The good thing here was:

It was the Braviary, and not the Salamence that Memo ran into. For there were a few things:

One, Gabriel hadn’t forgiven him yet because of what happened last year; and two, the draconid would’ve likely chewed him in half because of all the shit he’d lived through. Twenty years, all gone in the blink of an eye?

So it was pure luck, and divine providence that it was Kyouya that Memo had run into. A surprised squawk came from the avian because of the way the 5’4” missile had literally launched himself right into his crazy owner’s arms.

Normally, Alexei would’ve attempted to deflect the incoming ball of energy—however due to his brain not computing properly, it took him several moments to realize he was no longer alone. No longer alone, and hearing the broken gay Spanish panic washing over him.

“…‘m fine,” were the first quiet words that left him. Normally he’d have been more subdued, but still have the same chaotic energy that the other had come to know and love. This, though?

“D…don’t. P-please d-don’t be just…just another figment…” tumbled out next, his arms too tired to lean up and hold him close. Thankfully the Braviary was still there, helping them get angled towards the door because it was still pouring outside after all.

“P-please be real,” he whispered; never mind if he was unnaturally hot under Memo’s touch.

---

timelined right after the end of the rusted sword raid; dorime

Walking was definitely an option, but for that impossibly long stretch of time they’d spent within that version of ‘Galar’?

It hurt to walk.

Not mention that the weather had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Much as he wanted to tough it out and make the trip on foot, fact of the matter was he was too mentally exhausted to even rub two brain cells properly together.

Kyouya the Braviary realized something was up; and literally insisted that the other get on his back—which he did, with almost no complaint. That was already suspicious in and on itself.

Several minutes later, they’d returned and had landed in front of a very familiar door, but for Alexei his brain had just clocked out of the building. Blinking as the Braviary literally had to screech (just so whoever was home at the moment could hear that they’d arrived) the avian dared not leave him standing alone in the pouring rain.

Where the fuck was he even going to begin with all this?

Another screeching noise from the avian, hopefully enough to summon bring the other man to the door to get his crazy owner off him, but that was too much hoping, huh?

---

timelined right after the end of the rusted sword raid; dorime

He knew it was better to stay out of bigger things that didn’t directly involve him—just like the words that a certain person had told him before they’d all ended up in this strange place…

‘Then we should both stay away.’

Maybe, in a way, Guillermo Marceliño was right after all.

(Was he going to admit that outright, though? Not initially.)

The scenery around them fluctuates wildly, like a television trying to catch a signal before being swallowed in a horrifying burst of static—did he see the path headed to Ballonlea materialize for a brief moment; the one place he knew he’d seen in the current Galar where he’d been once, with Ruby Walker and William the (mushroom-licking) Wooloo.

William… wait, how did he remember that all of a sudden?!

Before he could dwell more on that shard of thought, fact of the matter was that there were two absolutely monstrous things ripping each other apart in some demented, endless cycle. It reminded him of a certain symbol, of a particular animal eating its tail in a seemingly endless circle.

Something had to give, right?

Maybe it was a good thing he’d already made the cloud-man dedushka into his gigantic size, because the energy fluctuations in the air were seemingly driving both colossal Pokémon to madness. It was just… this was far too much. How was he going to remember everything?

The last coherent thing he heard was a loud howling—along with the reappearance of several other people, miss Elise Calcifet among their number. Where had she run off to?

---

The next coherent thing he sees is that it’s already nightfall, however the ‘realm’ of ‘reality’ is peeling apart…

“We don’t have much time,” he said quietly in Miss Elise’s direction. “Let’s… let’s go to the girls. One last time.”

With that, the fastest way they could get to was sadly not his Gardevoir, but his blue-plumed Braviary. Certainly the girls would recognize that Pokémon of his.



He couldn’t help himself but ruffle Iris’s hair once he was done explaining what the older of the two girls had to do, moving forward.

“You’ll survive. Survive, and thrive. Remember us.”

And then the ‘world’ finally peeled away.

---

The next thing he saw, when he blinked, was the blurry vision caused by torrential rain.

The sight of two canids—how strange they were, one was holding a fucking sword in their mouth and the other had a mane that looked like a shield—staring out at them before disappearing to whoever the hell knew where, he looked over at miss Elise Calcifet.

“We… have a lot of shit to talk about,” he began—blinking in momentary surprise because—he didn’t sound like his old man anymore, how—he was back to the present day, to twenty-nine and fearing the deadline that lay around the corner… his scarf, drenched through and through and stuck to his soaked clothing.

“But… but not now. Maybe. Maybe when we’ve recovered somewhat from this… entire thing.”

Little did he realize that the compilation of notes of the time they’d spent there; the same ones he’d agreed to scrawl as the years passed in that version of Galar, was on his person, all folded up neatly in an inner pocket of his jacket.

“I guess… we’ll meet again, Miss Elise. Hopefully under better circumstances.”

Kyouya the Braviary was out, and ready, to take him back home to the Sanctuary—even if it was seemingly just a quick fifteen-minute walk from where they were, it felt like ages since he’d seen, breathed, just processed everything in Hoenn.

First things first…

It was time to get the hell home, to where he really belonged.

In my arms through the long cold night
Sleep tight, you’ll be safe here
When no one understands
I’ll believe, you'll be safe
You’ll be safe, you’ll be safe here, ooh ooh

Put my heart in your hands
You’ll be safe here

Back to where… to where his world; the entirety of his universe, the keeper of that one last piece of himself was waiting for him.

---

• due to what’s happening, he starts remembering more and more of the present-day world
• little clapback to the start of the entire thing, where he’d left because of their argument
• maybe the Frog was right, after all… staying out of bigger things not directly involving them…
• Alex.exe spent the entire first half of what went down watching in silent shock. Is he going to be able to remember all this? Somehow.
• (insert the entirely self-indulgent farewell scene he has between the two kids him and Miss Elise adopted, including leaving two Rufflet for their protection as well a.k.a. they get 2 starter Pokémon each from her and him)
• testing one, two—they’re back. He’s 29 again and back on the clock…
• communicates with Miss Elise that they should meet again, after they’ve recovered from this entire o r d e a l
• and it’s time to go home, to where he really belongs
• hi Frog, fancy something of a meeting when he gets home?
• his memento from ‘Galar’: the compilation of notes through the years, the two of them agreeing to be each other’s memory keepers of the world; which also includes snippets of those twenty years Iris and Peony you two better do us PROUD

Turning the djinni into a giant threat actually worked—the way they’d done the job against the gigantic monkey…

“Sorry if that was last-minute!” he exclaimed once their feet were down on the ground once more. However, the hordes were not relenting—even if the two big baddies seemed much closer than ever and were doing battle not too far away…

“I’m tempted to go chase after… after the canine with the sword,” he hummed quietly as he strung up an arrow and released the power of Dragon Hammer with his shots on the ground, making sure to aim as close to the horde’s ‘heads’ as possible.

“But they’re far too many.”

The Tornadus had already shrunk back down into his normal size, arms crossed and observing what was erupting all around them.

“Can—can you help?” he asked the one-man cloud army, who nodded quietly and began unleashing Extrasensory bursts against any further incoming hordes that wanted their respective heads.

More and more of the remaining hordes were charging up against them, and more and more arrows of Dragon Hammer flew. The frenetic pace was reaching fever-pitch he didn’t realize he’d left his back side wide open, and only realized that there was something coming the moment a loud scream of pain rocked him out of his reverie.

The next arrow dropped the moment he saw just who had taken the hit for him—wait. Wait, wait, hold up a second why did the face of whoever had saved him looked so fucking familiar?!

It was the sight of long hair that made him stop and take a second look, before he felt the pit of his stomach drop out from under him. He never realized…

…that there was also someone who greatly resembled Guillermo Marceliño out there among the people who came to fight alongside them. The fear made him stop firing arrows as it dawned on him just what he had forgotten…

“Miss Elise Calcifet!” he yelled out of instinct, feeling his hands go numb as the shock made him come to a standstill.

---

• apologizing like a true gentleman once they’re back down on the ground
• but oh no this shit ain’t over yet!
• arrows of Dragon Hammer start firing off from his direction
• Tornadus provided extra covering fire with Extrasensory against the noxious hordes
• little does he realize that someone who looks like a certain amphibian covered him from being sniped from behind
• and then he froze the moment he realized who had saved him
• in the end, he ends up ABSTAINING from attacking either Necrozma or Eternatus and wants to watch the two baddies rip themselves apart to shreds
• weapon is: arrows with the power of Dragon Hammer
• +20 timeskip FC: Kinjou Shirasu from Donten ni Warau

Another loud screeching, wailing noise came from the Wingull as the diminutive little Pidove lashed out again with the same force as a dragon would—

Both of the opponents on the opposite side of the field were equally dangerous, however which posed the worst threat?

All the while the Wingull was falling, the small, sparkly bird flapped his wings in one last desperate Air Cutter move—but not aimed at the Pidove, he was going for the golden-colored Shinx!

A second loud buzzing noise came from the Yanma as he zipped around, almost at max velocity and releasing a Bug Buzzing noise, the screeching wings rubbing together in such a way that the sound would hopefully disorient both Pokémon as the Thunder Wave clipped one side of its wings.

Uh-oh.

---

Yanma and Wingull are out on the field!

Wingull gets clobbered hard by the Dragon Hammer attack, however before crashing to the ground pivots mid-air and aims an Air Cutter attack towards the Shinx!

Yanma, on the other hand, released a Bug Buzz around the area before getting clipped by the Thunder Wave!

lam logan

“Why are you leaving?!”

And Miss Elise Calcifet thought she had it rough. The younger of their ‘kids’ was hanging onto him like a leech.

“Don’t go!”

Oh, no.

He could only sigh, because while Iris was Miss Elise’s idea, Peony on the other hand… was his own. How could he leave the little one behind like that, though?!

“You two have each other, okay?” he began quietly as he crouched down to ruffle her hair. “Look, we taught your big sister everything we can.”


He had to be careful about making ‘false promises’, especially around Peony.

“Stay with Iris, okay? Don’t do anything stupid.”

“What?! I—”

“I trust you two, okay? Especially you. We’ll be back.”

Even if he knew that they were lying. At least they’d taught these two all they could during the last ten years…

---

“Of course I do. You think I go anywhere without an aerial mount?” he began once they were at the field of battle. It was like one of those epic charging scenes, the ones that involved ‘riding to ruin’, and ‘at first light on the fifth day, turn to the east’ kind of nerding out.

Only in this case it was all very fucking real.

“We might need to land on the ground, because… I have plans…” he trailed off, squinting ahead at the ‘horde’ that were still congregating around the gigantic monkey—who bore some resemblance to a Pokémon that… who owned that… ‘Tambor’?

“I advise you to hold on tight,” he continued quietly as he activated the Dynamax Band—but not on his Salamence. Quickly dropping the Cherish Ball he intended to use it on—the Wandering Stormbringer, Tornadus, appeared.

Only instead of just the normal man-sized ‘djinni of the clouds’, he grew…much bigger than normal.

At the same time, he then wrapped an arm around miss Elise’s waist, hopefully all objections were kept quiet—as he recalled the Salamence, and for a few seconds—they were in free-fall.

“I need you to trust me, okay?!” he shouted over the clamoring sounds of battle as they were momentarily airborne—before the sheer size of the Tornadus loomed near them. He’d made sure to fall as close to the Tornadus as possible so that they could… slide down its tail?!

The djinni had other plans, though—bringing down a harsh, but powerful wind on their side of the battle as the Tailwind translated into something—else.

A battlefield-wide Tailwind? Was that even possible?

(Yes, it was apparently Max Airstream.)

---

• dawn of the final day™ happened and the ‘kids’ they’d adopted are trying to guilt them into not leaving for war
• lie, lie, lie
• eventually the two arrive at the battlefield riding his Salamence, and while miss Elise does her thing he has to make a split-second decision before doing… that
• YES, he Dynamaxed Tornadus and swapped out Salamence!
• so now the two are in free-fall for a few moments, however he decides to turn the curving tail of the Tornadus into a ‘slide’ to bring them down
• Tornadus used Tailwind, which then transformed into Max Airstream!
• since he’s holding onto miss Elise, he can’t use his weapon! At least not yet
• location wise: on the side of the battlefield where the giant Rillaboom is, for reference
• +20 timeskip FC: Kinjou Shirasu from Donten ni Warau