Indigo Disk's Ending's Rewritten!

Chapter 5: The Return to Aero Zero

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The team arrives at the academy with relatively no issues. However, there was some bickering in the group about their team name.

Carmine had suggested something righteous like "The Super Trainers of Justice," which got Nemona's praise. However, Penny and Arven shot it down as they thought it was corny and wanted something grander, like "The Way Home 2," which Carmine thought was goofy and contrived.

Carmine hoped Kieran would agree and snap out of his funk, but he was more focused on whatever Briar explained to him when she looked over. The two were reviewing the plans on the map in the corner of the bus.

Florian could only catch some of the conversations (as he was sitting near the edge), but they were talking about battle strategies that could work against Terapagos. Briar tells Kieran that attacking in a particular formation would weaken.

But before Florian could process this information, the bus had stopped, and they were at Medali. Afterward, they quickly climbed to Aero Zero to reach the mysterious marvel of technology, the Zero Gate.

(Play Briar's Theme)

Briar seems enthralled by the whole thing. "I'm finally here..." Briar holds the Scarlet/Violet up book and points to the cliff on a page. "This is where Heath stood all those years ago!" She then points to a jagged rock. "Look, Kieran, there is the rock formation! Isn't it cool?!"

Kieran shrugs; he is unimpressed but doesn't want to seem rude to the woman who asks for his help and will help him get a pardon for his sins. "It's very... unique looking."

Carmine and Florian look back at Kieran, even though they can tell that the answer is forced.

"Dazzling!" Briar looks back to the Zero Gate and turns to Arven. "The son of Sada/Turo-eh Arven, please open the Gate!"

Arven sighs and shrugs to Nemona and Penny, "Forging my path is going to be more taxing than I experienced!" Arven then walks up to the Zero Gate and enters the password for "Paradise," but it doesn't work. He puts it in again, but it doesn't work. He shakes his head.

"Forgot the password?" Nemona looks at Arven, confused and slightly disappointed. "It wasn't that long ago."

"Hey, hey!" Arven snaps back. "I put the right thing in!" Arven tries putting it in again, but it fails. "I don't know. This darn thing ain't working."

Penny turned, faced the academy's direction, and held up her phone. "I'll try to call Director Clavell or Geeta to see if they can open it-"

"NO!" Briar screams at her, which shocks everyone, even Kieran. 

Everyone looks at her as if she is crazy, and she quickly composes herself as she realizes that she stepped out of line, "...They asked me to keep this low, but effective, profile...no phone calls or texts. W" Briar turns to Kieran and snaps her fingers. "You know what to do."

Kieran pauses for a moment before pulling out the Pokeball, "Hydrapple! Go!"

Hydrapple jumps out of the Pokeball and lands on the ground; its head pops out in confusion since it doesn't recognize its surroundings, but it turns to look at Kieran and smiles. This takes back Kieran; usually, it's putting on a mean face, but it seems reassuring to see Kieran now. Almost as if it knew he was back to normal.

"Hydrapple...it's nice to see you too, buddy!" Kieran goes in for pay on its main head, but Briar clears her throat, and Kieran returns to focused mode. "Ok...Use Fickle Beam on that steel door!"

Hydrapple follows the command and blows a hole straight through the door.

"Heh," Briar smirked and petted the top of the Dragon's head. "Good boy." Briar then walks through the hole in the wall carefreely. Kieran follows right after, and the five remaining trainers question if they should.