Prolouge- The End of the World

The End of the World

"Ahh Lillycove. The sun. The sand. The naïve tourists thinking they're better than us." a trainer smiled, enjoying the coastal scenery. The wind blowing in from the ocean was always a refreshing feeling to him. The fact that trainers from around the world came here to shop and show off their Pokémon too was also a good reason to like this city; it was good training. But it was mostly the scenery.

"Much as I agree with you James, we are in the middle of something..." his partner chided "besides I still want to try those Castelliacones the department store have right now. They're only here for a limited time, so can we hurry?"

"Eeeyup..." James responded, stretching his arms high over his head with a content sigh escaping his lips moments later.

"Hey! stop ignoring me and focus on the battle! Pangoro use Crunch!" their opponent commanded.

"Goro!"

"Did you say something?"

As the Pangoro lunged with his jaws wide open, his opponent, a Gardevior, jumped back out of the way causing him to bite down on thin air "wasn't me, James." the Gardevoir replied, focusing on her trainer rather than the angry Pokémon she was battling. The Pangoro, on the other hand thought that was the perfect time to launch a surprise attack since he tried to sneak up behind her and land another Crunch aimed at her shoulder, only to have her twirl her body around and, with some subtle guidance from her lithe hands, was instead made to eat sand. That miss only served to motivate him even more as he tried again, forgoing any kind of subtlety or accuracy to make another leap at the Gardevoir only to miss...again.

"Hmm, must've been the wind then." James mused, returning his attention to the ocean. He always did find the ocean breeze put the wind in his sails. Besides he knew his partner, Selene, could handle this by herself. In fact the only orders he gave her were to use Calm Mind and not get hit. After that he just turned his attention to the ocean and started casually goading his opponent into attacking.

"Why are you missing Pangoro!? It's just a Gardevoir!" his opponent chastised.

"Just a Gardevoir? You're not smart are you?" James snarked before shrugging and speaking in a overly-haughty tone "Well it's probably because I taught Selene here one of the greatest moves there is. Ready for it? It's called dodging."

"I still want to get ice cream..." Selene pouted, sidestepping another one of the Pangoro's Crunch attacks and ignoring her trainer's taunting.

"Your just saying that because your Gardevoir is a 'Shiny'! I bet you didn't even catch her on your own but just made some back alley deal with a Pokémon poacher! Or had a Ditto breed with Ralts until you were satisfied!"

And just like that, the wind in James' sails just petered out.

"Okay...that was uncalled for." he scolded, the smile he once had falling into a slight frown. He was used to getting flack for Selene's normally-green-but-instead-blue coloring and the orange-instead-of-red horn protruding from her chest, in fact he expected it from mostly everyone new he met. It still bugged him to no end that people used that as an excuse though. With a drawn out sigh James turned towards the battle giving it his undivided attention, much to his annoyance 'Selene? how's Calm Mind coming along?'

"Hmph, been using it this entire time. A Gengar couldn't harm me now." Selene boasted while still dodging more of Pangoro's attacks. By this point he had given up trying to connect with Crunch and instead was using every move he knew, which from James point of view looked like Hammer Arm, Low Sweep, and Sky Uppercut in a wild frenzy. Might as well have been Outrage for all the good it was doing as Selene, with her hyper calmed mind, was gracefully avoiding every attack with a smug expression on her face. And James couldn't help but smirk from the news.

"Well then, let's run the welcome wagon over this poor kid's ass! Selene, use Dazzling Gleam!"

"I thought you'd never a-" Selene replied with a haughty gleam in her amber eyes as she looked back at her trainer. Her reply however was cut short when the Pangoro finally connected with a Sky Uppercut, knocking her into the air and landing right in front of James' feet.

A blink or three later, and with James' expression becoming neutral, he let out a small cough "Huh, well that was anti-climactic." he noted, kneeling down and extending a hand to Selene to help her up "Should've been paying attention though...". Being both Psychic and Fairy type he knew that Selene was fine. A Fighting type move like Sky Uppercut wouldn't do much to her. Though to his surprise she didn't take it. Normally at this point she'd take it and say something that usually had a double meaning to him like "and yet you didn't notice my surprise yesterday." and return the favor to whatever Pokémon that landed the cheap shot. "Uh, Selene? You ok?"

Minutes passed and she didn't get up. No, she curled up more, her arms wrapping around her head. Now worry was starting to sink in so he knelt down to check on his beloved partner. What he saw terrified him, Selene was awake but her amber eyes were pinpricks yet shone with the light blue of her psychic energy, she was shivering and had both of her hands pressing hard against her skull. "Selene! What's wrong!?" he pleaded, now panicking that the Sky Uppercut actually did more damage than he realized.

"Gar!" was all Selene cried as she wrapped her cyan arms around James in a tight embrace, even causing some pain to him with the horn on her chest jabbing into his gut.

"Hey! Stop holding your Pokémon like that and get back to our battle!" his opponent yelled, James paid him no mind. There was a bigger issue at hand.

'Gar!? Selene hasn't spoken to me like that since she learned how to use telepathy. What's going on-' any further thoughts were silenced as Selene pressed her lips to his, locking him in the kiss with her arms behind his neck.

"...Ever Grande..."

"H-hey, control your Pokémon! Are you even aware of what she's doing to you!?"

"...Arceus..."

"Wait...y-your one of those Poképhiles aren't you!"

"Those flowers...I want to see them...one last time..."

'Last!?'

"Y-you are! P-Pangoro grab them! Don't let them get away!"

"Stop. Talking." James said, breaking out of the kiss, glaring at is opponent. He was now getting sick of this trainer, and while he didn't have any qualms facing off against the rangers, there were more important matters to attend to. Selene was scared, whatever she saw, whatever she felt had her terrified and right now he had somewhere he needed to go. Reluctantly he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down "You win, I forfeit. Go, find the Rangers, or Officer Jenny, or whoever you think will be able to stop us. Watch as they try and fail to arrest us until only you are left. But get out of my sight before you say something you'll regret." he threatened and, sure enough, his opponent turned and ran towards the city center crying for help with his Pokémon following with a bewildered expression behind him.

Letting out an annoyed sigh brought about by that trainer, James gingerly moved his arm free from his partner's embrace "Besides we'll be long gone before they even get here..." he whispered before reaching for one of the five Poké-Balls attached to his belt. Pressing the button to make it expand, he threw the ball into the air "...Ryu..." and watched as the ball burst open with a cascade of light escaping and coalescing into the shape of a large blue dragon with red-wings on his back shaped like the blades of an axe. The Salamence roared proudly into the air, ready to fight, only to become timid when he noticed his family clinging together, one scared out of her mind and on the verge of tears and the other looking at him solemnly. With a low growl, Ryu nuzzled the Gardevoir with a worried look in his eyes as well before turning to James expectantly "we need to get to Ever Grande City as soon as possible, will you take us there?" his trainer asked. Ryu's response came when he turned to the ocean and let out another bestial roar, one louder than the first and with a gout of flame coming out. With eyes burning with determination he motioned towards his back letting the two get on, James holding onto Ryu's neck, Selene holding onto James. And with a few strong wing beats to gain altitude, Ryu flew off towards the sea, his destination clearly in mind.

As Lillycove city became more of a speck with each passing second, James looked back at the department store and sighed 'I guess we're not going to get those Castelliacones...' he mused 'oh well...not like this day can get any worse.'

Meanwhile on another world named Equus, Celestia's sun was rising on the island town of Kouma. it's rays illuminated the morning dew on the plants, the glistening waves crashing on the coastline, and a certain mare who didn't want to get out of bed.

"Mmmgh...five more minutes, Celestia..." she mumbled, turning away from the sunlight leaking in through the paper screen doors to no avail. Realizing there was no chance the sun was magically going to recede back into the horizon she did the next best thing and turned to face the encroaching rays and glared spitefully at it. When that didn't work she groaned, admitting defeat and crawled out from under her warm, comfortable, blanket to the less warm and comfortable bathroom to get ready for the day. She reached for her brush with a hoof and began working her magic to make herself look presentable, brushing any unruly hairs in her black mane and tail into submission.

Satisfied with her work, she put the brush back in its place and slid open the doors from her room leading outside and took in the fresh morning air. She stretched her limbs in the sunlight, letting her bright scarlet coat soak in the sunlight as her limbs popped one-by-one. With a satisfied sigh, exemplified by her body relaxing "ahh, that's better." she said as she stepped onto the wooden deck and headed towards the house's entrance. Trotting by one of the opened rooms she gestured to the aging earth pony stallion inside, sitting on his flank drinking some tea "I'm headed to the beach Gramps, want me to pick up anything on my way back?" she asked. It was her normal routine to run the length of the coastline every morning and pass through the forest to pick up supplies from town, should either of the two need anything, before returning home to do her chores.

"Hmm, no...nothing comes to mind." the old pony replied "But be sure to come back home soon, Ringo. I sense a storm is coming."

"Okay grandpa..." the mare, Ringo or 'Rin' to her friends, replied "I'll be back soon to help with the apple trees, so don't go doing anything reckless ok."

Her response got a chuckle out of her grandfather "I believe that's my line missy. How many times now has an apple hit you over the head working?" he asked rhetorically.

"T-that's because those trees don't like me!" Rin defended with her already red cheeks turning a brighter shade and having her grandfather burst out laughing "It's not funny, I know there weren't any apples above me last time." she grumbled.

"It is, and there were." the old pony added between fits of laughter. Finally reigning in his laughing he looked back at his granddaughter with an affectionate smile "Take care Ringo."

"I will grandpa." she said, returning the smile before she turned to leave their estate "Don't worry, I'll be back soon Gramps!" she said before running toward the estates entrance and then, to the path leading to the ocean.

Once Rin reached the beach, she glanced around the coastline taking in the sandy beach clear of any litter or debris and squealed to nopony in particular. And that was precisely why she squealed, nopony was there yet. She could gallop to her heart's content and not worry about anypony watching her or, Celestia forbid, get hit by her. Practically hopping to the water's edge, she marked a spot with her hoof and got ready to run. She knew it would be gone by the time she got back but she needed a 'starting point' for her exercise. With the mark nice and deep in the sand, her return course planned out already, and breakfast being her motivator she put all of her strength into her legs and bolted down the beach. As she ran, she thought about what her grandfather said.

"But be sure to come back soon, Ringo. I sense a storm is coming."

The thought seemed silly. She knew that the weather forecast for later today was supposed to be clear skies until nightfall, she even heard that from the local weather pegasus himself and there wasn't a rouge cloud in the sky, or any clouds for that matter. His 'senses' didn't have the best track record either, varying from being spot-on to off by miles at the flip of a bit. Besides, she knew today was going to be a great day, she could just feel it.

Ryu had been flying for hours, the sun was setting, and the wings he was so proud of were burning in pain. Below him was sea route 128 and on his back were the two most important beings in the world to him. He wanted to sleep so badly right now, to just close his eyes and let gravity take over but he couldn't, not yet anyway. His destination was in sight, Ever Grande City was just a few more flaps away, and the flower field a few flaps less, he could manage for just a little longer. He would manage for just a little longer.

James was holding on tightly in the back of Ryu. He could tell his partner was tired, were they any farther away than Lillycove then he doubted they would have made it. Ryu was a great flyer but traveling across an entire region over the course of a couple hours at full speed would tire out any Pokémon carrying double it's usual load, Legendary Pokémon excluded of course. Relieved, he looked over his shoulder to check on Selene. She looked bad, her eyes were barely open and what he could see of her pupils were glazed over. She was still breathing ('thank Arceus') but her breaths were ragged and heavy and she had covered herself in the familiar blue Psychic energy. "Hey, we're almost there." he softly whispered.

"Sleepy..." Selene said through her link, closing her eyes and relaxing her body, releasing herself from Psychic as she started to succumb to sleep.

Normally letting her rest on a trip was not a big deal to James as ferry rides and busses to other regions were quite boring. Normally they didn't travel by Salamence over deep ocean and jagged rocks either. He acted fast when he felt Selene's grip loosen and she began to slide off Ryu by grabbing the first thing he could (an arm in this case) and pulling her underneath him.

"Didn't think this...would be how...our first time went down..." Selene commented between her tired breaths "Always thought...I would be on top..." she added, laughing weakly.

"Hmhmhm, your going to be fine..." James chuckled, although he was hoping desperately that he was right. He didn't want to lose another one of his team, of his family.

Ryu landed roughly a moment later in a grove of camellia flowers, his heavy body sending some loose petals into the air. He leaned to one side to let his passengers slide off as he laid down beside them in the flowerbed catching his breath and resting his eyes. "You were amazing Ryu. Get some rest ok." James praised as he held out his Pokéball, calling him back into it. He then helped Selene sit up by having her lean on him, doing what he could to keep her awake.

Selene didn't complain, she was too busy enjoying what could be their final moments together. She knew that Arceus had been freed, she felt the Pokémon around the world, herself included, were being influenced by Him into a deep sleep and she even felt that the same influence wasn't affecting James. And that's what scared her. Whatever Arceus was doing, James didn't seem to be a part of it and the thought of never seeing the one she loved again was too much for her to think about. It was only because of the many times she used Calm Mind in the battle earlier and kept using it on the way here that she lasted this long. But everything has limits, and she was quickly reaching hers. She was no legendary Pokémon, she couldn't compete with Arceus, only try and stall him until the inevitable happened. So if this was to be her last moments with the person she loved, she would do what James and Nova had always said and done:

'No matter how dire the situation, make the most of it, and don't go down quietly.'

"James..." Selene started, looking over to him to remember his face. It was blurry. "I want to say...while I still can...that I lo-"

"I know, I love you too." he whispered, embracing her waist. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen but he could feel something wet dripping onto his face "And no matter what happens," James held on to her tightly, as if letting go would mean she would disappear forever. And all he did after that was hold on and listen to her soft breaths as she fell to the ground asleep "I won't let go." he finished. And soon after, he too lost consciousness.

“Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.”