Chapter Twenty-Nine

Shiloh zipped away from Lane, flying as rapidly as she could. But she wasn't trying to escape this time—she copied what the flygon had done, flying along the sand as close as she could. She willed it up into the air after her, gathering the sand behind her into a wave. As she fought she felt the heat of her body building into a sudden bonfire, glowing hotter and brighter. She wasn't Lane—for Shiloh, there could be no power without heat.

There was no vulnerable building or smaller Pokémon to shield this time, so she didn't try. Flames exploded from behind her, somehow merging with the sand, lending the storm her speed.

Reshiram spun to face her, or tried. It wasn't aiming at the struggling Lane anymore, but trying to pick her out through the storm. 

Then the blow came, and the flames were unleashed. Shiloh was small and fast, small enough that she was ahead of most of the attack. Heat still washed over her, hot enough that human skin would've boiled off her body, and even most metals would've liquified. The bolt cut past her into the ground, exploding where it struck in a wave of molten glass and shards of rock.

The heat might've boiled a mew alive, but Shiloh wasn't a mew. She was barely even touched. 

She turned sharply inward, taking her Scorching Sands with her. She dodged past Reshiram, avoiding an ill-timed swipe with one of its claws. Sand and dirt battered against it, roaring with the speed her body had given them. Again the dragon yelled, though this time in pain. It flopped to one side, shielding itself with its wings as the storm battered against it, extinguishing the flames from its mouth. 

"What now?" asked a voice from just beside her. Lane was a cat again, floating on a little pink bubble to keep herself airborne. "While he's distracted? If he keeps fighting like this, someone's going to die!"

Shiloh hesitated. Her advice was always chosen for Pokémon battles, where the death of an opponent was never the goal. An accident like that would've made for an abrupt end to her career before it even really got going. But here, maybe that was an advantage. "Earthquake!"

Lane sagged, stretching her legs on the glowing bubble. "You think I have the strength left for that? Do you have any idea how fast we were flying before?"

Shiloh's sandstorm puffed away after a final few seconds of sand, leaving Reshiram to finally recover. They didn't have much more time before the dragon turned on them, now thoroughly enraged. "I'll help!" she promised, desperate. "Hurry, I think he's getting up!"

The mew might not have the strength left, but Shiloh did. A fire burned inside her, separate from any physical heat. She stoked those flames, just as she'd done on the airship. Shiloh imagined what would happen if they failed her—Ghetsis ruling over a world of slaves, with the wild Pokémon transformed into homicidal shadow-Pokémon. They would slaughter each other, rendering the planet gradually uninhabitable. Meanwhile, her new friends would be hunted, caught, and mind-controlled by Colress’s device.

The ground shook, then split open. Nearby pillars of rock toppled sideways, while whole dunes vanished beneath the surface. The ground itself turned on Reshiram, pummeling the creature with hundreds of rapid blows. Its coat tore, scales split—and finally he managed to get into the air.

The dragon sagged as it flew, inclining its head slightly towards Lane. His voice was breathless, disbelieving. "What is your name, Firstborn?"

Lane hovered confidently in the air in front of Shiloh, no longer bruised and exhausted. White light glowed from both of them, an extension of Shiloh's own flame. A lantern burned in her chest, with a blue flame that never flickered. She warmed them both with it now, sustaining the mew so long as it burned. What would happen when it went out?

"Lane. Korina is my mother."

"The last and the first," Reshiram said, nodding to her. "I'm told you were there at the beginning. The oldest and the greatest were known to you."

She nodded. "Before they changed, and after. I want peace for you too, Reshiram. But if you insist that either you or this planet dies, it will be you."

He grunted, turning his back on her. "Now at last you tell me the truth." He lifted up into the air, aimed out at the sky. Then he flew, vanishing into the night. 

For the next few seconds the two of them floated in silence, watching the dragon retreat. Finally the mew turned on her, embracing her in a hug that seemed almost human. "You did great, Shiloh! All that time you spent worrying about not being a real Pokémon. Like that mattered."

Shiloh was already flush with heat. She was the last one to ever be self-conscious accepting credit for a victory. Whatever happened next, she wouldn't take credit for everything. "You know what this means. I helped save the world, so I've made up for stopping you. You don't get to keep me prisoner anymore."

Lane released her, sticking her tongue out. "How would I even do that? You're not a kitten, Shiloh. You could burn down any building I locked you in." There was a brief flash of disorientation, one Shiloh recognized by now—a teleport. Suddenly they were floating over the canyon wall, looking down at Plasma's castle from afar. "You might not believe me. That's my fault, I didn't give you good reasons to trust me. But everything I did after changing you was to keep you safe, or help you learn your powers. You weren't a prisoner."

Shiloh slumped onto a nearby rock, staring down into the valley. The fighting was mostly over now, it seemed. There were no more raging genesect, no flashes of out-of-control fire. What few grunts remained were now subdued, huddled together without their weapons in the snow.

Shiloh's eyes darted to the clearing, searching for Ghetsis. The man was gone, right down to his fancy cloak and huge sword. No trace of a fight either, at least not that she could see from up here—had the leader of Team Plasma run away when the fight went against them?

"I know that," she finally said, defeated. "It's just easier when I can blame you. You did completely derail my life. Even if you were nice to me afterwards, the first part was still not cool."

Lane shrugged. "You could see it that way, or you could see it as a gift. I didn't kill you, or turn you into a rat or a bug. I saw your potential, and brought you into a bigger world."

Shiloh squeaked with laughter. "Doesn't feel bigger from where I'm standing."

"Wait until you get confident in the air. The world looks real big from up there."

Pause. Snow continued to drift down towards them, burning off as it got close to Shiloh. She was tired enough that she could probably sit there for hours, maybe fall asleep outside. She had enough heat inside that she didn't need to borrow any. 

The mew floated close to her, basking in the warmth. But those cats were from the tropics, she must be terribly uncomfortable out here. "I think it's time to get down there. They should be finished cleaning up the stragglers by now. We did our part."

"What about Ghetsis?" Shiloh lifted off the rock again, gesturing to where he'd been. "Shouldn't we catch him?"

"If he's using resources to run away, he's not using them to stop us from getting the relic we need. Someone will find him eventually. I can worry about justice once we've finished picking up the pieces."

Shiloh followed them to the center of Plasma's lab. There was no resistance this time—whatever soldiers and trained Pokémon they still had on their side had probably fled by then, leaving them to make the charge unopposed.

She didn't understand what Mewtwo and Lane did to the artifact, or why it took them so long. But she knew the moment they succeeded, when she felt the incessant pressure on her mind transform to something new. A cheerful hum took its place, a little background melody that remained at the bottom of her thoughts.

"It's an earworm," she said, floating over. A little sluggish after her battle, but she wasn't the only one who felt that way. Every Pokémon in the room dragged themselves along. Mewtwo was actually standing on the ground, and Lane hadn't changed back into a human since they returned. She could think of no truer marks of tiredness. "I can still kinda hear it."

Mewtwo nodded knowingly. "Ordinary Pokémon will not sense they are carrying it. Most humans should feel even less. Those of us with deeper senses will have to learn to live with it, until the Shadow Pokémon are eliminated. I can remove it from your mind when it is no longer required."

Those words should've terrified her—a song that would never quite go away? But Shiloh's mind had more room than it used to. If she could find the concentration to fly, she could handle a little music. Besides, the melody was kinda nice.

"We have to test it," the mew said. "I know who we can use. They have him caged deeper in—I can feel it."

Shiloh didn't know who she was talking about, but she should've guessed. This Plasma facility had its own cages and captive subjects, just like the airship. Only this one kept several of its Pokémon out in the open, including one particular shaymin.

Her cell was small, with thick metal sides. The insides were blasted with frigid air, keeping the Pokémon inside constantly shivering and huddled. Yet when her eyes opened, she glared at them all.

"Elisa," Lane floated over to the cage, tapping on the glass. "I'm sorry it took me this long. I would've been here if I knew where they took you!"

Psychic power gripped the tubes overhead, then ripped them right out of the ceiling. The frigid air stopped blasting at the pokemon. Shiloh's own heat flared up, radiating into the cage. She wasn't trying to burn its occupant, just help warm them up a bit.

She had seen this shaymin before, during her first battle with Lane. Maybe she should resent her for her defeat—or maybe she should thank her. 

The shaymin growled. She cut the sound off short after a few seconds. Then she darted over to the metal cage walls, reaching out with stubby little paws. "Lane? And is that—Arceus, it is! Please don't tell me the victini helped you fight your way in here."

"She did," Lane said, without hesitation. "That's not an accident. I knew Shiloh was a champion when I met her. Bit of an asshole, but that's fine. That's practically a prerequisite."

She gestured at the cage, and its metal walls bowed outward under the pressure. They glowed briefly orange under the strain, then snapped, leaving a large gap on the side. Sirens instantly began to blare, light flashed, and security doors whirred downward. 

Until they stopped abruptly, and another voice spoke from the computer. Rotom. "I hope you don't mind if I put a stop to this. It makes it very difficult to film, and I don't imagine this documentary will continue for too long on this scene." Heavy blast doors stopped sliding down, freezing in place.

Shiloh kept her distance from the tearful reunion between Lane and her mate. She might not understand what they saw in each other, but maybe she should keep her mouth closed. Maybe one day she would feel the same way about Dominic that these Pokémon felt about each other. She floated away, giving them space without losing track of where Lane was flying. She probably wouldn't leave Shiloh behind in this snowy wasteland.

But Shiloh had managed to lose track of Lane's own daughter, good cause notwithstanding.

A shadowy outline approached from the corner of the broken laboratory. His body was covered with small burns, and he wore a thin cloak over his shoulder, ripped and torn from the battle earlier. Shiloh's ears tucked nervously behind her, and she avoided looking at him, embarrassed. He didn't leave her be.

"Here we stand, victorious. Thanks to you."

She squeaked nervously, floating a little further from him. "You're giving me too much credit. If I did anything, it was helping Lane. But there were dozens of others fighting here. Looked like you were taking on half of Plasma's troops on your own."

The oversized feline approximated a human shrug. "We were each deployed where we would have the most impact. I hope now you understand the significance of your contributions. This may be the first of your great victories, but it will not be the last."

She perked up. "Okay, maybe I deserve a little more credit than that. You should've seen me in the Sinnoh Pokémon League. When I took on Cynthia for the first time… I've never seen a crowd get so invested in a battle before. I think the reruns are still doing incredible numbers on syndication."

Mewtwo tilted his head to one side, staring at her. "I have absolutely no idea what that means, Victini. I take from your thoughts you view it as a great accomplishment—don't let me take that away. Just understand how many more achievements wait ahead of you. Pokémon like you live a long, long time. Your body may be small, but you were created by far wiser engineers than the ones who crafted me. It gives me some comfort to know that when I am gone, there are others who will protect the life of this planet."

He touched her shoulder with one strange paw, incredibly light despite his size. "Unless of course, you wish for me to undo what Lane did to you. Your mind could be untangled, reduced—and crammed back inside the familiar body you lost. This planet would be far poorer for your decision, I fear. But it is better for you to make a choice than to be compelled."

Shiloh sagged in the air, landing on a nearby server. "B-but I thought—all this time, people told me it couldn't be reversed."

"Not by them," Mewtwo said. "I can, at least in this moment. If your mind grows much more, it would be impossible. But your help saved many lives today, so I offer you this chance." He held one paw down towards her, an open hand. "I can return your humanity. In doing so, you will forget what you've seen and done since your transformation. The growth you've experienced, the lessons you've learned—will be forgotten. You will never see any creature in this room again."

Forget Aspen. Forget Dominic, and Lane, and everything else. Some of that was appealing—she had seen horrible things done at Team Plasma's decree. But everything else—this glimpse into how the world really worked, meeting the great powers that kept her planet in balance. Even seeing Lane's strange idea of the future, where humanity inherited the ancient legacy of the Firstborn. Shiloh would be part of all that, if she kept flying the path she was on. 

She folded her paw into her lap. "I don't think what Lane did to me was fair," she said. "But I don't want to give it up now, either."

Mewtwo smiled down at her. The expression seemed strange on his face, when he usually looked so stern. "Wise. This may not be the life you chose. But no Pokémon chooses the circumstances of their birth, only what they do with that life. I cannot see into the future, but I see your decision as a great relief to many."