The Confidence Within.

Epilogue

Gallade quickly ran and up to the machine and jumped up, punching the orb and splitting it into two.

He landed and promptly reverted back to his regular form. I felt my exhaustion and pain increase even more but I managed to hold on to consciousness.

There was some sort of Pokémon floating where the orb had been. It had a large yellow head shaped like a star and a small white body. It had tiny black curious eyes and seemed to be bruised and scuffed up.

This was what the king was using to destroy Hoenn.

The Pokémon immediately looked at King Hoeńal and floated over to him. The man floated into the air and I realized what the Pokémon was doing.

"Wait!" Emerald shouted, running over to the Pokémon with a limp. "Please s-stop!" He pleaded. The Pokémon didn't acknowledge him and continued what it was planning.

"Listen! I-I know he hurt you. He hurt me too. He's hurt me my whole life... but please don't kill him. That man, my father, wanted to kill everyone who had hurt him. I don't want to do what he would do. And I don't think you do either." Emerald said.

The Pokémon paused and set the king down. May, Brendan, and Steven ran up to us. "A Jirachi..." Steven marveled. "Never did I expect to see one."

"This is amazing," Brendan whispered.

Gallade made his way over to us and grinned. I guess we did it then!

I nodded and was reminded of the injury to my face. "We really did it."

May gasped. "Oh my gosh, Wally are you alright?"

Brendan and she ran to my side. "Dude when you took that guy on... that was crazy!" Brendan told me.

"I was quite impressed," Emerald said. "You've got quite the bond with your Pokémon."

Steven smiled. "Wally, when I first met you I knew that you held quite a special ability to connect with your Pokémon. And I can see that you've taken that to the next level. You're a wonderful trainer!"

I looked down at Piplup and Rodney. They both had taken a beating but they were smiling up at me. I had done it.

Emerald turned to Jirachi. "Jirachi... I'm so sorry about what you had to endure. I hope you know, not all people are as terrible as that man."

Jirachi nodded and closed its eyes. Suddenly I began to feel rejuvenated and felt my wounds vanish. I noticed the same happened to Emerald and our Pokémon.

"Thank you Jirachi," I said. The Pokémon smiled at me and flew off into the sky.

Emerald picked up his sword. "Wally. Thank you for everything. You did what I couldn't." He began to walk away.

"Wait!" I said. "Where are you going?"

Emerald turned and smiled. "I have work to do. Somebody has to bring Team Crown to trial for their actions. As odd as it sounds, the legacy of Hoeén must also be kept around. It is the only way to keep people aware of the wrongdoings of the past. That way, Team Crown hopefully can never reform."

"About that. Since my dad's a professor I figure we can probably get the word out about your culture pretty easily. So if you wanted to I could write a paper about the People of Hoeén that you could verify." Brendan offered.

Emerald's grin grew. "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Brendan. Now, I must take my leave." He nodded to us and we waved him goodbye.

Emerald jumped onto his Salamence and flew into the air before vanishing past the rock walls.

A few hours later Brendan, May, and I were walking home. Steven had dropped us off on Route 103 after the police had come to collect the king.

From what I heard, Emerald had already brought the Sea Mauvile to Slateport and Team Crown was in police custody.

"So what are you guys going to do?" Brendan asked.

May shrugged. "I guess continue my gym challenge. I still have to become champion after all."

I didn't say anything. What was I going to do? After all, I wasn't interested in taking on the gym challenge. And I had already seen a great deal of Hoenn.

I thought back on what parts of the adventure I had enjoyed the most. The battling, making new friends, getting to see so many wonderful places.

But what was next?

Once we arrived at Oldale Town I said my goodbyes to Brendan and May. We assured each other that we would all meet up again soon and I strolled down the familiar Route 102 once again.

I felt myself zone out as I tried to think about what I wanted. In moments I was at my home's doorstep, then my parents were scolding me about going out on a journey.

I was telling them what had happened. Everything. And they seemed to look at me a little differently. They told me not to do something like that again and dropped the topic.

The conversation was meaningless. They were my parents. Of course, they would forgive me.

But what was next?

I sat on my bed and tried to think of anything I could. But I just kept coming back to the past and wishing I was there again.

I looked up at a poster on my wall. A map of Hoenn, Sinnoh, Johto, and Kanto. And it hit me.

This wasn't the end of my adventure. This was the start of many new adventures. I felt giddy just thinking about all of the new places I could go.

Whatever happened tomorrow and the day after that and every day in the future I knew I could take it. Because I had my friends. And I had found my confidence.

—————-

And that's a wrap! Wow, it feels crazy to say that. For those who don't know this story has been a two-year production of mine. I started it in February 2018 and updated it infrequently until Summer 2019. And now here we are, at the end of January 2020 with the final part.

I know this story isn't perfect but I'm really proud of how it turned out. And while I don't think Wally will get a direct sequel he'll definitely be in some adventures in the future.

Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story and if you did consider checking out some of my other Pokémon works.

That's all for this one though. Have a great day everyone, goodbye.