Kairos turned his gaze toward the glowing orb radiating that purple-red light.
He clicked on it.
In an instant, the purple-red brilliance surged upward and condensed in the middle of the study into two strangely shaped stones.
Both stones had a deep, crystalline appearance, with peculiar luminous patterns flowing across their surfaces. One had what looked like a burning violet core embedded at its center; the other emanated an unsettling crimson aura.
When Kairos finally made out what the two stones actually were, he froze.
[Name: Mewtwoite X]
[Grade: SS-Rank Special Held Item]
[Effect: The key item for Mewtwo to undergo Mega Evolution X, greatly enhancing Mewtwo's Attack stat.]
[Name: Mewtwoite Y]
[Grade: SS-Rank Special Held Item]
[Effect: The key item for Mewtwo to undergo Mega Evolution Y, greatly enhancing Mewtwo's Special Attack stat.]
"These..."
Kairos stared at the two Evolution Stones floating before him, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.
"Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y? These really are incredible things... you could even say they're priceless..."
He rubbed his temples, a wry smile creeping onto his face.
"But... what am I supposed to do with them?"
Sure, he did know Mewtwo.
But that whole incident... honestly, he'd stepped on some toes there.
At the time everything happened so fast that he hadn't thought twice about it, but looking back now, Mewtwo had clearly taken offense.
"Getting these two stones now..." Kairos eyed the powerfully charged rocks, a hollow feeling settling in his chest. "This is obviously the universe telling me to go apologize to Mewtwo, isn't it?"
If he didn't deliver them and Mewtwo found out, it would probably track him down through the internet and hit him with a Psychic attack straight to the skull.
If he did deliver them... something this precious, would Mewtwo think he was trying to buy its forgiveness? That he was rubbing its nose in it?
"What a headache..."
Kairos let out a long sigh and reached out to tuck both Evolution Stones into his bag.
"Whatever. I'll find an excuse to visit in person and hand them over. Bring some other gifts along too, hopefully enough to take the edge off."
After all, this was Mewtwo they were talking about. If he could get on its good side, wouldn't that be like adding an ace up his sleeve for later?
---
Meanwhile, rewinding slightly.
Elsewhere, just as Cynthia tore off her complimentary ticket and settled in to watch the very first episode of "Pokémon: The Original Series," the atmosphere inside Nancy's livestream was an entirely different story.
There was none of the warmth that lingers after a good film, none of the giddy energy of a giveaway. In its place was a solemnity that came with knowing a great battle was close at hand.
After several days of relentless grinding, Nancy's Rescue Team had made extraordinary progress.
Once all her team members finished evolving, the squad's overall strength had taken a qualitative leap forward.
Combined with the S-Rank item "Solar Flame" she'd obtained earlier, Nancy's Special Attack stat had climbed to a ridiculous height. Inside the dungeons, she moved through enemies like a bulldozer.
In just three days, she had fully cleared every high-level dungeon. She, Blastoise, and Dragonite had all reached the staggering level of eighty-five.
At that level bracket, ordinary wild Pokémon posed almost no threat to her anymore.
And now, that red quest marker — blinking since the very first day — had finally reached the moment it could no longer be put off.
The game's final chapter: the tower at the heart of the Temporal Labyrinth.
Two minutes ago, the game screen had shuddered, and a bold system notification had popped up:
[The Temporal Labyrinth has refreshed. The path to the Origin of the World now lies open.]
[Warning: Extreme danger lies ahead. Make all necessary preparations before proceeding.]
Nancy stared at those words and drew one slow breath, her fingers tightening around the mouse.
"So... we've finally reached this point."
She turned and looked at her two companions. Squirtle had long since evolved into Blastoise, but that familiar resolute gleam still lived in its eyes. Dragonite circled in the air beside it, the scales along its body flickering with a cold sheen, visibly primed for combat.
"Let's go."
Nancy spoke softly into the microphone.
"Let's go end this."
---
Rescue Team Guild Square.
When Nancy guided her team through the guild's front doors, the sight that greeted her brought them to a halt.
The plaza, normally wide and open, was now packed with Pokémon crowded shoulder to shoulder.
There were familiar faces from the Wigglytuff Guild, along with various wild Pokémon she had rescued over the course of her journey, and even a few rare species that rarely showed themselves.
None of them were smiling. In place of their usual cheerful noise was a heaviness tinged with something almost elegiac.
"You came."
The guild leader, Chatot, flew over to meet her. Bandages were wrapped around its wings, remnants of wounds from an earlier battle. It studied Nancy with a complicated expression.
"The Tower... it is forbidden ground for our kind. Legend says that almost no Pokémon who ascends it ever comes back. Are you... truly set on going?"
Nancy nodded without a moment's hesitation. "Yes. We have to. For this world, and for everyone here."
At those words, the crowd of Pokémon began to stir.
A small Rattata that Nancy had once pulled out of the deep reaches of a dungeon shuffled forward with reddened eyes and held out a round red berry.
"This is... this is the best Sitrus Berry I could find. I hope it helps somehow. Please... please make it back safely."
"Give it your all! You're the best there is!"
"If you can't do it, nobody can!"
"You have to come back alive, you hear me!"
"Don't push yourselves too hard. If things get dangerous, retreat. Please."
One by one the Pokémon pressed forward, some choking back tears as they offered their thanks, others quietly handing over treasured items, berries, even handmade talismans.
In terms of the game, these were all just data — Nancy knew that, but in this moment she felt the weight of their sincerity settle over her like something real. Blastoise took in the scene, and its eyes grew damp.
It raised both fists and bellowed, "Everyone, don't worry! We'll destroy that Black Fog for good!"
Nancy looked out at all those beloved faces and felt something warm rise in her chest. She guided her team into a deep, respectful bow.
"Thank you all. We're heading out."
As the team moved forward, the Pokémon parted to form a path. Their eyes followed that small, retreating figure, the way eyes follow a hero walking off to war.
The livestream chat was swept up in it as well.
[I'm actually tearing up, this feels exactly like sending off a warrior before battle, oh no...]
[Is it finally ending?? Come on, streamer!! Destroy the Black Fog!!]
Nancy read through the comments, drew one slow breath, and walked her team out of town for the last time, heading straight for the Temporal Labyrinth.
---
Temporal Labyrinth Entrance.
This time, the moment they stepped inside, everything around them transformed.
The familiar first-floor terrain was gone, replaced by a world of glittering, translucent ice crystals.
A cold so sharp it hit like a wall rolled over them. The ground was buried under a thick sheet of ice, and every step rang out with a crisp, clear crack.
"It's... colder than before," Blastoise said, pulling its neck in. Water-type as it was, this chill seemed to cut straight through the body. "Watch out, enemies incoming!"
The words had barely left Blastoise's mouth before the ice all around them exploded outward, and several enormous Ice-type Pokémon came charging out of the frozen mist. Level 85 Glalie, Level 84 Abomasnow, and a handful of Weezing moving with startling speed.
But Nancy was no longer the careful, tentative explorer she had been at the start.
"Solar Flame, activate!"
Volcarona's wings blazed to life, the red crystal blazing with a blinding light, and the temperature around them spiked in an instant.
"Flamethrower!"
A column of searing fire screamed outward and swallowed the Glalie charging at the front. With the type advantage, the level gap, and the added power of an S-Rank held item, that Level 85 Glalie didn't even have time to cry out before it was wiped clean from the field.
"Dragonite, Extreme Speed! Dragonair, Dragon Pulse!"
The other two team members struck simultaneously. Dragonite became a flash of white lightning, tearing straight through the enemy's formation. From the flank, Dragonair's Dragon Pulse hit the remaining Abomasnow like a hammer and sent it hurtling backward.
The battle was over almost before it began.
"So this is what... Level 85 feels like."
Nancy watched the enemies collapse one after another on her screen, and a fierce surge of satisfaction rose up inside her.
All those elite opponents that had once given her so much trouble looked, now, as if they had been made of paper.
The team cut through the dungeon like a blade, sweeping the first floor clear before ascending the stairs.
Soon they reached the topmost level.
But the moment they stepped onto that ground, everyone went still.
At the far end of the dungeon, a towering spire rose up between heaven and earth.
The tower was utterly black, coiled on all sides by thick, churning darkness.
That darkness moved as though alive, writhing and rolling without cease, pressing down on everything around it with a suffocating weight.
"Is that... the tower?"
Blastoise stared up at it, voice slightly unsteady. Some instinct older than thought made it want to step back. "Boss... are we... do we really have to go up there? It just feels... really dangerous."
Then, as if it heard its own words and was ashamed by them, it shook its head sharply, and its eyes hardened.
"No. We have to go. If we don't, who will save the world?!"
The livestream chat was absorbed into the oppressive atmosphere along with them.
[This tower is so deeply unsettling, feels like something horrible is waiting inside.]
[Blastoise has really come a long way. Old Blastoise would never have dared go, haha.]
[True, even though it's afraid it still chooses to move forward. That's real courage right there.]
[Doesn't matter, we charge. Let's go!!]
Nancy looked at Blastoise, and the corner of her mouth lifted.
"Let's go. Whatever's in there, we deal with it."
---
Just as they were about to step into the tower's perimeter, two familiar figures leapt out from the trees off to the side.
It was Grovyle and Mew.
Grovyle wore its usual cool expression, but a glimmer of something like acknowledgment had appeared in its eyes. Mew bounced through the air, as carefree and wide-eyed as ever.
"You made it." Grovyle looked at Nancy and said, in its level way, "Mew says it can't help you."
It gestured to Mew beside it. "This tower is suppressed by some kind of law. It can't enter. You'll have to do this on your own."
Mew blinked its huge eyes and fluttered over in front of Nancy, signing something encouraging with its small hands and letting out a cheerful "Mew~!"
"If you can reach the top of the tower, face the final trial, and come through it, all of this Black Fog will end," Grovyle continued. "Good luck."
Nancy looked at both of them. She felt the sting of it, but she understood.
"Thank you. Don't worry. We've got this."
Grovyle gave a single nod, then turned and disappeared into the trees with Mew.
The viewers watching the stream launched into a flurry of comments.
[Grovyle and Mew don't seem weak at all, so why can't they help?]
[No idea, probably some story reason. It's the final boss fight, the main characters have to handle it themselves.]
[Something still feels off about those two. They've been mysterious the whole time.]
[Forget it, we charge!! Go!!]
Nancy didn't stop to overthink it. She guided her team forward and walked straight toward the tower wrapped in Black Fog.
---
The moment they crossed through the tower's entrance, everything around them transformed once again.
The cold, bleak exterior world vanished, and in its place stretched an endless crystal corridor.
The walls were no longer ordinary stone; instead they were smooth and transparent as the surface of still water. Within those crystalline walls, images flickered past in an unending stream.
Nancy moved closer, curious.
Those images... were memories.
There was a scene from when they first formed the Rescue Team and took on their very first mission. There was footage of them pushing through a dungeon, struggling forward side by side. There were the tear-streaked, grateful faces of Pokémon they had saved along the way.
"These are... our memories?"
Blastoise stared at the walls in wonder, light dancing in its eyes.
"Look over there! Isn't that from when we beat Onix the first time?" Dragonite pointed excitedly at the wall across the corridor.
Nancy took in all those moments, and warmth moved through her. Every fragment of the long road they'd traveled was being played back here, all at once.
But as they pressed deeper into the corridor, the images on the walls began to blur and darken.
The memories were no longer their own. They were older now, heavier, and full of grief.
There were silhouettes of unknown Pokémon writhing in the Black Fog. There were images of once-great Rescue Teams crumbling within this very tower. There were faces weeping in despair.
All of it saturated with pain, with fear, with helplessness.
"Are these the memories of adventurers who came here before us?" Nancy murmured.
Then she noticed something strange.
Each time an image faded from the walls, it didn't simply vanish. Instead, the once-vivid scene collapsed, fragmenting into wisps of black mist.
Those wisps didn't disperse. As though answering some summons, they tore free from the walls and gathered in the air above, condensing into creatures — grotesque, twisting, wrong in shape.
"Watch out!"
Nancy reacted instantly and called the warning.
The monsters born from those memory-fogs let out a piercing shriek and lunged at them with claws outstretched.
"I see it now..."
Nancy kept Volcarona moving in a quick retreat while her eyes coolly tracked the creatures.
"This Black Fog... it's tied to these memories somehow. Are these born from the resentment left behind when memories are devoured?"
"Doesn't matter what they are, we just knock them down!"
Blastoise roared and drove both fists into the ground. A towering pillar of water erupted upward and sent the nearest cluster of fog-creatures flying.
"Dragonair, use Dragon Rage!"
Dragonair spat a ball of searing flame from its jaws and turned the monsters trying to close in behind them to ash.
Nancy's eyes sharpened as she sized up the fog-creatures, all uniform at Level 85.
"If they're all made out of painful memories, then burn them all away."
Volcarona's wings beat hard, and the Solar Flame blazed out once more in a blinding burst of light.
"Fire Spin!"