1. Ash's Story (Part 10: Galar)

Chapter 76: Champion Time

Three days after the Darkest Day, Wyndon felt brighter than it had any right to feel. News about Chairman Rose's resignation still filled every screen, but so did pictures from Dia and Elena's wedding, evacuation crews reopening streets, and Gym Leaders helping towns recover.

The wedding had been beautiful and exhausting. Elena and Dia had smiled through joy, pressure, and responsibility, then left for their honeymoon before anyone could turn their first morning together into another meeting about Macro Cosmos.

Now the postponed Championship Match had finally returned.

The last three days had not been rest. They had been a strange kind of rebuilding. Hammerlocke's streets reopened in sections, Macro Cosmos offices changed leadership plans overnight, and every person who thanked us made the Poké Ball holding Eternatus feel heavier instead of lighter.

I was proud that we had saved Galar, but pride never stood alone after a crisis. It came with questions, cleanup, and the faces of people who almost lost their homes. That was why Leon's decision to continue the match today mattered. It was not pretending nothing happened. It was showing Galar that something could still continue after fear.

Victor kept checking live reports from every town, then pretending he was only reading battle predictions.

Serena noticed the way I watched the screens and stepped between me and the latest news report. "You are allowed to battle today without carrying every repair crew on your back."

"That sounds impossible," I admitted.

"It is," she said. "So only carry the field in front of you."

Hop met me in the hotel lobby with Gloria, Victor, Flora, Helen, Serena, and Alice. "I slept like the dead," Hop said, stretching. "Everyone's still talking about Eternatus, but at least things feel normal again. Sort of."

"We defeated Eternatus with Zacian and Zamazenta," I said. "Normal might need more than three days."

Gloria nodded toward the stadium. "Leon still insisted on today."

Victor folded his arms. "We heard he was hurt badly after Hammerlocke."

"He was," Serena said. "But Leon would hate letting Galar's promised match stay broken."

Alice looked at me with quiet worry. "Are you ready?"

Pikachu climbed onto my shoulder, tail brushing my cheek with steady warmth, "Tired roads can still carry one more step."

I touched his paw. "We are."

Hop tried to grin, but his eyes betrayed him. "It's my brother against my rival. I still don't know how to cheer."

"Cheer for the battle," I said. "That's what Leon would want."

At Wyndon Stadium, Mom and Dad waited with the Poké Ball holding Eternatus sealed in a reinforced case. Eternatus was mine and Alice's Pokémon now, but after what happened, it needed careful rest and supervision until it understood this world beyond crisis.

Dad saw my look. "Still calm."

Mom smiled gently. "It will stay nearby, but not part of this match unless something truly abnormal happens."

Alice nodded quietly. "Thank you, both."

Leon stood across from me beneath Wyndon's roaring sky. The field had been repaired, the screens were bright, and the crowd sounded louder than before the Darkest Day, as if Galar needed to prove fear had not stolen its voice.

"My matches are always sold out," Leon said, grinning, "but this is something else. Everyone knows what you did this week. They know you and Alice caught Eternatus and helped save Galar beside Zacian and Zamazenta."