After I briefly gave Steven what I knew about Team Flare, we spent the next few days in what was essentially isolation.

For regional security, there was an information lockdown going on with Team Flare, so we had no clue what was going on. Additionally, with Diancie in the Gym, none of us wanted to leave her alone and risk someone having an easier time going after her. As a Legendary Pokémon, we all knew she was more than powerful enough to defend herself, the issue was that she was just... naive.

It was easy to convince her to stay, especially with the argument that we would be traveling to Ramos's aforementioned forest as a group soon, but I could imagine someone completely unknown promising to take her somewhere and her following without question. While it felt like a manipulation, it genuinely wasn’t considering we actually had proof in the form of the Xerneas horn shard she... absorbed? Diancie just acted so similar to a young child it made me feel a bit awkward.

It was clear Diancie had lived in her kingdom her entire life. Almost everything she saw she looked at with wonder. We spent a bunch of time letting her meet some of Ramos’s numerous Grass Type Pokémon, and even demonstrated a few moves for her.

And on the move front? A Legendary Pokémon like Diancie was completely unfair.

Her primary way of attacking was to use Power Gem, where she sent Rock Type laser beams out of the gem on her head. However, she was also capable of conjuring a mass of diamonds and using them as an attack, which I recognized as a basic version of her signature move, Diamond Storm.

The unfair part came when Florges demonstrated Moonblast for her. Diancie had surprisingly never seen a Moonblast before, despite also being a Fairy Type. She immediately attempted to mimic Florges, and managed to figure it out within a minute. It was a stronger version of the attack, too.

I felt my eye twitch when I saw that, but Florges proved to be better than me and immediately cheered her new friend on.

We also spent a good amount of time training, where the primary developments were Whimsicott fully getting Energy Ball battle-ready, and Azumarill learning Splash.

Here’s the thing about Azumarill’s Splash: it wasn’t that she hadn’t known the move before. Azumarill actually learned it the day I told her about my idea. The issue was she refused to admit to knowing the move until she worked it into her fighting style.

If I were to describe the way she fought now, I would say she fought with some kind of mixture between a drunken monk, a schoolyard bully, and a MMA fighter. Worked into her Liquidation and Play Rough moves were attacks reminiscent of both what she learned all the way back in Dewford as well as what she figured out on her own. She used Splash to build up momentum and dodge at the same time, allowing herself to flop onto her tail and bounce off in any direction incredibly quickly. It would be hard to predict where she would go with that kind of movement.

Because of her new reliance on her tail, at times, she almost looked like an Azurill with the way her tail sat under her. However, unlike her species’s completely unevolved form, she was far too brutal to underestimate in any way.

After three days of waiting, right at 5pm, we finally got an update. Or at least, Ramos did.

Ramos explained that while it was unclear, there had been some kind of development on the Team Flare front. Things were in motion to help counter whatever they had going on, and we were given permission to go out. At Ramos’s prodding, we packed up quickly and left that night, choosing to leave the city while it was dark out to ensure there was less of a chance for people to notice us.

Since Diancie was traveling with us, we were forced to travel on foot rather than in the air. It was a shame, because Hope mentioned that Ramos had a chair that hooked up to a dozen different Jumpluff that could carry him around. However, Diancie could only go so far off the ground when she levitated (just like Florges), so walking it was.

The Allearth Forest—the forest that Xerneas supposedly would visit—was located off-route just south of the path Hope and I traveled before. It was surprisingly close to Coumarine considering the Legendary’s supposed presence, but at the same time it kind of made sense considering Ramos was partially in charge of both protecting it and keeping it a secret. I actually half remembered the place when Hope and I traveled to Shalour from Lumiose, since it was one of the places on the map with flying restrictions. Due to that status, the only trainers present would be the Pokémon Rangers that lingered along the edges. Other than them, we would be completely alone.

Traveling on foot was actually pretty relaxing. It’d been some time since I’d actually walked to a place, given how I had been relying on Altaria so much. Ramos, as an old man, wasn’t able to keep up despite his solid health, so he was forced to ride his Gogoat all the way. I admit, seeing Ramos ride his Gogoat to travel actually made me excited for when Ponyta evolved. As a Galarian Rapidash, he would be able to use his Psychic Type powers to travel at incredible speeds while also keeping a smooth ride.

I might have been affected by that Gogoat race the other day more than I thought.

It took two days of traveling on foot after that initial night trip out of Coumarine to reach the forest, where we arrived at a location nestled between two large mountains. The terrain was littered with towering cliffs and similarly large trees, and at the center of it, there was a wide waterfall pouring into an expansive lake. It was an impressive sight, but it didn’t fill me with any ease when Ramos said we had to reach the upper level.

However, we just used our Pokémon to bring us up instead.

Venusaur and Victreebell carried Hope and Ramos respectively, and Florges just grabbed me under my arms and floated to the top. Diancie also had an easy time making it, since she could float as well.

Once there, Ramos led us to a spot he had camped out at before, and we arrived in a nice little clearing to set up camp.

“So, we need to find Xerneas, right?” I asked Ramos while unfolding my tent. “This serves as a base camp, should we start moving around to see if it’s here?”

In response, Ramos laughed heartily.

“Oh, sprout. That’s funny. Yeh think we could just stumble on a Legendary Pokémon? Nay, Diancie was an exception. We’re camping here for as long as it takes for it to show up.”

I almost tripped where I was standing.

“A-and how long will that take?”

“Months at least,” Ramos said, shrugging. “Can’t say I’m an expert with Legendary Pokémon, never even thought I’d even lay my eyes on one. Diancie here disproved that, so maybe it’ll only take a few weeks? Xerneas has its whims, and it’s already a big ask for us to expect it to visit.”

I frowned.

“Days huh? Guess we’re camping,” I mumbled.

And so we were.

Without the need to do any pressing tasks in the Gym (the ones we left behind had been unceremoniously dumped on a returning Gym Trainer), our camping trip in what was essentially a forbidden forest became a mixture of both fun and training.

And I barely had my Pokémon train.

Our camp was set up rather close to the lake, which meant my Pokémon were able to visit it to play quite often. Ninetales got to practice “surfing” with ice floes, Florges simply let her lower half dip into it to rest, and the rest of the party played on the shore.

Azumarill skirted along the surface and splashed Mawile with the spray from Aqua Jet, who had been meandering along the shore with Ponyta. Mawile dug her large jaws into the water to disrupt the waves and splash her back, and as a result the brief spray turned into a massive water fight. It was made worse when Whimsicott joined in and used his new move, Energy Ball, to create large explosions of water, drawing everyone else into it, and even Dedenne, who had tagged along despite not being caught, jumped in.

Diancie, as a Rock Type, had come with my team as well. While she wasn’t a fan of water due to her weakness to it, she still had fun sending large, conjured diamonds at the water to create waves.

I watched from the shore with Altaria at my side. Neither I nor Altaria were that big on water, since I personally wasn’t a fan of wearing a swimsuit, and water caused Altaria’s fluff to completely press down on his body. He could shake himself clear of it pretty easily, but getting soaked was not in his schedule for the day.

Technically, the same would happen to Whimsicott’s cotton, but he just stayed in the air and managed to avoid all the waves.

In the end, the fight ended early when Dedenne and Whimsicott went overboard with a mass Electric Type and Stun Spore combo, stunning everyone. My team became a bit annoyed at that, but the pair were overjoyed and considered themselves the victors.

Hope had stayed behind to train with Ramos, and as willing as he was to act as a resource to help us improve, I honestly let my team neglect his presence here. We weren't competing in a region’s Gym Challenge at the moment, so there was no need to spend every waking moment training. We were allowed to have fun! Well, training was fun, but sometimes it was just nice to relax. Especially if we were to stay in this forest for so long.

Speaking of the forest itself, the Allearth Forest was littered with wild Pokémon unfamiliar with humans, with even some varieties hard to find in Kalos. There was one close encounter with an Arbok during a brief hike, but it was warned off by Mawile’s Stone Edge. Additionally, there was this one persistent Noctowl that kept trying to steal our food after putting us to sleep with Hypnosis, but Ninetales managed to finally scare it off with one well-timed Ice Beam. Most would-be thieves tended to escape partially frozen due to her.

We spent three days there just relaxing and decompressing after everything with Lysandre, and while the need to meet with Xerneas hung over our heads, it was nice to have a break. The energy was high at the prospect of meeting a new Legendary Pokémon, and going off that energy, Whimsicott and Dedenne (which was a terrifying combination), approached me with an idea.

It was something I couldn’t possibly miss on a camping trip.

So, I gathered the relevant members of the team, and we made a plan.

The sun was setting on the dark forest, and the night sky began to light up with the stars. Outside of civilization, the darkness was near impenetrable, and the only form of illumination we had was of the fire in the center.

Ramos was roasting some berries for his Pokémon while Hope was grooming her Cherrim. More specifically, she was pruning her Cherrim of stray growths of its petals. Diancie and Florges were chatting animatedly nearby, and, sensing it was finally time, I cleared my throat to gather everyone’s attention.

“So we’ve been here for sometime, but there’s been no sign of Xerneas. Because of that, we’ve basically been living through a big camping trip, but I can’t allow us to call it that just yet. After all, we're missing one key activity.”

I stayed silent to wait for Hope and Ramos to ask for what, but they just stared at me and waited for me to continue. Frustrated, I groaned and said what I wanted to say.

“Scary stories,” I stated neutrally.

Hope’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! I love scary stories! Did you hear the one about the Banette and the keyhole? Okay, so there’s this abandoned room—”

“Nope, nope, nope, I’m not even going to consider that one, nuh-uh,” I interrupted. “I have one in mind.”

Already, I could see Ramos gain a smirk as he realized what I was planning, and while that meant I had one less target, it just meant his powerful Grass Types wouldn’t stop me.

My Pokémon were out and about (mostly to set up what we had planned), so I called Ninetales over to get her help. Using her cryokinesis, she added just the slightest amount of ice to the fire to cool it off and weaken the flames, letting just the lower half of my face be illuminated by the light. Our camp darkened as the mood was set, and Hope scooted on her log to be ever so slightly closer.

“In the cold, northern region of Sinnoh,” I began, dropping my voice and speaking in a low tone, “lived a quiet family of three. Their life was comfortable enough. The father was a boat captain, ferrying others from island to coast, and the mother was a librarian, keeping lost myths and legends well-kept and public for all.

"The son of the family was nothing special, just an obedient kid who did as he was told, no questions asked. Each day he woke up early in the morning and left for class, then returned late in the afternoon after spending time with friends.

"He never broke the rules and was always on time. So you see, it was exceptionally worrying when he didn’t show up for breakfast in the morning.

"At first, the mother simply thought he was sleeping in, so she went upstairs and tried to nudge him awake. When that didn't work, she thought he was sick, and tried to take his temperature.”

I paused.

"It was perfectly normal.

"Worried, she shook him while he slept and found he was completely unable to wake. Terrified, she called a doctor to visit, too scared to move him from where he lay.

"From what the doctor could tell, the kid was in perfect health. No disease, no sickness, just... nothing. Just a boy stuck asleep.

"But then he started to moan."

An echoing whisper emanated through our camp, mimicking moaning noises and Hope suddenly jumped. I tried to force down a smirk. Whimsicott was probably having a lot of fun with those.

I continued.

"The boy shook and flailed, and screamed at the top of his lungs, and yet he couldn’t wake up, and the doctor still couldn’t find anything wrong with him. As far as they could tell, he was just stuck in a nightmare."

Ramos frowned.

"A nightmare, nothing more, and nothing less," I continued. "However, nightmares have a... certain way of reflecting reality, so the parents believed that for some reason, it was their fault. They thought their pressure to be a good son, to be a good student, had caused him to go comatose from stress."

I stopped speaking. The moaning sounds ceased.

"They were wrong.

"Unable to find a solution, they began to reach out to more...unusual experts. Psychics couldn't wake him up, channelers were just as stumped as the doctors, but one old crone gave the parents a glimmer of hope.

"See, many years ago, she acquired a rare item: a lunar feather, a fragment from the Legendary Pokémon Cresselia. With explicit instructions, she told the couple to place it on their child's head, turn off all the lights, and, once he awoke, immediately leave the house.

"The couple was unsure why, but they were so desperate they took the feather without question. And then, that night, they proceeded to do as she said. They carefully placed the feather on their child's head, turned off the lights, and waited.

"To their amazement, the moonlight just barely let them see their child’s eyes open up after what felt like ages. They were overjoyed. It had worked! Their child was awake! But their happiness did not last long. The boy was not happy, not tired, and not acting as if he just awoke from a long rest. Instead, his eyes were wild and panicked, and he looked around, horrified. He sat up in the bed and hugged himself, unable to properly celebrate escaping from the dream.

"'What's wrong, honey?' The mother asked. 'We woke you up from your nightmare.'

"Slowly, the kid turned his head and stared directly into his mother's eyes.

"'You don't understand,' was the child's reply. 'It's here.'

"In their joy to celebrate, the family forgot the crone's final instruction. They hadn’t left the house. Hurriedly, they grabbed their son to stand up and leave, but it was already too late.

"In the door frame of the bedroom stood a tall figure. Its body was dark as night, and its legs were as thin as toothpicks. Its white hair swayed in the wind as it stared at them with horrific red eyes, and the family found themselves unable to move.

"And you know what happened next?" I asked, deliberately pausing to let Hope respond.

Rustling echoed out from the nearby bushes and trees, but Hope was too mesmerized by my story to notice. Almost automatically, a bit dream-like, she responded.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"This."

The fire went out, plunging us into darkness. Altaria flew overhead, and with the help of Dedenne on his back, three feathers drifted down onto Hope, Ramos, And Diancie's heads. Everyone went still for a moment to process what just happened, and I threw myself to the ground to not block the silhouette that had been positioned behind me.

Like planned, Ninetales used Dazzling Gleam to light up the area, and the figure pushed there earlier by Azumarill was now revealed. It was pitch black with wavy hair, and had a pair of thin, needle-like legs. Its eyes were bright red and glowed in the light (they were actually a pair of gemstones I requested from Diancie), and it stood there, motionless, letting its hair move around unnaturally (Florges was controlling some plants with Grass Knot for that effect).

Hope and Ramos gasped and stood up to take a step back. Diancie was unable to react.

Laughing, I pushed to my feet. The light from Dazzling Gleam let me clearly see everyone's face, although it was a bit brighter than I expected. Ninetales stood next to me, helping get up, as the light continued to emanate from behind the Darkrai statue to create the silhouette.

"Wow, I didn't expect that to work so well. It's not actually anything I mentioned, just a shape made out of Whimsicott's cotton and some twigs. Pretty good, right?"

Ramos shook his head, and Hope shakily raised her hand to point behind me. Diancie began to float forward, wonder in her eyes.

"No, Alex. It wasn't that," she whispered. "Look."

Ninetales nudged my hand once more, and I froze. I could clearly see everyone's faces, but she was next to me, not using Dazzling Gleam.

So then, what was lighting everything up?

I turned around.

Night became day.

Branch-like antlers towered above me.

A massive blue deer stared down at us with casual interest.

Xerneas was here.

A lone man stood atop a grassy hill.

A soft breeze blew around him, causing his pale, thin hair to wave in the wind.

Head to toe, he was at least nine feet tall. Contrary to his impressive size, his outfit was anything but, consisting of worn scraps of clothes, faded over the years.

He stared impassively over the sleepy, northwestern Kalos town. His eyes stared down with the sharpness they should have lost millennia ago.

He would sigh if today wasn't so important.

A group of trainers in red vests blinked into existence at the town's edge, and sent out a number of Dark Types to attempt to obscure their presence. The man had long since become accustomed to their tricks, and saw through them as if they were a child's drawing. He watched as they quietly moved around the large piles of stones that surrounded the town, each one signifying a Pokémon that lost its life during the great war in the past.

He remembered what each one represented. After all, he assembled them himself.

"So this is it," he spoke with a deep, rumbling voice. "My greatest shame. Gone with a whimper, rather than a bang."

He continued to stare as the newest addition to the graves was destroyed, a large stone placed there by the men in red. A metal staircase was revealed underneath, and after a few muffled shouts, the area was swarmed with Ace Trainers sent there by the current ruling body.

It was the end.

The ancient king sat on the ground with a thud, and reached into his tattered coat to bring out a silver flask. He had long since lost the ability to get drunk, but sometimes, the flavor let him pretend he could.

He began to untwist the cap, only to drop it when he noticed the presence at his side.

The man shook.

"Why... Why do you show up now? At its final moment, you arrive to see it end? It's been 3,000 years..."

The presence moved to land on the ground next to him, and it scooched closer to lean against his large leg. The Fairy Type twirled its unique black and red flower as tears began to form in the man's eyes.

"There hasn't— Every day— There hasn't been a single day where I haven't regretted what I wrought. I traded far too many lives for this curse of ours. Your— I was blinded by my grief, and the cost was far, far too much. I... I am sorry. I am so, so, sorry."

His eyes leaving the scene in front of him, the ground shook as he let his body collapse on the ground. Tears streamed down his face, and the Floette he had missed for so long moved closer to wipe them out of his eyes.

Sounds of fighting rang out from below, and several attacks went wide. Pokémon and trainer alike fought to save this region of theirs, for different causes they believed in.

Floette floated into the air to watch, and the man clutched the rusted key that hung around his chest.

"I don't know why I kept this," he mumbled. "A reminder? A keepsake? Or was it just so I could always have the option? The Ultimate Weapon was a mistake, one that never should have been created."

The man turned to his lost friend, who had returned to him after all these years.

"Floette. My entire existence aches over the burden I carry. I have no one to blame but me. In this moment, I have the chance to make sure no one can ever repeat my mistake. Will you help me?"

There was no delay in Floette's nod, and the man sat up to bring his arm back. For the first and final time, the metal chain was torn off his body, and with a heave, the key sailed forward into the air.

"Let it be over."

Casually and with practiced grace, Floette took her strange flower and tilted it to point it at the falling key. It glowed with the iridescent light of infinity energy, and a pure white beam tore through the sky. The fighting stopped below as everyone on the surface looked up to see what the strange attack had been, but there was nothing to see.

The key had been disintegrated in the attack that was so similar to that of the Ultimate Weapon’s, and the man and his Floette were already gone. The same energy that wiped out thousands of lives in the past had now destroyed the last item that could repeat the process. The man and his Floette walked away, leaving this all behind them.

For the first time in a long time, AZ, the old king of Kalos, the creator of the Ultimate Weapon, and the man who became immortal to save his Floette, let himself smile.