Vaporeon studied the faces in the crowd. Each stared back with nauseating intensity. Hardly a month later and she was back in the same position, bargaining and begging for mercy. She knew more about herself and the world, now, yet somehow she felt even less certain.
There was still time to decide. She could always just hop off the stand and give up. Go home with her tail between her legs, and tell her fiancée she hadn't even tried. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to be a god, but... she couldn't rest not knowing.
VAPOREON: H-hi. Me again.
VAPOREON: Thank you the support, Zapdos.
VAPOREON: Um. As promised, I do want to ask for my immortality back.
VAPOREON: But... there's one other thing, too.
VAPOREON: As I put in the survey, I'm getting married soon.
VAPOREON: And... I promised her I wouldn't leave her behind.
VAPOREON: If I become a god again, she has to become one too.
Vaporeon braced herself just in time. The shouting was even louder than she'd expected. None of the sympathetic faces were on her side now. Even Articuno and Ho-oh looked shocked – even her siblings, too.
The bickering grew in intensity, until one voice shouted above the rest.
HEATRAN: SILENCE!
Flames burst from her back and ignited the surrounding tables. No one seemed to be hurt, from where Vaporeon cowered, but the hall fell silent nonetheless.
HEATRAN: All present today have made good points.
HEATRAN: If the aggrieved are convinced of that Suicune has changed, I have no choice but to admit the possibility.
HEATRAN: Of course, I would love nothing more than to be rid of her even so.
HEATRAN: Yet Lugia is stretched too thin, even with the help of Articuno.
HEATRAN: I am stretched too thin, even with that of Entei.
HEATRAN: We do need Suicune back.
HEATRAN: If she is trusted, and properly restrained, I will allow it.
HEATRAN: But more than that...
HEATRAN: We need Moltres back.
No. No, no, no...
The room boiled with debate. Vaporeon could feel her skin begin to burn.
CRESSELIA: Why not Kyogre and Groudon?
MELOETTA: Or a second Articuno and Entei?
HEATRAN: Do YOU trust a killer and a mortal with that power?
HEATRAN: We survived the first Weather War. We wouldn't survive another.
LUGIA: This proposal is disgusting. You would treat my child as a tool to be replaced?
HEATRAN: I would treat your child as a WORKER who abandoned its post.
RAIKOU: What the fuck is wrong with you?
RAIKOU: Do you have ANY idea how fucked up making her a Moltres is?
HEATRAN: What MATTERS, CAT, is protecting the mortals.
HEATRAN: If she wants to be a god, she has to understand that.
VAPOREON: She's right.
Vaporeon raised her metal paw, and all conversation stopped.
VAPOREON: Heatran is right.
VAPOREON: If I wanted this back, I'd need to come to terms with what that means.
VAPOREON: The world would come first, no matter what.
VAPOREON: If my wife and I could be happy together... that would be secondary.
HEATRAN: Then you accept the offer?
HEATRAN: She will have to be approved and-
VAPOREON: No.
VAPOREON: I meant that I'm done here.
VAPOREON: Thank you for your time. I hope we can all still be friends.
VAPOREON: But I... I'm going home. I want to be with my wife.
She jumped off the table. A portal opened up to catch her, and she was gone.
A loving ocean breeze held the newlyweds, as they cuddled on the boat they'd held the ceremony on. It was by far the biggest gift they'd gotten from the gods. Terapagos had left it in the port; apparently, it had been built by another timeline's Mawile.
Mawile rubbed her own wedding ring against the one on Vaporeon's metal limb. Both had politely turned down Mew's offer, though Mawile had herself reshaped just a touch. Just enough to sing for her new wife, and the children on their way.
They watched as Ho-oh circled the ship. Thoughts of the future drifted in and out of their minds, and they smiled. Rainbows wrapped around the sky, an omen for the life they'd chosen.
VAPOREON: Mawile... thank you.
VAPOREON: I love you more than you could ever know.
MAWILE: I kn'w, dear. I l've you too.
MAWILE: We may not have f'rever...
MAWILE: But now is pl'nty for me.
