"It feels... like it's time... to say goodbye... They're tears. You're crying. My daddy used to tell me a bedtime story, that when Pokémon are sad, and they cry, their tears are filled with life. I have to go. I don't know. But it's alright. Thank you for caring about me. And don't cry, Mewtwo. You should be happy! You're alive. And life is wonderful."
Ambertwo, 'The Story Of Mewtwo's Origin'
It was the Mew Trick who, under Sela's judgement, placed the last Time Gear in a perfect secret location. The Council members clustered around as Sela paced around; pausing now and then, then shaking her head and moving on. Until finally Sela paused, smiled, and said, "Here. Activate it here."
The Mew Trick held it still in the air, where Celebi touched it with a finger and with a flick of power sent it rotating slowly in the air; sending waves of time gradually flowing out and connecting to the other spaces where time was already moving. Once time had sped up and adjusted to the time around it, the Mew Trick finally released it. Palkia took it mentally and bent space around it, effectively hiding it from anyone either searching for it or not.
And just like that it was over. Minami was free again from the touch of glitches, even though it was permanently damaged in the Game of Time. All the Council knew that should they play the Game of Time here they risked freeing the glitches from their time loop by altering the future. So one by one, they departed, back to whichever place they had been in before they had been called to help.
Until Sela was left alone, one small solitary Vulpix smiling in contentment. With a brisk shake of her head she leapt to all fours and bounded down to the beach which was just beginning to show small signs of colour here and there as time began to flow once again. Akiva and Kris - and the dead Dirkstrike - were still all grey. It would probably take a while for Kris and Akiva to flow into time and life again, as the scenery always seemed to come first in these situations. So she sat back down and waited, enjoying the brief flashes of sunlight which came through the time freeze occasionally.
~~~
Kris opened his eyes. The first thing to hit him was there was a large memory blank from the log box training area to now, and as such he had no idea where he was besides that he was lying on a beach somewhere. Had he been drunk? How had he gotten here then, given there were no beaches for miles? Just which beach was this? He raised his head and realised a few more things. Somewhere along the way he'd suffered a nose bleed. He was also aching and sore pretty much everywhere. And Blink, who practically never left his side, was nowhere to be seen.
"Blink?" he croaked, and straight away regretted it. From the hoarse growling sound of his voice it sounded like he had been screaming during the memory blank. Not that his throat hurt a lot, which was odd, but his voice was definitely affected. "You around, buddy?"
I'm right here, Commander, came a voice. Can't you see me?
'No', he was about to say, until he brought up a tentative hand and wiped at his nose, scraping off dried flecks of maroon. That was when he saw his fingers; furred with blue and tipped with sharp black claws. His wrist a yellow band of more thick fur, and his arm blue. "Wha-" he said. "What the fuck?!"
He was Blink? A Manectric? No, that couldn't be, he was still himself, still human. And yet... Gods, what was happening? What had happened?
There was a lot of bad. Blink said sadly, still inside his head. I can't remember much. I only remember the bad. And... With a vocal whimper, he cast his eyes a few feet up the beach where the body of Dirkstrike lay, sepia-coloured as it adjusted to the gentle time acceleration. Kris felt his breath catch in his throat, before he whined in synchrony with Blink.
Commander? Blink asked. We killed because we had to. Because otherwise... Blink didn't need words to describe what would have happened had .m sucked Dirkstrike in as well, the mental image was enough. Commander, am I a human now?
"I don't know, Blink." Kris said, still staring at the form of his father and Blink's mother. "We're both human and Manectric now, I guess; both at the same time. I don't know how that's possible, but..."
Then... Blink said, his mental voice practically a whisper, I feel as if I would very much like to cry for my mother and your father. Kris, would you cry, so I can cry with you?
Blink's words took Kris back to a time when he was still a child, back to a treasured memory of him sitting in his Dirk's lap reading a story book, The Winds of Water. The legendary tale in the book had described how a massive and deadly storm had swept over the lands bringing inescapable floodwaters; drowning most and marooning all those lucky enough to survive. The Pokémon and human survivors had both wept for their departed family and friends, and through an amazing miracle all the lives lost in the storm had been restored with every Pokémon's tears of life spurred on by the human's emotion.
When Kris had expressed his doubt at the end of the story, Dirk had paused before closing the book, and said, "Kris, I'll tell you something right now, there is nothing more special than a Pokémon's tears. Normally, Pokémon don't cry when they are sad or upset. Have you ever seen Strike in tears?"
"You don't cry." Kris had argued.
"Oh, I do. You just don't see it often. And if I ever felt like I wanted to cry," Dirk had persisted, "wouldn't that mean I was extra super sad? Or even so, so happy I could cry? If something is rare, that makes it all the more valuable. And you can forget gold and silver, I would pick the mystery of Pokémon tears over any precious jewel."
Kris had frowned. "What makes Pokémon tears so special? Have you ever seen a miracle like in the book?"
"No, I haven't." Dirk had said. "But I have heard of it from a lot of my friends. They said the tears were at first normal, but then started to twinkle like tiny stars, and float into a dead person. The Pokémon's tears were filled with life, Kris, pure life energy! And they restored the person to life! Isn't that a miracle?"
And now, twenty years in the future, Kris nodded. "Yes, that is a miracle." He felt his throat seize up, a large painful lump which stopped any other words and instead brought on a hoarse, wordless cry of sorrow. His eyesight blurred into wateryness as hot tears rushed to be spilled. Mentally, Blink stood close to him, very close, and Kris felt himself begin to pant, each exhalation an audible whine.
Kris, I'm so sad. Blink gasped. Th-thank you for your tears.
Together they howled, nose tilted towards the bright sun, until Kris descended into a fit of sobbing, Blink riding the waves of emotion right beside him. In his emotion, Kris's Aura sense grew stronger, until he could see with it even as his eyes were closed. Together with Blink, the Manectric obviously curious about the visual Aurascape even through his sorrow, he looked at Dirkstrike's Aura form: a flat grey shape. And then at the corner of his vision, bright sparks of Aura glittering into being.
~~~
Akiva rose into awareness again as the first sobs moved through air, which was once more flowing properly in time, and into his ears. He blinked and the image of Kris - or whatever Kris was now - with his clawed hand stuck into the sand, the blue Vulpix staring serenely back at him was suddenly gone; replaced by one far more shocking, somehow. Only a few paces away the bizarre combination of his student and a Manectric wept brokenly over a similarly bizarre form. Its name was Dirk, wasn't it?
Watching through the Aurascape as Kris had lunged and torn out Dirk's throat, Dirk's Aura spilling away and vanishing into the ether and his body turning the flat grey of death, had been more disturbing then seeing it out of the Aurascape. He had lost the connection, the shock had practically torn the Aura away from him, and he had opened his eyes feeling more than a little nauseous.
And then Kris had struck at the earth and sunk his claws in. There had been a rushing sound, and Akiva had seen the entire world before him turn the same flat grey, no chance to react or even panic, and that was where the memory had stopped.
Until now, when he found himself still standing on the beach, all the horrible creatures and also the Guardians - including his friend Mewtwo - gone, and the confusing chain of events which explained nothing whatsoever and simply raised more questions when he noticed the blue Vulpix was still here, watching Kris from the treeline. And Kris, moaning repeatedly in tears until Akiva felt his own breath hitch in his throat in sympathy.
But at least the world was not grey any longer, frozen in time. And - he lifted a foot, took a step - yes, he could move once again. "Kris." he said, not even sure what he was planning to follow it with.
"He was my father." Kris said in a hoarse voice, sniffing loudly. "And Blink's mother. I haven't seen them since... since..."
"I'm so sorry." Akiva said.
Kris cleared his throat. "No, you're not. Not really. You didn't know them." he said, his voice bitter. "Why should you care?"
"I have been looking for your father since you first arrived at the Seer Repository." Akiva said, trying to keep the defensive tone out of his voice. "We even sent Agrarian Seers towards the rumoured lands in the south after we spoke to Captain Stern and he explained where you and your father may had gone." He took a second to pause, the whole ordeal weighing heavily upon him. "They never came back, Kris."
"Brother, please cry with me." Kris said suddenly, sounding desperate. "Send out your Pokémon so they can cry too. Come on Blink, cry more. Pokémon tears are filled with life. I can see them... in the Aurascape. Like little stars, just like Dad said." He began to say more, but dissolved once again into tears.
Akiva's hand went to Breacher's Pokéball, held it for a second then let it go. That would not help anyone, let alone Breacher who would probably just be even more confused than his trainer. "Kris..." he said reluctantly. "The Winds of Water is just a legend, a story. Don't you remember the saying? 'All living things don't normally shed tears unless their bodies hurt. The only ones who shed tears because they're sad are humans.'"
"Shut up." Kris growled. "Blink is sad, and he cried with me."
Akiva sighed. "Blink may be sad, yes, but he can only cry with pain. You are the one crying with sadness."
"Screw you!" In a flash Kris was up and running blindly away from him and Dirkstrike, up the beach and into the trees. Akiva sighed again.
<It might be a legend, but it's more steeped in truth than you think.> came a mental voice.
Akiva turned. "Mewtwo!" he said in relief.
<Do you remember the little of what I have told you of New Island? Of how Mew and I first battled? Well, we... We damaged a human who was caught in the blast. I may have never cried, but I have seen many other Pokémon cry; and it was in pure grief for the loss of the very same human that they did so. It was not the pain in their bodies. And the humans around them did not cry with them, not even for one of their own who was in need of a miracle. And a miracle occurred. I saw it with my own eyes. Do you believe the word of a friend?>
"Yes, of course." Akiva replied. "Miracles happen, it is just... sometimes difficult to make sense of them when they go against everything we know."
Mewtwo smiled, something Akiva did not see often. <The trick of it, my friend, is to take the laws of the universe we live in with a pinch of salt. Laws can be broken, and often are. In this world live creatures that should not exist. In this world we come across new powers and abilities every day. New creatures, in new lands. There are always new discoveries to be made, but sometimes these new discoveries do not always ring true with what has been previously discovered. Yes, Pokémon do not cry with sadness... but sometimes they do. It is only bad to believe that Pokémon cannot, for that is when you become closeminded.>
"I will try and take that to heart." Akiva said with a touch of humour as well. "In the meantime, what are we going to do about Kris? And his father?" he asked, gesturing.
Mewtwo's brows furrowed. "I don't know. I really don't. If it was only the case that Kris - not his father, or you either - had been brought into this round it would be a simple task of finding him and taking him back. But now Kris has a death on his hands; don't get me wrong, there was really nothing he could have done otherwise, save let the enemy corrupt his father as well, besides kill him, but... it complicates things.>
