Epilogue

A knock at the door tore Suma from her reading, and she frowned. She had known he was on his way, had been looking forward to it, but despite herself always loathed being taken from a good book. With a sigh she scooped up her bookmark from the table beside her comfortable love-seat and, sealing it between the pages of her book, jumped out of the chair. She crossed her small living room toward the hall way that led to the door. Catching sight of the mirror that hung over the bureau, she stopped to check her appearance.

Her favorite yellow, sleeveless blouse and blue jeans fit her a little more loosely now, but still brought out the color of her skin. Her hair had grown out in the last few months, no longer cropped in the stylish fashion she had worn over the past year or so. She found that she didn't miss it, and smiled at it's lustrous, black sheen. She ran her fingers through it, gathering it to hang against her chest past her left shoulder. She dimpled into the mirror, and chided herself for blushing. "Oh, stop," she scolded, grinning girlishly.

Turning, she approached the door as the knocking outside resumed. "I'm coming!" she assured, laughing.

Hibiki stood outside, one eyebrow raised. "Took you long enough— what, were you napping again?"

"I was reading," she insisted, with a stomp of her foot.

Hibiki snickered, "You could have fooled me. Do you know how many conversations on the trains ended with you passing out with no warning?" She feigned pouting and stuck her tongue out at him. And that made him grin. He thrust out his hand, holding up a plastic bag. "Here."

She took it, examining it's contents. "Ooo— you made rice balls?"

"I tried," he corrected, moving past her to come into her apartment. Removing his coat, he hung it on the coat rack as she shut the door behind him. "I'm not much of a cook, remember?" he reminded, slipping out of his shoes and into the uwabaki she reserved for guests.

"I'm sure you did fine," she encouraged. He smiled to hear it and she felt her face heat, so she turned and made her way back into the living room. Placing the bag down on the table, she opened his plastic container. If he was being modest that was one thing, but if not she might give him a good whack later. Their shape was pristine, and they smelled incredible. Having at last returned home after months of traveling, she found herself falling more and more in love with the tastes of Johto. She gestured to one of the chairs at her dining table— pressed up against the divide that separated her living room from the kitchenette. Hibiki sat while she went in and fetched the dishes and drinks.

Moments later she returned with two plates, two sets of chopsticks, and dishes with soy sauce and wasabi. Hibiki began setting the table while she returned to the kitchen for the glasses and the sake she had bought just for this occasion— one she had anticipated with a curious excitement… and a little sadness.

Once everything was set, she took the seat next to him and they both stared at the small meal before them. At last she had to ask, "Did he say when…?"

Hibiki nodded, checking his watch. "It should be any minute now."

And, as if his ears had been itching, a pink-white flash behind them announced his arrival: Yamamoto. That is what he had taken to calling himself. He said that Ash had adopted the moniker because of his love for nature, and coupled with Mewtwo's own mountain shelter… well, it did make sense. Neither she nor Hibiki beside her turned at his arrival, but let him decide what to do with himself. She didn't hate him, couldn't hate him— she had loved Ash as a father, and had felt for Mewtwo as a child so brutally wronged by the world that had created it. Yamamoto seemed to wish to honor the memories of those from whom he was sired, and she was grateful for that,… but… there were too many painful memories now, so much that his presence was hard for her.

She wondered if Hibiki felt the same, as he tensed when Yamamoto stirred and took the chair at the end of the table, to Hibiki's left. He studied them both, his alien face alarmingly human. His eyes bore no pupils, and his nose was a little snubbed at the end, but his face was a perfect combination of features belonging to the man Ash and to the Pokemon Mewtwo. When neither of them acknowledged him, he spoke at last, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

It was Hibiki who answered, and she was relieved for it. "You saved our lives… everyone's lives. It's really the least we could do."

Yamamoto was silent for another moment, then asked, "How fare the other regions?"

"Sinnoh is probably in the best condition," Hibiki answered after a few moments. "Giovanni was apparently mostly disinterested with it, trying only marginally to gain a foothold there. Unova is just behind it in recovery, and Johto is making good progress. We've had some rebuilding to do— still have some, to be sure— but as you can see… things are returning to some sense of normalcy much quicker than we had expected." And then he shook his head and frowned. "Kanto, however…," he said trailing off.

At last Suma spoke. "We're not sure Kanto will ever really recover," she said. "The necrosis that started in Cerulean hasn't advanced any further than it had already reached, but it wasn't the only city to suffer. Saffron and Celadon are in almost as bad of shape, and we still don't know if the more rural areas will ever be as fruitful as they once were."

Yamamoto nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," he said. "I wish none of this… I wish I could have…" but he didn't complete the thought.

Suma felt her hands clench to fists at the unspoken words, her anger and distress stirred. Gritting her teeth, she did her best to put it aside. She looked Yamamoto in the face now, and asked what was on her mind, "Where were you? After you… killed Giovanni, or whatever you did, you just… disappeared. We had no idea what to do, A—…" she had to stop herself. Swallowing the bulge in her throat, she finished her thoughts, "We were left to pick up the pieces all by ourselves. You wish you could have helped? You could have stuck around."

Yamamoto nodded while he was listening, and folded his hands. When she finished, he stared down at them, answering, "Again, I'm sorry. It was not my intention to distress you. But I felt it would have been prudent for us to examine all this from as many angles as possible. I went to speak with many of the legendary Pokemon throughout the world."

Hibiki stirred at that, "What? Why?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and then must have decided to change the subject. "Do you… understand what Giovanni was going to attempt?"

Hibiki shook his head, "What's that got to do with anything?"

Yamamoto raised supplicating hands, "Please, let me explain." Hibiki settled and the being at his left went on, "In his last moments, Giovanni made his mind vulnerable to my sight. Having sorted through what I saw, coupled with some things Mewtwo had worked out for himself, I think I've reached some very important points of clarity." And, as he had probably hoped, he had their fullest attention with that. "Mewtwo told you that Giovanni had originally intended to make a body into which he could transfer his consciousness. As you heard him say yourselves, Giovanni's aim had never been the simple control of an ancestral Pokemon's power— he wanted the opportunity to explore the world from which they came."

Hibiki held up a finger at that. "Yeah, please explain that."

Yamamoto nodded. "Pokemon possess the unique abilities and powers they do because they are descendants of those you call the 'ancestor race', or 'ancestral Pokemon'. Your history books are filled with tales of failed expeditions and investigations into who these ancestors were, your only clues ancient murals cast by your own ancestors in worship of these beings. I'll tell you this, they never find any remains of a Mew— or any of the others— because as suddenly as they entered this world, they would leave it again."

"Almost never," Hibiki corrected. "Giovanni must have found some, or you wouldn't be here."

Sighing, Yamamoto nodded, acknowledging the point. "In any case, I believe Pokemon are the result in crossbreeding between these ancestral beings and your own wildlife." Both of them must have worn disbelieving looks, so Yamamoto verified, "Explain to me, then, why you have Pokemon that resemble common birds, marine life, or even livestock. Tell me, why is it so many of the functions or places once occupied by typical wildlife hundreds and even thousands of years ago are now held by Pokemon?"

Hibiki gave Suma a grudging look, perhaps unwilling to say it but having to agree that it was curious. "And beside such speculation," Yamamoto added, "you saw for yourself the truth when, with Al's help, Giovanni was banished into a place between worlds— such other worlds exist."

Again, Suma felt herself tense at the memory. When he had been ready, Hibiki had told her of Al's confession back at Nongmin's farm, that he had foreseen his own death. She'd already accepted that Al had likely done what he had because— if he hadn't— they couldn't be sure whether things would have panned out as they did. She didn't blame Yamamoto, or didn't want to… but the painful emotions were sometimes difficult to direct reasonably. "So, what?" she prodded, trying to push the conversation on. "Pokemon are the descendants of… of an alien planet?"

Yamamoto shook his head. "No, not quite. It's more like," he observed ponderously, "they belong to another dimension entirely. Above this one— let's say, above and slightly to the left— is another plane of reality. The energies that allow Pokemon to do what they do, come from this realm of existence. In ascending layers, there are more worlds yet, places where those energies become more and more material and the material becomes… well, immaterial."

She shook her head, "Whoa, slow down. I don't understand."

Yamamoto pulled a face. "I'm sorry— I can't really say with authority what any of those places are like. All I have are the speculations of Giovanni and Mewtwo, combined with my own."

Hibiki speculated himself, speaking with his hands. "So, what you're saying is,— above ours and slightly to the left, or whatever— there's another dimension? That Pokemon belong to this other dimension, where living things made of pure energy—"

"I couldn't possibly begin to imagine what the residents of those worlds are like," Yamamoto cut him off. "But I am saying— yes, Pokemon are descendants of this higher realm. And Giovanni's intention was to get there, and beyond if he could."

"Why?" Hibiki demanded, growing exasperated.

"You're not going to like the answer," Yamamoto warned. Hibiki gestured him on. "Honestly? I think it was simply because he could." Yamamoto was right, Hibiki did not like that answer. When she thought he was going to say or do something rash, Suma reached over and put her hand on his leg. It stilled him, and instead he simply nodded for Yamamoto to go on. "And as much as you won't like to hear this, I think it needs to be said: I think Giovanni was an inevitability. Mewtwo thought so, and you might have discovered that for yourselves when you met him."

Suma frowned, but realized that she had glimpsed that in their exchange. "I don't know why he felt that way but… yes," she told him.

"He felt that way because, sooner or later," Yamamoto told her, "someone was likely to discover the source of Pokemon's powers. Now, I saw much, but not everything. I don't know how he did it, but clearly Giovanni came to an understanding of the truth."

"What does this have to do with the other legendary Pokemon?" Hibiki asked again.

"I went to see them," Yamamoto answered, "because I wanted to know if there was any way I could undo the damage Giovanni has done to this world."

And that made sense to her. "Do they come directly from the other world?" she asked. "Is that why you thought they might know?"

"Some do, yes," he answered. "Some are just… so old, so far back in the lineage, it's almost just as good."

"Did they know anything that could help?" she asked.

After a moment, he shook his head. "I regret that they didn't, no."

She wilted a little to hear it. But Hibiki stirred with a new thought. "You're gonna do it, aren't you?" he asked. "You're going to… to try and go to this other world, to see if you can find an answer to the problem?"

She looked from Yamamoto to Hibiki, and back. "But... what about the cost, the price he—"

"I've found a way," Yamamoto assured her. "With their help, and the Mewtwo's studies, I've found a way to… to knock at the door, rather than tear one open. And yes, that is my intent."

That must have been why he had agreed to let Al… maybe they had both anticipated this being their only hope of healing their world. And as she worked it all out, she thought she saw a little further as well. "And that's why you didn't… didn't sanitize me, isn't it? You want me to go with you."

"Not with me, no," he corrected after a moment. "I was hoping you might be willing to venture into the dimensions that belong to your ancestors."

She blinked at that, shaking her head. "Ok, what?"

"I told you that Pokemons' ancestral world is, perhaps, above and slightly to the left?" he reminded. She nodded, and he completed the idea, "Well, above and slightly to the right… is another series of dimensions. You humans have this philosophical debate about the soul and the human life— is it just electrical signals in the body, or is there a spirit? Well, I think that the energies that comprise what you interpret to be electrical signals or a soul— your very consciousness is powered by energies inherent to this series of other worlds."

Hibiki sat back, seeming almost unwilling to listen further. "I'm sorry but this is absurd." Suma made a throaty sound at him, but he gave her a look, "I'm sorry, but it is— it's almost pure science-fiction. It's worse than Giovanni's scheme. Other dimensions, dual layers of worlds, the soul, the—"

Yamamoto silenced him by reaching out his hand to rest his palm against Hibiki's forehead. Next to her Hibiki spasmed for a moment, and an involuntary cry of protest rumbled in her chest. But just as quickly, he removed his hand and Hibiki was shaking himself free of whatever had passed over him. When Hibiki seemed able to listen, Yamamoto apologized. "I'm sorry, I know it was impolite. But you were being unreasonable, so instead of try to reason with you, I decided to show you."

Hibiki dry-washed his face, and Suma clutched at his arm to see if he was alright. He patted her hand, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little shocked." He gave her a reassuring smile, then looked grimly back at Yamamoto. "Alright, your little psychic-thought-sharing deal convinced me— not only do you really believe all this garbage, but there appears to be a pretty overwhelming amount of evidence to credit it."

Yamamoto looked over at her, and she shrugged. "I don't need a turn, I already believe you."

Yamamoto nodded, "I thought you might." He looked at both of them now, "I don't know if the answer lies with the energies inherent to my world, or the worlds beyond, but it might— it was these energies, or their perversion, that caused it. But following that logic, the solution might lie with the more intangible, spiritual forces that belong to the counterpoint series of worlds. Again, in the interest of considering all possible angles…"

"…you want someone to go to them, as well," Suma completed for him. When he nodded wordlessly, she speculated, "And you think it has to be a human, one who's psyche has been… awakened in ways most others' haven't."

Again he nodded. "If a solution is to be found… the journey must be risked."

She sighed. "I would have no idea how to do what you're asking me. Or if I'm even capable."

"I would have to show you," Yamamoto told her, "to train you to do it. But I'm confident you can."

They were all silent for a moment. "No," Hibiki said finally. He looked from Yamamoto to Suma. "No. No way. Things aren't getting any worse, let's just… just leave it alone."

Suma frowned. She looked over at Yamamoto, "We need time to think about it."

Hibiki guffawed, sardonic. "There's nothing to think about— the answer's no."

She ignored him, and thankfully so did Yamamoto. "I understand," he said. He rose, and so did she. "All you need to do is call for me when you've reached your decision. I will not argue, I will not press you. Hibiki is right— things aren't getting worse and they likely won't. But if we don't do something… well, I don't know that things are just going to get better on their own." And leaving them to that thought, he teleported out.

When he was gone, she collapsed into her seat. She didn't say anything, and decided she'd just wait for the protest she knew was coming. And come it did. "You're honestly thinking about it, aren't you?"

She gave him a curious look. "Why are you so opposed to it?"

"It's gonna be dangerous, Suma," he warned. "You heard Giovanni— he was nothing compared to what might be out there."

She made a face. "It was dangerous to traipse into Cerulean with me, but you came along well enough on that one."

"I made a promise!" he snapped, slapping the table. His sudden outburst alarmed her. "Al didn't just come to tell me he was going to die, he came to ask me for a favor. He asked me to protect you, and I swore…" tears gathered in his eyes. "I gave him my word, Suma. Don't you make me a liar."

Her chest tightened a little. "You never told me that."

He nodded, sniffing. "I… I didn't want you to be any more hurt than you already were."

She couldn't help but smile at that. Reaching over she took his hand, their fingers interlocking. "Hibiki?" she said, quietly urging his eyes to hers. When he looked up, "I don't think I could live with myself If I didn't do something. Could you?"

After a moment, despite his tears, he grinned. "Nope. Probably not."

She smiled wider and felt herself blush again, but now she didn't care. She stood and leaned toward him, pressing her lips to his in a gentle and loving kiss. Resting her forehead against his, she sighed contentedly. "I didn't think so," she whispered.

"Curse you, Maki Suma," he mock-jibed, pulling her into an embrace. "Always making me do things."