Ash was standing at the edge of a building, watching his Pokémon hold off Dialga and Palkia. Next to him were Pikachu and Vee, whom he had ready on standby for his "plan." He had everything set up: he talked to Darkrai, got his own Pokémon out to help, and got his Pokémon into position.
All of this was supposed to go as he planned, and he had even planned what would happen next. Dialga and Palkia would overpower his Pokémon, but with Pikachu and Vee coming in to get rid of their Legendary resistance, maybe they could weaken them enough to let the gang play that music.
In case you're wondering why Ash didn't do it himself, well, he kinda had to plan how to make sure Dialga and Palkia didn't trap him in the Nether Realm. If the movie versions of them were able to do this, then supposedly this world's versions must be able to do it much more easily. At least, that's what he thought.
So, he made all these preparations and planned for the worst-case scenario so that he could survive. Realistically, he knew he couldn't win since Dialga and Palkia were literal gods.
But then, the first attack hit Palkia, and it flinched. Ash was also shocked, but he figured that Dialga must have left Palkia in a worse state than he'd thought. But then Dialga came in, too, and the plan started. As he watched his Pokémon fight those two, he had just one thought in his head.
WHY ARE THEY SO WEAK?! Ash exclaimed internally. He actually pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Freaking Zapdos was stronger than this, and Ash had been at Zapdos's level after Johto. Why were these two so weak? They were getting hurt by his Pokémon even before Pikachu and Vee did their thing!
And any attacks they did manage to land weren't doing enough damage to take any of his Pokémon out of the fight in one hit. So, again, he asked himself, why were they so weak? If he'd known they were this weak, he wouldn't have bothered with all this planning. He would have sent Dragonite to hold them off, then gotten on Charizard to drop off the disc and be done with it.
But no, he'd made a plan for a worst-case scenario that wasn't happening, and right now, he didn't know what to do. Should he go for the knockout, or should he go back and support the other group in getting to the top of the tower?
Then Ash pulled something out of his pocket: a black stone. He looked at it, thinking that he didn't even need to try this.
Ash rubbed his hands through his hair as he looked at the battle one more time. At the moment, it didn't look like the Legendaries were about to get knocked out. Then again, he had told his Pokémon to just stall, so that was probably why. Still, they all looked relatively ready to keep fighting.
Then, as if to mock him, Dialga and Palkia threw up their shields, causing the incoming attacks to be reflected in every direction. Before long, they started taking things a bit more seriously, using [Roar of Time] and [Spacial Rend], which sent all his Pokémon flying.
Of course, it wasn't enough to knock them out, but it still hurt, and Ash could tell that they were giving it their all now. However, that all was much less than Ash had expected. Even after going "full power," it apparently still took more than one hit to knock out any of his Pokémon.
That meant this was still winnable if he wanted to just beat them down. Unfortunately, he couldn't rely on that because he needed Palkia to send them back. If Ash or Dialga knocked Palkia out, they might get trapped in this Nether Realm.
But that could be fixed, and Ash knew it could be fixed. All he needed was to buy them enough time and try to make sure there wasn't any more collateral damage, especially any that would be directed toward them.
And again, as if life wanted to kick him in the balls some more, Dialga let out a roar, causing the sky to start shining with what looked like stars. Only for those stars to come flying down again and explode on the ground as they made contact.
Ash cursed under his breath and whistled. The Pokémon on the ground scattered to hit the meteors back, while his flying Pokémon moved to try to destroy them. That left the two Darkrai and two Deoxys to hold off Dialga and Palkia, with one of each taking on each Legendary.
Since this seemed more manageable for them, Dialga immediately responded by hitting Palkia in the back, sending the purple Pokémon flying backward. After recovering, Palkia began flying randomly across the town while Darkrai and Deoxys flew after them, trying to make sure they couldn't clash. If they did, this dimension would collapse from just one more clash.
But Ash watched the direction they were flying in and clicked his tongue before whistling. Charizard heard him and flew down. Ash jumped off the building, and Charizard caught him on its back before flying up into the sky.
"Come on, get to the Space-Time Tower! If we can meet up with them, we can end this now!" Ash explained.
Charizard nodded and took off toward the tower. Meanwhile, Pikachu and Vee looked off to the side at everything, then up toward Dialga and Palkia. Ash patted their heads.
"Don't worry, you two have a part to play, too. Our plans may have changed, but how could I leave you both out of the fun?" Ash said with a grin, and the two little goblins returned his grin.
—
{With the gang}
While Ash was battling, the group managed to run out of the underground lab and make it to the base of the Space-Time Tower, stopping at the entrance, where there was an ornate wall. Carved into the wall was an image of a bunch of Pokémon surrounding a young girl playing on a leaf.
On the way, Alice finally explained, "The Oración is a prayer, and it's also the melody for the grass flute I showed you all when you first got to town."
She quickly looked across the wall and saw what she was looking for, "There, it's that!"
Below the young girl was another engraving. This one was a more intricate spiral surrounding a circular object, but it looked familiar. It resembled the stone discs that were inside Tonio's lab.
Verity ran up and reached inside. She managed to pull the stone disc out, "Huh, that was easier than I thought. Anyway, we got it!"
Tonio nodded as he pumped his fist, "Good! Now we just need to take that all the way to the very top of the tower!"
As soon as he said that, Verity immediately looked like she wanted to melt, "We have to climb all those stairs...I regret skipping Ash's training…"
"There's no way we can make it to the top that fast," Dawn protested as well.
But Alice quickly spoke up, "We don't have to climb it. We can just take my hot-air balloon."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Tonio immediately asked.
"Do we have a choice?" Alice countered.
Tonio gulped before nodding because she was right. They didn't have a choice.
Together, they quickly ran out and found Alice's hot-air balloon, which was surprisingly still intact. They all hopped in and took off into the air. Alice and Tonio climbed in first and helped Dawn and Verity aboard. Then Dawn reached over and picked up Piplup, putting him on her head.
As the balloon rose higher, they looked out across the city. A lot of it was in shambles, and visible cracks in reality were appearing throughout the town.
Now that they were up in the air, they had a better view of the battle. Dialga and Palkia were in the middle of charging up another beam to clash against each other, and Tonio immediately cried out.
"If they clash with those attacks, our dimension won't hold out any longer!"
But his cry was only that; he couldn't stop them. Both Legendaries fired their beams, but right before they clashed in the center, the two Darkrai flew up and caught one beam each. They struggled to hold back the power, but then each created a black orb that began devouring the energy into the void.
But that also took a lot out of them. It was enough that if only one of them had done it, they would probably have been out of the battle, if not destroyed. Thankfully, there were two of them, so they were able to recover and return to the battle.
Then the Darkrai of Alamos Town puffed out its chest and yelled, "This garden is for everyone! I won't let you destroy it!"
Just then, both Deoxys flew in and tagged the Legendaries, delivering another [Shadow Ball] directly to Dialga and Palkia's faces. The two Darkrai flew in right after them to keep fighting.
"I knew it," Alice muttered with a slight smile, "Darkrai really was fighting for the sake of Alamos Town."
Verity rubbed the back of her head as she sighed, "Alright, I can admit when I'm wrong. Looks like you were right."
Tonio leaned back against the basket, "I knew there had to be more to this."
But then Dawn quickly spoke up to get their attention, "Uhh, guys, we can thank Darkrai later. In case you forgot, we're in the middle of something," she said, and Piplup let out a short cry in agreement.
That's when Dialga and Palkia continued fighting back. Both of them let out a roar, and the force of it began pushing the balloon around. Inside, they all had to grab onto the edges just to avoid being blown off.
But then, at that moment, another meteorite summoned by Dialga fell from the sky. Even though they saw it coming, Alice lost control of the balloon, so they couldn't dodge.
The piece of the meteor shot through the balloon, piercing it and passing all the way through before hitting the lower-left side of the basket, which was unfortunately the side Dawn was on.
The piece of the basket Dawn was standing on crumbled, and she no longer had anything to grab onto. Dawn and Piplup fell off. Not only that, but with the balloon shaking, Verity's grip slipped, and the stone disc fell, too.
"No!" Verity cried as the balloon went out of control now that they were losing air, while Tonio grabbed Alice and pulled her into his arms.
At the same time, Dawn quickly hugged Piplup tightly as they yelled in panic because the ground was rapidly approaching.
In that split second, Verity didn't know what to do. She clenched her eyes shut and started thinking about what she should do...what would Ash do? Unfortunately for her, she knew exactly what Ash would do.
She didn't know why she did what she did. If you had asked her to do this before she went on this journey with Ash and Dawn, she would have laughed in your face and called you crazy. But in the time she had spent with them, something had changed, and that something was what made her do this.
Verity ran off the basket and jumped, falling through the air with her hands reaching out. At the same time, the balloon finally fell, landing on a nearby building. Tonio and Alice both rolled out. Thankfully, Tonio protected Alice with his body, and they were both relatively fine.
Verity clenched her eyes shut as she fell through the air, the wind whipping past her face. One hand reached desperately for the stone disc, while the other stretched out toward Dawn.
For a terrifying moment, she thought she wouldn't reach either of them. Then her fingers closed around the disc, and almost immediately afterward, her other hand caught Dawn's.
"VERITY?!" Dawn screamed, her eyes widening as she looked up at the girl holding onto her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Verity stared back at her, her face pale as she struggled to keep her grip on both Dawn and the disc, "I HAVE NO IDEA!"
Dawn blinked.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA?!"
"DO YOU THINK I HAD TIME TO COME UP WITH A PLAN?!"
"WE'RE FALLING!"
"I NOTICED!"
Piplup clung tightly to Dawn, screaming along with them as the ground continued rushing closer. Verity's arm was already beginning to ache, and she had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to get them out of this situation.
Just as she started wondering whether she should apologize to Dawn before they hit the ground, a familiar roar echoed above them.
Verity's eyes snapped open.
A large orange Pokémon swooped down through the air as it rapidly closed the distance between them.
"CHARIZARD!" Dawn shouted.
And sitting on its back was the one person Verity had been desperately hoping would show up.
Ash leaned forward, reaching out with both arms as Charizard dove toward them, "Gotcha!"
In one smooth motion, Ash caught both girls, pulling them securely against his chest while Charizard adjusted its flight to keep them from crashing into the nearby buildings.
For a brief moment, all Verity could do was stare at him. Then she finally remembered how to breathe.
"ASH!" Dawn exclaimed, practically squeezing the life out of him as she clung to his shirt, "YOU'RE HERE!"
Ash grinned down at her, "I know, I'm charming, but if you wanted me to sweep you off your feet, you could've asked first."
Dawn stared at him, "ASH!"
"WE WERE FALLING TO OUR DEATHS!" Verity exclaimed.
"And yet here you are, safely in my arms." Ash winked, "See? Everything worked out."
Despite herself, Verity felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. Ash's ridiculous grin was irritatingly reassuring, especially when she had been convinced only moments ago that she and Dawn were about to become...let's just say, red stains on the ground.
Ash shifted his grip to make sure both girls were secure before looking toward the battle raging across the sky, "Alright, as much as I'd love to stay here and enjoy the company, we've got a couple of angry space-time gods to deal with. We can talk after we finish this, okay?"
Dawn immediately nodded, then pointed toward the tower, "All you need to know is, get us to the top!"
"Alright!" Ash whistled, and Charizard let out a growl before taking off again, flying directly up into the sky.
On the ground, Tonio and Alice managed to get up. They looked into the sky and saw the trio flying on Charizard toward the tower.
Tonio sighed with relief that Dawn and Verity hadn't died and that they still had their win condition. He pumped his fist into the sky, "Go on, do it! You're our last hope!" he yelled, then immediately felt pain in his shoulder. He had just fallen out of a hot-air balloon, after all.
At the same time, Dialga and Palkia were sent skidding backward because Ash's Pokémon had finished dealing with the meteors and rejoined the fight, finally putting the Legendaries back on the defensive.
Just then, they saw Charizard fly past them. They didn't really know what was going on. As far as they knew, they had been having their fight, they had arrived, and then they had been jumped. Now, that Charizard was flying right past them without attacking.
So, naturally, they thought Charizard was planning something bigger. They turned their heads and charged another beam in their mouths, preparing to shoot it out of the sky.
Dawn and Verity watched in horror as Dialga and Palkia turned toward Charizard, both Legendary Pokémon opening their mouths as energy began gathering inside.
"ASH, LOOK OUT!" Dawn screamed.
"THEY'RE AIMING RIGHT AT US!" Verity shouted, tightening her grip on the stone disc.
Ash, however, merely smirked, "Alright, you two," Ash called out, "You're up!"
Pikachu and Vee, who had been perched on Ash's shoulders, immediately perked up. The two little Pokémon exchanged mischievous grins, their expressions practically screaming that they had been waiting for this moment.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried.
"Vee!" his Eevee partner answered.
Both Pokémon jumped from Ash's shoulders, and for a moment, they simply hung in the air as Charizard continued flying forward.
Then Pikachu's cheeks began crackling with electricity, while Vee's body glowed with energy of its own.
"[Pika Pow Pow]!" Ash shouted.
"[Vee Vee Volley]!" he called immediately afterward.
Pikachu and Vee grinned, then launched themselves forward. The two Pokémon shot through the air like rockets, accelerating so quickly that they became little more than blurs. Their attacks surrounded them as they rocketed straight toward the two Legendary Pokémon, leaving trails of energy behind them.
Dialga and Palkia fired their attacks.
A devastating [Roar of Time] and a [Spacial Rend] tore through the sky, meeting the incoming duo head-on. The clash sent shock waves rippling across the battlefield, and for a moment, it looked as though the two tiny Pokémon were about to be swallowed by the sheer force of the Legendary attacks.
But then Pikachu and Vee burst through the combined attacks, the energy parting around them as they tore straight through the clash, neither Pokémon slowing down for even a fraction of a second. Dialga and Palkia barely had time to register what was happening before the two tiny missiles reached them.
Pikachu slammed directly into Dialga's forehead, unleashing a concentrated burst of electricity at point-blank range. At the exact same moment, Vee struck Palkia squarely in the head, its attack detonating in a brilliant flash of energy.
Both Legendary Pokémon let out pained roars. Their heads snapped backward from the impacts, and their massive bodies were sent plummeting toward the ground.
Dialga crashed down first, its enormous body smashing into the streets below as dust and debris erupted around it. Palkia followed moments later, slamming into the ground hard enough to send a shock wave rippling through the surrounding buildings.
Ash whistled as he looked back, "That should buy us some time." He looked over at Dawn and Verity, whose mouths were hanging open so wide they couldn't speak. Ash just slyly put one hand under each of their chins and pushed their mouths closed.
Charizard finally reached the top of the tower and landed with a thud. Ash jumped off and looked around before stopping in front of the very ornate device, which had a circular opening in the center.
Verity and Dawn jumped off next. Their faces lit up, and Verity ran over to it, holding out the stone disc, "Alright, this must be where the disc goes!" She placed it inside.
Then Dawn ran over to the lever, "And now we just need to pull this!" She pulled it down.
The device sputtered for a moment before finally beginning to play, and the tower around them started emitting a bright golden light.
The Oración melody echoed throughout Alamos Town. The golden radiance became increasingly beautiful and calming.
Then, on the ground, Dialga and Palkia slowly got up and prepared to keep fighting. Slowly, they stopped as they heard the music and looked up.
It wasn't just them. All the Pokémon and people who had been hiding in the Pokémon Center and other buildings slowly started stepping outside to look at the shining light.
The light coming from the tower created two radiant golden wings made of pure light. As the light shone over everyone and everything, everyone slowly began to feel rejuvenated. It wasn't just a feeling, either. All of Ash's Pokémon that had been injured healed, and on the ground, Tonio's shoulder stopped hurting.
But most importantly, the pearl on Palkia's shoulder healed, completely closing all the cracks, and the two Darkrai recovered completely, as good as new.
Then Dialga and Palkia looked around, slightly confused but also a little embarrassed, because they realized something: this wasn't their world. They looked at each other, then slowly began flying upward. This time, they didn't try to destroy anything.
In fact, Dialga first released its power, and the destroyed town reverted to how it had been before. It simply reset time to the beginning of the day, before everything had been destroyed. Then Palkia, now that its control over space was restored, glowed, and the town returned to where it was supposed to be. They were all out of the Nether Realm.
Everything was back to normal. Once they had done that, Dialga and Palkia turned and flew through a portal Palkia created, eventually disappearing from sight.
As Dawn, Verity, and Ash looked out over the town from the tower, they saw all the people coming out and celebrating now that everything was back to normal.
Ash turned back and grinned at them just as the sun shone behind him, "Shishishi, looks like we all made it out! I think we should celebrate."
—
Later that day, as the sun was setting, the group was looking over the garden, which seemed to have been mysteriously fixed. In reality, once Palkia had regained control of its power, everything had returned to normal, including the destroyed garden.
Ash leaned against the railing with his hands resting on it, while Charizard was still out, sleeping curled up under a tree. Dawn and Verity were sitting on a bench next to him, and Tonio stood on his other side as they watched Alice play another song on the grass flute.
Then the shadows beneath them condensed, and Darkrai emerged from them.
Alice immediately stopped playing the grass flute, her face lighting up as she recognized it, "Darkrai!"
Tonio straightened up from the railing, while Dawn and Verity both stood from the bench. For a moment, the four of them simply looked at the Pokémon before Alice stepped forward with a warm smile.
"Darkrai, we owe you an apology," she began, "We thought you were responsible for everything that happened, but you were actually trying to protect Alamos Town this whole time."
Tonio nodded, looking a little embarrassed, "Indeed. We misunderstood your intentions and assumed you were the cause of the disaster. If you hadn't fought against Dialga and Palkia, things could have ended much worse. Thank you for protecting our town."
"Yeah," Verity added, rubbing the back of her head, "I guess I was wrong about you. Sorry for assuming the worst."
Dawn nodded as well, "And thank you for helping everyone. You were fighting those two the entire time, even when you were getting hurt. I don't think any of us would have understood what was really happening if we hadn't seen it for ourselves."
Darkrai remained silent, its glowing eyes moving between them.
Ash, who had been listening to the entire exchange, finally raised a hand, "Okay, hold on a minute."
Everyone turned toward him.
Ash pointed at the Darkrai floating beside them, "You're all thanking the wrong Darkrai."
Alice blinked, "…What?"
Ash casually reached over and patted Darkrai on the shoulder, "This one's mine."
For several seconds, nobody said anything.
Then Verity slowly turned her head toward Ash, "…Your what?"
"My Darkrai," Ash repeated, as if he had just explained something incredibly obvious, "You know, my Pokémon."
Dawn's mouth dropped open, "ASH, YOU HAVE A DARKRAI?!"
"Yep!"
"YOU HAVE A DARKRAI?!" Verity repeated, practically shouting now.
Ash tilted his head, "You already said that."
"Because you have a Darkrai! Why did you never mention this?" Verity exclaimed.
Ash shrugged, "Never came up."
"NEVER CAME UP?!" Verity threw her hands into the air, "HOW DOES OWNING A DARKRAI NEVER COME UP?!"
Ash scratched his cheek, looking genuinely thoughtful, "Well, I don't exactly go around introducing all my Pokémon to everyone I meet. Besides, it's not like I was going to bring Darkrai out just to brag about it."
Dawn stared at him, then covered her face with both hands, "I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore."
Alice, meanwhile, looked between Ash and the Darkrai with wide eyes, "Then...if this Darkrai is yours, does that mean the Darkrai who protected the town is still out there?"
Ash grinned, "Bingo!"
As if on cue, the shadows beneath the railing began to shift again, and a second Darkrai flew out in front of them.
The town's Darkrai looked toward the group, then gave a small nod.
Alice's expression softened, "You heard us, didn't you?"
Darkrai nodded again.
She smiled, placing a hand over her chest, "Then, on behalf of the entire town, we really are sorry. We should have trusted you instead of assuming you were responsible for everything."
Darkrai looked at her for a moment before slowly lowering its head in acknowledgment.
Tonio let out a quiet breath of relief, "I'm glad we were able to clear up this misunderstanding."
"Me too," Dawn agreed, smiling at the Pokémon, "And I'm glad you're okay."
Verity rubbed the back of her head again, "Yeah...and, uh, sorry for being so suspicious of you. I guess I still have a lot to learn."
Ash smirked, "Well, look at that. Character development."
"ASH!"
He laughed, raising both hands defensively, "What? I'm just saying! First, you jumped out of a balloon to save Dawn, and now you're admitting your mistakes. Are you sure you're our usual Verity?" Ash rubbed his chin suspiciously.
The local Darkrai paid their bickering little attention. Instead, its gaze slowly shifted toward Alice.
She blinked when she noticed, "Hmm? What is it?"
Darkrai floated closer, then bowed its head toward her.
Alice's eyes widened slightly before her expression turned into a gentle smile. She returned the bow, holding her grass flute close to her chest.
"Thank you, Darkrai," she whispered, "For protecting our home."
Darkrai remained bowed for another moment before straightening up. Then it turned away from the group and began floating upward, its shadowy body rising toward the top of the Space-Time Tower.
Everyone watched as it reached the highest point and settled there, looking out over Alamos Town. It stayed there, letting the breeze wash over it, before melting back into the shadows.
As they watched Darkrai disappear, Ash turned toward his own Darkrai, "Alright, buddy, you've done enough sightseeing for today."
Darkrai looked at him.
Ash grinned, "Besides, I think you've earned yourself a break."
He pulled out a Poké Ball, and Darkrai calmly floated toward it, allowing itself to be recalled in a flash of red light. As Ash tucked the Poké Ball back onto his belt, Verity slowly turned toward him again.
"…Ash."
"Hm?"
"You have a Darkrai."
Ash looked at her for a moment, then smiled, "Yep."
Verity put her face in her hands, "Why do I try with you…?"
"'Cause we all know you like me~" Ash teased, making Verity huff.
"Actually, Ash, I wanted to ask something," Dawn spoke up, "How did you...beat Dialga and Palkia?"
Verity blinked, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. How the heck did you do that? I thought Dialga and Palkia were supposed to be invincible and stuff!"
"Yeah, does that mean you're the strongest in the world or something?" Dawn immediately lit up and pumped her fist.
"Err, I don't think so," Ash said, "I'm definitely not the strongest around, not even close."
Dawn's face immediately fell into a pout as she crossed her arms, "Humph! Then what do you call what you just did, hmm?"
Tonio tilted his head as he thought about the question, then slowly raised a finger, "Actually, I have a theory. Based on everything we saw during the battle, there's something that doesn't quite add up."
Ash looked over at him, "Oh?"
"Think about it. We're talking about Dialga and Palkia, two Pokémon whose powers govern time and space themselves. Yet, despite their incredible abilities, your Pokémon were able to fight them head-on." Tonio rubbed his chin, "I know your Pokémon are strong, but even so, something about the entire battle felt strange."
Ash nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Honestly, I was expecting a much harder fight."
Tonio nodded and rubbed his chin, "My theory is that the Dialga and Palkia we encountered weren't the original versions from our own universe. They might have been weaker versions from another dimension entirely."
Dawn blinked, "Another dimension?"
"It's possible," Tonio explained, "We know that Palkia possesses the power to manipulate space and travel between dimensions. We also know that Dialga can manipulate time. If the two of them crossed over from another universe, then perhaps the versions we encountered weren't quite the same as the ones described in our legends."
Ash nodded thoughtfully, "That would explain a lot, actually. I mean, you know what they say, multiverse theory is a bitch."
Dawn gasped at that, and Ash looked at her with a deadpan expression, "Don't look at me like that. We're teenagers now, not kids. Besides, we just almost died. I'm allowed to curse every once in a while."
Ash turned away from her, "Anyway, like I was saying, it would explain why those two were so weak."
Dawn stared at him for a moment before slowly shaking her head, "You know, I think you're the only person in the entire world who could fight Dialga and Palkia, call them weak, and then add that they might be from another universe."
Ash grinned, "Hey, somebody's gotta do it."
Verity sighed again, but then she paused, her expression slowly brightening as she considered Tonio's theory, "Wait a minute. If that's true, then doesn't that mean our universe might actually be one of the stronger ones?"
Tonio blinked, considering her words, "Well...it's certainly possible. If different universes have different versions of the same Pokémon, then their overall levels of power could vary as well."
Verity straightened up, looking a little more cheerful, "Well, at least that's a morale boost! We might actually be living in one of the stronger universes! Which means we are the strongest versions of ourselves!" she put her hands on her hips
Ash could have popped her bubble to tell her that's not how that works, but you know what, he'll let her have this one, not like there gonna meet those versions of themselves
Dawn nodded at first, but then her expression turned thoughtful again, "But wait. If there are still gods in our universe, shouldn't they be stronger? I mean, if Dialga and Palkia are gods, and the ones we fought were weaker versions, then wouldn't our versions be even more powerful?"
Ash scratched his cheek, "Not necessarily."
Dawn looked at him, "What do you mean?"
"Being strong and being a god don't automatically go hand in hand," Ash explained, "It gets complicated, and frankly, I don't want to explain it. At least, not right now, because it's a LOT, and frankly, I just want to lie down for a bit."
"That is fair. Not even gonna lie," Verity sighed.
Alice looked at them and gave them one more soft smile, "Well, I think you all earned it after everything that happened. And again, on behalf of Alamos Town…" She bowed to them, "I thank you."