{The Abby Show}
"[—AND SO THE SECT ENTERS A NEW ERA!]" Abby proclaimed, standing atop a table that was definitely not meant to be stood on, "[FOR TODAY, WE WITNESS THE BLOOMING OF TRUE TALENT!]"
Hypno didn't even look up from his book, "[If this is another metaphor for you screaming, I'm skipping this episode.]"
Alakazam pulled out another cup of coffee, "[Please tell me this is about something normal for once.]"
Then the door to the studio opened, and Kirlia walked in, holding a book about arcology in her hands.
"[…Ah.]" Kirlia said softly, "[So this is where everyone ran off to.]"
Alakazam took a deep breath, "[Please… tell me you're normal…]"
Hypno sighed, "[At this point, I lost all hope the day I got dragged here.]"
"[SHE HAS ASCENDED.]" Abby dropped to one knee dramatically, "[SENIOR SISTER ACKNOWLEDGES YOUR BREAKTHROUGH, FUTURE JADE BEAUTY—]"
"[Please don't call me that.]" Kirlia said gently.
Abby short-circuited, "[…What.]"
Kirlia floated down and picked up a book Hypno had left on the table, flipping it open and skimming the pages, "[You left your place. Chapter seven. The footnote about dream-layer cognition is incorrect, by the way.]"
Hypno's eyes lit up like fireworks, "[YOU READ FOOTNOTES?!]"
"[Of course.]" Kirlia smiled faintly, "[They're usually more honest than the main text.]"
Hypno gasped, clutching his book, "[She's just like me frfr,]"
Alakazam squinted at Kirlia, "[...Thank you for not turning out like her.]" He said, almost shedding a tear.
Abby scrambled to her feet, "[THIS IS CLEARLY THE RESULT OF MY WISE TEACHINGS.]"
Kirlia tilted her head, "[You just yelled random things at me that sounded like they came out of a badly translated story.]"
"[Correction, I taught you about the sacred texts!]" Abby shot back.
Kirlia hummed, thoughtful, "[I think I prefer books.]"
Hypno nearly cried, "[YES GOOD STAY THAT WAY.]"
Kirlia floated over and sat beside Hypno, peering over his shoulder, "[May I read with you? I enjoy quiet company.]"
Hypno swallowed hard, "[...You can have my favorite chair.]"
Abby clutched her chest, "[TRAITOROUS DAO HEART.]"
Abratwo spoke calmly from the control room, "[For the junior disciples watching, you see the inferior Abby can't even teach the new disciple. This is why I, Abratwo, am superior.]"
"[Shut up before I go and cripple your mana core!]" Abby shouted, pointing toward the sound room.
Kirlia turned slightly, "[Oh. Is this actually a show?]"
"[YES.]" Abby snapped back instantly, "[YOU ARE THE STAR.]"
Kirlia blinked, "[I thought we were just playing along with your roleplay.]"
Alakazam snorted.
Abby pointed dramatically at Kirlia, "[LISTEN HERE, JUNIOR SISTER, POWER IS NOT FOUND IN BOOKS ALONE—]"
Kirlia smiled softly, "[I know.]"
"[Power is found in understanding.]" Kirlia continued calmly, "[Books are just… quiet teachers.]"
No one said anything, but Hypno looked like he could die happy, finally having someone to share his books with.
Abby trembled, "[NO THIS IS WRONG SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME, BUT SMALLER.]"
Kirlia closed her book and looked at Abby with gentle pity, "[I don't think I want to be loud all the time.]"
Hypno fist-pumped silently.
Abby screamed internally.
Abratwo sighed, "[And thus concludes today's episode of Are You Courting Death? Featuring: growth, literacy, and Abby losing control.]"
Kirlia glanced at the camera, "[Will there be another episode?]"
Abratwo teleported in from the control room, "[OF COURSE THERE WILL BE.]"
Kirlia smiled softly, "[I'll bring my own book next time, then.]"
—
{Back at the top of Mt. Chimney}
Everyone was giving it everything they had. Flannery clenched her fists, "Okay. All or nothing," she muttered, "Everyone, full power!"
Courtney's voice cut in as she raised her arm forward toward her Pokémon, "Maximum output."
All the fire combined into a single column that went straight into the volcano, slamming into the machine.
The impact shook the mountain. The machine's outer plating warped, glowing red, then white.
Slowly, the lava in the volcano started bubbling. It was gradual, but it was heating up.
Flannery's eyes lit up, "Y–Yes! It's working—!"
Then a part of the machine broke, the section connected directly to the volcano. Metal components tore free, falling into the lava and burning away.
The Pokémon stopped. Flannery and Courtney leaned over the edge.
"Did we do it?" Flannery muttered, staring at the bubbling lava.
But slowly, the bubbling began to fade… until the lava wasn't bubbling at all.
Flannery staggered back, "N–No. No, no, no!"
Courtney lowered her arm, "…Unanticipated."
She looked disappointed as, one by one, she returned all her Pokémon to their Poké Balls.
"…Energy input… exceeded output." She tilted her head slightly, staring at the machine, "…We failed."
Flannery clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms, "But we broke it! Look, it's busted, if we hit it again, then maybe—!"
"…Not enough… We attacked with everything, and it was… insufficient…" Courtney exhaled once, "…Mission… incomplete."
She turned toward Flannery, "…Your firepower… impressive. You… exceeded projections."
Flannery blinked, "…Huh?"
Courtney didn't explain as she turned away, "…Team Aqua… will pay… Team Magma will save the world… from them…"
Behind her, a Swellow swooped down, wings snapping open in the hot air.
Courtney stepped onto its back.
"…Returning home." She glanced back once more, "…Good luck…"
The Swellow launched skyward, vanishing into the ash-streaked clouds. After a moment, Flannery couldn't hear the flapping of wings anymore.
It was quiet. Way too quiet.
Flannery slowly turned back to the volcano, then down toward Lavaridge Town, where she could see people panicking, nothing had worked.
Her Pokémon looked at her with concern as her Camerupt walked up and nuzzled into her. She forced on a smile and rubbed its head.
"I'm fine, really. Hey, you all did a great job. Why don't you go in your Poké Balls and get some rest?" she said with her big, goofy smile, returning them one by one.
And when they were all put away, her smile shivered and fell as tears started spilling from her eyes.
She sank to her knees, "…It wasn't enough," she whispered.
Her shoulders trembled, "I wasn't strong enough… I failed," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Then she heard boots on rock, and that voice again.
"Hey, Flannery, you good?" It was Ash's voice.
She quickly rubbed her eyes and stood up.
Turning around, she saw Ash with Pikachu and Vee walking back from where they'd gone.
"Um… yeah. Just ash got in my eye…" Flannery said.
"…Wow," Ash said with a small grin, "I feel personally attacked."
Flannery blinked, "…Huh?"
He pointed at himself, "Ash. Got in your eye. That's cold."
Despite herself, a weak snort escaped her, "N–Not you! Like, actual ash! From the volcano!"
"Mhm. Sure. That's what they all say."
She huffed, rubbing her wrist over her eyes again, "You're such a jerk."
"Only professionally."
He stepped closer, hands in his jacket pockets, his gaze shifting from her to the silent crater and the smoking wreck of the machine, then down to the town, "So, I'm guessing you couldn't get the volcano working?"
"Yeah… I wasn't strong enough," she said, "You know… after all this was over, I wanted to show you around town, and I was gonna show you the wonderful hot springs of Lavaridge Town to thank you for saving me."
She wiped her eyes and looked down at the town, "This really is a nice place, you know… people from all over Hoenn come here… and I couldn't protect the town… or even myself… First I got knocked out and kidnapped, and now I couldn't even fix anything. What a day…"
Pikachu and Vee lowered their ears and went over to nudge her, trying to comfort her.
Ash frowned as he looked at her. He wasn't an idiot, he could tell she was trying not to cry in front of him. That was why he'd made a little joke earlier, to help cheer her up a bit. But of course, he also had a contingency plan. He'd had one prepared ever since he found out Team Aqua was coming to Mt. Chimney.
Ash went into his pocket and pulled out a shard of the meteorite, "They got away, but I managed to get a piece of whatever they used."
"Ah… do… do you think we could?" Flannery said slowly, scared of getting her hopes up.
"Maybe. I can try, I'm actually pretty good with this stuff," Ash said as he looked over at what was left of the machine. He walked over, checking a screen, "Huh, you really did a number on this. But I think I should be able to do something with this. If they used it to cool it, I might be able to use it to revive it."
Flannery looked up, "R–Really?! Um, how long do you think it's gonna take?"
Ash took a breath and pretended to think, "Well, if you didn't break it, I could do it pretty fast. But I'll need to change some stuff, so… I think I could do it in three hours."
Flannery lowered her head when she heard that because she broke the machine, it was going to take longer, "Oh… I'm sorry… I guess I should have asked you before I did that," she said, completely forgetting she wasn't the one who suggested breaking the machine.
Ash smiled softly at her, "Don't worry about it. You can't beat yourself up about every little thing."
"But… I—" Flannery started, but Ash stopped her.
"Alright, if you promise to stop crying about it, I promise I'll do everything I can," Ash said.
"I–I'm not crying!" Flannery said defensively.
Ash smiled, "Didn't say you were~ So how about it? Can you go find Brock, May, and Max, and maybe call the Rangers? Oh, but don't tell them that I'm working up here. If I can't do it, then we can, but until then, let's keep this between us, okay?"
Flannery looked up, then looked away, "Fine. But you better keep your promises. You said you'll do everything you can, so I expect you to do it," she said, but her voice didn't have any authority in it. It was way too shaky.
"Promise. Now get out of here. Oh, and by the way—" Ash pointed to his left cheek, "You have a tear right there~"
Flannery got embarrassed and rubbed her cheek furiously, "Shut up," she said, running off to climb down the mountain.
As she left, Ash's smile fell. He looked back at the machine and sighed, going into his bag. He had been lying about needing the machine, this thing was calibrated only to cool the volcano down. He couldn't just reverse it.
The reason he said that was because he was going to bring out something else.
You see, ever since he got the original PULSE-06 and the extra notes and blueprints Taka sent him, and with Porygon and Rotom looking over it, he managed to make something else.
The PULSE-06 was made to activate a volcano to erupt and destroy a town. It would also need a Camerupt as a battery. Yeah, Ash did not need that. So he toned it down. For one, he didn't need a Camerupt, but he did need a power source, and that's where the meteorite shard came in. That could work.
The reason he was using only a shard, however, was because he didn't want Flannery to know about it. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, the poor girl had almost lost everything in one day, but if the Association found out, it didn't take a genius to see one shard from a full meteorite and wonder where did the rest go.
Yeah, better if Team Aqua or Team Magma got blamed for that.
Anyway, as for how he was going to build it, he pulled something out from his personal dimensional storage, something he'd been working on. Or rather, something D had been working on: a robot exoskeleton using the base of one of the Iron Valiant units he'd taken from the base. It was just an empty husk that Ash had modified.
With a whistle, Porygon and Rotom jumped out of his phone and into the robot, powering it on. When it stood up, it looked at Ash and saluted.
"Roger, roger!"
They pulled out the blueprints they had and started working. Ash then brought out the bodies of the Iron Bundles. And since Porygon and Rotom were just data and electricity respectively, they spread their consciousness across all the robots.
One by one, they all came back to life, saluting Ash and immediately helping with the work.
Ash might not be good with engineering, but thankfully, he didn't need to be.
And the best part? Once it was done and Team Aqua saw it, they'd take the rumors they already had, that Team Magma possessed some kind of super amplifier, and assume it was definitely true.
As Ash was about to sit down and relax, he heard something, and sensed something behind him with Aura. He turned around, and there, standing on the rocks, was an Absol staring at him.
Ash frowned at first, then slowly smiled, "Hey there. Looks like we've got some stuff to talk about."
—
After the three hours were up, Flannery climbed back up the mountain alone, just like Ash asked.
She'd found May, Max, and Brock earlier and guided them back to town. And as soon as she stepped in, the people of Lavaridge swarmed her with questions.
All she could tell them was that things were fine, that she was getting things done to fix everything, and that hopefully, things would go back to normal.
Even if it hurt her heart to lie to everyone because she didn't know what was going to happen, I mean, sure, she wanted to trust Ash, but look at it from her point of view. Ash was younger than her, and he was saying he might have a way to fix this entire problem.
Part of her didn't even want to go back up the mountain. A part of her wanted to go to her room, lie in her bed, and cry about what a horrible day this had been. Today, on the anniversary of her grandfather's death, she got attacked, kidnapped, almost died, found out the volcano was effectively dead, and that she couldn't do anything about it. Honestly, the fact that she wasn't having a mental breakdown was impressive.
As for May, Brock, and Max, she made up some lie. She said that Ash told her he wanted to 'go on a quick walk,' but for some reason Brock immediately opened his eyes in shock and ran to a Pokémon Center, muttering something about how he had to make a call. She had no idea what that was about.
Still, she pulled herself together. If things were going to fail, she should at least act like a proper Gym Leader and face her failure head-on.
So she climbed back up the mountain.
When she reached the top, however, she found Ash alone, working on the machine. Pikachu and Vee were taking a nap nearby since it was still pretty warm up here.
He turned, raised a hand, and gave her a casual wave, "Hey, you're just on time."
Flannery slowed, her heart hammering, "…R–Really?"
"Yeah," he said, stepping aside to reveal the machine. It looked like Ash had made a few modifications, but since Flannery wasn't very good with machinery either, she couldn't really tell much of a difference, "I think I finished."
She stared at it, blinking, "…I–um, so do you think it's gonna work?"
"Should. But there's only one way to find out." He walked over to a crate and picked up a small containment capsule. Inside, suspended in a faint blue glow, was the shard of meteorite.
"Alright," he said lightly, "Moment of truth."
Flannery's hands clenched at her sides, "If this doesn't work—"
"Then it doesn't," he cut in gently, "But you need to promise, no matter what happens, you're not gonna beat yourself up about it."
Flannery blinked owlishly at him, "You're really trying to give me therapy right now…"
"A little. But if you don't do it, I'm not putting it in," Ash said, lying, something Flannery could immediately tell he was joking about.
A slow smile spread across her face, "Fine… I promise. If it doesn't work, I won't blame myself." She gave a small grin, "I'll just blame you instead."
"That's what I like to hear," Ash grinned, then looked back at the shard, "Then, moment of truth."
He slotted it into the machine, then took a step back and looked at Flannery, "It needs a jump-start. Will you do the honors, oh great Gym Leader?"
Flannery swallowed, "…You're such a dork."
But she stepped forward anyway, eyes settling on the meteorite shard. She gulped as she reached for a Poké Ball.
"Okay," she muttered, "This is it."
The ball popped open, and she let out her Torkoal, her ace, as the big fire turtle stomped on the ground and puffed out white smoke.
Flannery knelt in front of it, hands on her knees, "Alright, buddy, let's do it. Flamethrower, right at that shard!"
Torkoal nodded and stepped forward, puffing out its chest before firing a blast of flame directly into the meteorite shard. The shard began to glow as it amplified the fire.
Immediately, the machine pulsed, shooting energy into the volcano. For a moment, nothing happened, and Flannery's hand tightened, but just as she was gonna say something
Then she heard a pop.
Then bubbling.
She rushed to the edge, and there it was, the lava was bubbling again, and she could feel the heat returning.
Flannery's throat tightened. She jumped up in celebration and threw her arms around Ash, "Hahaha, we really did it! It's back, it's really back!"
Ash laughed a little as he instinctively caught her so they didn't both fall over, "Hey, careful," he said, steadying her, "Still on a volcano."
Flannery realized what she was doing a beat later.
Her face went nuclear red, "I—! S-sorry!" She pulled back quickly, waving her hands, "I just, I mean, it worked and-!"
Ash just smiled and waved it off, "Hey, it's fine. We need to normalize victory hugs anyway," he joked.
She stared at him, then laughed, really laughed, for the first time all day. Now that it looked like this horrible day had a happy ending, she glanced out at the town below. Steam was rising from hot springs and chimneys once again.
"But fair warning," Ash said, tapping his chin and looking away, "I made this a little weaker so it won't erupt. That means someone's gonna have to come up here every morning to heat it up. I wonder which new and super energetic Gym Leader is up to the task."
Flannery snorted and put her hands behind her head, "Weeellll, I guess I have no choice but to sacrifice myself and come up here, to the spot right next to my secret training area that I already visit every morning anyway. Truly, I'm sacrificing so much."
"Careful, lava girl. You're getting a little too hot-headed," Ash said with a smirk.
"Only 'cause it's your fault," Flannery replied, giving him a light nudge with her elbow. "Now come on, let's head back to town. And I think I remember saying I wanted to give you a tour of my hometown."
"Well then, lead the way," Ash smiled, as he walked, a new Poké Ball sat on his waist. And it shook, just a little.
–
{Meanwhile, in the distant land of Rota}
In the grand Cameran Palace, Queen Ilene sat in Sir Aaron's old room, gazing at a picture of the great knight as she held his staff in her hands.
Then the door to the room opened, and the current leader of the Aura Guardians of Rota, Riley, stepped in, looking around, "I figured I would find you in here, Queen Ilene."
Ilene sighed softly and looked back at him, "I told you, you don't have to use formalities. Ilene is fine, after all, we're pretty much family."
Back in the day, there were rumors that Queen Rin and Sir Aaron had been together, though they never officially married. Sir Aaron gave his life for the kingdom before anything like that could ever happen.
But at the time, Rin was already pregnant with Aaron's child, beginning Sir Aaron's bloodline. As queen, however, she still had to marry for political reasons. From that later marriage came Ilene's line.
Because Sir Aaron's child had no legitimate claim to the throne since they were born a bastard, so Ilene's ancestors inherited the crown. Aaron's descendants, meanwhile, started leaving Rota to explore the world and live lives of adventure.
Generations later, that led to Riley and Ilene.
Ilene was obviously a direct descendant of Queen Rin, while Riley was actually descended from Sir Aaron himself, making the two of them pretty much distant cousins.
Pulse, Riley was widely believed to be Sir Aaron's true inheritor. He looked almost exactly like the legendary hero, and his talent with Aura was second to none. That was why he had been chosen as the new leader of Rota's Aura Guardians.
Rota, after all, had long kept its borders open to Aura Guardians from across the world, offering training and partnership with Lucario. Ever since Sir Aaron's era, Rota had been the world's premier breeding and training center for Lucario.
Legendary Trainers got their Lucarios from here, like Cynthia, who got her Lucario here from Rota a few years ago. Riley and his Lucario were no exception.
But enough about that for now.
Riley stepped further into the room and glanced around, "You know, I'm pretty sure Ms. Jenny would have something to say if she found out you were in here instead of attending to your royal duties."
Ilene clasped her hands together, suddenly looking more like a younger sister than a queen, "Ha, well… that's only if she finds out. You'll cover for me, please?"
Riley shook his head and sighed, "Well, I suppose I can't really say no. Fine, I'll keep quiet about it."
Ilene let out a relieved breath, "Yay! Thanks, you're the best."
Riley rolled his eyes but stepped closer to her, "It's almost time for the Festival of Aura."
The Festival of Aura was a celebration held once every ten years in Rota. While it honored the memory of Sir Aaron, it also served another purpose, to find people with latent Aura abilities who had yet to awaken them.
The festival was open to people from all over the world, not just Kanto, making it one of Rota's most important traditions.
And not only that, but invitations were also sent out to people that traveling Aura Guardians discovered across the world. For example, during the last festival, when Riley was still in Sinnoh, he received an invitation after a wandering Aura Guardian sensed his potential and reported it back to Rota. That was how Riley first came to the kingdom.
Everyone learning that Riley was a descendant of Sir Aaron came much later, but that was a story for another day.
The point was, the festival was about to begin, and it was time to send out invitations to potential Aura Guardians.
Ilene nodded, "Yes, I feel like this year will be even better than the last."
"I sure hope so," Riley said, "Especially since the scouts apparently found some interesting people. Maybe we'll even find another lost family member," he added with a small joke.
Ilene held back a quiet laugh, "We can only hope. Have the invitations already been sent?"
Riley nodded, "Yeah, they went out this morning."
"That's good to hear," Ilene said, glancing down at Sir Aaron's staff, and the crystal set into its tip, "Do you think Sir Aaron would have liked how I'm doing things?"
"Well, I don't know what he would have thought," Riley admitted, "but I think you're doing a great job."
"Thank you," Ilene smiled, "You can go. I'm just going to return Sir Aaron's staff, then I'll head back before Jenny finds me."
Riley tipped his hat, "I'll try to distract her for a bit. Just hurry, I don't know how much of her 'practice' of sitting down and doing nothing all night I can take."
Ilene giggled, "I'll try."
With that, Riley walked out. Ilene turned back toward the pedestal, about to set the staff down, then stopped.
Her gaze drifted to the balcony.
She slowly walked toward it, where another crystal rested, one of the same kind as the one in the staff, though this one was normally inert. It had always been there.
She looked out toward the distant mountain where the Tree of Beginning stood, "I still wonder… what more is there to the story…"
As she gazed outward, she didn't notice the crystal at her feet pulse red, for just a moment.
Far away, deep within the Tree of Beginning, inside its vast interior lined with countless crystals, they also began to glow red. Some even started to crack.
But no one in the castle could see it.
So Ilene simply turned away, closed the balcony door, carefully placed the staff back on its pedestal, and hurried out of the room, hoping to make it back before Jenny, the head maid, scolded her yet again.
As she ran down the hall, a Mime Jr. hiding behind a flower pot giggled and waved at someone.
From the same room, a second Mime Jr. quietly snuck out, looking around before giggling as well.
The first Mime Jr. waved at the second, then ran off after Ilene.
Meanwhile, the second watched it leave, then dropped its disguise, revealing none other than Mew, who giggled softly before floating away.