Dungeon 39 – Human Being

Blaziken snarled, punching the ground beneath him just as Scar approached. From the ground, four stones were sent through the air, aimed at the Marowak.

“Ah, what a wonderful technique! But I’m afraid it will take more than that to strike me down!” Scar smiled, launching his club into the air.

The weapon struck all four stones, shattering them into pieces, leaving Blaziken dumbstruck at the sight; and distracting him long enough for Scar to give a series of quick jabs on the opponent’s arms and legs, rendering him immobile for the moment.

“Well, that was quite fun, I must say,” Scar backed away, grabbing his weapon.

“It was kinda overwhelming if you ask me!” Max sighed, lowering his head.

Against the others’ wishes, Max went next to Blaziken, and poked him. It was funny, so he did it again.

Scar sighed. “Maxwell, stop. He’s only immobile, if you keep this up, it will backfire!”

The mega Pokémon snarled again, grasping the grass with his hands; burning it. He closed his eyes and roared, bursting into flames once more. This pushed Max a few feet away, and Blaziken stood up.

His eyes were so red nobody could see his pupils or sclera, and he quickly got on all fours. His muscles tensed up, bulking, and he charged, trying to slash the Electivire.

Fortunately, Lilith noticed this and in the blink of an eye, kicked Blaziken’s face. She smelled her fur burning, but remained there, putting more force into the kick.

“Bastard! I’m kickin’ ya to orbit!”

She pressed on further, and launched Blaziken into the air. The fire-type screamed while flying through the sky, and Lilith fell down, rubbing her burnt feet.

“He’s still coming! Lilith, rest for now! We’ll take care of him!”

“Boss, I think I have an idea!” Max pointed out, crossing his arms in an “X” shape. “I’ll bring him to you, and then we can finish this battle! That emera must be powering him up! Otherwise we’d have won by now!”

Scar blinked, but then nodded. Trusting his teammate, he decided to get into position for whatever plan Max had come up with in that split second.

Blaziken, while falling, enveloped his body in more flames, which slowed down his descent. He transferred the heat to his feet, and then came crashing down at a bigger speed. Max, meanwhile, waited for the right moment to strike him down.

He began to sweat. The heat was getting closer each second, and he had to focus. Max could not screw this up, and he knew it very well. The enemy was strong, of course, but at that point… Blaziken didn’t even look like he had any idea what he was doing anymore.

He might have gone feral… which is a shame, but still! I’m kickin’ some ass right now!

Blaziken roared, preparing to burst more fire into the Electric-type. Max just smiled and jumped, punching the enemy with both arms, he then turned around and dropped Blaziken, launching him towards Scar.

“W-W-Wait! I didn’t think you meant this, Maxwell!” Scar sighed, and launched his bone right into Blaziken’s stomach, before jumping back as the club went in his direction like a boomerang.

“Ouch! Fuck! It’s too hot!” Max ran to the lake and dipped his arms in it, sighing in relief. “That was… that was something! But uh, we did win, right?!”

“I think we did,” Scar panted, looking at Blaziken.

The fire-type remained still, but was still breathing. With death out of the way, they still had to deal with the emeras, or what was left of them. Scar eyed Blaziken, and frowned beneath his skull helmet. The emera dust was sparkled all around Blaziken, and some of it fell on the grass.

“I think I understood what happened. This is a large amount of emera dust, he must have used… three at once?” Scar scratched his chin, unsure. “Well, that seems like the reasonable option here.”

Max finally took out his hands from the lake and shrugged. “What–”

A massive burst of energy from the top of the tree made them all look at it. The rainbow-colored beam shattered the walls and aimed at the sky, before slowly dissipating.

From the bottom, Scar saw the fight inside the tree. Morgan taking down Xerneas and… using some sort of device to capture her. His grasp on the club got tighter and the flames burned brighter.

Lilith blinked. “W-Whoa! That’s unexpected… do y’all think the kids are alright?”

“They better be! We can’t lose an ally right now!” Max screamed, gasping for air.

“Calm down, you two. We need to help, yes, but there are a few problems,” Scar pointed out. “We need to deal with Blaziken, and try to help Meganium heal the others.”

Reluctantly, the three agreed to this course of action, and Scar looked down at Blaziken. He was still passed out, but there was no telling when he would wake up.

“There are far too many witnesses here. We can’t ‘clean it up’ the usual way, right?” Max rubbed the back of his head.

“That is correct,” Scar said. “Maxwell, can you look after him? At this point, even if he does wake up, he’ll be too weak to be a proper threat.”

Max smirked, giving the Marowak a thumbs-up. He sat down next to Blaziken and yawned, stretching his arms.

“Don’t worry, boss! You can count on me! And I get to check out those weird emeras up close! Well, the dust, but you get the idea!”

“Lilith, let’s go. And… I hope they’re okay. We can only put our trust on them right now.”

“And if the Lucario isn’t strong enough?” Lilith asked.

Scar raised a brow. “Well, then I might have lost my time mentoring him. I hope that’s not the case.”

“Gotcha, gotcha,” Lilith smiled. “I do think he’s got the right idea.”

“He does.”

---

Meganium had wrapped most of the wounded in vines, and at the moment was transferring energy to them. She panted, and was only conscious due to sheer willpower. But even she had limits, and from the looks of her leaves, weak and whittered, she was getting near it.

Which is why it was a surprise when she saw Scar and Lilith approaching her, with the first holding a yellow seed and the latter, an oran berry. She sighed in relief and let out a faint smile.

“I appreciate your support, but shouldn’t you be helping the kids? They’re already going upstairs.”

“They can’t bear to lose this fight, I’m well aware, and I will go help them,” he handed the seed to her, and she chewed it right away. “You’re in critical condition, Meganium. We can’t afford to lose you, too.”

---

Morgan had escaped. Lance had him right on his grasp, and he escaped anyway. The one who abused him, who tortured him and who broke him had gone away, back into the human world.

“He… he left!” Lance fell on his knees, punching the ground with his fist.

Lance should be happy. He was gone, he wouldn’t hurt anyone else ever again. But something about that wasn’t right. He couldn’t quite put it into words, but there was something wrong about that entire conundrum.

Brian put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and sighed. “Hey, Lance… maybe this is for the best, don’t you think?”

“Not really!” Meggie looked around. “Xerneas is gone… didn’t Meganium say that she was connected to the tree?”

“Oh, you’re right…” Brian whined. “But I’m not sure what we can do to fix this.”

Both of them were correct. There was no way to fix this in sight, but Meggie still wanted to hold on to hope, even if it was a faint one.

“We’ll find a way!” Meggie cheered. “That’s what we’ve done so far, right?! Guys, we can’t give up!”

Lance sighed, clenching his fists. Perhaps revenge wasn’t what he needed to move on. His friends were still with him, even… no. The things he did… they were the right things to do.

“I understand, Meggie,” Lance stood up, taking a deep breath, and looking back at his teammates. “You’re right. This isn’t over.”

And it really wasn’t. Lance instinctively backed away, feeling his sensors twitch. Something was coming. Something powerful. He braced himself, and ordered the other two to do the same.

The wind inside began to blow and accumulate into a single point, that expanded in a pink sphere of light, until the sphere took a familiar shape: a Gallade.

Morgan gasped once the energy around him dissipated, and looked at himself. Still a Gallade, still a monster. His fur ruffled with the wind, and his arms trembled.

“N-No! NO! This shouldn’t be happening! I should be home!” He snarled, punching the wall in anger. His fist drew blood.

Lance snarled, but twitched his ears. Why did Morgan’s plan fail? They arrived too late to stop him from capturing Xerneas, but he should be long gone by now.

“If Xerneas is connected to the tree, and since it’s damaged now…” Lance looked at the hole. “Maybe she got weakened, and that’s why you couldn’t do the jump.”

“Silence, you freak of nature!” Morgan unleashed a blade of dark energy that nearly hit Lance. The Lucario dodged at the last second and saw the blade cutting through a part of his headband.

Meggie released a wind of ghost energy on Morgan, forcing him backwards. She then cracked her knuckles, producing water spheres on both hands.

“Well, looks like you’re stuck with us, boss… and now? Now it’s time we end all of this!”

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Brian put on his goggles and snarled.

Their opponent just laughed, lowering his head. A maniacal laughter. He smirked and met gazes with the three. How pathetic.

“Very well. If Xerneas is too weak to bring me home, I’ll just take away your power!”

Lance adjusted the headband and inhaled, flaring his aura up. For years, he wondered how his final confrontation with his abuser would be. But now that he finally had the opportunity… Lance smiled.

“Every day I had a nightmare about you,” he said. “I’ve lost my childhood, and the mon I am today… it’s all thanks to you.”

“Don’t blame me for your problems, number ten,” Morgan said, still holding his calm. “You’re nothing to me. You’re merely a tool that I had to use, and I’m not afraid of destroying you.”

“We’re with him, until the end of the world!” Brian snapped his fingers, creating a dark sphere on his hand.

“And your reign of terror ends here!” Meggie screamed, rushing towards her former boss and friend. Her face was furious, and she grit her teeth.

Morgan jumped, dodging Meggie’s attack, but got hit by the dark sphere from Brian. He cringed in pain, and commanded the three mega Pokémon with him to stand up. In a second, they all were back in the fight.

Lance smirked. “But I’m no longer number ten. I’m me. I’m Lance Williams. I’m leaving this part of my past behind me today!”

The Gallade just scoffed and roared, drawing more power from the pokéball Xerneas was in. The pink glow around his body shifted into the shape of the legendary and he cracked his neck, rushing towards his enemies.

---

Morgan slashed through the three of them in a single instant, cutting their bodies in half. However, the team faded in a flash of red light; it was an illusion.

Lance was charging towards Morgan while he was distracted, using a bone of energy in his hand. He jumped, and was about to hit the Gallade.

“You pieces of shit! Setting me up like this!” Morgan said, gathering purple energy on his right palm. He turned around and released it on Lance, sending him to the air.

Brian snapped his claws, making them glow with dark energy. “Don’t hurt him, asshole! I’m gonna–”

He was interrupted by a sudden stream of water, soaking him up and making the fox fall on his knees. Morgan smirked, raising his hand as it crackled with electricity.

“W-Wha?! What’s up with you?! Psyshock, Teleport, Psychic and Night Slash! Four moves, how do you have Thunder–”

Morgan tapped Brian’s head and unleashed the electric discharge, and his screams filled the air; the water on his body making it so much more painful. His body crackled, fizzled with the electricity coursing through him. And it suddenly stopped.

“I suppose absorbing Xerneas’ powers had quite the effect on me…” Morgan said, and his eyes darted to Brian’s gauntlet. “Oh? What’s that? How did you find such an item?”

“…Made it myself! It works like this!” Brian pressed the gauntlet on the Gallade, and the shock sent him flying straight to the wall.

Meggie was trying to dodge the three mega pokémon attacking her. Pidgeot was by far the easiest one, as she froze its wings and it crashed. Blastoise and Glalie, on the other hand…

“Guys! A little help here?!” Meggie dodged a blast of water by freezing it with a few shards, and then releasing a devastating ghostly ominous wind on the Blastoise. Glalie crashed against her and she fell to the ground, struggling to get up.

With bruises all over her, Meggie panted. She used all her strength to stand up, not bothering to deal with the pain right now. In front of her, she saw the three pokéballs belonging to Morgan’s subordinates, and an idea clicked on her mind.

“We’re kinda in a hurry here, Meg!” Brian let out multiple dark balls towards Morgan, but he sliced them open with his bladed arms.

“Don’t worry! I have an idea! You guys deal with him for now!”

---

Meggie inhaled, and floated once more. She grabbed one of the balls just as Blastoise tried to hit her using the cannons on its back, but she dodged and pushed a button on the center of the ball.

To her surprise, it did nothing to Blastoise. Instead, it released a red energy beam towards Pidgeot, locking it inside the capsule.

“O-Oh, of course! He didn’t name tag these things! What an idio–” Another water blast, but this time she hovered upwards and clicked the second pokéball, capturing Blastoise inside it.

Great! All that was left was dealing with Glalie. It was a bit interesting to her, considering that could have been her, had she not used the stone.

Fighting Glalie was a different thing. For one, it continuously tried to crash its body into hers, and oh, she knew exactly what that move was. Rollout, of course! To slow it down, she released the same ghostly wind as before.

That attack wasn’t as effective as she hoped, but nonetheless, Meggie still pushed. Glalie’s movements, while fast at first, were slowing down with the strength of Meggie’s resistance.

“Come on, body! Y-You can do this! Just… a little more!”

The mega Pokémon finally gave in, and Meggie was able to throw the final pokéball to capture it.

She hovered to the floor, panting in exhaustion. While her plan worked, there was still the chance that Morgan would release them again. In order to stop that, she froze the opening mechanism, rendering the pokéballs useless for the moment. She hoped Brian would be able to set them free after this was all over.

---

Morgan stumbled back, panting. His blades glowed with energy, and he unleashed two large energy slices through the air, aiming at the three.

“I’m done fighting with you all! Why don’t you just die already?! Your lives are worthless!”

Lance was pushed backwards, getting his feet dragged on the wooden floor. He cringed and bit his lip due to the pain, but remained still.

“I have an idea…” Lance snarled, creating an aura sphere on his right palm. “Meggie, I need you to distract him right now! Brian, come with me!”

Meggie nodded and immediately charged at Morgan, releasing shards of ice that he promptly dodged or destroyed with both blades. She inhaled, wrapping water around her hands and shaping it into a sharp disc that was launched in the air towards Morgan, freezing in the middle of the way.

“This is pitiful!” Morgan dodged, although barely, as the disc cut through a part of his fur, that fell on the ground.

“Oh, come on! You’re sounding like a broken record by now!”

“Shut up, Meggie! You rejected your humanity, do not talk to me like that!”

She ignored the insult and clasped her hands together. Meggie spun around in the air, unleashing a frozen version of her water pulse attack. This caught Morgan off-guard, and he tried to block the attack by crossing his arms, but got hit anyway.

“I’m doing the best I can, guys! But I’m not gonna hold on for much longer!”

Meggie used this opportunity to blow more wind into Morgan, using all her breath to do so. However before Meggie could hit him with another shard, he looked at the edge of the area, wrapping himself and teleporting out.

Lance inhaled, increasing the size of his aura sphere. Thanks to Meggie’s help in slowing Morgan down, he could see where his gaze was. “Brian, let’s tune our attacks… he can’t dodge this combo!”

The fox seemed to understand and created his own dark sphere. He stood side by side with his brother, and their attacks combined. The result was a glowing ball of ghost and fighting energy that they launched at the opponent. Morgan, having just teleported to the side, still tried to dodge by launching another psychic beam, but the attack passed right through it, and he screamed, falling to his knees.

It couldn’t be. How did they do that? The energy was too strong, and he ended up coughing up blood. Morgan got up again, albeit barely, and panted.

“Why do you keep fighting?! You’re beasts, monsters! You shouldn’t have this power!”

Meggie hovered once more, but she was visibly exhausted. Her body had bruises all over, and her breath was raspy. “Well, you don’t understand this. They’re not beasts, they’re like us!”

“We suffer, we love, we push through adversities!” Lance shouted. “I don’t know what humans are like, but… I’m not a monster. I never was. Even after all the experiments… I’m me!”

“SILENCE!” Morgan clenched his fists, raising Lance high up into the air. “I’m not listening to any of you! None of you, not even you, Meggie, understand! I’m superior! I’m a human! I’m a human being!”

“Let… my brother… go!” Brian dashed, slashing through Morgan’s body. The Gallade screamed, releasing his hold of Lance, and blood dripped from his stomach. His armor cracked.

Years and years of hard work, of hardships, of efforts to go home, only for them to keep fighting and trying to stop him. How pathetic. How hilarious.

“Ha… ha… hahahahah!” Morgan laughed, despite the pain he felt, he couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re just too funny! I can’t believe you three!”

Morgan was simply finding those three resisting him to be amusing. Primitive creatures, who dared to challenge him, a being so much more powerful. It was too funny not to laugh.

Lance got on the ground once more, but got up as soon as he could, aura sensors beginning to twitch. The eerie glow around Morgan burst, and his wounds healed. He continued to laugh all the way.

“This is it. Number ten, goodbye!” Morgan took hold of the Lucario once more, and with a single push, launched him out of the three, through the hole he opened before. Lance’s headband fell to the ground as he was tossed outside.

Brian screamed, and lunged on Morgan again, punching him in the face. The Gallade didn’t even flinch, releasing a beam of fairy energy directly on Brian, who fell in pain due to the effectiveness of the move, burning his body.

---

Lance yelled mid-air, seeing his friends and Morgan further away from him. He was about to fall, and had to think of something, fast!

A single branch drew his attention. Lance aimed at the ground and shot an aura sphere, propelling himself upwards, next to the branch, grasping it with his claws.

“Now… don’t fail me now!” he climbed up and stopped to catch his breath.

Alright. I somehow survived. That’s… great, but this battle isn’t over yet. There has to be a way of stopping him!

Lance looked at the hole to check how the fight had progressed since he was thrown out, and his eyes glowed purple once more. Inside, he saw Morgan powering up using Xerneas’ aura. He was absorbing it.

Wait. He’s tampering with it, isn’t he? Like I did… back then.

The words Scar once said to him in front of the hospital were now flashing inside his brain. Somehow, Morgan was doing the exact same thing he did back then. Maybe that armor he had was doing it. Regardless of the reason behind it, Lance clenched his fists. And on the back of his mind, an idea surged.

He checked the looplet around his left arm; it still had the emera. So far, Lance only used it three times, and that power… it was incredible. It was what he needed, wasn’t it?

…Bingo.

Lance raised his arm and let the emera transfer its energy to him. No fear, nor regrets. Lance was going to win, for himself, for his friends, and for the world.

The Lucario’s body changed. His sensors expanded, growing longer, his tail became fluffier, and his aura, once wild and untamed, now merely glowed around his body.

“It’s… time for payback!” Lance rushed inside, taking a deep breath.

---

Brian was still collapsed on the floor, with Meggie moving his body in an attempt to wake him up, crying. Morgan laughed, slowly approaching them.

“C-Come on, Brian! Don’t give up on me now! I need you! I-I can’t do this by myself…!”

“How pitiful,” Morgan said, pointing his blade at Meggie’s neck. “His life is pointless, my dear. Don’t you think it’s better to end it? Let me take away his energy, and maybe we can escape this madness…”

“Go… away!” Meggie unleashed a powerful water pulse that Morgan had to hold off by clawing the floor. Her body frailed, and she tried once more to wake up Brian.

The fox was still breathing, slowly, but he was alive. Meggie shed tears and hugged him.

“W-Whoa, hold on!” Brian blinked, taken back by the sudden hug. “O-Okay Meg, I like that, but it still hurts! O-Ouch!”

“Whoops, sorry!” she quickly backed away, blushing.

Morgan panted. “How adorable. If you’re done with the sweet reunion, I guess it’s time to end this, I’ve had enough of this nonsense!”

Morgan charged more electricity into his arms, and just as he was about to hit the two, when he was hit by a sudden shot of silver, metallic energy on his cheeks. The attack didn’t graze him, but left a stinging and burning sensation around his cheek.

Taking a look at the direction of the move, he scoffed when Lance pointed his arm at him, a small smoke coming out of it.

“I see, you mega evolved too. Delightful, are you here for a rematch, number ten?”

“It’s not going to be much of a match…” Lance sighed, and in a split second, he ran, stopping right in front of Morgan.

The Gallade tried to cut through Lanc with the blade, but he responded by blocking with the spike on the back of his arm. It sparkled like metal once it collided, and Lance kept pushing, while Morgan tried to break the spike. To his surprise, the impact was hurting him instead of Lance.

“W-What, how?! What… what are you made of?!”

“Well, I am a steel-type, aren’t I?” Lance smirked, and touched Morgan’s chest with his paw.

His muscles weren’t moving at all, almost like they couldn’t. But he knew they weren’t broken, or dislocated, or anything of the sort. Lance was doing this to him. That… that Riolu from so many years ago was doing it. And it terrified Morgan, down to his core.

Immediately the Gallade began to scream in pain, sensing his energy, his own life force being drained away into Lance’s body. The Lucario kept doing it, and his grin grew wider as his wounds were beginning to heal.

Morgan tried to escape, or at least get away, but his body had no strength to do anything of the sort.”L-Let me go, you fool! Release me!”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…”

Lance’s palm burst with aura and he launched Morgan onto the wall, letting out a loud, cracking noise as the Gallade coughed up more blood and fell to the ground.

Brian slowly got on his feet, clearing his throat. He took a look at his sibling, and gave a loud gasp. Lance twitched his ears and approached the two.

“I’m… I’m fine. Don’t worry about that. I just took the amount I needed to heal myself. Think of it as some sort of ‘reverse Heal Pulse’. It’s… complicated.”

Brian gulped down, drooping his ears. “Uh, alright? But he’s not dead, r-right?!”

“He’s getting back up!” Meggie pointed out.

Morgan coughed more blood, and threw up on the floor. He grasped the wall with his hand and shakily stood up. His head was lowered, but Morgan raised it slowly, looking at the three Pokémon in front of him.

“You… you… what… what did you do… to me?!” Morgan asked, trying to move, but threw up again.

Lance merely closed his eyes and smiled. “I’m sensitive to aura. I noticed Xerneas’ was getting drawn to you, so I decided to stop that. I took some of your aura to myself.”

He grit his teeth. Morgan roared, screaming as loud as he could. The pokéball in the middle of his belt glowed in pink energy that was being transferred back to him.

“I’m not… dying here! I’ll just take out all of Xerneas to myself! And you can’t… s…t…o…p… me…“

Morgan fell on his knees, screaming more. His hands began to grow claws that he used to scratch the floor. His eyes glowed, and what looked like pink tears streamed down his face.

“W-What’s happening to him?!” Meggie gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

“He’s… turning feral.” Lance answered, crossing both arms.

He was right. Morgan looked at his clawed arm, and it trembled, his fur was becoming scruffier, more unkempt. His gaze darted from the arm to Lance, and he stuttered, struggling to speak.

“N-No… n-n-no! Y-You… you can’t do…” the words stopped, and Morgan let out a growl. A feral growl. “S-Stop it! Stop… sto…p… I-I a human…!“

Lance simply stepped forward, still having both arms crossed. His smile grew wider, but he remained still. “I’m giving you exactly what you deserve.”

Morgan fell on all fours, sensing his bones cracking and shifting. No! This was madness! He forced himself to get on two feet again, and snarled. The aura around him grew wider, and his teeth began to sharpen.

Those three… they were attacking him, his territory. How dare they do that?! Morgan snarled again, his mouth drooling.

“Brian,” Lance looked back. “This battle is almost over. I need you to get Xerneas out of him! Just take off that armor! I’ll handle him! Meggie, help me with this!”

Morgan snarled, lunging towards Lance. The Lucario’s grin spread further and he simply punched the Gallade’s leg, until he heard it cracking, and with a signal to Meggie, the ice-type dashed, launching a freezing wind on him, enough to slow down Morgan’s movement.

“A-Alright!” Brian started his gauntlet once more, and dashed to his brother’s right. He unleashed the full current on Morgan’s armor, and the shock spread across his body. He grasped the pokéball with all his might and yanked it off, falling on his rear.

The Gallade yelped in pain, and stuttered back. He fell on all fours again, but this time, he didn’t try to stand up. He opened his mouth and snarled, dripping drool on the ground.

“This is your fate. I’m not killing you, but… this is worse than death,” Lance said, before Morgan lunged at him. He just punched the Gallade and he fell to the ground, passing out.

---

Scar finally climbed up the stairs. He had left Lilith down so she could help treat the wounded, and decided to give his assistance to the team.

To his shock, once he got inside, the battle was already over. Morgan was knocked out on the floor, while the team was panting, clearly exhausted from the fight, but alive, and triumphing over their enemy.

“You all… you did it!” Scar proclaimed, smiling beneath his helmet. “Congratulations…”

“No, this isn’t over,” Lance looked at Brian. “Can you take her off that… thing?”

“It’s a pokéball,” Meggie explained, sitting down. “And I think you just gotta click the middle of it!”

Nodding, Brian did as instructed, before throwing the ball into the air. In a matter of seconds, Xerneas was restored to her corporeal form, but collapsed, panting.

“Mistress Xerneas…” Scar bowed. “I am sorry that you had to deal with all of this. But we did our best to minimize the damage.”

Even in her weakened state, the legendary made an effort to try and talk with them. At least to thank them.

“You four… no, you six, correct?” Xerneas said. “I… thank you for your services. If you had not intervened, I would be long gone. For that, you have my sincerest congratulations.”

“I think you should rest, lady!” Brian fell on the ground, closing his eyes. “Honestly, all of us. I’m so fucking tired… I could use a beer right now!”

Lance walked to the hole on the side of the tree, and looked up at the sky. He shed a single tear. It took him seventeen years, but he finally found closure.

I did it. I… I won. I won against my past. I don’t need to be afraid anymore. It’s… over.

“I can’t believe we did it…” Meggie said, sighing in relief. “We actually did it. Thanks, Lance, Brian. I’m happy… I’m happy I got to meet with you both.”

Lance nodded, still looking away at the sky, the beautiful blue sky.

“Hey, shorty!” Brian shouted at him, and Lance looked back. “Alrighty… smile, dude! You earned this!”

Lance considered the option. It was like a weight was lifted off him, and he couldn’t be prouder. A small part of him was sad that Morgan was still alive, but… he wasn’t a threat anymore. He got what was coming to him, and became the one thing he despised the most.

“…Alright, Brian. You won this round.”

He looked at his allies, his friends, and gave them the most genuine smile he could muster.

---

A whole week had passed since the climactic battle, and while the tree was still damaged, Xerneas was now doing her best to fix it, along with her fallen soldiers. For the moment, things looked well for them.

As for the team, they headed to the beach, where Gyarados was still waiting for them. Lance was the last to arrive, wrapped in bandages. On his hand, he held the headband, tattered because of the fight.

“We should go now,” Scar smiled to the others. “This was a hard battle, but in the end, we got through it. We need to rest.”

“I can agree! Lance, once we get back to Bright Dawn, I’m throwin’ a party!” Brian cheered, raising his arm and clasping hands with Max.

“Suit yourself,” Lance sighed. He looked back at the island, where he saw none other than Meganium walking up towards them.

She sported a smile, one none of them saw before. “I am in debt with you six. Your actions saved my mistress, and I am forever thankful.”

Meganium bowed, and kept her smile. The others, except for Lance and Scar, were shocked to hear her saying such things. The Lucario stepped forward, crossing his arms.

“And what will happen with… him?”

“He will be released into the wild. I’m not sure how you did it, but Morgan is no longer a threat.”

“Very well,” Lance turned around, getting on Gyarados. “And… perhaps one day we will see each other again.

The rest of the team climbed up on Gyarados’ back and waved to Meganium as they left the island. Lance closed his eyes, with his heart skipping a beat. It was… all over.