Feeling the sudden sensation of her bag rumbling around, Kumiko frantically opened it as she took out the Egg in its incubator. Seeing it shake around inside, Kumiko then opened the incubator's lid as she cradled the Egg in her arms, anticipating the moment it would hatch. Shortly after, the Egg finally burst open, revealing the Pokémon inside, which was a-
Wait, no. Where had she ended up?
Standing up, Kumiko took a look around and only saw an infinite void of pitch-black staring back at her. For some reason, a small area around her body was illuminated by a light coming from nowhere, which revealed that she was back in her normal clothes.
"Am I dead? Is this heaven or hell? Did I get sent to the right place?" Kumiko asked no one in particular, her voice resounding across the darkness.
"No, Kumiko. You are not dead." A booming voice that resembled Shuichi's too much rang in her ears, causing her to jump in shock, or at least whatever the closest analogue was as she floated in the lifeless space. "I decided to bring you here for a reason."
"Uwaaah! Who are you, and why does your voice sound so much like Shuichi's?" Kumiko asked the person (or whomever/whatever this entity was), getting more and more confused by the moment.
"It's simple, but your mind may not be able to handle the answer." The voice spoke back. "Simply put, I'm the author of your story, who's currently typing out this sentence you're hearing."
"Author? Story? Am I some sort of fictional character?" Kumiko continued to probe the voice, who was currently writing Kumiko's line of dialogue to push the plot forward and give this impromptu interlude purpose in the grand scheme of things.
"Well yes, but actually no." the voice explained, trying to think of a good way to answer the question. "In your world, you're completely real, with all the trials and tribulations that brings with it, whereas you're just a figment of my imagination in my universe, and I'm the one responsible for sharing your story with others."
"So you're the one who created me?" Kumiko pressed further, amusing the voice. "And Reina and Marcato and everyone else I've ever loved or known? Does that make you a creation god like Arceus?"
"Not quite." The voice replied, preparing to explain the concept of derivative works. "You see, the 'original' you comes from a fictional novel in my world called 'Hibike! Euphonium' by Ayano Takeda, which was also adapted into a manga and an anime. To put it shortly, the novel's plot involves the 'original' you joining your high school's concert band, which the new conductor aims to take to the national level."
"Original? Then am I just a clone or a ripoff of the 'Kumiko' who plays in her high school's concert band?" Kumiko was having an existential crisis, though the voice removed those doubts from her head through the power of retconning.
"Technically, but let's just say that you're my interpretation of the 'original' Kumiko." Writing more, the voice found that explaining concepts about fiction to a fictional character was getting harder and harder. "Since I'm a fan of 'Hibike! Euphonium, I decided to write a piece of fanfiction about it, which resulted in the world you're currently living in."
"Aside from the high school concert band, what makes my world different from the world the 'original' Kumiko lives in?" Now that the voice had cleared up most of her queries, Kumiko thought that she could get more information. "Do Pokémon exist in the 'original' Kumiko's world?"
"Sadly, no." the voice sounded dejected at having to reveal this truth. "Neither do they in mine, where Pokémon only exists as an extremely profitable video game/anime/manga/multimedia franchise that I'm a huge fan of. Since the rights to the 'Hibike! Euphonium' novel don't belong to the same people who hold the rights to Pokémon, there is no chance of officially crossing over."
"So what you're saying is that because you're a fan, you decided to create my world?" Kumiko seemed to better understand the situation she was in. "Are there any more differences between them? Is Reina still my friend?"
"Precisely, but the next question is going to be a big one." The voice lamented. "Simply put, just about every notable Trainer you've met on your journey also exists as a character in 'Hibike! Euphonium', except for the girls of HTT and the people you met at Usagiyama. They're from the manga and anime series 'K-ON!' and the anime 'Tamako Market' respectively. I only added them in because the 'Hibike! Euphonium' anime was made by the same studio."
"Since explaining the other two series' situation will take too long," the voice continued. "I'll just explain the situation concerning how the characters and plotlines of 'Hibike! Euphonium' fit within your world. For example, Taki's the Champion in your world, but he's the conductor of the high school band the 'original' Kumiko is in. Some events from the original world will also be mirrored in yours."
"That's interesting, but I just want to know one thing: what's my relationship with Reina like in the 'original' world? Is she still just as close with the 'original' me?" Kumiko asked pleadingly, worried that her special relationship with Reina was made-up. While the voice had deliberately steered this conversation in the most interesting direction, the toughest challenge was up next.
"Ahh, now we get to the million-dollar question." The voice remarked, almost as if everything had been leading to this point. "In the original world, you and Reina are definitely closer than friends, but you don't have a crush on her like you do here. Instead, you were in a relationship with Shuichi for a while, but you two broke up soon after to focus more on the band."
"So my crush on Reina is something you invented here?" The voice's answer only seemed to give Kumiko even more questions. "But why would you do that? I know I'm not the biggest fan of Shuichi, but couldn't you stick with the source material more?"
"Listen, I've already put Pokémon in your world, so the source material's already out of the window." The voice seemed irritated at Kumiko's question. "The reason I decided to make you have a crush on Reina and be more ambivalent towards Shuichi is because of how other people reacted to the fact that the 'original' Kumiko ended up with him, despite the fact that you two didn't seem to have any chemistry."
"From the way you talk about it and created my world, seems like you're one of those people as well." Kumiko commented, though the voice already had a reply ready.
"Broadly speaking, yes." The voice explained. "When I first watched the 'Hibike! Euphonium' anime, I was only interested in the high school band aspect of it, since I play trombone in my own high school's band as well, so the characters didn't matter much to me. Only later did I find the character drama more engaging upon getting the chance to discuss the series with other people, which is when I started to support a relationship between you and Reina."
"However, the author of the 'Hibike! Euphonium' novels comes from a more conservative society, so the chances of the 'original' you and Reina being together in the novels is next to none, especially with the 'last' novel being released." The voice tried to sigh. "To make matters worse, the director of the anime seemed to heavily push the relationship between the 'original' you and Shuichi, making more people angry."
"What's wrong with a relationship between the 'original' me and Shuichi?" Kumiko seemed confounded at how much the voice seemed to oppose that notion. Was there something behind all this?
"Nothing, except that it doesn't have much setup and that there's more visible chemistry between the 'original' you and Reina." The voice was finally satisfied with this short and simple answer. "With how the 'original' you interacted with Reina, people felt that Reina was more deserving of your affection compared to Shuichi, who they felt was bland and more like a typical male character."
"So what happened to the 'original' me? Did she end up with Reina or Shuichi?" Now that the voice had explained nearly everything about the 'original' her, Kumiko just wanted some closure to the story.
"I have no idea myself. Even though I know a partial answer, it still isn't enough to answer your question." The voice tried not to leak forbidden knowledge to the outside world. "The 'last' novel has a really ambiguous ending, but I'm not going to talk further for fear of pre-emptively spoiling things to the others reading this."
"Others reading this? What are you talking about?" Every time the voice spoke, it just seemed to open up a new level of weird for Kumiko.
"The fanfiction I'm writing about your world is currently being published on a website, which everyone can access and read." The voice was proud at this marvel of technology. "Most of the people reading my writing are also fans of 'Hibike! Euphonium', but very few of them know about the 'last' novel's contents since it's in a language they cannot comprehend, much less read it."
"I see. But now I've got two questions left for you. Why did you bring me here and why do you sound like Shuichi?" With all that the voice said, Kumiko was confident she was getting to the end of the mystery, but she still suspected there was much more she didn't' know.
"The reason I brought you here was because I wanted to do something special for the day I'm publishing this chapter, so I decided to bring you here to have a chat with me to pass the time." The voice replied. "However, I want to show you something else. Take a look here."
In an instant, two visages appeared in front of Kumiko, with both depicting her (or at least people who looked eerily like her) in familiar yet completely different scenarios. One showed a Kumiko begging a Bulbasaur to obey her, while the other showed a second Kumiko battling multiple Starly with a Piplup.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this?" Kumiko asked the voice, who was silently laughing in mirth at the bucket of worms mentioning this had opened, while also fearing retribution from the authors of those fanfics.
"These are merely two of the infinite realities you exist in as a fanfiction character, but they are the only ones that involve Pokémon." The voice decided that was the best way to interpret this tangled mess. "One is by a prolific figure in the 'Hibike! Euphonium' fandom, while another is by an online acquaintance of mine. Sadly, both of those Kumikos' adventures were left on hold, so they're frozen in time."
"That's sad to hear. Will they ever get a chance to finish their journeys?" While Kumiko hadn't met those alternate versions of her, she still felt bad that they hadn't had the chance to fully explore their worlds.
"Ultimately, that depends on whether or not their creators want to." The voice didn't want to push other fanfic authors to write. "But no matter what fan content 'Hibike! Euphonium' gets, I'll be sure to support and promote it as a fan."
"But what about my own journey? Will you continue writing it? I don't want to end up like those other Kumikos." After seeing the fate of the other aspiring Pokémon Trainer Kumikos, Kumiko was now afraid that she would one day end up like them due to the voice not paying attention to her world anymore.
"You don't need to worry about that." The voice reassured Kumiko. "I've already planned out the rest of your story, so you'll get a proper ending to your journey. Besides, some crazy things will happen to you over the next few days and beyond, which will include both things you want and things you don't want."
"Can you tell me about those things? It just seems cruel to leave me hanging, especially since I'm your creation." This voice was really getting on Kumiko's nerves. Could she just get out of here?
"I won't spoil the surprise for everyone reading our conversation here, but I'll give you some advice." The voice tried to be helpful despite knowing Kumiko would forget all this shortly after. "Say yes to Reina, don't break down over what happens after the sixth Gym, and put your faith in Azusa when the time comes. As your fan/creator, I'll be rooting for you all the way. My way, of course."
"You keep yapping on and on about how you're some sort of omnipotent fan, but you still haven't answered the first question I've asked here." Kumiko was now getting angry at the voice, who made sure to tread carefully. "Of all people, why do you sound like Shuichi?"
"That's simple." The voice chortled. "I play the trombone, and since Shuichi is one of the most disliked characters in 'Hibike! Euphonium' and the supposed boyfriend of the 'original' you, I decided to mess with you a bit by borrowing his voice."
"Geh. You sound like one of those tricksters I keep hearing about in mythology. Someone like Hoopa, Mew, or Manaphy." Kumiko frowned at the last Pokémon. "Speaking of Manaphy, let me guess: the Manaphy we just met was all your fault."
"I'm afraid that's true, but right now I need to return you to your journey. You've got an Egg waiting for you, and you still need to find your own North Star after that." In truth, the voice was getting exhausted from having to explain so much in such little time, but felt that this was a good place to end. "I'll return you to a little before your Egg hatches to make things flow smoothly, but you'll forget about everything that happened here to avoid reality breaking. Until then!"
"Wait! What was that about finding my own North Star? Are you referencing something there?" Kumiko tried to ask the voice more about those last comments, but the only thing she felt aside from getting sucked away was the sensation of a mysterious wink directed at her.
While Reina continued to interact with her newest team member, Kumiko looked longingly from a short distance away. The last time she had caught a Pokémon was when Sparkle joined her team shortly before challenging her third Gym. As Reina's other Pokémon joined in, Kumiko recalled that she still had an Egg upon looking at Demi that had been received the same time as Reina's.
Wondering why her own Egg hadn't hatched yet even after so long, Kumiko decided to check up on it, mentally kicking herself for neglecting to regularly take care of it. Reaching for her bag, Kumiko was about to open it and see if anything had happened to her Egg when she felt something move inside…
A/N: April Fools! Even though this chapter isn't the usual sort of prank chapter, I still hope that you found it completely unexpected. If so, then it still should count for April Fools, right?
My original plans for this chapter were something more in-line for a conventional joke, such as a crack chapter or a 'all-just-a-dream' fake ending, but I decided to go with this 'Kumiko-meets-the-author' chapter since I couldn't help but want to make all chapters story-relevant, even if they're joke chapters. Pay attention to the last few paragraphs and you'll see what I mean.
If you've spotted them already, then feel free to put your guesses about what future events they refer in the comments. I've also referenced three other fics in this chapter. See if you can name them all!
Publishing this April Fools chapter also means that there won't be a chapter tomorrow, so the next full chapter will be on April 9th. This means there's still one more week to guess what Pokémon will hatch out of Kumiko's Egg. Stay tuned for next week's result!
