Epilogue

Hope_in_Hand.

Despite it all, the next thing she knew, she was not stuck floating under the veil of deep seas, but resting upon the ground. Despite the fact that her back was resting against something and despite the fact that the rains had begun to slow, she couldn't help but feel a pall of discomfort at it all.

Her head turned to the side and as she looked past her outstretched arm, she could see the waters continuing to recede. Kyogre had been contained and at the end of it all, she had slept through the finale, dragged down to what were formerly depths by divine light.

And yet she still lived.

It truly was all a farce. The fact that it had ended like this after so many people had lost their lives. The fact that she had failed to save someone who was right before her eyes. The fact that she had ended up in this state despite her declarations.

"Some declaration that was." She couldn't help but sneer. She pressed her hand down as the sound of wet clothing slapped against the floor.

She could move, so she would do just that. Forcing herself, she could feel a trickle of warm liquid flowing down her head. It was a something familiar that should have not been there. A thin line of blood flowed down from her head.

But that was it. Despite seemingly taking Origin Pulse point blank, she had survived virtually unscathed.

But she would not chalk that up to something like that to coincidence or a farce. To do so would be an insult to the Kingdra that was now sitting leaned against one of the city's many crater walls. The sea dragon was down, but not out.

After all, it was by her effort that Elaine was in the shape she was. None of that could be chalked up to miracles or coincidences.

Though Elaine was a weakling and a failure, her Pokemon were, by no means, slouches. To insinuate that would have been a far deeper insult than anything anyone could have levied at Elaine herself.

"Get some rest for now. Every single one of you deserve it."

After returning the Pokemon who had carried her this far, she stood herself back up. Her eyes fell upon the rubble and the remnants of a flood that could have been described in religious texts.

She shook off a bit of the water covering her hair and her body before stopping herself and reaching into her pockets.

"Whoa..."

As she tapped her hands on the device, it still functioned. The fingerprint recognition worked perfectly.

"Hold on, hold on."

She opened up the file explorer and tapped through a few of the registry paths until she found it.

"It still works!"

Not only were the phone and the microSD functioning without issue, but the entirety of the data inside had been left uncorrupted.

...

She couldn't keep going like this. She had been running through Hoenn alone and each time, she was discarded by the world. Left to rot as the divine chaos roiled around her. She had walked that independent path ever since the incident that drove her to leave Sinnoh.

"I can't let this miracle go to waste."

She had something she could use. There were people here who wanted that item she had been safekeeping.

Pride was meaningless. After all, her fraudulent pride was what got her this far. So, she had to use it to get what she couldn't alone.

The backing of an organization, even if it was corrupt, would be better than her powerless independence. And luckily for her, there were many such groups crossing paths here.

"Let's see. How can I use this as a bargaining chip?"

She promptly opened the folder. But the moment she did, all it spoke was gibberish.

As she saw the two filenames, she frowned.

Achgv Kxrwdn iyo Trhklm Iiurkvypt Evwkmk eqc Zwddqryw

Twftodpm Nzvfaicttxlnj Ttdb (Jpxy Kbxdsewyd)

Elaine frowned for a moment.

Right. He encrypted all of the files.

But at the bottom of the list of files was a separate one. Decryptor.exe

Elaine was no expert on cyphers. She had a few guesses on which ones were being used. It had to be something simple that the scientist could arrange on short notice. But the fact that some sort of decryption program had been included was a blessing in its own right.

Clicking on that, it prompted only one thing.

Enter Key.

Elaine wracked her mind for a bit. What kind of key would someone like him create?

Space?

Wrong.

Meteor?

Wrong.

Celestial?

Wrong.

...Palkia?

Wrong.

She was running out of time. Every incorrect guess was a loss of time. People would soon disperse and she would be left alone in enemy territory with nothing to show for it.

THINK, ELAINE!

She began to walk towards the north, with her eyes focused on the phone. There had to be something. Perhaps it was something she had overlooked. Perhaps it was in something he had said.

There was a chance that he had tried to pass on the key to her as well.

Her mind pored through everything that scientist had said before life faded from his body.

"It can't be..."

There was a singular phrase that he had said, one that had driven her to this point. One that had been a curse upon her from the beginning.

She typed in a string of letters.

And the decryptor accepted it, removing the veil of gibberish to leave behind something comprehensible.

"Oh."

That was why he had said it. From the very beginning, he had never placed a curse upon her. He had known that his time was coming to an end even when he had placed those files onto the SD card. So his parting words had to be something else.

Curses and wishes were often two sides of the same coin. So, perhaps she had been looking at it from the wrong side.

What he left behind wasn't a curse.

It was a hopeful wish for the person who would come to him. He, too, was a small person in the grand scheme of things. So, at the very least, she had to make sure that simple wish could leave some meaning behind.

---

I can't keep going like this.

There's absolutely no way.

So, while this may not necessarily be something you would have done. I'll take this road. So just watch me.

---

Boats carrying injured League members and corpses were leaving. Some members of the League were flying out on their Pokemon. Relief had come to many as the citizenry were finally trying to return to their senses of normalcy amidst the battle's denouement.

She had even seen the girl she had failed to save being carried out. Injured and definitely the worse for wear, but alive.

Perhaps the greatest sin she had committed that day and the result was not the worst case scenario. The great weight upon her heart grew many sizes lighter as she came to that realization, but that ultimately changed nothing.

Neither the fact that she had failed nor what she had to do now had changed.

So, she did not leave Sootopolis posthaste like the rest. She simply sat on the fragmented edge of the crater overlooking the central exit through which everyone seemed to be leaving.

And eventually, from her bird's eye vantage, she had caught someone. It could have been anyone, but getting her was probably the best bet.

"So Miss Councilwoman." Elaine kept her face looking out at the sea, though her eyes drew to Councilwoman Livy at her side. Her hand waved a microSD card around a bit before she enclosed it in her fist, making sure she had seen it. "People in Mossdeep had died over things like this. And yet, here we are at the end of all of this chaos."

Elaine took a deep sigh.

"A roster and a list. Some Rockets killed innocents to get their hands on something like this. Feels a bit trivial in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps you guys wanted this back. Something like this doesn't suit my hands in the end."

---

TL;DR:

• Current spot: B4->C2
• Elaine wakes up and returns her Pokemon
• Elaine figures out the decryption key for the intel she had recieved.
• Elaine witnesses Gwendolyn Conway being evacuated to safety, much to her relief
• Elaine approaches PENELOPE LIVY

Tags: PENELOPE LIVY , Niola Winchester (Jump in whenever you feel the time is right), mentions: Gwendolyn Conway

Like the Great One's SACRED FIRE that burned away the weakness in Josh's heart the day he transformed in front of the Emergent, the Beast's SACRED FIRE cleansed his left arm, While the white fire soothed him, his full strength temporarily returned, leaving him in a euphoric high he had not experienced since he first sat on Swift's thundercloud in the late kyle lopez 's halls now plastered in Melody Miro 's accolades.

Holding onto Entei's brown, thick fur, the Gym Leader braced himself for a run that would have paralyzed his left arm were it not for the white fire surrounding it. The Beast dashed down Sootopolis' crater wall, Josh feeling like he was being pushed into the back of his mount's head. At the bottom of the wall, he felt like he was fired out of a cannon as fire-type engaged EXTREME SPEED so fast that he could run on water. He knew Suicune to be capable of running on water, but not Entei. What a pleasant surprise! He would have to try that once he figured out how to get his Raikou to use the move; he doubted a simple Quick Attack would be fast enough.

He wanted to let out a whoop like he did when he was on Swift's back for the first time, both in Kyle's possession and his own. But he did not. He knew Entei was only ferrying him back to the mainland so he could get the care he needed. Even so, the speed demon savored every moment as Mossdeep and even Lilycove flew by. As he suspected, the speed felt in between Suicune and Raikou: a good balance of speed and turning. Paired with the fire emperor's bottomless endurance, the EXTREME SPEED lasted a lot longer than his Raikou's. All the way from Sootopolis, he never stopped.

Even for his temporarily full-strength body, it was a bit much for Josh as he was to withstand. The left down Route 123 powerfully yanked him to one side, making his knuckles turn white from taking the turn at speed. His blurred legs gave the illusion of his back being still, but it was far from it, numbness climbing up the Gym Leader's body. Lake Pyre was no obstacle for him, either.

At last pumping the brakes and returning to his normal, but still blistering, top speed when Mauville's skyline came into sight, Entei made a right turn around the densely populated city to stay out of sight. The legendary creature dropped Josh off at the top of his Gym's Operations Center. He slid off Entei's back and gave the gentle giant a big hug. "Entei... thank you. Is there one more thing you can tell me? Is... is Kyle alive?"