A Friend's Promise

**A Friend's Promise** (約束を決して忘れない, *Never Forget The Promise*?) is the (TBA) episode of the 8th season of *Guardians of Harmony* and the (TBA) episode of the series overall.

## Summary

*After the tragic loss of Gina Silverstein indirectly at the hands of Team Rocket, our heroes take time to process the shock. At her funeral, her brother starts blaming Kyubey and the Guardians and the public is extremely shocked as well. Will they be able to honor their late friend's memory and make peace with her family?*

## Plot

A rainstorm falls over Striaton as the heroes weep over Gina Silverstein's death. During her funeral, the remaining Guardians give her flowers to remember her by and Gina's younger brother Timmy breaks down and screams at Kyubey for letting this happen. The Incubator gets extremely annoyed that he thinks *she* is the one who caused the late Guardian's death. The next day, the heroes are bombarded with uneasy questions about their duty, and Aurea decides to give them a day off. However, she notices that Cheren is not with the others, so she goes to the Pokémon Center.

In the guest room at the Center (where the Guardians slept for the night), Cheren is sitting on a bed, heartbroken. He thinks of all the times he spent with Gina and wonders how it would compare if Bianca had been one to die, since the former was his platonic friend. He eventually lets the waterworks run and lets himself weep on the bed loudly for several minutes, causing Kazmar to come in and try and comfort him, though it fails to help. Meanwhile, the other Guardians spend their time training their Pokémon, becoming closer as friends.

The next day, Nanette and Mikey decide to make a photo album of Gina to give to her family. With Natasha and Hilbert's help, they make an album and present it to Timmy, Kevin and their parents as a gift, who almost burst into tears at the meaningful gift. Everyone starts to move on from Gina's death, happy her family is still alive and well. The citizens of Striaton have also realized the true weight of the Guardians' duty and a few kids make a banner for them as an apology gift, which they graciously accept.

Meanwhile, the villainous quartet is overhearing the conversation and Demencia suggests emotionally breaking them by reminding them of Gina's death. Event Horizon stands on top of a building and (while lying) announces to the citizens of Striaton that the four of them murdered Gina, while Black Hat takes his turn with the megaphone and publicly dares the Guardians to come and fight them. Necrosis locates the Earth Elemental Spirit and creates an Allfornothing that starts creating an enormous earthquake. After hearing the announcement, the Guardians rush to the scene and see the villains, with the frightened citizens urging them to transform to avenge Gina's death, although Nate points out it was actually Team Rocket's doing. A random civilian in the crowd even magically creates a cloud of smoke to momentarily blind the villains and buy the Guardians time, while another briefly distracts them with miniature firecrackers. Surprisingly, Nevaeh even gets her transformation ability back again.

In the Pokémon Center, Cheren overhears the announcement, but before he can leave, he also hears a cry for help from Aurea. Having had enough, he finally decides to move on and rushes to the scene, only to see a frightened Amantia. Amantia says that her big sis Fennel got strangled and Aurea is unable to transform due to Cina being seriously injured. This ends up making him so furious that it triggers his Elemaximum transformation once again. Not only that, but right after Amantia gets her Harmony Gem from Kyubey and says "Magic is with me," she triggers her own transformation for the first time.

An excited Amantia decides to test out her new powers by shooting a storm of flower petals, glitter, ribbon, and *craft beads*, distracting the mortified villains. Necrosis tries to stab her to incapacitate her, only for her to be unable to even pierce her skin. Amantia expresses extreme fury at the villains for strangling her sister, but Sarah and Sandra step in, activate their Elemaximum, and end up purifying the Allfornothing with an extremely powerful combo attack and forcing the villains to flee, making the civilians cheer. However, they sange completely, pass out, and detransform. Nanette congratuates Amantia for finally transforming and says that Gina would be glad if she was alive, only to notice Sarah and Sandra in a coma.

Later, at the Striaton Gym, Cilan announces his decision: he was so inspired by Ash's unconventional battle strategy that he now needs to also protect Striaton, and his brothers agree with Kyubey realizing what it means. While Ash and the Guardians have decided on their next destination, a young girl shows up and quickly asks for their autographs, using a magic paper spell to instantly create sheet after sheet of paper. Later, the remaining Guardians now make their way to the Gym in Nacrene, but as the episode ends, Nanette turns to the young girl and introduces herself just in case: "I'm... Nanette Daisy of Aspertia."

## Major Events

* Amantia becomes a Guardian of Harmony and transforms for the first time.
* Sarah Weber and Sandra West leave the group due to being hospitalized in a coma after overdoing their combo attack via Elemaximum.
* Ash learns that the next Unova Gym is in Nacrene City, and decides to head there.

## Characters

### Guardians of Harmony

* Nanette Daisy
* Marina Daisy
* Julia Dreamwalker
* Jim Porter
* Mikey Evoli
* Glorysia Melody
* Elizabeth Storybook
* Nina Aarden
* Ash Ketchum
* Will Brennan
* Emily
* Melody Harmadale
* Madoka Kamane
* Sayaka Miki
* Mami Tomoe
* Homura Akemi
* Kyoko Sakura
* Nagisa Momoe
* Natasha Flowerton
* Maya Aquaheart
* Hilary Lightfield
* Alison Garfield
* Hilbert Miller
* Hilda Mari
* Bianca Tulip
* Cheren Harkabune
* Iris Scaleheart
* Nate Miller
* Rosa Mari
* Hugh Davis
* Coby Haggard
* Elisa Orchidton
* Amantia Rosetta
* Madison Dansa
* Sarah Weber
* Sandra West
* Gina Silverstein (body; mentioned)
* Neveah Riverton

### Villains

* Event Horizon
* Black Hat
* Demencia
* Necrosis

### Secondary Characters

* Nurse Joy
* Officer Jenny
* Professor Aurea Juniper
* Doctor Fennel Rosetta
* Trainers
* School girl

## Trivia

* In a future episode of the season, it will be confirmed that due to extensive sanging, Sandra will not be able to return to the group despite having at least recovered from her coma.
* As of this episode, Amantia is the second Guardian to be too young to have her own Pokémon and not have a Harmony Mark when she makes the contract. In her case, she is 8 years old.
* The following Harmony Marks can be seen on background civilians:
	+ A whistle (which is *not* a cigarette) blowing out a cloud of smoke.
	+ A rocket ship with a lit fuse at the bottom.
	+ A tooth with a squeeze of toothpaste on it.
	+ A seed cracking with roots emerging from it.
	+ A notepad.
	+ A bowl of cereal with a spoon and milk splashing from it.