The three Deoxys sliced across the night sky, moonlight sliding over their bodies until each of them looked dusted with a thin, silvery sheen.
They'd only been flying a few minutes before they cleared the edge of LaRousse City and dropped back down into the forest clearing. Nothing had changed since Natsui left—no traps, no attackers, and no reckless wild Pokémon blundering into the area.
The only real difference was Gardevoir.
It had wrapped Natsui's physical body in a steady psychic bubble, holding his warmth in against the bite of the cold night air.
That's… actually really thoughtful, Natsui admitted to himself.
He hadn't even thought about that. Gardevoir just handled it.
Still, this wasn't the time to get soft. He'd been away too long, too far from his body, and now his soul felt slightly off—like the link tethering him back was starting to wear thin. He moved fast, lying down over his own body.
For an instant, his awareness smeared and dimmed—
Then everything snapped into place.
When he opened his eyes again and stood, warmth rushed through him. He rolled his shoulders once. No lingering fog, no backlash. The whole thing felt… clean.
"Nice work."
He gave Gardevoir a quick smile, then turned toward the two wild Deoxys.
Natsui didn't know their genders—if they even had genders—but these two were different from most of their kind. They were the "One Stone Twins." While other Deoxys drifted through space alone on their own meteorites, these two had shared the same rock.
That was why the red-cored Deoxys in the movie had been so obsessed with finding the cyan one. The cyan presence Ash and the others ran into at the park hadn't been a random phenomenon—it was the other Deoxys's mind still hanging on. Its body had been destroyed, leaving only its core, but its psychic power was so strong it could still move around inside a limited range near the park.
And that was how it ended up bonding with Tory, who always hid out there by himself.
"Alright," Natsui said, keeping his tone calm and final. "This is settled. You've found your partner, and its body's back. Now get out of here and go live your own lives."
They couldn't speak human words, and their faces didn't really change—but Natsui caught something in their eyes anyway. A quick flicker of… gratitude.
The two wild Deoxys turned to Natsui's Deoxys and let out a string of strange chirps and pulsing trills. Natsui's Deoxys answered in the same eerie, rhythmic way.
None of Natsui's team could follow the "conversation." They could only guess based on timing and body language.
Gengar leaned in, eyes bright, and muttered, "Bet they're trying to steal your Deoxys. Like, 'Hey buddy, come roll with us.'"
"It's possible," Natsui said, not taking his eyes off them.
The exchange didn't last long. When it ended, Natsui's Deoxys stayed planted at his side, solid as a wall.
Natsui let out a quiet breath.
Even after catching it—and even after granting what it wanted—there was always the chance it would choose its own kind. A Poké Ball, even an Ultra Ball, wasn't a real cage for something like this if it truly decided to walk away.
But it didn't.
It chose me.
So all those talks, all that time together… it meant something. Deoxys hadn't just tolerated him. It accepted him.
As the wild pair got ready to leave, Natsui cleared his throat and added, like it was an afterthought, "There's a chance I'll need help soon. Against something nasty."
Gardevoir's Telepathy carried the response back almost instantly—slow, heavy, and unmistakably sincere.
'…We will… help you…'
Aftermath in the City
By morning, LaRousse City was a mess.
The chaos in the night—especially the fact that the city's ultimate defense system had been smashed—sent panic rippling through residents and visiting trainers alike.
The police moved fast. An official announcement went out, claiming the Deoxys incident had been accidental and that the intruders had already left. That calmed the immediate fear before it turned into a full-blown riot.
But people didn't stop talking.
Over breakfast, over lunch, over dinner—every conversation circled back to the same thing. Videos of the battle flooded across Hoenn like wildfire.
The funny part was that the trainers who'd actually fought Deoxys and Rayquaza barely said a word. They weren't being mysterious. They were shaken. Badly. They wanted to pretend the whole nightmare never happened.
With the Deoxys gone, the so-called City of Technology was just… a city again, as far as Natsui was concerned. He still didn't leave right away. He stayed with Ash and the others for half a day, wandering around and enjoying the place while it was still buzzing.
But sooner or later, everyone had to move on.
For Natsui, the trip was a clean win.
For Ash… it felt like a loss.
He'd promised Yuko he'd "fix" Tory—help him get over his fear of Pokémon. And Ash really had tried. He stuck with the kid nonstop. But real life hadn't followed the movie script. Without a huge crisis to shove Tory forward, the progress came slow.
By the time it was time to leave, Tory could stand near a Pokémon without spiraling.
But getting closer? Still no.
Ash was visibly frustrated. Natsui could only clap him on the shoulder and keep it simple.
"If you can't do it, you can't do it," Natsui said. "This isn't something you force. Tory just needs time. He'll find his own way to live with it."
Ash didn't like hearing that—but he also knew it was true.
At the harbor, after a long goodbye with Tory, Ash, May, Brock, and Max boarded a ferry and sailed off to continue their journey. Natsui and Misty watched until the boat shrank into the distance.
Once they were gone, Natsui had no reason to stay. He needed to get back to Lilycove City.
He gave Tory a polite nod—no big speech; they weren't close—and led Misty toward the monorail station.
The view outside the window was the same as when they'd arrived.
The mood wasn't.
Misty exhaled, sounding oddly wistful. "It's more fun when everybody's around. All the noise, all the jokes… time just flies. Now it's just us two. Kinda quiet."
"That's how it goes," Natsui said. He got it. Even he felt that hollow drop after the excitement faded. "We're trainers. Training, Gym battles, catching Pokémon—that's the job. When we're retired and bored out of our minds, we can throw a loud party every day if we want."
"When you're retired?" Misty laughed, covering her mouth. "You're talking retirement already? Aren't you a little young for that?"
"Age has nothing to do with it." Natsui leaned back, settling in. "When I'm tired, I'll stop. Not now, obviously. I've still got regions to clear and Leagues to win first."
"That doesn't sound that far off," Misty said, eyes bright. "If you keep moving like you have been, you'll get there before you know it."
"I'll take that as a good omen."
As they talked, the monorail rolled into Lilycove City.
The moment Natsui stepped off, he pulled out his phone out of habit—checking for anything from Zinnia.
There was a message.
Sent over half an hour ago.
He and Misty had been too busy finding seats and talking to notice the notification.
Zinnia had already reached Lilycove City—and she was waiting in a forest just outside the city.
That's… insane.
Less than two days. Half of Hoenn. No way she'd done that without pushing herself hard—traveling nonstop, barely resting.
"I didn't think she'd be this desperate," Natsui said. "Fine. We've rested enough. Let's go."
They headed straight for the outskirts. When they reached the meeting spot, they spotted Zinnia leaning against the trunk of a massive tree, eyes closed, catching what looked like a thin slice of sleep.
Same outfit as before—but she looked worn down. Dusty. Hollow-eyed.
The second she heard their footsteps, her eyes snapped open.
The easy, friendly vibe from before was gone.
Now the air felt sharp—like they weren't enemies, but they weren't friends either.
Zinnia stared at Natsui for a long moment, like she was weighing him. Then she spoke, cold and blunt.
"Follow me."
She released Salamence and swung up onto its back in one smooth motion.
Clearly, they weren't done traveling.
Natsui exchanged a glance with Misty and gave a small shrug. He released Dragonite, and the two of them climbed on.
By then, Zinnia was already airborne, cutting southeast over the sea.
Trailing behind, Misty leaned closer and whispered, "What did you do to her? She looks like she wants to bite your head off."
Misty hadn't been there for the call. She only found out later it was Zinnia on the other end. As far as she knew, Zinnia had helped them before. Eccentric, sure—but better as a friend than a problem.
Natsui's eyes flicked toward Zinnia's back. He smiled like it was no big deal.
"What did I do? I just said a few things that got under her skin," he said. "She's intense. If she'd loosen up a little, we could both come out ahead. Instead we're stuck like this."
He wasn't lying.
If Zinnia had played along, even if Natsui took the Shiny Rayquaza from the Sky Pillar, he wouldn't have left her with nothing. He could've caught the normal Rayquaza from LaRousse City and handed it over as compensation. For the Draconids—who'd chased Rayquaza for generations—that would still be a dream.
But her stubbornness slammed that door shut.
At least they weren't openly fighting yet. There was still a sliver of room for things to shift.
Flying was absurdly fast compared to sailing or walking. In only a few hours, the silhouette of Sootopolis Island rose on the horizon.
But Zinnia didn't land.
She used it as a marker, then banked hard to the southwest.
Tiny islands blurred beneath them like scattered pebbles. After another hour, a deserted, uninhabited island appeared ahead.
Zinnia started to descend.
Natsui signaled Dragonite to follow, eyes scanning the place as they dropped.
It wasn't big—maybe the size of two football fields. Just low hills and yellow sand. Dead-looking. Empty.
Why here?
Natsui didn't understand it—but his face didn't move an inch.
As they landed, sand blasted up around their feet. Natsui hopped down, and the wrongness hit harder.
No wild Pokémon.
No birds cutting through the sky.
Not even a single Water-type near the shore.
That wasn't normal. Not even close.
But the stranger it looked, the more Natsui acted like this was perfectly routine. Calm. Unbothered. Almost bored.
He wanted Zinnia to believe he already knew exactly what this place was.
Sure enough, when she saw how steady he stayed, some of the doubt in her eyes eased.
Did this guy really come to the Sky Pillar before?
Because otherwise… how was he standing here, in this exact kind of emptiness, like it meant nothing?
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