up. No one is going to die. I know Team Flare seems like a huge threat with vastly superior numbers, but we're all under the assumption for now that the absolute worst case scenario occurs and Diantha is completely useless. We're also pitting Goldeneye Pokemon against grunt Pokemon, whose bonds are so weak the Pokemon barely fight at all." I say. "I think we can handle it."

"So what? We might be able to take out dozens apiece of hardly-trained Pokemon with terrible movesets, but we'll be overwhelmed anyways. What do you think, they're just going to stand trainer by trainer in the hallways and wait for us to approach them? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Rune snaps.

"I didn't suggest that," I mutter.

"He's just scared," Pich objects. "He didn't mean it."

"Speaking of suggestions, I suggest we pack up and get ready to head to Lumiose." Shauna says. "Like Thistle said. Arguing isn't helping."

Escargot swings around to try to pick up one of Bronze's coats off the floor and stuff it into one of our suitcases, but she's spilling goo all over it and her massive tail hits an apathetic Nico in the face as her tail slams straight into it.

"Maybe you should stay in the Pokeball." Shauna withdraws Escargot quietly.
"Do you want to go get the tickets, or should I? What time should we leave?" Shauna asks.

"Tomorrow morning." I confirm.

"Right, then. I'll get the tickets. Can you handle the room?"
"Absolutely." I say.
The door opens and shuts as Shauna leaves and I pack my belongings quietly into the small bag. Bronze's suitcase sits in the closet. Sticking out of it is a long string. Curious, I click open the bag and ignoring the odor, pull out the small pendant.

It's a expertly carved wooden Celebi charm. Tears leak down my face without me realizing. I clutch it tighter, worried I'll break it and at the same time worried I'll have to let go.

I don't know how long I sit there, eventually consenting to stuff hastily thrown clothing into his bag, but when I come out my Pokemon are watching that show Dill loves. Something is clearly wrong.

"Where are Nico and Akita?" I ask.
Shauna bursts through the door. "Got our tickets!"

"Hey, Shauna, did you see Nico and-"
"They left to train." Chrona says.

"You guys let them go?!" I ask indignantly. "For Arceus's sake, you should know better!"
"They'll be fine." Chrona grunts.

We're fine, echoes Nico through telepathy almost immediately. It's unusual to hear him speak, but I digress. We need the training. I must protect you tomorrow. I have already contacted Korrina, but the league will just as likely stop us if we tell the rest of them. For this reason, Korrina alone will be accompanying us. I fear it may not be enough, so I will spend the night in the wild, testing Akita's resolve as well as my own.

This is how we lost Nina. You may think you can handle yourself, but you don't know what could happen there. You can always fail a test, even an easy one... which I am definite yours isn't. Please come back.

I'm worried for you, Lilly. We're not as strong as we appear. I just wanted to be ready.

Nico, this isn't a game! Get back here!

As you wish. We'll be back by the time the hour is up.

The rest of the team is staring at me, awaiting my response. "They're coming back." I say. "No one else do anything stupid, alright?"

"I'll open the door when they come back in." Chrona grunts. "I never sleep anyways."

"That's terribly reassuring to hear." I say sarcastically. "Chrona, for Arceus's sake, take better care of yourself."

Chrona snorts. "I'm a plant. I don't need to sleep."

"Oh."
"Heh. Go to bed already, Lilly."

"Fine." I say, clenching my sheets. There's a chill running up my back, the room far colder than normal and though I can hear the resting snores that I've grown to love, there are voices missing. It's much later that I hear the door creak open and familiar pawsteps press into the carpeting. Knowing my Pokemon are safe, I hold my eyes shut until I finally go limp, falling deep into the abyss of sleep.

***

I wake up and find myself outside in the snow. Looking around, I see nothing but forest and ice, the sky above the black of the void. It's unnatural and ominous, making every... wait.

My tail lights up in the darkness, as does the red gem on my head, a staple of Ampharos. Electricity crackles at my command.

"Floette!" cries a voice in the darkness, coming from all around me.
My new Pokemon ears prick as I race on klutzy feet I've grown unfamiliar with into the ugly darkness. Shadows loom around me, but I come eventually upon a man that's either ten feet tall or I've shrunk. How much taller are humans than Ampharoses, anyways?

"Floette!" cries the man. "Floette!" His voice is raw and loud, hot tears burning on his face as they roll down into the disgustingly red snow.

I creep towards him, looking for answers, but bleat in terror when I see what's lying before him and staining the snow red.

Shauna's dead body, surrounded by pink petals. Her wrists are both slit and lines are engraved in blood into her arms.

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT

"It's okay. It's okay. We're getting you out of here." Celebi's voice sounds as if someone blew it up using a speaker to the point where it's hardly recognizable as anything but noise.

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay...

All around me, my dead Pokemon call out to me, still bearing the wounds they had when they died.

"Don't leave us, Lilly!" says Juliet desperately, bruises all over her desanctified Diggersby body.

"Lilly, I don't want to be alone!" cries Stella, her shell still bent in places it shouldn't be.
"Lilly, why did you let me die?" asks Gaile, blood still running from where Nephthys sliced him until he bled to death.

They close in from all sides, wailing as blood pours from them and the snow runs an even darker shade of red.

"Lilly..." calls a voice that makes every single hair on my desperately small Ampharos body tingle. It's familiar, yet I've never heard it before. I look up to see a weedy looking boy of about fourteen, just older than Ashley, staring down at me with a grin. He holds a Master Ball in his hand and is dressed in bright red. "I hear you're coming home."

***
I wake up gasping and clutching the bedsheets.

Shauna looks at me as I wake up, already dressed and sitting on the edge of my bed. "Nightmares?" She looks at her arms. There are scars there, but they're old and no longer bleeding. "They suck, right?"

"Y-yes. Yes they do."

"The team's ready." Shauna says. "We should go."

I get out of bed, take a hot shower, and dry myself off appropriately. I look like a mess, which is the last way I'd want my old friends to see me, but I suppose it will have to do.

It's quiet over breakfast. Everyone looks tired, and I get the suspicion that I'm not the only one with nightmares. Akita and Nico are unscratched from whatever they did the last night. They stare at each other intently, as if daring the other to break the silence, but they don't.

Not even sarcastic Rune has a single one-liner as I withdraw him to board the train.

I can hear the train race the tracks to the beat of my own heart.

Bump. Bump. Bump.

We get off with a screeching halt at around midday. Shauna clenches my hand and I keep the team in, unsure of what I'll see only an hour from now.

I get out my Pokedex and dial a familiar number. "Hello? This is Lilly. We're here.Can you tell me where the room is?"

"We're waiting for you. Bronze asks if you got his suitcase." replied Dusty.

"I did." I tell him.

"He'll be happy to have it! Alright, alright. To the point. You're actually among the last to arrive, besides Rage... and... uh, Gaia? We're in a penthouse suite at the Belle Noche hotel. Ask for Suite A and they'll take you right to us. I'd put everyone else on the phone, but I think they'd like to see you yourself. Oh yeah! Pokemon are allowed in the suites, but pretty much nowhere else. Withdraw them when you get to us."

"Sounds great. Thank you." I turn off my Pokedex, stuffing it nervously into my back pocket with only the slightest of frowns. My heart has only accelerated since we got off the tracks.

Slowly, we walk the streets until we get to the hotel.

"Suite A?" I ask.

The person at the front desk frowns. "Top level. I believe it's 30? So you're with that party... tell them to keep it down."

"Oh." I say.

"Elevator's to your left." she says as I walk away.

I open the elevator and press the highest button. It clanks shut like a set of teeth and I withdraw my hand.

"Loud, huh?" she says.

"Sounds like them." I reply.

"What does it feel like?" Shauna asks.

"What?" I reply.
"Coming home."

"Terrifying." I say. "I'm not home yet, Shauna. Soon, though. Soon."

She smiles. "I'd imagine it'd be the best thing in the world. I can only imagine what my past life must've been like. To meet the others I once knew... to finally know where I belong..."

"I don't think any of us ever could have forgotten." I sigh. The elevator clanks as it hits the top, opening with a pronounced ding. I find myself staring Suite A in the face. I knock three times.

"For all of us with hearts of gold." I whisper.

"This is to coming home." replies a deep voice I haven't heard in years. A dark haired man opens the door, slightly taller and slightly skinnier than I imagined him. Khrys stands by a bright eyed Sky, who has grown a little plump but still stands at about five foot eight. Once the smallest member of the team, she's now probably the largest of us all. They're clearly much older than the rest of us, anyways. Dill and Toxis stand holding hands side by side, both of them beaming at me. Toxis's shirt reads, "If lost, please return to nerd" and Dill's reads, "I'm the nerd". They're both holding a drink in their spare hand, probably old enough to consume it (but just barely). Last of all stands Bronze, a warmth in his eyes that had disappeared after Crypt's battle. Already I was forgetting how much I loved it. In the background, dozens of people and Pokemon I can only guess are the rest of the team are talking idly and eating Shika's sweet homemade cooking.

"Dear Celebi." I say.

Bronze places an arm around my shoulder. "Well, Lilly, we may not be in Johto... but I think it's safe to say we've made it home." 


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