"Hey, he's moving," someone whispered.

Ray opened his eyes, realizing with a groan that he was in the hospital again. It shocked and confused him when he found no burns on his body, or any other evidence that he had been in the elevator of an exploding building.

"You got out alive," Stanley said, trying to be cheerful. But something was wrong.

"I guess you did it after all," said a girl next to Stanley. She was about Stanley's age, with straight red hair and a kind face that radiated gentleness. Ray was positive that it was Latias in disguise.

Ray didn't respond. He frantically searched himself for something that was wrong—maybe a missing limb, or permanent scarring. But he was only bruised. "What's wrong?" he asked Stanley.

"Oh, nothing," Stanley said. "Nothing with you." His eyes darted away.

"Your friend's over there," said someone on the bed next to him. Ray turned and saw it was Latios, in human form. He pointed across the room. "He's in a . . . they call it a coma."

Ray noticed how alike the two Eon Pokémon looked, even as humans. They were twins, after all. They were holding hands, and Ray's mind blanked for a while. Then he realized what Latios had said. "Is he gonna wake up?" Ray asked the question as if yes, of course was the only answer that made sense.

"I don't know," Latios said. He looked well—and much kinder, too, now that everything was over and Latias was saved. "I can't reach his mind. All I know is, I felt something strange when the explosion happened. Something to do with the boundary between our worlds. I think the explosion put them close enough that we can travel between them now."

"That's good," Ray said. He decided that Gabe would definitely wake up soon. "You can go home, then." He thought about the events he could actually remember, then said, "How did you stop Pierre from getting us when you were cutting us free?"

Latios blinked, then said, "Sometimes it's necessary to take control of someone, no matter how terrible it is. All I did was keep him from doing anything."

"Well, I'm glad you did that. We all got out okay in the end." And at least Gabe was still alive.

"I accidentally released my hold on him when I reunited with Latias," Latios admitted. "I lost focus, and you need a ton of that to mess with other people's minds."

"It's alright," Ray said.

Soon Ray's doctor returned to catch him up on events. "Glad to see you awake, Ray and Tes," he said, holding a tray of six balls. "They found your Pokémon," he said to Ray, putting the tray on a table next to him. "The sixth one's your friend's over there. The Pokémon was found unconscious, but woke up quick."

Gabe's Growlithe. Ray gazed at the tray, saying, "What's gonna happen now?"

"They said you'll have to talk to some people about what happened. And reporters, too. But after that, you can go." He explained that the explosion wasn't that large at all, and Ray was only bruised because the elevator had fallen a floor and a half before the emergency brakes activated. Ray actually didn't remember a thing, except that Gabe had been there with him.

"And we have your number," the doctor added. He looked at Gabe over his shoulder. "We'll call when he wakes up."

"Thanks," Ray said. He felt guilty just leaving Gabe there, but there wasn't anything he could do.

A few hours later, Ray and Stanley were standing in an empty area of one of Mistralton's grassy parks. Latios and Latias were there too, in human form, playing with Ray's Pokémon. And Tretters was napping next to Stanley. The Horizon building was just visible in the distance, shiny and standing like nothing had happened. The only evidence something had happened there at all was a thin trail of smoke that wound its way up the building and faded into the sky.

"So how were the reporters?" Stanley asked as they watched Latias toss Archie in the air. Archie flapped his feathered arms frantically as he fell back down into her arms.

"They all felt sorry for me," Ray said. "It was kind embarrassing." He rolled the Growlithe's ball in his hands, then let the Pokémon out. As the Growlithe mingled cheerfully with the other Pokémon, Latias approached Ray and Stanley—with the Gabite right behind her.

Latias rolled an Ultra grade ball in her hands, saying, "The Gabite says he's sorry for not telling you about his ball earlier. He says if he had been in the ball, Stanley could have carried him and saved Gabe, too."

"It doesn't matter now," Stanley said. "We messed with parallel worlds, but we're not screwing with time travel yet. And besides, Gabe's still alive."

Latias sat down next to the Gabite. "And Ray, he says he thinks you and he used to be the same person."

"I think so too," Ray said after a moment, gazing intently at the Gabite. "I had this weird feeling it was something like that. That's what happened in Nimbasa, I bet."

The Gabite soon turned away and joined the other Pokémon in the park. He was quickly befriending Felsin, for whatever reason. The two of them watched as Archie jumped from a tree and landed on Dax's head. Dax grunted, then continued napping.

"So is this it?" Stanley asked.

"I don't know," Ray said. A Purrloin ran past him and up the nearby tree, perching way out of reach.

"Get back here!" Kristy called out. She peered up at the Purrloin in the tree, then turned to Ray and Stanley—she saw their Pokémon hanging around, and smiled.

"Hey guys!" Kristy said. "I heard on the news! Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Ray said as he and Stanley walked over. He looked up at the Purrloin. "Is that yours?"

"Yeah," Kristy said, a little embarrassed. "She's kinda like . . . not listening, right now." She took her big bag off her shoulder. "Can you hold this for me?"

"Uh, sure," Ray said, taking the bag. Kristy stretched her arms a couple times, then jumped up and climbed the tree.

Stanley raised his eyebrows. "I always hated climbing trees."

"So where are you going now?" Ray asked. He hoped Stanley would stay. He was pretty much Ray's friend now, after all they'd been through.

"I guess I don't have anywhere else to go," Stanley shrugged. "Why, want me to come with you?"

"Yeah."

"Have you gone to the Gym here yet?" Kristy called from above. "The flying-type one?"

"No," Ray said.

"I haven't either. We should go over there right now!"

Ray thought it was a good idea. He looked at Latios, who knew what he was thinking.

"Yeah, it's time for us to go, too," he said.

"Thanks for helping me," Latias said, walking forward and hugging Ray tightly. "And you too," she continued, moving to hug Stanley.

"Aw, it was nothing," Stanley blushed.

Latios, Latias, and the Gabite waved, and disappeared from view. And that was the end of it.

"You know that rich guy got arrested?" Kristy asked. "The guy who was behind all this?"

"Pierre?" Ray said.

"Yeah, him," Kristy said, snapping her fingers. "People from overseas, teamed up with the police here, arrested him."

"Oh," Ray murmured. "Well, that's good." Hopefully it was the end of convergence and Horizon.

"So where's Gabe?" Kristy asked, breaking the silence that had formed.

"It's a long story," Ray said.

"Well, who were those people? And the Gabite?"

"That's an even longer story!" Stanley said.

Kristy dropped from the tree with her Purrloin in her arms. "Well, you can talk about it on the way to the Gym, can't you?" She began walking, and Ray and Stanley followed. Ray appreciated that she was trying to get a move on.

"Well, those two were Latios and Latias," Ray said as they made their way to the park gate.

"Wait, really?" Kristy said, slowing down so they could walk side by side.

"Yeah, and they're from another world, where there aren't any humans."

The look on Kristy's face was priceless. Ray wished he could have taken a picture of it.

Kristy shoved Ray playfully. "You're kidding, right?" she insisted.

"I told you it was a long story," Stanley said, rolling his eyes.

They made their way into the city. Ray put everything behind him and hoped for the best.