Chapter 33

  "What?" said Pikachu, “Are you sure?”

  "Positive," Ash glanced at Nigel. Nigel had started to groan, struggling to his feet. "Perfect! He's awake,"

  "How do you know we have to use him?" asked Latios

  "Jirachi told me," replied Ash.

  "Who's Jirachi?" asked Pikachu.

  "That’s the Wish Pokémon," said Latias, "Jirachi only wakes up every thousand years, but legend says that if you have a wish, your heart is pure, and you take on a quest to find Jirachi, it will wake up and grant your wish."

  "You did an entire quest?" asked Skye.

  "No," said Ash, "Misty and Brock did it for me. I guess they knew I needed help."

  "I wonder how they found Jirachi," said Pikachu, "Latios?"

  Latios shook his head. "We'll have to wait until we see them again."

  Nigel opened his eyes. Where was he? A strange Pokémon was floating over to him. It looked kind of like an orange Latios.

  The Pokémon stopped a few feet away from him. "Are you ok?"

  Nigel stood up and dusted himself off. "I'm okay... who are you?"

  The Pokémon sighed. "Really, you too?"

  Then he remembered. Tin Tower. The Prophecy. Latius. He stumbled backward. "Okay, I admit it. You win," Nigel clutched his head. “Just take me to jail already,”

  Latius shook his head. "I want you to free the Dark Pokémon."

  "Free them?"

  Latius nodded.

  "But... that's impossible," Nigel was still trying to process the experience he had been through. There was no reason why he should feel different, after all, he still remembered what had happened to him at Tin Tower all those years ago, when he had successfully made his first Dark Ball, read the prophecy, and did all he could to thwart Latius. Despite all that, he wasn't angry at Latius for stopping him, at Ho-oh for failing to block the attack, or at himself for being weak... again.

  "I think it's possible." Latius was... smiling?

  "What do you mean?" asked Nigel.

  "I mean," said Latius, "that you can free the Dark Pokémon. You're the one who made them Dark Pokemon, and you're the only one who can reverse it."

  "You're not mad at me?" asked Nigel, confused.

  "Oh, I am," said Latius, "but you did those bad things because you thought that was the only real way to live, right?"

  Nigel nodded.

  "But now you know the truth," Latius gave him a serious look. "And I'm willing to give you a second chance."

  "I guess I don't have much choice," said Nigel.

  "Not really,"

  "Alright then," said Nigel, "I'll help you."

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  And so Ash, his Pokémon, and Nigel set about freeing the Dark and Shadow Pokémon. Freeing (or Purifying, as Ash later called it) the Pokémon was easy... once they figured out how to do it. Thinking back on it, maybe they shouldn't have started with Ho-oh.

  "Hurry, Ash, we can't hold Ho-oh down for much longer!" yelled Pikachu.

  "Just a few more seconds!" said Ash, "Are you sure you can't feel anything, Nigel?"

  "I can't," Nigel gritted his teeth. "Ho-oh is just too strong."

  "Ash! We can't hold Ho-oh off any longer!" yelled Latios.

  "Nigel, return Ho-oh," said Ash, "we can't handle it anymore."

  Nigel returned the Rainbow Pokemon, but when Ho-oh returned to the ball, it began to glow. Instinctively, Ash shot a tiny beam of the light he had used earlier at it. One bright flash later, and a regular Pokeball sat in Nigel's hand.

  Ash facepalmed. “Really?”

  Latios groaned. "I wish we had thought of that from the beginning,"

  “How many left?” asked Ash.

  “I hate to say it, but…” Nigel hesitated. “Around three hundred,”

  Ash took a deep breath. This was going to take a long time. “I guess we’d better get started.”

  "What do you want us to do?" asked Latias.

  "Can you guys round up the Pokémon from the grunts?" said Ash, "We'll need to purify them too."

  "Won't they put up a fight?" asked Latios.

  "They won't," Nigel pulled a rotom phone out of his Pocket. He pressed some buttons on the screen and began to type. After about a minute, he put the phone away. "I sent a message to the entire team telling them a Pikachu, Eevee, Latios, and Latias are coming to pick up their Pokémon for inspection."

  "Won't that seem a little weird?" asked Ash.

  "Probably," said Nigel, "but they'll listen,"

  "You guys can go ahead," said Ash, "let me know when you're done, and I'll tell you where to meet me."

  "Come on!" Skye rushed toward the door. "Whoever gets the most balls wins!"

  "I'm winning for sure then," said Latios.

  "You think?" Pikachu smirked. "This mouse was built for speed!"

  "I bet I can get double what you get," said Latios.

  "I bet I can get triple!" countered Pikachu.

  "If either of you wants to win," cut in Ash, "you might want to get started."

  Latios and Pikachu stopped their argument and looked around. Latias and Skye were nowhere to be seen. In less than a second, they were out the door, or what was left of it.

  "If you don't mind," said Nigel, setting down his Pokeballs. "I'd like to do my Pokémon first."

  Ash nodded. "That's fine with me."

  Ash and Nigel proceeded to purify Nigel's Pokémon. When they had finished, Nigel led Ash to the storage room where Team Void's extra Pokémon were stored.

  "How did you get all these Pokémon?" asked Ash.

  "Stealing mostly,” Nigel admitted, “But I'll get every Pokémon back to their rightful trainers as soon as I can. Do you think you can convince the police to let me do that before they put me in jail?"

  "You're turning yourself in?"

  "It's the right thing to do." said Nigel, "I just hope they don't give me a lifetime sentence."

  "I can help with that," said Ash.

  "Thanks," said Nigel, "speaking of which, I had a question for you."

  "Go ahead,"

  "Why are you being so nice? You could have killed me back there, and I would have deserved it too... but you helped me even after I captured and imprisoned you,"

  Ash laughed. "I've been getting that question a lot lately. I don't know why… just habit I guess,"

  "Latios asked you a similar question?" said Nigel, "After you saved his life?"

  "How did you know that?"

  "The prophecy says so,"

  "I still don't know what prophecy you're talking about."

  "Oh, I forgot you didn't read it." Nigel set down the Dark Ball he was holding. "Let me show it to you.” He pulled out his phone, flicked it a few times and handed it to Ash.

  Ash read the prophecy. Had Regigigas seriously not shown this to them? His job could have been about ten times easier. He sighed. ‘What’s done is done, and everything worked out anyway. I’m just glad it’s over.’

  Thank you for reading!

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