Koraidon stood up in the massive basin he created, muscles rising and falling with every breath, staring blankly at what he had committed. "YOU DID IT!" Nemona shouted, crushing me in the tightest hug I had ever experienced.
Penny still didn't want to be anywhere near the creature. "It's...it's not going berserk anymore?" Nemona finished her death hug on me before turning to her friend and taking the breath out of her, too. Penny choked as Koraidon's scales faded away, the blue light retreating to Nemona's tera orb. Arven picked it up from the ground, handing it to Nemona. She dropped Penny to the uneven floor, gladly accepted it, then squeezed the life out of him.
"How... How very astounding!" AI Sada's voice had settled to a more human tone, no longer sounding like a cheap telephone. "To think that you would manage to defy even the original professor's final protections!" She was still at the top of the pillars by the dead time machine, talking to us from above. Everything was quiet for a moment, but the time machine was still alive, likely still recovering from its failed security.
"Are you back to normal?" Arven swallowed, unsure of who he was really talking to.
Sada blinked, completely in awe. "Yes... a completely unforeseen outcome, even for an AI processing the most sophisticated technology ever conceived."
"AI?" Arven breathed, looking to me.
I held him by the waist and sighed. "It's... gonna take a bit of time to catch up."
"Even on the brink of despair, you children did not give in and instead proved your worthiness: showing the wisdom to think for yourselves, the courage to hold faith in your hands, and the fortitude to do what had to be done. Not matter how difficult your own pasts may have been...." Nemona and Penny stood beside us to face the professor, holding each other and grinning in celebration. Koraidon still had his chest bloated. He was proud of himself. His entire attitude was radiating it, and he was soaking in every word the professor said. "I believe you will be capable of walking whatever paths you choose for yourselves now. With pride. I thank you, Lugosi. I thank all of you children." We smiled at each other. We didn't understand what had all gone on—it would definitely take a few days for the event to settle in—but we knew we had accomplished something great. It was something worth celebrating. "But I am afraid that the time machine cannot be put to a complete stop so long as I am here," Sada warned.
She was right; the time machine was still slowly swiveling above her, awaiting its next security command. She was stood atop the pillars that had aided her in receiving her pokémon team, still erect from the platform they had grown from. "What do you mean, Professor?" Nemona asked.
AI Sada studied the machine, whispering noises to her. "It appears I myself am part of the system that ensures the machine reboots when stopped."
"Huh?" Arven wheezed. "W-what does that mean?"
AI Sada blinked, eying us, once again. "I am sorry," she apologized, starting over. "You know, when I was watching you all on your adventures from down here, I felt a sense of... jealousy." Jealousy? Throughout the time we had known her, although she was only a machine, AI Sada had exhibited several moments of human emotion. It was warming, though... scary. It had begun to prove difficult to tell if her clarity of humanity was coded horribly well or if the original Professor Sada, herself, embodied a piece of the robot. "I envied your freedom," AI Sada continued. "The way that you came together, working in league with your fellows and caring for them..." Penny blushed, thinking about her leadership with Team Star, finally coming out to them in her physical form. "The way that you sought strength and to better yourself, throwing all you are into your battles..." Nemona beamed, striking a victorious pose, knowing her idol was speaking about her. "The way that you would face down even the greatest enemies to save that which you loved..." I felt Arven's hand wrap around mine. He was staring at her, empty but mournful. I squeezed him back. "The way that you never ceased to seek—nor to fight for—a treasure all your own...." I brought my attention from my mind to my hand. It was an eventful journey, for sure. My three friends were all by my side, deep inside Area Zero, meeting the island's professor—or rather the essence of her—in person as she congratulated us on our efforts.
Koraidon roared, the rubble on the ground shaking from the noise. AI Sada chuckled. "Ah, and the way you soared free through the very skies on those wings of yours." She sighed. "I wish that I, too, might be as free as you all—free to seek out that which I might treasure above all else. Not..." She opened her arms, sorrowfully counting the crystals melted into her body. "...bound."
"Your own treasure...." Penny gathered.
AI Sada nodded. "As long as I remain here, the time machine will not stop—for I am inextricably connected to it." She placed her free hand on her waist, smirking in realization. "So, I've made a decision: I will use the time machine to journey to the world of the ancient past that I have dreamed of."
We all gasped. "What?" Nemona begged. "You can't just leave now—right when we finally reached you!"
AI Sada wasn't fazed. "I am not going only so that the time machine can be stopped. I also cannot deny my desire to see that ancient world for myself." Even on top of the pillars, we could see a huge smile on her face. Her eyes were creased in a new brightness a plain machine could never maintain. "Is this what it feels like to have your heart race with the thrill of adventure...?"
I felt my fingers cramp up as Arven crushed them beneath his own anger. "What is wrong with you?" He shouted, a growl in his throat.
"Arven," AI Sada pressed, monotone. Arven's teeth were clenched. He looked to be about ready to scale the pillar himself to face the AI. "I am sorry that I kept the truth from you for so long," she apologized. "I inherited all the thoughts and wishes of the original professor, and so I understand better than any..." I saw Arven's breath quicken, his anger falling into a depressed pain. "...your mother truly loved you."
Tears choked him. "You... you can't...." His voice broke as he fought his emotions. "You can't just go and say a thing like that now!"
"No?" Sada seemed hurt. "I suppose you're right." Arven broke down, wiping his sobs away with his sleeve. I tried to comfort him as best as I could. There was a boot up sound from above. The machine began to open back up, spinning projectiles around its white portal. "I am sorry," AI Sada repeated. Her hair fluttered in the wind behind her, her matching blond locks waving a departure to her son. "Arven, Koraidon, Lugosi, it is a little sad, but I'm afraid this is good-bye."
The noise picked up, becoming too loud to hear each other without yelling. Particles spun angrily about the black machine, threatening to take away anything within reach. AI Sada took a step back, then another, until she crossed the bright yellow warning tape around the center of the portal. Attempting another footstep, she instead landed in the air, the portal levitating her upwards towards the abyss.
"Mom!" Arven shouted, pulling himself from my grasp, reaching out at the sky in vain as his mother allowed herself to be taken by the time machine.
Humanity does not, in fact, possess the knowledge to develop such a sophisticated AI at present. Her words echoed in my brain.
"Farewell, my free adventurers!" AI Sada shouted, gleefully and excitedly. She forced her other hand from her pocket, crystals clipping off and falling upwards into the portal.
The crystals that make up the Zero Lab have made such a thing possible here.
Sada placed her petrified hand to her forehead, giving us a final salute, edges of her smile reaching cheek to cheek. "I bid you adieu!"
But they are also why I cannot leave this place.
The portal flooded the crystal cave with light, its gate opening wide to accept its sacrifice. "Professor...." I muttered. AI Sada finished her wave with a cheeky grin and shut her eyes, letting the gravity pull her away from us. She knew.... I felt a lump in my throat. She didn't want them to stop her if they knew.... The time machine whirred furiously, sensing something off. The electric booming was excruciatingly loud, but it continued allowing the passageway between the two times, noticing its offering, and swallowing her whole. The chaos died at once. The walls turned black, the sporadic noises ceased to an eerie silence, and the machine froze in time. I could hear all of our hearts pounding in that quiet, decimated room.
"How could you just... go?" Arven whispered. The tears had dried and refused to continue falling. "Mom...."
He looked so alone, standing in front of us three. Nemona was the first to join him, hand on the traps of his back. "Arven, you okay, bud?"
Arven sighed. It wasn't of sorrow as I expected. It was more of a sigh of relief and acceptance. "Yeah. Somewhere deep down, I... kind of already knew it." He adjusted his hair, significantly calmer now that it was all over, his mom truly gone. Nemona frowned. "I knew that thing was fake... but it...." Penny and I made eye contact before going to comfort him together. "When she said my name, using her voice and wearing her face... even if it was fake, it... felt real, you know. And so, I just... I...." We stood there, quietly. Even Koraidon had deflated to his normal self. None of us had anything to say. All we really knew how to do was be there for him at that moment. "Sorry... I don't know what I'm saying," he chuckled, nervously.
"That's..." Penny sniffed. "That's okay." Koraidon cooed, nuzzling his big nose into Arven's chest.
"Argh!" Arven yelped. "Alright! I get it!"
Nemona pet the reptile's neck. "I guess Koraidon is sad, too. Oh, but that battle form! How cool was that? It's so strong!" She was back to being her happy, excitable self.
Penny scoffed. "If it tries to nudge at me for a belly rub while it's huge like that... I seriously think I'm gonna die."
Nemona ruffled the feathers atop Koraidon's head, playfully. "Hey now, let's not skip over the big win here! We just saved all of Paldea!"
"Th-that's right!" Penny gasped. "We did amazing! You both did amazing." She was talking to us, Arven and I. "Thanks, you two."
Arven smirked, pulling me in for a hug. "Yeah... that's my bud Lugosi for ya...."
Penny cleared her throat. "You know, Arven... um...." We all turned to her. "Even though the professor's gone... I bet she's finally having a real fun adventure of her own in the past." My chest hurt. The professor's machine would not be able to survive outside the crystalline powers of Area Zero, but it was a story I had to keep. AI Sada would've wanted that. Maybe I would tell them in the far future, but as of now, to keep everyone together in the head, a small white lie would have to suffice.
Arven did feel better with the idea. "Yeah.... Thanks, Penny."
Her lips quivered, dealing with so many emotions at once. "Um... yeah. Sorry."
We sat alone in the dark, our breathing echoing within the chamber, the ghost of the event haunting us. It was unnerving. Nemona identified this and stood up, making a very dramatic, long-drawn-out breath. "Well, taking in all this dust isn't gonna do us any favors. What should we do now, Lugosi?"
I stood up, brushing myself off from the intense battle. Most of my pokémon were fainted, Umbreon very much near it, and everyone had been battling all day. We were all exhausted. Arven, Penny, and even Nemona looked worn down and tired, their faces darkened with rocky dust. "Let's go home."
Nemona slammed her palm on my back, cracking it. "You said it! C'mon, everyone! Let's make our way home!" Koraidon leapt up, ready to get out of the horrid place.
"Is he gonna let us ride him out of here?" Arven asked, using the monster's shoulder to help him up.
"Yeesh, let's just hope the elevator still works first," Penny remarked.
We had no idea how long we had spent in the Great Crater of Paldea. After entering the cave beneath the cloud layer, the sun had been totally blocked by the fog. We held onto Koraidon as best as we could as he flew us upward. We were all too sleepy to speak, our fear of heights completely obsolete after everything we had experienced. Koraidon flew slowly, the ascent significantly more difficult than gliding downwards. The soft flaps of his winged whiskers were calming and brought a gentle breeze over us. We watched the Zero Lab shrink away until it was shrouded in the humid fog. The sky was a scarlet red that peeked through the clouds trapped inside the crater. It was a beautiful sunrise we were experiencing together in the cold, broken coliseum. The landscape around us was casting long shadows down into the black hole we had escaped from. It was still dark, but any glimmer of light was contrasted brilliantly against the dreary environment. Pokémon were beginning to wake up, staring at the koraidon flying a bunch of teenagers to the top.
We reached the lip of the crater and was hit with a wave of heat we were not used to, having spent the past day or so in freezing isolation. Koraidon landed by the gate that we had entered what seemed like ages ago and sat down to rest, letting us all off to stretch our legs. The horizon was orange, burning my eyes. Penny yawned, reaching her tired arms up to the waking sky.
Nemona hopped off of Koraidon, steadying herself within seconds. "Okay! Everybody, listen up!"
Penny was taken aback by the first words spoken after the long ride being a hyper shout. She rubbed her hurting ears. "What is it?"
"Let's give Koraidon a break and take the long way home and get a little more fun out of this adventure!" She suggested, gesturing at the amazing view of Paldea, the Academy a black silhouette of towers in the distance.
Arven mumbled, "I don't really—"
"Sounds great!" Penny interrupted, skipping her legs awake to stand with her friend. "If we can load up on snacks first, I'm in."
"Oooh! I know a place in Cascarrafa that makes a mean pancake breakfast!" Nemona hyped.
My stomach growled. I could definitely use some subsidence right about now. "If they make the waffles how I like them, I'm in!"
"Hey, Lugosi!" Arven barked. "Not you, too!" Koraidon was licking his lips with the thought of human food. He shoved Arven greedily, begging him to comply. "Yah! Stop! Okay! All right, fine!" Koraidon wagged his tail, happily.
Nemona jumped around in celebration with energy she definitely had stored up somewhere. "Oh, you're going to love this place! I used to go there every other Tuesday with my mom. Shoot! I hope that's not a sore subject...." Nemona was already leading the way with Penny at her side, encouraging her rambling. Koraidon raced to the front, yellow eyes sparkling with the hunger of a world-saving champion who deserved a huge reward.
Arven laughed, swinging an arm around my shoulders. "I guess we're doing this, huh?"
I shrugged. "I've learned to deal with it as it comes."