[attr="class","juliaw"]

Confidence surged through her like the waves she rode into battle as Akero's Safeguards and El Sunderland's Heal Bell staff protected them from the poison and healed whatever got through. Her Sacred Sword cut clean through the poison-borne Pokémon that stood between her and the Inteleon, giving Sparkie the opening she needed to use her Max Lightning. Yet their protection and strength didn't stop some of the brave townsfolk from falling to a Slowking's sludge. It didn't poison them; instead, it killed them instantly, bypassing both Safeguard and Heal Bell. Julia focused on pushing forward, just like she always had.

[break][break]Despite the beating it had taken, the Inteleon was still able to retaliate with piercing Snipe Shots. Julia followed where its "gun" was aimed and would have stopped in her tracks if not for her mount.

[break][break]"Conrad!" she shouted desperately. She tried to steer Suicune toward him, praying she'd be fast enough to intercept the attack...

[break][break]Something else stopped it first. Conrad fell to one side, and the Snipe Shot hit something—someone—else. Watery blood exploded from the wound that pierced their entire body. She didn't even need to see their face to know who it was.

[break][break]"Emil!" Julia's voice was nearly a shriek as she called for her husband. Suicune ran over to his fallen form, and Julia hopped off to take him into her arms. An optimistic part of her, one that had outlasted twenty years of strife, hoped he could be saved. Yet he was completely limp and unmoving in her grasp. There was a hole in his chest. And when Julia turned his face toward her, she saw his eyes were open yet unseeing.

[break][break]"No..."

[break][break]She had seen more than her fair share of death over the decades. Losing a member of the Adventurer's Guild always hurt, but it had gotten easier to cope with over time. But this... this made her feel like she was the one with the hole in her chest where her heart should have been. Where had she gone wrong? She had helped train Emil into the warrior he was, yet that hadn't been enough to save him. If she had only been faster on Suicune...!

[break][break]"Mum!"

[break][break]With a gasp, Julia was thrust back into reality and the cacophonous clashes surrounding her. Some of the remaining poison foot soldiers were closing in on them. Conrad slashed at them with his sword and blocked their attacks with his shield, and that was when Julia felt her heart return to her. She wouldn't lose him, too.

[break][break]Heedless of the tears gathered in her eyes, she leapt into the fray and slashed through a line of mooks, causing them to splatter into nothing but goop. The army was on its last legs, its generals fallen and its Dynamaxed support nearing the same fate. Julia quickly swiped the back of her fist over her face. Mourning could come later. There was still a battle to fight and people to protect.

[break][break]"Let's go," she said, hardening her voice with twenty years of experience.

[break][break]Conrad took one last look at his father's body, then nodded solemnly. "All right."

[break][break]They both mounted Suicune and raced with the rest of Galar's army toward where Necrozma and Eternatus clashed. The illusory Zamazenta ran ahead of them and... went right past them into the Slumbering Weald? What?

[break][break]Behind her, there was a flash of light, and Sparkie began to shrink back down to her normal size. She blinked a few times, tilted her head, and let out a puzzled squeak. Well, that wasn't good.

[break][break]When she looked back at Eternatus and Necrozma, an age-old memory flashed through her head:

[break][break]

[break]It was so clear in her mind's eye that it was like the words were written right in front of her. Why did she have to choose, though? Eternatus had tainted the land with swathes of poison and sent armies after their cities, and Necrozma had attacked and nearly destroyed their new homes. Not to mention what Necrozma had done back in... Hoenn. Right. Julia had nearly forgotten about her true home.

[break][break]No matter how she looked at it, they were both too dangerous to let run loose. The heck with the prophecy. She knew what she had to do.

[break][break]"Stay here, Conrad," she said, looking back at him. He looked like he might protest, but for once, he was silent, instead just nodding and dismounting Suicune.

[break][break]"Be careful, Mum," he said.

[break][break]Julia smiled. "I will be." She wouldn't let her beloved son lose both parents in one day.

[break][break]That didn't mean she was going to hold back, though. Her Dynamax Band still thrummed with energy taken from the Dynamax Particles broken off of the Dynamaxed enemies' shields. Things like Mega Evolution and Z-Moves were so powerful that they usually couldn't be used in succession, even by different Pokémon, but Julia still recalled Sparkie and grabbed Chester's Poké Ball. This had to work. It just had to.

[break][break]She focused on funneling the energy in her Dynamax Band to Chester's Poké Ball. The Ball began to grow and grow until Julia had to hold the heavy thing in both hands. Yes! With a grin, she tossed it into the fray. Chester was already huge when he emerged, but he got bigger and bigger until he was properly Dynamaxed, then let out an ear-piercing triple screech.

[break][break]Once he was done (and Julia had uncovered her ears), Julia shouted, "Hit Necrozma with a Lunge!"

[break][break]Green Bug-type energy appeared around Chester and formed into illusory butterflies. They fluttered around him as he raced forward, leaving huge footprints in his wake, and lunged at Necrozma with Max Flutterby. Julia, meanwhile, drew her sword and directed Suicune toward Eternatus. With a leap, her mount got her close enough to use Sacred Sword on the skeletal dragon.

[break][break]In the distance, there was a faint howl. Surely, Zamazenta would return to them soon.