Epilogue: One Week Later
David Goodwin, head of the Government, leader of Sinnoh, slowly walked up to the podium in front of his Headquarters. It was a clear, warm day, with only a light breeze every now again. Virtually every citizen in Hearthome was standing in front of him in anticipation, as this was a speech that would be broadcast all around the region.
At his side, Washington stood, proud of what his master had accomplished, even though it had come at the cost of Iowa's life. Delaware, meanwhile stood attentive on Goodwin's Left Side.
Goodwin took a deep breath, and began to speak:
"Seven Days ago, our building was attacked by a sect of beings... of humans known as Elementals; they were humans that had Pokemon powers. We had captured one of their number during the attack on the Church eight days ago, and this was their attempt to free that one."
This statement was met with a burst of chatter from the crowd.
"Mr. Goodwin, was the attack on the Church necessary?"
"Mr. Goodwin, is it true that you were torturing this Elemental?"
Goodwin raised a hand to call for quiet. "What I was doing was what the public had considered to be necessary, and was in accordance with the Law. The more I learned about these Elementals, the better we could be against them in the future."
This only raised more questions from the crowd.
"What of the attack itself?"
"How many casualties?"
Goodwin paused. "One of the Elementals was killed in the attempt to rescue the one we had captured, and not only an Elemental's pokemon, but also my Magnezone, perished in a battle the resulted from the break-in. Furthermore, three of our agents lost their lives when the Elementals broke into the building."
As this caused an outburst of nearly inaudible questions, Goodwin took time to reflect that this was not completely true. After Gary, Zack, and Franklin had turned traitor, Goodwin had them imprisoned deep underneath the main building, where they would spend the rest of their lives. Jack, meanwhile, had refused to listen to Goodwin's explanations later that what he was doing was for the sole purpose of beating the Elementals, and had quit, but not before at least guaranteeing that he would never tell a soul about what had transpired in the lab, an order that Goodwin had placed on every single one of his employees.
"Mr. Goodwin, if I might, what do you plan to do now that these... Elementals have made an open attack against you?"
Goodwin paused to think over the best response to this question.
"When they made their attack, most of the Elementals had grouped themselves together. I was able to subdue them after some time, and I plan to have them executed."
Again, the outburst of questions became inaudible, and again, Goodwin knew that this wasn't true.
After he had knocked out the Elementals, he had proceeded to administer the serum that would rob them of their abilities over the course of the days following the attack. After all of the had been given the serum, he had them imprisoned underneath the headquarters, much like Gary and Franklin.
"You said, 'most,' Mr. Goodwin. What of the ones that weren't in this 'group?'"
Goodwin was ready for this one. "Several of the Elementals had split off during the attack, and following the subduing of the 'main group,' I found that one of our agents had captured those that had split off."
The agent in question was Haley Matthews, who Goodwin had promoted after she had told him of her near capture of the Water Elemental. The Water Elemental had gone under the same procedure that the Ice... no, that Andrew had gone under before having her powers taken away, and it was through this that Goodwin learned that she was partially responsible for Franklin's betrayal. Goodwin had thought it only appropriate to force Franklin to watch as she had her powers forcibly removed from her.
"Mr. Goodwin? If you have the Elemental problem dealt with, as you say, do you plan on revoking the Laws regarding them?"
Goodwin paused, yet again. "Not immediately. There may be a few stragglers that never joined the group that made the attack, so I plan to keep the Law in effect for at least a month longer. After that, who knows? The need for them may rise yet again."
Goodwin knew that there was that chance.
He had not been able to find Andrew or the Dragonite following the activation of the knockout device. Arizona, CT and some of his finest employees had scoured the cities, and the region itself for the past six days. Goodwin had attempted to learn of his possible location from the other Elementals, but with no success. In one way, it didn't matter, seeing as he had drained the boy of his power, but there was always that nagging doubt regarding the Weavile shattering the syringe before it could completely empty its contents.
"Mr. Goodwin, what do you have planned for the region now that these Elementals have been dealt with?"
"What do I have planned? I suppose I plan to do what I have always intended: improve the conditions of the region of Sinnoh for every human and pokemon that calls it home, and does not intend to threaten it."
"...then how could you be sure that these Elementals
were a threat?"
Goodwin took several moments to think this over.
Very bold of this reporter to ask such a question.
"I saw them as a threat because their presence, no, their
concept was spreading fear and paranoia throughout the region. I created those laws to alleviate that fear, and when they failed to do so, I began to personally find them so that the citizens of the Sinnoh region would no longer fear humans that had the abilities of pokemon. As I have said, I am no more than a man that desires peace, order, and prosperity for Sinnoh. And being no more than human is what many - and I am not afraid to include myself in this group - belive that this is all humans should be."
The matter of the Elemental's pokemon was a relatively simple problem. Once the Elementals were imprisoned, Goodwin had shattered the buttons to the pokeballs and stored all of them where they wouldn't be found. This was something he did not want to do, but believed that if they did go free, they could cause chaos for him again, one day in his future.
"From here, I will continue to strive for a peaceful, orderly, and prosperous region, and one day, hopefully soon, that dream will be achieved."
The crowd burst into applause at this statement.
----
In Canalave City, Andrew Demak was sitting inconspicuously at a table at an cafe, watching Goodwin speak, just as countless others were.
When the leader of Sinnoh made the statement about wanting peace for Sinnoh, Andrew grunted in disgust and walked away, Eltanin flying loyally by his side.
Since that day where Lycis died, Andrew had done very little but run and hide. The first thing he had done following his escape was to go to the same snowbound cave that he had discovered his powers in, and bury Lycis. He had marked the spot with a simple cross, which, as far as he was concerned, was far less than Lycis deserved.
After that, he had simply stayed one step ahead of what he even remotely suspected were Government agents. He and Eltanin were constantly on the move, never knowing if they would enter a building and be recognized as the fugitive Elemental and his Dragonite. Their one advantage was that Goodwin had apparently not told law enforcement of his escape, so there was not a single Wanted poster of him in the region. Apparently, Goodwin wanted to keep the escape a complete secret.
But one thing that Andrew made sure to do was to avoid his family. He could never face them, knowing that he had abandoned all of the Elementals - all of his
friends - to the same fate he had tried to protect them from.
And now, they were in Canalave, now sitting by the sea with his Dragonite. For nearly an hour, they just sat and looked at the waves lap against the canal walls.
"You know what I realized, Eltanin?"
The Dragonite turned to Andrew, who hadn't spoken at all during this hour.
"When Goodwin was forcing me to relive the night I was forced away from home, the word that I always thought of was 'monster.' No matter what happened, I would always have that word emphasized, as if to constantly remind me that's what I am... or that's what Goodwin saw me as. But you know what I've realized? That once you've heard the word monster enough times, you begin to realize what people really see it as meaning: something strange, unfamiliar, and frightening. When I had that power, that was all I could see myself as, which is why I was so desperate to be rid of it, a desperation that put me under mental and physical torture. I didn't want anything else sans having the power taken away from me, so i could go back to being normal. But... but after I finally got what I wanted, and so soon after reliving that night, I learned this: having that power did not make me a monster. It didn't make me a pokemon, either. It made me human. Not some hybrid of human and pokemon; I was still human. It's something that only now I realize was what mattered. Goodwin was always calling me an undeserving creature, or some other hideous title, but only now do I realize that this power was one of the things that allowed me to be human; having that power helped make me what I am."
He turned his gaze to the sky. "I just wish I could have realized that sooner. If I had... Lycis would still be around, as would the others."
Eltanin solemnly nodded his head in agreement.
"Now then, Eltanin, we need to get going."
Eltanin grunted something that Andrew took to mean as "Where?"
"Eltanin, we need to fly to another region. Even considering what I said, the longer I stay here, the better the chance there is of me being found by Goodwin. I think that... if we can go to another region - Isshu, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, I'll even go with Orre if I have to - I can start a life without hiding in fear."
The Dragonite snorted in agreement, and bent down so his trainer could climb aboard.
"Farewell, Sinnoh."
Eltanin took to the skies with Andrew on board, leaving Sinnoh behind.
Forever.
----
Deep below the Government building, Arizona flitted about as he guarded a prison cell along with some of Goodwin's top agents.
Inside this cell were all of the Elementals, now drained of all their powers and chained down. After the attack, Arizona had volunteered (as best he could) to guard the cell himself.
After Iowa's death, the Yanmega felt that this was the best way he could to commemorate the Magnezone.
The Elementals themselves were completely silent, something that pleased Arizona to no end. Sure, they had been either defiant or hopeful of rescue within the first few days, but as they lost their powers, one by one, their resistance seemed to fade as well. Maybe it was the knowledge that they had been completely cornered that had made the Elementals resigned themselves to their fate, maybe it was something else entirely. Arizona neither knew nor cared.
His thoughts briefly shifted to his comrades. Delaware had forced Goodwin to make her his second bodyguard, thinking that Washington could protect him even better when he had help (she might not have been wrong in thinking this,) CT was mostly in the labs nowadays, organizing information that Goodwin had gained before and after the attack.
And Oregon? The Tyranitar was now completely immersed in training. CT always told Arizona that whenever she went to the training room, Oregon was inevitably there. Though Oregon said this was because he wanted to personally be the one that kills the next threat as opposed to a machine, all of Goodwin's pokemon knew that the Tyranitar wanted to make sure that no more of Goodwin's pokemon would be killed.
None of them would admit as much, of course.
Arizona hovered in front of the imprisoned Elementals. He would guard them for as long as was necessary, unless Master Goodwin needed him to do otherwise.
He had to.
For the sake of Master Goodwin, and to honor the late Iowa.
----
After the interview and speech had concluded, Goodwin returned to his office, and was silent for a very long time.
After nearly two hours of looking through papers, he turned his gaze to out the window, where he could see nearly all of Hearthome. Trainers did battles, people conversed in the streets, and near the Contest Hall, Coordinators readied their pokemon for Contests.
And in a distant corner of the city, one that Goodwin could barely see, and Espeon and Eevee walked silently through the streets, side-by-side as if they were friends.
Perhaps they were.
"It is order, Washington," Goodwin said, even though his Metagross hadn't said anything, "Peace, order, prosperity, they are the only things I ever wanted in the long run. For now, at least, we appear to have reached this point. I do hope that we can keep it for as long as possible.
"For the people of Sinnoh, and yes, to Iowa as well, we need to keep the peace, maintain the order, and preserve our prosperity. For the good of man and pokemon.
"For the sake of Sinnoh itself."
----
"
Trainers everywhere were surprised to learn that many of the pokemon on Iron Island have vanished completely. This is completely unprecedented, and those that visit Iron Island frequently hope to find out the cause of such a disappearance.
That's all the news for today. This is Caitlin Demak, signing off."
The End.
