Hello readers, excuse the incredibly late update. The service provider shut down my internet access and refused to fix the problem (and they still charged money for it!) And for that reason, this is the last chapter of the story (that, and it was already hard to continue).

Anyways, in this chapter a few more guest characters make there appearances (Thrust from Beast Machines, and the Axe Rangers from SMBZ), and a select few will meet their deaths.

So read, review, and enjoy-As this is the final entry in the story.

(DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, Beast Machines, or SMBZ- which was made by Alvin Earthworm. If I did, they would definitely be very different from how they are now!)

"DIE REED!" - roseluva

The pleasant shine of the moonlight was visible to the eyes of Harry, as the sounds of others' slumber could be heard from not too far away within the Pokemon center that they slept in.

His mind was now a shattered boneyard, and his perception of reality was in poor condition. His homeland was destroyed, his family was missing, and now he was being hunted by strange Pokemon and a new group of robotic entities.

After scrolling through his recent memories, Harry decided to wander through a cracked hallway that was lit by tiny mantis-colored bulbs.

Odd, Harry muttered through his thoughts. The lighting seemed to be coming from artistic patterns drawn on the walls, which made them appear to be extremely eerie.

"Regii...ICE!" the cold voice of the heartless Pokemon screeched from behind, causing Harry to turn around. It's here, Harry thought fearfully. It followed us here...

Harry collected his thoughts, and attempted to inspect the corridor, but found no energy that was associated with Regice. Now I'm becoming delrious, he whimpered unhappily.

"REGGII-ROCK!" a thick, sturdy voice echoed in the forward direction. Harry stood still for a minute, and heard nothing but the breezes from outside.

It's nothing, Harry grunted in frusteration. They aren't there. Harry continued walking forward, hearing no noises of any kind, until he reached the end and entered something that appeared to be a bizarre library.

The majority of the area was mostly pitch-black, the only sources of light came from the tiny lamps (that emmited an aqua-colored light) mounted at the bottom of the walls.

Other than that, Harry had almost no idea of where he was at all. Before he was able to move on, Harry heard an odd sound up ahead, one that resembled a motorcycle engine.

The wizard looked around the area, and saw nothing of the sort, despite the darkness of the room. "Did momma send you here to play with me?" the voice of a young, innocent child said from behind.

Harry turned to see a fox-like Pokémon, which was mainly slate-gray in terms of color, with red and black accents on its head and feet. The Pokemon's ears had a triangular shape and possessed a dark interior.

It had a large, whorled scruff of fur on its head, tipped with a crimson hue. Its eyes lacked pupils, and its eyelids and circular "eyebrow" markings beared a cherry coloring, while its bushy tail resembled a similar hue scheme.

"What?" Harry said as his eyes twitched. "Momma said she'd give me a friend some day," the creature said to Harry in response. "She said that she'd give me a friend that liked all the stuff I do, and that they would dress up like people from the story books she reads to me."

"Um...okay?" Harry mummered in reaction to the awkward nature of the current conversation. "She also said that people who dress up as Harry Potter characters are bad," he continued. "But you're not dressed up like one of them, so you're not bad, right?"

Harry suddenly realized that his scar wasn't visible in the darkened room, meaning that the small creature wouldn't report his presence to the Pokemon that were hunting for him.

"Yes...?" he replied quietly before hearing the sound of a motor-cycle engine. "Going my way?" a deeply-pitched male voice said from behind.

"Oh Ralts, please don't die on me!" Max pleaded in the Pokemon center, while Jimmy waited outside with Typhlosion. "Baaaak?" the volcano Pokemon grunted audibly.

"I don't know," Jimmy replied quietly. "I just want to find somewhere to sleep right now, and that's pretty much it..." Jimmy looked up at the light house, and saw a rather peculair sight.

It appeared to be five bipedal figures, each having robotic traits on their bodies and all having different shapes and color schemes.

The first appeared to be wearing red upper garments with black pants and a yellow cape, while the rest of his suit was plain and very simple/undetailed.

The second was similair in terms of shape, except his suit was taupe-black and he wore sun-glasses for some odd reason, while the one standing behind him wore the same attire, only it was colored green and dark blue.

In back of them was another individual that had a body that was shaped almost exactly the same as the other three, only this one was pink, and appeared to be more feminine.

The largest of this group was given a somewhat different bodymass, aside from having a yellow suit, his body was bulbous and his upper legs and arms had rings ingraved in their surfaces, and he appeared to be lethargic for an odd reason.

It's probably nothing, Jimmy told himself. They're probably just new decorations that Jasmine put up at the light house.

"Baaak?" Typhlosion said to Jimmy, pointing at the five objects. "Don't worry about it," he replied to his Pokemon. "Those are just statues or something."

"We're not statues!" the red figure told Jimmy, turning around and pulling out a strange ax. "We protect the universe!" the black-colored object said, as if he were continuing his ally's statement.

"We like what we do!" the green one shouted. "We eat donuts!" the yellow being replied. "We wear the best clothes!" the pink object yelled. "We are the one and only..." the red one said again.

"Axem Rangers X!" they all announced in unison. Jimmy and Typhlosion exchanged looks with each other, and nearly laughed at what they just heard. "That's such a...creative name you guys came up with!" Jimmy told them while his left eye twitched.

"Whatever, kid!" Red barked, as if he were angered by Jimmy's words. "We were sent here by Lord Smithy to capture the evil Pokemon called Deviant, and we need your help to do it!"

Well, that's pretty convienient, Jimmy thought comfortably. "I guess we have a common enemy then," Jimmy told Red optimistically. "My friend told me about Deviant. He said that it destroyed his home and killed almost all of his friends, we could use a few other Pokemon trainers to help us."

Red looked at the other Axem Rangers, and tapped the back of his armored head. "Uh...We're not trainers," Red confessed unhappily. "But, we are strong when it comes to normal fights! None of our opponents have defeated us in the past!"

"What about the present?" the iron-hard voice of Demealla said from above Jimmy. The Axem Rangers jumped down from the light house, and landed on the grass, while Demealla leaped off of the roof of the Pokemon Center.

"You better hope that this hospital repairs weird robotic humans as well," the Zoroark said to the five warriors in a cruel way. "For the sake of my child, I will not allow you to take his father away. If you all wish to live, then I suggest you surrender and become my son's play mates...Or I'll kill you all and have your rusty heads placed on my totem poles as christmas decorations. What's it going to be?"

Red pointed his ax at Demealla, and glared at her with a prideful look in his eyes. "That's not gonna happen," he told her. "Axem Rangers X, show no merc-huh?"

Jimmy saw the Axem Rangers' eyes widen in horror, and was confused at their behavior. "What's wrong?" he asked before looking around the area. Jimmy saw thousands of ghost-type Pokemon appearing out of nowhere, and felt his mind race as he tried to think of an escape plan.

Demealla looked at Jimmy, and smiled peacefully for a moment. "Don't worry boy," she said compassionatly. "We aren't going to hurt you, we're just going to send these clowns and Potter to their dooms as punishment for disturbing Peppy."

"Why are you so hung up on torturing Harry?" Jimmy growled angrily. "So what if he doesn't want to be your child's friend? Can't you find anyone else to play with him?" Demealla gave Jimmy a dirty look, and grabbed him by the shirt.

"Well...I can give him something to play with," the Zoroark said with an evil look on her face. "And that thing will probably be your severed head."

Jimmy heard Typhlosion give out a mighty roar, but was grabbed by a ghost Pokemon to keep him from saving his master. Jimmy watched a sphere of blue/white energy growing in Demealla's right hand, and closed his eyes tightly, hoping that everyone else would survive.

Harry darted down the corridors, dodging the yellow projectiles of energy as they raced towards him in a rain that seemed to be limitless.

The dark halls seemed to be endless, and just when things didn't seem like they could be any worse, a pair of Magnemite rushed through the intersection up ahead, and sent two streams of yellow lightning in his direction.

Harry leaned over, and allowed the bolts to miss, giving him the oppertunity to place his hands together, and send a rounded manifestation of the killing curse ramming into the attackers.

The two Magnemite came apart in midair, and landed on the floor, exploding into hundreds of molten fragments. Harry turned around and took a glance at who was trying to kill him, and began running backwards.

The machine that was attacking Harry had a rather odd appearance, having a violet bipedal body with two big forearms that were painted yellow at the outer components (and grey from behind) with three fingered "hands" that had gun barrels between them.

His abdomen was rectangular on a vertical scale, and had a bulge on the middle, while his pelvis looked recessed and had grey shading.

This robot's legs were incredibly thin, and were both were linked to some sort of motorcycle-esq wheel and another one was mounted on his back.

The machine's head also possessed similar features that matched his design, having a closed mouth with dark casing, along with two open holes on the front places as well as a grey circular valve on the top.

This transformer's eyes were concealed within a red visor, which seemed to be complimenting the intimidating mood that he appeared to have at the moment, which happened to be anger mixed with frusteration.

"I don't have all night, bolt-face!" he shouted, firing at Harry once again. Wait, my spells didn't work on the Regi's, Harry thought quickly. But it worked on those two Magnemite. maybe they'll work on this thing as well...

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry shouted, throwing a spear of green energy at the machine. "Thrust...overdrive!" he said smoothly, transforming into some sort of motorcycle.

That robot's name is Thrust? Harry asked himself before dodging the transformer as he attempted to run over Harry. The wizard placed both of his hands on his back, and felt his scar burn as a red light flashed up on its interior.

Thrust activated his brakes, and created a cloud of smoke as his tires slid across the flat glass-like floor. As if summoned by the pain Harry was feeling on the outer regions of his skin, a large colorful explosion filled the halls, and projected both Harry and Thrust to the outside of the horrific maze.

"Have you any more words, boy?" Demealla asked Jimmy. Screw this, Jimmy thought to himself. I'm not dying tonight!

Before Jimmy could answer, a large explosion threw Demealla into the air, startling all of the ghost Pokemon who surrounded them.

"Jimmy, run!" Axem Red yelled, covered by the cloud of smoke. Though he couldn't see Red, the Pokemon trainer still ran as fast as he could, searching for Typhlosion through the mess.

Demealla quickly pushed herself up off of the ground, and blew the smoke out of the way with an emulated whirlwind.

The Zoroark caught the sight of molten cement mixed with the remains of Thrust that protruded from the ground, meaning that his mission to assasinate Harry Potter ended in failure.

Damn, she thought to herself. I can't trust any technological thing to do anything right. It seems that all machines have failed me, even the ones that humans don't make.

"Who's responsible for his demise? Come out and say it!" Demealla yelled, causing the panic of her ghost Pokemon army to become even more dramatic than it already was.

Harry emerged from the rubble, and made eye-contact with Demealla while brushing the fragments off of himself. "Harry..." Demealla sighed bitterly.

"If you are really who you claim to be, then you'll understand how I feel. I want to make my child happy, and all of this needs to happen in order to do that. You have kids, you know how good it feels to see a smile on your child's face."

The only response Demealla recieved was Harry giving her the middle finger, causing her to give him a sarcastic smile.

"Say goodbye to your arm!" Demealla told Harry cheerfully, raising her left hand and shooting out a stream of yellow energy, obliterating Harry's right arm completely.

Harry Potter's eyes rolled in the back of his head as his arm turned into magma, and rained down to the ground in a pile of bright red/orange ashes. The wizard fell to the ground, passing out from the intense pain that he was experiencing.

"Alrighty boys," Demealla barked, triggering the Regi's to appear out of nowhere. "Ready to blast this human away from existence?"

The Axem Rangers quickly jumped in front of Harry, surrounding the wizard in a protective formation. "We're not going to let you do that, Zoroark!" Red yelled gracefully. "Harry and his friends are coming with us, and we're not letting you kill him!"

Demealla laughed as if she heard the funniest joke ever created. "What's so funny?" Red growled angrily.

"You morons actually think you stand a chance against me and my Pokemon?" the Zoroark replied. "You can't even think of a good name for your team, and you were defeated by some little italian plumber in the past without putting up a good fight."

"How'd you know about that?" Red almost screamed. Demealla crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "You're either really ignorant," the humored Pokemon began. "...More unintelligent than I thought, or both! Have you not heard of the human creation known as the internet?"

Demealla waited patiently for a response, and snickered when she saw Red looking at the ground with embarassment. "Dude, she sounds like Ursala from that Disney movie," Green whispered to Yellow. "Except it sounds like she smokes a million cigarrets every day."

"Making fun of my voice are you?" Demealla asked Green, suddenly angered by his statement. Green backed away in fear, while Red, Yellow, and Black remained where they were.

"Okay then...Regi's, take them down..." the Zoroark ordered with a small hiss in her voice. "I get the red one..."

Demealla's claws extended outward, as if she was spawning three swords in the place of her fingers.

The Axem Rangers brandished their weapons, and prepared for the brawl, just as another combatant entered the arena, joining the Regi's and the Zoroark in their group.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you...The dark Victini!" Demealla announced with optimism.

The dark-skinned Victini opened its eyes widly, and showed the thin grey ovals that shadow Pokemon typically possessed. "Are you all ready?" Demealla asked her Pokemon, causing them to grunt and chirp in odd fashions. "Okay, let's do it..."

Demealla charged at Red with full fury in her eyes, knocking him over backward with a head-butt, while Regirock smashed into Yellow with a drill-spin.

The Zoroark caught a glimspe of Red struggling to bring his ax up off of the ground, and tried to slash Demealla's limbs off, but failed and had her right foot slam into his lower body, creating a large dent in his armor.

Red was sent flying into the light house, while Pink flew in his path, trying to get the dark Victini off of her while it slowly gnawed away at the outer casing of her head.

Demealla looked at Black and Green, and grimaced when the two interlaced their legs together, and began spinning vertically while their held their axes above their heads.

In less than a second, the two became a giant buzz-saw, and began slashing everything in their path.

"Registeel, Regice, get out the way and fire confuse-rays at Black and Green!" Demealla ordered, triggering the two robotic Pokemon to split formation and rotate in the Axem Rangers' direction.

The two Regi's responsed to their master's command, and sent two orange balls of light at their targets.

A loud BANG! echoed throughout the city as Black and Green were struck by the rays, and the two robotic warriors suddenly spun off course, slicing the Olivine gym in half as they went on a path to nowhere.

Demealla returned focus to Red, and saw that he had successfully freed himself from the mess, and resumed his fight with Demealla by racing at her through the air. The Zoroark dodged his incoming blow, and kneed him in the groin, causing him to drop his weapon, and collaspe to the ground due to the pain he felt.

The Zoroark picked up Red's ax, and pointed the blade at his neck. After a quick inspection of the scene, Demealla saw that Yellow and Pink were now knocked out cold, and the Regi's had won the battle.

"I'm going to give you another chance to surrender," Demealla told Red. "After all...I've pretty much won the fight." Red looked as if he was going to faint, and nodded empathically at Demealla's statement.

"Good move," she told Red, impressed at his decision. "Okay, now...all you and your friends have to do is let me decide Potter's fate, and then you have to play with my son for a day...then you can go back to wherever your home is."

Red closed his eyes and groaned miserably. "Sure..." he whispered, passing out afterward. "That was easy," Demealla said cheerfully, walking away with Red's ax in her left hand. "Maybe now I can make Peppy happy."

Demealla looked at what was left of the Olivine city gym, along with the buildings that surrounded it, and sighed at the destruction that she was looking at.

"Pity..." she muttered before taking a glance at Harry's position. Something didn't look right, Harry wasn't laying down at the spot where Demealla had left him at.

"Okay, which one of you-AHH!" the Zoroark screeched, as a red bolt struck the left side of her face. Demealla screamed in pain as other blasts impacted different sections of her body, and knocked her backward on top of Red, smashing the front half of his body.

Demealla's vision blurred as several explosions occured next to her, and grunted at the sound of her three servants making noises that sounded as if they were being sent to their dooms.

"eslab-STEEL!" Registeel said before it came apart on top of yellow, while Regirock met a similair punishment.

Regice floated away before it joined the wreck, before was struck by a purple blast of lightning, and exploded in a thick blue cloud of dust that mixed perfectly with the billions of shards that made contact with the ground.

"NOOOOOOO!" Demealla screamed at the top of her lungs, desperately trying to see who was responsible for her Pokemon's demise.

The Zoroark stood up, still feeling agony from the inflammatory wounds she had suffered. Who could possibly have the nerve to do such a thing? she queried in her mind before catching Ginny and Harry's children in her eyes.

"You...you-! How could you do such a thing?" Demealla yelled at the witch. "What are you talking about...?" Ginny asked as she walked over to Harry.

Demealla stared at Ginny for a moment, and saw that she was lacking a wand, meaning that she couldn't have struck her with those kinds of spells unless she had mastered that area of magic completely.

"Either you're lying...or-" she said to Ginny, before noticing a tall building being knocked over, smashing into the structures below it. The ground shook as it crashed into the streets, revealing the gigantic dragon that was going to become her spouse.

Demealla's jaw dropped to the ground (metaphorically), and stared at Deviant mindlessly as he opened his mouth, and burned another building to the ground with a purple flamethrower.

"Deviant...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she bellowed at an unbelieveble volume, catching the giant Pokemon's attention. I AM NOW SCULPTING MY KINGDOM, he replied with his bottomless-pitched voice. THIS CITY MUST BE REMOVED IN ORDER TO DO SO.

Demealla grumbled in disbelief. "...By killing all of the humans and Pokemon who live here?" the Zoroark responded. "Do you know how many innocent lives your taking away right now? They're not even getting the chance to evacuate!"

I DON'T CARE, Deviant replied, continuing to knock over and burn away the buildings. Demealla's army of ghost Pokemon fled from the scene, along with thousands of other Pokemon and humans alike.

Demealla's eyes widened in horror as Deviant sent fire blasts at the creatures that were running away, and grimaced each time one of them melted into the streets in crumpled heaps of indigo-hued magma.

"No! Stop it, Deviant! Stop it right now!" Demealla yelled, recieving no response from the one she called her lover.

Ginny stood up once the dragon got closer to her, as if she were about to say something to the rampaging Pokemon. "Don't you even care how you're making that Pokemon feel?" Ginny asked the dragon, pointing at Demealla.

POKEMON? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, he asked the human. WHO DO YOU SPEAK OF? Ginny pointed her left index finger at Demealla, and crossed her arms.

Deviant's gills opened and closed as he made a puff-esq sound, looking Ginny in the eyes. THAT WHORE IS MEANINGLESS, Deviant replied cruelly. "WHAT?" Demealla roared in response. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME THAT!"

The dragon began snickering at the Zoroark's reaction, and opened his mouth as wide as he could, charging up a powerful multi-hued beam in his mouth, aiming for the light house.

"I can't believe this!" Demealla said, fighting the urge to cry. "You were so kind to me and our child...! Y-you always took me on wonderful dates and always provided me with comfort...and now look! You're killing innocent creatures for a trivial reason! And to think that I was in love with you! What sinister being tricked me into thinking you were so attractive?"

IT'S VERY SIMPLE, Deviant answered swiftly. YOU'RE JUST AN INCREDIBLY STUPID SLUT WITH NO PURPOSE IN LIFE OTHER THAN TO INCONVIENENCE EVERYONE. YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF SPACE.

Demealla gasped dramatically as tears began to soak her fur, sitting down after hearing the extremely foul comment. "You...you monster! How could you say such a thing?" Ginny yelled.

Deviant gave out a sinister laugh, and turned to face Ginny. IT'S AS EASY AS DOING THIS! the creature replied, firing the beam at Ginny and obliterating her instead of the light house.

"Nooo..." Demealla whimpered, finally beginning to sob in reaction to Deviant's horrible comments, the destruction of Olivine city along with some of her Pokemon, and now the death of Ginny.

"Dad...! DAD! Wake up!" the voices of Harry's sons echoed throughout his mind. Harry blinked several times, and shook his head rapidly as his vision cleared.

"Boys...what-?" he stuttered, looking at his surroundings. Harry scanned the wretched scene with his eyes, and was speechless.

This event was almost exactly the same as the town that was burning away before Harry had reached this world, and now it had returned.

Harry looked at the object in front of him, and saw that it was a stone carving in the ground that appeared to be exactly the same as Ginny, only it was a flattened manifestation of her.

Though Harry cared for his wife, he had no time to even think about what had happened to her. "Harry!" Jimmy shouted, running over to the wizard's side. "Are you alright?"

Harry looked at his children, and then exchanged looks with the Pokemon trainer. "Jimmy, you have to get them out of here," Harry told him desperately. "You have to leave this place now, or you're all going to die."

The wizard looked at them and felt a lump form in his throat. "Boys, go with Jimmy, okay?" he said in a firm, but somewhat kind way. "Go follow Jimmy, listen to what he says, alright?"

Harry's children nodded, and walked next to Jimmy. "What are you going to do?" Jimmy asked the wizard. "Don't worry about me," Harry told Jimmy. "Just get out of here, go as far away as you can."

Jimmy nodded and shook hands with Harry, walking away as Typhlosion followed them from behind.

The four quickly dissapeared from Harry's field of view, and when the wizard looked upward, he was the disturbing sight of Deviant, charging up a huge sphere of energy (that looked like a gigantic violet-shaded sun.

He's going to blow up the Johto region, Harry gasped inside of his thoughts. The wizard stood up, trying to ignore the pain he felt from the empty socket that was once occupied by his right arm.

Harry tried to think of a way to stop Deviant, but was completely clueless before hearing a faimilair voice echo through his mind.

"Harry!" the voice of Albus Dumbledore boomed across the interior of his head. "Look behind!" Harry turned around, and saw the former headmaster of Hogwarts standing before him.

"Been a while, old friend!" Dumbledore said happily. "Professor..." Harry grunted. "I'm sorry, but this isn't really the time for a happy reunion of sorts."

"Why not?" Dumbledore inquired cheerfully, as if everything was okay. Harry pointed to Deviant, and crossed his arms. "Oh..." the former headmaster mumbled.

"Professor, I need to stop that thing before he kills everybody who lives in this world!" Harry exclaimed. Dumbledore looked overhead, and frowned as Deviant's energy bomb grew every second.

"Harry, I want you to know something," Dumbledore informed him. "No wizard ever really dies. You are looking at full proof of this right now. You have nothing to fear if you perform the only available option you have right now."

"What do you mean?" Harry murmured in surprise. "You must sacrifice yourself to destroy that monster," Dumbledore answered. "You teleport that creature to the outer edge of the planet's core. The explosion will be drowned out by the magma, therefore, this land will survive."

"And how will I have to sacrifice myself?" the wizard asked. Dumbledore closed his eyes and walked over one of the Axem rangers. "You will have to use all your power to keep that dragon from escaping, and you will have to use this spell at point-blank range."

Harry looked at the sky and frowned. "It doesn't matter if I survive this or not," Harry told Dumbledore. "It's worth the cost, and besides...I get to spend time with you and my parents, don't I?"

"I'll take you to an even better place after this is over," Dumbledore told Harry. "Now, in order to stop this beast, you have to use as much energy as you can, and form a bond between the two of you.

"That way, you can access the creature's teleportation capability. Think of the place you want to go to, and then you'll have a way of stopping that thing. Now, go for it..." Dumbledore walked towards the ocean, and waved at the wounded wizard. "Good luck Harry," Dumbledore said before vanishing completely.

Harry stared up at Deviant, and streched his arms towards the sky. Take of care of them for me, Jimmy, Harry said through his mind, watching two amber lines of light shooting up from his hands, making contact with Deviant.

Jimmy stood on top of the mountains that overlooked the western half of the Johto region, and watched a gigantic byzatine-colored explosion engulf the city that he had just passed.

The colorful fireworks covered his vision, and made everything else invisible. Colorful flames flew by the trees and grass, and left glass-like formations in their places.

The destructive scene had now created something beautiful, it was as if that bomb of light had reformatted the land into something completely different, like it was replacing life rather than taking it.

Though Jimmy enjoyed watching the spectacle, he knew it was better to move on, Marina was waiting for him after all.

Even though it was only a day, it seemed like an eternity to Jimmy. He had met a formerly ficticious character, encountered a sadistic team of Pokemon working for a cold-hearted killing machine that was in the shape of a dragon, and now he watched this colorful collection of explosions.

"So long, Harry..." Jimmy whispered. Though he didn't know him for too long, Jimmy was still saddened by the loss of the wizard, and his children would feel an equal amount of emotional pain.

Jimmy looked up at the stars, and felt the pain ease to a minor extent. Though he had lost a friend in that mess, the world of Pokemon was safe once again, and so were his friends.

Though the price that had to be paid was significant, a great crisis was averted, and the planet was safe once more.

Before Jimmy continued his journey, he heard a bizarre sound, and looked up to see a shining Mew flying into space, and smiled at the sight as hope began to slowly replace to anguish that he had received earlier.

Though this night was bleak, and though rough times might be lying in wait, the future would be brighter up ahead, and the world would recover from this loss.

The End