At the first hint of morning, Gengar shook Akiyama awake.
Gardevoir woke up right after.
He wanted to see the crater.
"Fine. Fine. We'll go after breakfast." Akiyama got dragged out of bed.
The sky was barely gray, and Chef Akiyama—who hadn't been on this planet all that long himself—started putting together breakfast for himself and his Pokémon.
Gyarados, thoroughly beaten, did not show his face once. He seemed to have finally gotten the message.
The instant the Pokémon finished eating, Gengar grabbed the hem of Akiyama's shirt and started hauling him off toward the impact site.
Gardevoir laughed and took his other hand.
....
"So this is your objective."
Nikozo said it flatly.
"No. This is the means by which I reach my objective." Giovanni rested a hand on the surface of the cloning tank, feeling the warmth of what was inside.
"Doesn't this seem like a line you shouldn't be crossing?"
Watching the technicians move back and forth, Nikozo felt genuine anger.
"But I'm also granting it life. Wouldn't you agree?"
Giovanni watched the Mewtwo taking shape in the fluid.
Unfortunately, the cloning failed again.
The milk-white bubbles blew apart.
The smaller machines around the room kept drawing energy out of the fossils, running mixture after mixture, hunting for the ratio that would hold.
The failures were the violet, slime-like things.
Ditto.
Or rather—not even Ditto.
"You really don't remember? Or maybe you're just not him at all... meow."
A Meowth walked out of the shadows on two legs, the way a person would.
Human words came out of its mouth.
"A Meowth that talks?" Nikozo said, and took half a step back without thinking about it.
The Meowth caught that small movement, and its eyes filled with disappointment.
"Somebody take him home." It turned and walked out of Nikozo's line of sight.
Nikozo didn't understand and wanted to ask, but two people in Team Rocket uniforms hauled him up by the arms.
From the dark, the Meowth watched him go, and the disappointment in its chest had no bottom.
"Jessie. James. I saw a shadow of you two again... Wait for me, meow."
He curled his paws into fists and looked at the Mewtwo that hadn't been born yet.
That was the only hope he had.
....
"Gen-gar..."
Gengar's shoulders sank. The crater in front of him had nothing in it.
Just a big hole.
He'd been sure he'd get to see a Pokémon from beyond the sky.
"Lunatone and Solrock aren't common. Not every meteor brings one down with it," Akiyama said gently.
"Gen-gar..."
Gengar was still crushed. He'd waited all night for this.
"Sorry, buddy. But if you want to see Clefairy and Clefable, we can go home after the Silver Crown League. We've got plenty."
Decades ago—longer, actually—nobody drew a clean line between Fairy-types and Psychic-types. So the Miki family, obsessive as they were about Psychic-types, had raised and bred plenty of Fairy-types too. Their descendants were still living happy lives on the estate to this day.
The Clefable family among them.
Gengar perked back up.
"Come on. Phoenix Landing City's still a long way off," Akiyama said, smiling.
Gengar nodded and started to climb onto his shoulders like a backpack—
"Gen-gar?"
Something had glinted at the bottom of the crater. Just for an instant.
"Gen... gar!"
He pointed at the center of the pit and dropped down into it while Akiyama was still frowning after him.
Akiyama slid down the slope with Gardevoir and walked over to where Gengar was already digging.
"You see something?"
Gengar paused long enough to nod, then went back to work.
He cleared the loose soil off the top, and a fragment of stone came into view, glowing faintly.
Gengar blew hard, and the dirt clinging to it scattered.
He pinched the fragment between his fingers and turned to hold it up for Akiyama—
And then endless waves of colored energy swallowed all three of them.
They were gone.
Inside that light, Akiyama felt a strange dislocation, like he was being pried loose from the world itself.
"What is happening?" His hand went to Kadabra's Poké Ball at his hip.
When the glow faded, they were standing in a shattered forest.
"Where the hell is this?" Akiyama's brow furrowed.
Every tree around them had been snapped, and there were tooth marks in the wood.
The ground hadn't been spared either. Something had chewed the soil itself into a pitted mess.
Akiyama looked at Gengar, who was staring around in confusion, and took the shard out of his hand.
It was still glowing.
"So what is this thing?"
"Gen-gar..." Gengar looked up at him carefully, wondering if he'd done something wrong.
Akiyama rubbed his head, then let Kadabra out.
"Sweep the area. See if there's anyone around."
Kadabra nodded, and Confusion spread outward.
A long moment later, he drew it back in.
He shook his head.
Nothing.
"That's not normal..."
Akiyama looked up at a sky that was almost entirely black, and the thought came to him that they'd landed in another world altogether.
Giratina's Distortion World?
He dismissed it immediately. Clearly not.
But standing here wasn't going to accomplish anything, so they picked a direction and started walking.
Akiyama and Gardevoir both noticed how light their steps felt. Even the gravity seemed a little off from what they knew.
They walked for a while—hard to say how long—before they heard chewing.
Akiyama's head came up, and he went toward the sound.
"Guzzlord?"
His voice broke on the word as he stared at the enormous Pokémon methodically eating a building.
Kadabra went rigid, eyes lighting up, a Psychic already primed.
Gengar just knew, on some deep level, that this thing was wrong.
Akiyama's shout brought Guzzlord's head around, and it registered the outsiders.
It swung its gaping tentacles and started toward them with heavy, deliberate steps.
Akiyama gave Kadabra a nod. Kadabra understood instantly, and pale violet light wrapped around Guzzlord.
"Uhh... ehhh... aaahh..."
Guzzlord shuddered once, and Kadabra's Psychic simply ceased to exist.
"Can't win. Run!"
Akiyama read the gap between them in a single heartbeat, grabbed Gardevoir, and bolted.
Kadabra turned back and let off a Dazzling Gleam, then used the second Guzzlord's eyes were shut to lift them out with Confusion.
As the light faded, purple digestive fluid sprayed across the clearing.
It came within inches of Gengar.
Gengar panicked, threw together a Shadow Ball, and hurled it back on reflex.
Guzzlord caught it with a tentacle and swallowed it.
Then it slammed a foot down, and the shaking started rolling out in waves.
Earthquake!
Kadabra yanked Akiyama and Gardevoir up into the air with Confusion.
Trees came down all around them.
Then a colossal surge of Dragon-type energy gathered around Guzzlord's body.
Dragon Rush.
"Oh, that's bad." Akiyama's face went tight.
"Gigavolt Havoc!"
A huge yellow cat came in wrapped in lightning.
~~
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