To Matori, it felt like watching a horror movie. A living person had vanished right in front of her.
She shouted into the phone, panic breaking through her voice. "Boss, he disappeared! He disappeared right in front of me! I'm—"
Only then did she notice her hand turning transparent around the phone.
Her fingers faded first. The phone slipped from her grasp, hit the floor, and slowly vanished too.
Then Matori herself disappeared.
In a castle far away, Giovanni listened to the busy tone on the other end of the line and set the phone down. He had heard everything. Matori had turned on the speaker long ago, so he knew Reiji had vanished. Matori had vanished too.
"So that's what he meant."
At the very end, Giovanni finally understood Reiji's words. He looked down at his hands.
Something similar had happened to him once as a child. Back then, he had not been the one who disappeared.
"Is it my turn this time?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Giovanni broke apart into points of light.
Below the castle, screams tore through Team Rocket's base as more and more people began to vanish.
It was not just Giovanni. Across the world, Trainers began to sense what was happening, especially the stronger ones. Some made desperate calls. Some ran to find the people they loved. Everyone wanted one last moment.
Deep inside Team Rocket's underground base, future Reiji's Pokémon were still being held hostage. Poliwrath, Rhydon, and the others were there — the ones with the strongest bonds to him.
"Poli… Gengar was telling the truth. They made it…"
"Scy… There's food and water here. Could be worse…"
"Zaa. If I could talk, I'd tell Reiji to cut off your food."
"Peli. We get to travel together again. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Gor. Yeah…"
"Gya… Shame. I evolved and still never got a proper fight."
"Pidge. Finally. I can get out of this damn cage."
At the same time, at Mikan Gym, Reiji's Slowking sat fishing by the lake. Mewtwo and Cissy's grandfather were beside it.
After hearing Slowking's story, Cissy's grandfather said nothing for a while. Then he answered calmly.
"If that was the boy's decision, we'll support it."
After another silence, he added, "If you get the chance, tell him we don't blame him. We saw it coming a long time ago. From the day Cissy came back, this was always where those two children were headed."
"Slow…" Slowking sighed and looked at Mewtwo.
It had asked Mewtwo for help yesterday. In the end, the matter had resolved before it needed to do anything.
"I believe in him," Mewtwo said through telepathy.
Then it dissolved into light.
Slowking vanished too. So did Cissy's grandfather. The fishing rod dropped into the water, and before it could sink, it also broke apart into light.
Cissy and her parents were standing together in front of Senta's grave. The three of them held one another as they faded away.
"Senta, live well in that other world. And that bastard too…" Cissy sighed. "Forget it. I hope everyone ends up all right."
At the Orange League headquarters on Pummelo Island, a brother and sister sat together in a café, leaning into each other as they watched the sky break apart.
"So you really were undercover."
"Of course I was. How else would your brother have become Elite Four? You went to the Champion so many times, and he still never removed me. You really didn't figure it out, Komai?"
"You're the dumb one." Komai smiled sweetly after scolding Tai, then broke into a brighter smile. "I'm glad. My brother isn't a bad guy."
"Haha, silly girl."
Tai flicked her lightly on the forehead.
Sunlight fell over them, and the two disappeared together, still smiling.
On the beach of Kumquat Island, A.J., Sou, and Gulzar lay in beach chairs. They had planned to sunbathe, but that clearly was not happening anymore.
"So this is the time-space thing Rai-nii talked about?" Gulzar murmured.
"Can it really change the future?" Sou did not understand it, but it felt good to him.
"Maybe. I wanted to fight Team Rocket with Boss again. Looks like we still get the chance. Hahaha."
"Hahaha. Not bad. We still have a chance."
The three looked at one another, laughed, and vanished from the beach.
From their laughter, it was easy to hear that none of them had been truly happy in this life.
Maybe the versions of them in another world would have it better.
In an apartment building somewhere, Keith had just woken up and gone out to hang laundry when he saw the sky splitting. He called his wife over.
"Rai-nii won't know you yet. I don't even know if there's a next life, or whether I'll meet you again."
"Next life doesn't matter. I was happy in this one. Without you, I never would have gotten revenge."
"Don't say depressing stuff right now. I just want to stay with you a little longer."
"I'm glad I met you. Thank you."
…
On a volcanic island somewhere in the Orange Archipelago, Blaine sat under the eaves. Amber and her mother were beside him, all three watching the shattered sky.
"Rai-nii, in the other world, we should still be good friends, right?" Amber murmured as pieces of the sky fell. A bitter smile crossed her face. "Mewtwo… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I miss you, Mewtwo…"
"So that brat went through something like this." Blaine sighed. "What a life."
Then he gave another tired sigh.
"Maybe leaving isn't so bad. At least he won't have to struggle so much. The League stuck these old bones of mine in the Orange Archipelago, and I still couldn't stop Team Rocket from rising. Being old is rough."
In Pallet Town, Kanto, Ash had just won some tournament and was celebrating with a village feast when the sky split open. He had no idea what was happening.
Professor Oak saw it and understood at once.
The past had changed.
This future no longer existed.
All he left behind was a sigh before he turned into light and drifted into the sky.
At the Indigo Plateau, in a photo studio along the Indigo Plateau Conference shopping street, countless Champions and Trainers had once stopped to take pictures.
The owner watched the photos on the Champion wall slowly fade away and sighed.
"Time really is a fascinating thing."
In Hoenn, inside Devon Corporation's office, Steven stood before the floor-to-ceiling window and thought back to something Reiji had once told him.
"So this is the future you meant. Interesting. Will we meet again in that future? Will we still be friends?"
At League headquarters on Mt. Silver, in a pitch-black room, a single bright blue eye slowly opened.
A quiet sigh moved through the darkness.
"Rai… are you okay?"
…
In the Reverse World, Reiji had no time to admire the strange, beautiful landscape around him. He told Gengar to release its shadow power without holding back.
His plan was to lure Giratina over and make it deal with the pursuers behind him. Reiji could not beat Elite Four-tier Trainers. And there were two of them, both furious enough to tear him apart if they caught him.
So he ran.
As the ruler of the Reverse World, Giratina sensed Gengar the moment it entered and moved toward it at once.
Time and space meant little here. Giratina reached Reiji almost instantly.
"Human. You carry a scent I know."
Giratina blocked Reiji's path and did not even glance at the pursuers behind him. To it, those two humans barely mattered.
Reiji swallowed.
"I…"
For the first time, facing Giratina's huge, terrifying body, he actually stammered.
This Renegade Pokémon was nothing like Ho-Oh. If he annoyed it, one swipe of its tail could probably flatten him into paste.
Before Reiji could figure out what to say, the two pursuers behind him gave him the best assist possible.
"You're not getting away, kid. Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!"
You beautiful idiots. If I make it out of this, I'll light a candle for you.
Reiji looked back at Vicious and the other unfamiliar Elite Four-tier Trainer. Their Pokémon's attacks were coming straight at him, and he had already told Gengar to be ready with Protect.
Giratina saw the massive beam of destruction rushing in, aiming for the human it had just taken interest in.
Were they pretending it was not there?
Unforgivable.
Giratina swept in front of Reiji and blocked the Hyper Beam with its tail.
Reiji used that chance to slip away.
Tyranitar's Hyper Beam barely bothered Giratina. It was about to turn back toward Reiji when another Hyper Beam slammed into its huge body.
Now it was annoyed.
"Annoying insects…"
Seeing that the fight had started, Reiji barely had time to feel relieved before a blue figure shot toward him, grabbed his clothes in its teeth, and bolted.
Suicune moved like blue lightning, so fast the scenery smeared around him. Compared with that, Gengar's usual shadow-dragging felt almost slow.
In just a few leaps, the blue figure carried him dozens of kilometers to a dark whirlpool and plunged straight through it, returning to the real world.
Before Reiji could even see where they were, the blue figure leaped again, carrying him from a city into the forest outside. Only then did it finally drop him.
"Sui-Sui-Sui… Suicune? Ugh—"
Reiji had just stopped moving when he saw Suicune standing in front of him, proud and calm.
His head was spinning. Suicune sickness. That was what this was. It had moved so fast he threw up on the spot.
"Human, where is Celebi?" Suicune demanded through telepathy.
"Gar, wait."
Mega Gengar rose from Reiji's shadow and stood in front of him, placing Celebi's Poké Ball beside Reiji's hand.
To avoid any accident, Gengar had stayed Mega Evolved the whole time. Fortunately, as long as it did not use moves, the drain was manageable.
"Gengar? Not Darkrai?" Suicune had heard the name earlier, so seeing Gengar made it pause.
"Gar. Acting." Gengar's eyes carried a helpless look, and Suicune caught it.
Though, to be fair, they really did have Darkrai. They just had no idea when it would come back.
"Ugh… ugh…"
Reiji nearly puked up stomach acid. It took him several minutes to stop, rinse his mouth, and lean back against a tree. Once he felt slightly alive again, he released Celebi.
"bi, bi."
Celebi came out and immediately saw Reiji looking half-dead. It pressed a hand to his forehead, and life energy wrapped around him.
His stomach stopped hurting at once. His head cleared too. Celebi could even cure motion sickness.
What was it, a miracle drug?
For one second, Reiji really wanted to catch it.
Unfortunately, there was a simp standing right there.
Trying to steal someone's love right out of a simp's mouth was a good way to get bitten. Better not.
"Human. Hand over the Poké Ball."
Suicune relaxed when it saw Celebi, then immediately noticed that Reiji had caught it. It roared at him in anger.
"Fine, fine. Take it."
Reiji tossed over the Heal Ball. Linking Celebi to a Poké Ball meant no one else could catch it, which was actually safer for Celebi.
But Suicune did not accept that argument, and Reiji had no way to argue back.
Crack.
Suicune stepped on the Heal Ball and crushed it, then leaped back into the forest and vanished. A sharp cry came from deeper inside, calling for Celebi.
"Ce, bi."
Celebi heard Suicune calling. It waved to Reiji reluctantly.
Reiji waved back. Celebi slowly turned transparent, then flew into the forest after Suicune.
"Tch. Tsundere and simp in one package."
Reiji was too sick to waste energy roasting Suicune. Still, he couldn't help thinking that if Suicune ever ran into Goh, it would finally learn what a real dog looked like.
The thought alone made his stomach hurt again.
Once the nausea passed, Reiji released Ditto and had it change his face. Then he headed toward the lights in the distance. He had no idea where Suicune had dropped him, but any city meant a room, a bed, and a chance to breathe.
He was done flying for now. From here on, he was taking proper transport like a normal person. Getting shot out of the sky once was more than enough.
By the time he reached the city, he finally realized where he was.
Ecruteak.
No wonder Suicune had gotten him out so fast. They hadn't gone far at all.
Dawn was close. Reiji found a cheap room in the old part of the city, the kind of place that didn't ask questions as long as the money was real. He planned to sleep first. After that, he could worry about getting to the lake with the crystal.
…
Back in the Reverse World, the fight was already over.
Vicious and the other Elite Four-tier Trainer had been crushed.
At first, Giratina had barely bothered with them. That made the two idiots think they actually had a chance, as if a Legendary Pokémon was only worth that much.
Then Giratina got annoyed.
The moment it stopped holding back, the fight became a beating. Vicious and the other Trainer ran the first chance they got. By luck, there was a passage back to the real world not far from the battlefield, and they threw themselves through it without even bothering to take their Pokémon.
Once the humans were gone, Giratina turned toward Tyranitar and the other Pokémon still under the Dark Balls' control.
It didn't attack.
It only looked at them.
That alone was enough. The Dark Balls' hold broke, and the Pokémon came back to themselves, confused and terrified.
Giratina sent them out of the Reverse World and released them back into Celebi's forest. Then it turned to the damage left behind by the battle. Repairing its own world came first.
As for the human with that familiar scent, he was gone.
The moment Gengar stopped using shadow power, the scent vanished with it. Giratina would not be able to track him again unless Gengar released that power another time.
For one brief moment, Giratina had thought its dull, empty world might finally become interesting.
Then the source of that interest slipped away.
Now it was irritated.
And an irritated Giratina needed somewhere to aim that mood.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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