Chapter 850: Skitty, We're Home.
Hoenn region.
Ever Grande City.
The six arms behind Kazuya had already disappeared.
Consuming the vast majority of his stamina before vanishing, using the power of space to bring his main body and companions to this Hoenn border was already the absolute limit of what they could do.
Ping'an Daycare.
"We're home."
Kazuya, holding Skitty, returned to this small house once again.
His flesh was torn, blood seeping out.
It was as if it had no effect on him at all.
He only looked down at the quiet, small body in his arms.
Skitty was curled into a ball just like in the past.
Only her chest no longer rose and fell, and her tail no longer wagged.
351 years ago.
He met Skitty here for the first time.
Back then.
She was a kitten spoiled into having a princess complex by Granny Sora.
Kazuya had taught her a good lesson.
331 years ago.
They lost Granny Sora.
After crying for a whole day, Skitty became an adult.
She decided to leave the shelter of the daycare, leave Kazuya and Meowscarada's side, and return to Ever Grande Forest alone to face the future.
The kitten on that day was exceptionally brave.
21 years ago.
Kazuya saw Skitty here again.
And it was from this place that he took Skitty away.
Ever since that day.
Kazuya had always been worried about something like this happening.
He was worried that he wouldn't be able to protect Skitty on this path, that he wouldn't be able to protect Granny Sora's most important treasure in this world.
Until today.
He truly failed to protect her.
Before stepping through the door.
Kazuya turned his head and said to the four companions behind him: "I'm going to talk with her alone for a bit, you guys get some rest."
Immediately after.
He walked into the dark corridor alone.
The door closed behind him, isolating the last ray of already dim light.
Mewtwo opened His mouth and took half a step forward.
But He was stopped by Scizor raising his arm.
They stared at the tightly shut door and sat on the ground at the entrance of Ping'an Daycare, their thoughts a tangled mess.
Inside the house.
Kazuya carried Skitty up to the attic.
He dug out the small rubber ball she used to love playing with the most and gently tossed it forward.
Tap...
Tap...
The rubber ball bounced lightly on the floor, letting out a hollow echo.
The familiar sound failed to awaken the kitten in Kazuya's arms.
"..."
Kazuya sat on the ground, raising his hand to gently stroke the pink furball.
Black blood flowed down from the wounds on his body, seeping into the cracks of the wooden floorboards beneath him.
Filling up.
Overflowing.
Gradually forming a pool of blood beneath him.
Darkness swallowed the attic.
Only that puddle of viscous blood faintly reflected the light.
[Kazuya! If you beg me, I'll go with you! If I'm in a good mood, I might be able to help you accomplish what you need to do!]
A tear fell down his face without warning.
It plummeted into the thick black pool of blood.
It caused no effect whatsoever.
[If you insist, Granny will definitely choose to support your decision; therefore, if I insist, Granny will definitely support me too.]
A trickling stream rolled into the pool of blood.
The pitch-black color seemed to fade slightly.
A hint of the blood's original red could already be seen.
[I don't care, I'm going with you.]
The pool of blood beneath him.
Had at some unknown point been diluted into red.
The body in his arms.
Had also at some unknown point gradually become stiff.
[I can definitely help you!]
"If I had been just a little bit faster, would I have been able to save you..."
The sorrow that his brain was gradually registering surged into his heart, pushing Kazuya's emotions instantly to the brink of collapse.
"Ugh... Ahhhhhh!!"
Suppressed whimpers squeezed out from between his clenched teeth, then erupted into heart-wrenching, agonizing wails.
He lowered his head.
He buried his face in Skitty's blood-scented fur, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
He hadn't cried his heart out like this in a very, very long time.
After all...
Up until today.
In this world.
He truly had no home anymore.
Liese, Sora, Lorelei's family had all departed.
Now even Skitty was gone.
All his warmth and sense of belonging from the past had been crushed with the passage of time.
Meowscarada might still have Kazuya as a home to return to.
But Kazuya, in this first world, was truly homeless.
Tap.
Tap.
The small rubber ball from her childhood bounced against the wall.
Just like countless times in the past, it rolled back down to his feet.
Back then, he didn't like playing ball with Skitty.
Because he felt this game was truly boring, and only Granny Sora would have the patience and energy to play ball with Skitty for an entire afternoon.
But now.
Even if he wanted to play.
Skitty wouldn't play with him anymore.
Outside the daycare.
Mewtwo stood quietly by the mottled wall.
Hearing that faint crying, He couldn't help but lower His head to look at His own palms.
They were completely charred.
These hands had been burned countless times in the battle against Reshiram.
But the pain of the fire's burns was not even a ten-thousandth of the pain right now.
At this moment.
He realized more clearly than at any time in the past.
Even Kazuya.
Was not omnipotent.
The Hero of the Leaves, who had saved the world and countless lives in the past, would also have times when he could only watch helplessly as his companion passed away.
They could not rely completely on Kazuya.
Otherwise, they would only drag him down.
This point...
"..."
Mewtwo turned His head to look at the other three companions, each huddled in a corner.
He was probably the last one to realize it.
His own resolve.
Within this team.
Was the most insignificant one.
Up until this moment, Mewtwo had not mentally prepared Himself to accept death, yet everyone else seemed ready to generously embrace death at any time.
He seemed to understand.
Why, in the very beginning.
Scizor wasn't very welcoming of His joining the team.
The dark night completely enveloped the earth.
Kazuya walked out of the daycare holding Skitty, heading straight for the backyard.
The other four Pokemon followed in silence.
There was a ceramic flower pot in the corner.
A beautiful white flower used to be planted there time and time again.
Granny Sora loved cultivating various white flowers the most.
Therefore, Skitty was also close to these white flowers.
In countless warm afternoons of the past.
After getting tired of playing, the kitten would come under this flower pot and fall asleep bathed in sunlight and floral fragrance.
Sadly.
There were no longer any plants in the flower pot today.
Kazuya bent down.
He moved the flower pot aside.
He dug a small hole in the ground and placed Skitty inside.
He pulled out the blue scarf Skitty wore during the winter, and along with the small Piplup wooden doll, wrapped the little one up tightly.
He figured that this way.
Even sleeping deep underground.
Skitty wouldn't feel cold.
"Skitty, we're home... Goodnight."
Kazuya reached out his hand.
He rubbed Skitty's small head one last time.
He filled the hole.
Watching the pink furball disappear from sight.
The ground returned to being flat.
There was just an extra small mound of dirt.
Even this mound of dirt would disappear by the next day.
Kazuya let out a long breath of gray air.
The team went from six.
Back to five.
They lost another companion; the future seemed to have become a bit lonelier.
But they still had to continue walking this path.
Even though.
Kazuya had one less reason to save this world.
However.
Kazuya had one more reason to kill Shadow.
The night breeze swept through the backyard.
Under the blowing of the wind, the empty flower pot let out faint, sobbing sounds.
It seemed to be waiting for the arrival of spring.
Waiting for the flower to bloom from beneath the new soil.
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