Western Hoenn. Forina.
The ruined mountains, rivers, and earth returned to their original forms. The body of the Monster of the Earth began to melt away. It stretched out a claw, still trying to touch Groudon, still unable to forget its hunger for natural energy even in the final moments before death.
Endless rays of light descended.
Not a single one was meant for the Monster of the Earth.
Within its wailing roar, no consciousness remained. Only the instinct to devour still writhed on.
An infinite rain of meteors had arrived.
[In the end, how could a cheap imitation ever beat the real thing? I won!]
[Still, this battle was satisfying enough. I absorbed quite a lot of natural energy too. I'll need some time to digest it...]
[...How nostalgic. Looking at these meteors, it feels like a thousand years ago. Two thousand years ago. Countless meteors smashed into this world and released abundant natural energy. Then my history with Kyogre and Rayquaza began!]
Groudon released its Primal Reversion. The Red Orb turned into a streak of light and left its body, and then it looked toward the peak of a distant stone spire. The Pokémon left behind by the Draconid people were there.
The one holding the orb and gazing up at the sky was a Pokémon that looked almost like a machine... Hmm. Gardevoir? Or Gallade?
She simply stared at the sky, completely unconcerned with what was happening here.
[Do you regret never going to space?]
[Of course. Taking Pokémon into space... how many Pokémon can even survive out there?]
[Speaking of which, I've never flown once in my life. I have sunk into the sea before, but that was absolutely awful.]
[Power of destruction becoming power that gives life, soft rays of light... From now on, this place will probably return to a lush, green land. Hah. Still, what does that have to do with me?]
Groudon turned in another direction and left without hesitation.
"Groudon is going back to Mt. Chimney. That direction isn't the Embedded Tower."
"It was originally hiding in the Terra Cave, inside another dimension. If it goes into Mt. Chimney, it won't cause a huge volcanic eruption, will it?"
Maxie patted the regeneration device, while Tabitha looked a little awkward. "Leader, we finally fixed the device. Is it really going to end up being useless?"
"Forina's terrain and landforms seem to have recovered too."
"Idiot." Maxie pushed up his glasses. "Have you forgotten the connection between Jirachi and the comet? After the Star Child absorbs the energy, it still has to use the power of this machine to inject that energy back into the earth."
"The stolen natural energy still hasn't all been returned. The Monster of the Earth is lying on the ground, melting into sludge... Clearly, our help is still needed."
"This concerns Hoenn's prosperity for the next thousand years. Whether humans and Pokémon can survive in this ideal world depends on this. It is vital. Check the equipment quickly. We cannot allow even the smallest mistake at the final moment!"
"And I need to go see Butler. That man has been revived as well."
At that moment, a dark-faced, bearded man in a diving suit walked over.
"Jirachi reached space safe and sound... Looks like the wish I made back then is still working! Hahahaha!"
"After this, we return the Red Orb... The new AZOTH Project is complete. That will be enough. Keeping everything the way it originally was is best."
Archie had made a wish to Jirachi, whom he had met long ago.
He wished that the laughter of humans and Pokémon would last forever, continuing on just like this.
Of course, if this were Archie from the Pokémon Adventures world, he would probably say something like, "The wish is granted. This thing's useless now."
After all, they were fundamentally two different people.
"Make a wish while looking up at the sky, and the stars will quietly shine~. Make a wish upon the stars, and the future will sparkle bright~."
"Ah~ my lonely heart from long ago is now... deeply wrapped in your light~."
Maxie said, "Hm? What song is that? I've never heard it before. And your singing voice is unexpectedly decent. Just a bit too rough."
Archie burst out laughing. "That's the song I sang for Jirachi a long time ago."
——————————
In outer space, Jirachi's soft, childlike voice echoed in everyone's hearts.
"There's still one wish I can grant!"
"Do you want to make a wish? Have you decided what you want to wish for?"
None of them had any particular wish they desperately wanted granted.
For these brave boys and girls, their wishes were things they would achieve with their own hands.
Ash wanted to become a Pokémon Master.
Brendan was already a Champion, while May wanted to become someone as strong as Brendan—and defeat Steven.
Steven was a rich young master, so he had no great desires either. It was not as if he could ask for more stones from space. If things went badly, that might bring down a second giant meteor. Besides, he had actually gained quite a few special stones this time, although he was still unconscious from exhaustion right now.
Hikaru said, ["This Shore, don't you have any wish you want to make?"]
Aster said, "If I were to make a wish... I'd want people and the things they long for to never be separated."
"Anything beautiful would be fine..."
Hikaru said, ["Wait. Not that one."]
Aster blinked. Hikaru , meanwhile, thought of Jirachi from the Rescue Team world. When someone made the wish, "Anything good is fine," it would directly drag Pokémon over from wherever they originally were.
Back in Red and Blue Rescue Team, players used that wish to farm companions. Those companions must have been so grateful.
Aster laughed despite herself and shook her head. "I don't know why that's no good, but since you're the one saying it, I'll trust you."
"Then I'll change my wish..."
As she spoke, she suddenly looked toward a certain direction in space.
As a departed spirit, her senses had allowed her to foresee the appearance of a certain special Pokémon.
"Huh? What's going on? It feels like something..."
Boom!
A huge hole like a distortion in space-time appeared, flashing with eerie rainbow light, as if space itself had burst open.
Hoenn's Ultra Wormhole.
In ORAS, an Ultra Wormhole appeared at the Battle Frontier and brought over the amnesiac Looker from another world.
The protagonist would encounter Looker on the beach of the Battle Resort. He was soaking wet, lying on the shore as waves washed over him, and severely dehydrated. A kindhearted older woman passed by and helped him back to her cabin. Afterward, the player could meet the two of them again in the house on the far right side of the Battle Maison, where the woman would explain that Looker had lost his memory.
Speaking to Looker at this point would reveal that his only memory began when he woke up by the sea. He had no impression at all of his identity or purpose.
During the conversation, the background music would switch to Looker's theme, but in a slower and faintly sorrowful arrangement.
Later, in the Sun and Moon era, the reason behind this was revealed.
Hoenn's only Ultra Wormhole had opened.
["An Ultra Wormhole! Wait, was it opened by Rayquaza, the Deoxys, and Jirachi's light? Or is there something behind that wormhole..."]
Hikaru did not have a backpack with him. Since he was wearing a space suit, he had left the backpack down below. However, he had still brought the Prism Star with him.
At that moment, the Prism Star released an intense glow.
At the same time, Hoenn entered a long night. Only this time, an eerie weather effect resembling [Cloudy] seemed to appear. Endless darkness rose from the edge of the earth and spilled out of the Ultra Wormhole.
[Raid chance +40%]
[Raid chance +60%]
[Raid chance +100%!]
[The Prism Star has changed—]
[Obtained: Ultranecrozium Z!]
A pitch-black hooked claw appeared on the far side of the Ultra Wormhole. Along with a shrill howl, it brought forth endless darkness.
A Pokémon that had once shone across the universe like the sun.
And now...
It was the Ruler of Darkness.
Also the Dark Emperor of the Dark Universe... Alien Empera?!
The last survivor of a doomed world, a being whose hatred had been born from light, bearing the resentment of all its people as it launched a war of vengeance against all light in the universe.
The invasion of the Land of Light!
"LinoooLiiight."
"「Li... no...」"
"「Liiight!!!!」"
["I already know the third wish. The creature in front of us once had power surpassing every Legendary Pokémon that has appeared so far!"]
So the Ultra Beasts were monsters brought by Alien Empera? Were they about to start the Ultra Great War?
Come to think of it, Necrozma's light really did inject energy into Ultra Space.
Seeing everyone enter battle stances, Hikaru waved his hand.
["Don't fight! You'll be sucked into the Ultra Wormhole! Once you're dragged into some distant universe, there'll be no saving you! You'll never return to this world!"]
["I'm making a wish!"]
["At this exact moment, can you erase this Pokémon's pain and restore it to its original state?"]
Jirachi said, "No... I can't do that."
"This suffering monster... its power has been scattered across many universes."
Hikaru thought, Sure enough, Jirachi really is Shenron.
It had wishes it could grant, and wishes it could not.
Compared with the astronomer Jirachi from the Mystery Dungeon world, this world's Jirachi was a little weaker. That was normal. It had slept for too long.
Besides, how could the light of a comet compare to the sun?
Necrozma had once stolen the light of an entire world and had even tried to devour Alola's light. The scale of a Pokémon's influence and the strength it personally possessed were different things.
["Jirachi, then... I'm changing the third wish."]
["'Ultra Wormholes cannot casually take any life away from our world! Unless that life leaves willingly, or unless the wormhole is opened willingly!'"]
["Let this planet remain at peace for one thousand years, until the next millennial cycle!"]
The goal was to make Ultra Wormholes controllable, not to hand the right to open them over to the Ultra Beasts.
"It seems there is another kind of Pokémon that can ignore my wish. So the wish can be granted, but it can't be done perfectly."
Jirachi was a little frightened. It looked at the hooked claw reaching out from the Ultra Wormhole and spoke with effort.
"This wormhole was opened from the depths of space. It comes from a very, very distant universe, somewhere even I can't see. So I can only stop the wormhole from naturally sucking our people away right now. I can't stop creatures inside the wormhole from appearing and grabbing people, but I can drive them back."
"As time passes, the power from that distant universe will gradually recover too... because there is simply too much of it."
"Even so, do you still want me to grant this wish?"
Hikaru said, ["That's enough. Please grant the wish. Ah, but don't send my Celesteela back!"]
The true eye on Jirachi's belly released a third ray of light, and the words of the wish appeared on its wish tags.
The Ultra Wormhole and the aura of darkness before them rapidly began to recede.
Necrozma, which had come for the light, fixed its rainbow-colored eyes firmly on Hikaru atop Mega Rayquaza's head.
The Ultra Wormhole closed.
The sources of light that shone through the universe...
Am I being driven away like this?!
The silver light radiating from Jirachi's body filled the pitch-black god with unbearable desire.
As the Ultra Wormhole closed, Necrozma heard Jirachi's voice.
"Your wish has been granted!"
The pitch-black Ruler of Darkness let out a roar calling for light. It had already lost the reason it once possessed, leaving only madness after its fall into darkness.
In that sense, the current state of the Blinding One was exactly the same as the Dark Emperor from the Mystery Dungeon world, whose heart had collapsed.
"「From this moment on, all light shall be veiled, and this planet's breath shall be severed!」"
"「I will return and turn this place into a land of absolute darkness. Together with Alola... perish! Give me your light!」"
In distant Ultra Megalopolis.
On Megalo Tower, Ultra Necrozma was sent straight back by the power of the wish, crashing into the tower with a roar and dimming its light.
The tower slowly began to collapse.
Ultra Megalopolis seemed to have lost its light once again.
Terrified voices rose one after another. Zossie of the Ultra Recon Squad hurried toward the tower.
"Blinding One, Blinding One! What happened to you...?! Why did you suddenly leave? Why did you fall from the sky again?"
"Please, don't go berserk again. Are you about to awaken? Did light worthy of your hunger appear in some distant world?"
Behind Zossie, the other members of the Ultra Recon Squad appeared.
"Necrozma went berserk... No doubt about it. It charged into another universe."
"Could the [beast that devours the sun] have appeared?"
"And look! A powerful light burst out of the Ultra Wormhole, and the wormhole actually closed on its own?! This light is beneficial to the growth of the Legendary beasts..."
"But this isn't normal... We need to call Lunala!"
Above Hoenn.
The Ultra Wormhole slammed shut. Three emerald stars shone in space, speaking with one another.
Jirachi yawned and slowly settled into Ash's arms.
"I'm a little tired. I want to go back to Forina."
"I'm so happy. This time, it seems I can stay awake for eight days... That's one more day than last millennium. The way time flows in space is so interesting."
"Did my wish help you? If it did, that would be best."
Hikaru said, ["The terrifying age of long drifting has ended. At last, this world has gained a radiant paradise of prosperity."]
["Now that I think about it, doesn't this world seem like..."]
In the distant depths of space, Ultra Megalopolis—galactic humanity—continued its battles against Necrozma and the Ultra Beasts. Due to an accident involving time transfer, they were sent to an undiscovered planet inhabited by humans, a world with seas and islands...
A planet once called Earth.
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet!
"Will you listen to my wish?"
Jirachi spoke to everyone. "I want to hear a song... When we go back to Forina, will you sing for me?"
"I want to hear a lullaby... No, this time, I want to hear a song about the stars."
"The song of meteors."
"Then I'll sing it for you, Star Child," Aster said with a smile. She also spoke to Zinnia. "Far Shore, you should sing with me too."
["Even in dreams, you may not necessarily be alone."]
Hikaru's words made both Aster and Jirachi pause slightly.
["Well, the mysterious little tool was left on the ground. Dream Mist can let Pokémon enter the world of dreams and be happy there forever... Of course, perhaps one day, like another Jirachi in the Star Cave of a distant universe, one skilled at astronomical observation, you may be able to stay awake whenever you want instead of waking once every thousand years."]
["Still, if that happens, humans will surely keep chasing after you out of greed."]
["Once you enter the dream world, you won't be alone in the next millennium. In your dreams, you'll be able to see many friends, even Legendary Pokémon from faraway worlds."]
Jirachi blinked. It gradually understood Hikaru words and showed a smile full of happiness and surprise.
"If there really is a dream like that..."
"I love it. I can't wait!"
The Entree had been destroyed for three thousand years, leaving Pokémon unable to freely enter and leave the dream world.
But now things were different.
The dream world would become more prosperous and more magical, and new stories would spread from it.
Though, now that he thought about it, why did it feel a little like the Infinite Tsukuyomi?
May said, ["Looking back one last time at the distant, boundless universe... It's pitch-black, but somehow, I feel like I can see all of Hoenn's constellations."]
["Gardevoir, Machoke and Seviper, Milotic, Gligar, Ursaring and Teddiursa... and Kyogre!"]
["Ah! It really looks like I can see Kyogre!"]
Brendan said, ["When we get back to the ground, let's all go watch the Litleo meteor shower..."]
["Whether from the Sky Pillar or Mossdeep City, Hoenn's thousand-year history is condensed into this distant convergence of meteors. That's deeply meaningful... May, we—right, Ash, you should come too."]
["Shiny Rayquaza wants to watch as well... Ah, but right now, we need to get Mr. Stone back down for treatment!"]
May said, ["I-I'm very happy! Huh? Wait, did you just say..."]
Ash said, ["The atmosphere feels a little off, but whatever. Please let me come with you!"]
Slap!
Suddenly, Zinnia's arm was grabbed. The unconscious Steven slowly woke up.
Jirachi's wish had been granted. Steven's condition had also recovered, making the boys and girls cheer up at once.
["Looks like... I woke up at the wrong time."]
Steven felt as if something had just happened, but Hikaru's voice came through the communicator.
["No. You woke up at exactly the right time! It's time to go home."]
["The job is done, Champion. Hoenn is a land where emerald stars shine. From a thousand years ago to a thousand years from now, across the distant universe, the love between humans and Pokémon surpasses the stars... It's all over!"]
Hikaru recalled the panting Celesteela. After all, the young lady was not good at landing, and he could still hear her terrified gasps.
["That scared me to death! What was that thing? Something like that was hiding in Ultra Space! So scary, so scary!"]
["I never want to go to Ultra Space again! Kartana's world is better! I'm sorry. I actually thought I was the same kind of Ultra Beast as you. I'm basically space garbage! I don't want to be a lonely rocket! Waaah, I'm going to get caught by those hooked claws and killed! The rocket's light—she'll eat me! Help!"]
This was now fantasy time.
Why did she fall apart just from seeing the other party? She had even imagined a hundred different ways she could die.
["Steel-type Pokémon aren't that easy to kill. And the light fired from a rocket is too weak. Even if you call yourself a starship, you're still only at the level of an ordinary meteor."]
["You're basically a paramecium."]
["But wherever light shines, loneliness has nowhere to hide. Celesteela, don't be afraid. I'll always stay with you."]
Celesteela said, ["Yes! Yes! Please, please take good care of me from now on, Captain!"]
Three Rayquaza and three Deoxys fell toward the atmosphere alongside the meteors of Leo.
They rushed toward Hoenn.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]