Reverse Horizons ("PMP")

Mitsumi took on Cyrus in a grueling 6-on-6 battle, using Pokémon that had accompanied her throughout her journey. This time, the battle was much less even; Mitsumi knocked out Cyrus’ Pokémon one by one, but he only managed to knock out one of hers–any time one of her Pokémon was in a pinch, Mitsumi switched it for a healthier one. Mitsumi finished the battle with Empoleon, and as she called out each attack she remembered the battles they’d shared together from the beginning. Cyrus’ final Pokémon fell, and the battle was over. Mitsumi had won.

Cyrus, however, did not seem fazed by his loss. He scoffed at Mitsumi’s attachment to things like compassion and sentimentality. Mitsumi asked him, then, why the password to get into his office was ‘Sunyshore’. He looked away, saying that wasn’t any of her business. Cyrus left Mitsumi with a Master Ball as a sort of reward for her determination, and told her where to find the Lake Pokémon--he had no further need of them, and bigger things were waiting. The lights went dark, and the Team Galactic members disappeared.

Mitsumi undid the ties around Handsome and Reggie’s wrists, and urged them to escape while she freed the Legendary Pokémon. She ventured to the next room, where the three elf-like Pokémon were trapped in capsules, but she couldn’t immediately find a way to free them. Suddenly an alarm sounded, and the glass trapping them disappeared. Mitsumi looked up to see Jupiter with her hand on a switch by the wall. Jupiter warned Mitsumi to stay out of Team Galactic’s way, for her own good. Then she left the room without another word. Mitsumi gathered up the legendary Pokémon and left as quickly as she could.

Outside the building, Mitsumi met up with Handsome and Reggie. They rushed the injured legendary Pokémon to the Pokémon Center, and there they found Maylene asking frantically if anyone had seen Reggie. The boys got patched up a bit, and Mitsumi healed her own Pokémon. Handsome told the group he’d be heading to Mt. Coronet in pursuit of Team Galactic, as Cyrus had mentioned the mountain in his speech. He asked Mitsumi to stay out of trouble, but both of them knew the likelihood of her actually staying put was slim.

Mitsumi took the recovered Lake Pokémon outside to set them free. Mesprit and Azelf rose into the sky, but Uxie lingered briefly. Mitsumi thanked it for answering her prayer back at Snowpoint Temple. Uxie smiled and replied, “But of course. This is the Pokémon World, is it not? This is a place where wishes come true, Mitsumi.” She was startled that it knew the truth about her, but before she could ask it to elaborate, it joined its fellow elves in the sky and disappeared. As Mitsumi watched it go, she couldn’t help clenching her fist a little.

“If that’s true, Uxie, then I have only one wish…”



Mitsumi awoke that night to the sound of thunder. She sat up in a daze, not entirely sure what was happening. She wasn’t in bed anymore, but in a grassy… a grassy what? The sky was purple…

“Can you hear me? Hang on…”

Her vision cleared, and she realized where she was with a start. She was almost certain she was in the Reverse World, but she couldn’t see the endless sky she’d become familiar with. The entire world was shrouded in pollution, from horizon to horizon. Only the island on which she stood was visible; Zero’s house was in front of her. Thunder roared and lighting flashed in the clouds above.

“No…” she said, “For it to be this bad… Are we too late…?”

“We’re not quite too late,” said a familiar voice. Mitsumi spun around, and her friend was there waiting for her. He looked haggard; there were bags under his eyes, and his clothes seemed less neat than usual.

“This is the worst the pollution has ever been. Team Galactic must have realized its goal…” said Zero, “Whatever they were trying to do with those Legendary Pokémon, they got it.”

“But I crushed Team Galactic and freed the Lake Trio!” said Mitsumi, “I beat Cyrus! How…?”

Suddenly she remembered Cyrus’s words: “I have no further need for them. Indeed, it will spare me the trouble of disposing of them. More important things await me.”

“Pollution flooded this world shortly before you defeated Team Galactic,” said Zero, “Our work is not done yet.”

“Cyrus had what he wanted that whole time…!” said Mitsumi, gritting her teeth, “If only I’d acted sooner…!”

“Mitsumi,” said Zero, “We cannot change the past, but we must do what we can to change the future. Listen to me. I am certain that Team Galactic is going to strike at Spear Pillar, the ruins of a temple atop Mt. Coronet. That is where the barrier between this world and the real world is weakest.”

“You’re sure they’ll attack there?” asked Mitsumi, though she felt certain of it herself.

“Spear Pillar is known as the origin point of Sinnoh, and with good reason. It is the spot where this world, the Reverse World, and all of the pocket dimensions touch, expanding outward from that point. The walls between dimensions are thinnest there. If Team Galactic really is trying to summon the deity Pokémon, that is where they will go to do it. You must go there and stop them before they can follow through with their plans.”

“Will you be there…?” asked Mitsumi as thunder rumbled overhead. Zero took her into his arms and brought her close, holding her so tightly she thought she might break. She could feel him trembling--was it from fatigue, or fear?

“I don’t know,” he said finally, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to enter the real world from here, even at Spear Pillar. The Reverse World is almost beyond repair…”

They were silent for a while. Zero released her, hands on her shoulders. He looked straight into her eyes.

“Mitsumi,” said Zero, “You are …my only… hope…”

Zero staggered and keeled over. The weak gravity slowed his fall, and Mitsumi rushed to catch him. They landed in the grass together; Mitsumi holding him tightly.

“Zero!”

“I’m all right,” he said faintly, his eyes still closed, “It takes so much energy to contact you, especially in such a short span as this… I might not be able to hold this forme much longer…”

Forme…?

“Please… go to Mount Coronet right away… I’m counting on you.”

There was an unearthly roar, rocking the temple even more forcefully than the voice had. The light from the Dimensional Machine flickered, and its inner workings whined as it began to lose power. With a sudden crack, the machine collapsed in on itself. The ground shook violently, and a dark void opened up beneath it, swallowing it whole.

“What?!” Cyrus cried, jumping backwards to get out of the way. For a while there was a tense silence; everyone’s eyes on the patch of darkness on the marble floor. From the void emerged a giant shadowy figure with glowing red eyes. It spread two batlike wings, three red spikes protruding from each. A dark goop dripped from its wings and splattered on the ground. The three elves sped away, hiding behind Mitsumi as she got to her feet. Her mind, however, was somewhere else.

Why did that voice sound so familiar just now…?

“Could it be…?” gasped Cynthia, “The otherworldly Pokémon…?!”

“Huh? What?” said Jun.

“I was just doing research on this,” said Cynthia, “We all know the legends about Dialga and Palkia, but less well-known are stories of a third Pokémon that appeared alongside them. One with as much power as Dialga and Palkia, but with dominion over none of nature’s forces. A Pokémon that dwells in a world on the opposite side of our own.”

The otherworldly Pokémon pulled itself from the void, its form taking shape. The shadows faded, revealing a giant, six-legged creature with gold armor. It flew around the temple on ethereal black wings.

“A Pokémon whose name was never to be spoken—Giratina!”

The Pokémon called Giratina let out a roar and flew low over the spectators’ heads. While everyone else ducked, Cyrus ran back to stand near Dialga and Palkia. Giratina came to a landing in front of Mitsumi, spreading its wings and lowering its head threateningly.

“Interesting…” said Cyrus, “Giratina… somehow I knew you would come as well. Unfortunately, you’ve arrived too late.”

Cyrus peered over his shoulder at the still-open portal behind him.

“What timing,” he snickered, “With my world quietly replacing yours… it’s time to make my escape!”

Cyrus sent out his Honchkrow and hopped onto its back, driving the Pokémon into the shrinking void and away. Before anyone could do anything, the portal closed behind him.

“Damn it!” said Jun, “If we’d only been a little bit faster–!”

“We cannot let him escape,” said Handsome, “He alone has the power to compel Dialga and Palkia. To stop them, we will need to apprehend him.”

“Yeah, except he just did escape!” shouted Jun, “Now what are we going to do!?”

“Everyone, calm down,” said Cynthia, “We may still have a chance to stop him.”

“Oh yeah? How?” said Jun.

“Giratina is said to live in its own world,” said Cynthia, “There’s only one place that portal could have gone to: the fabled Reverse World. If it exists at all, that is…”

Mitsumi’s heart skipped a beat just hearing those words.

“But it’s no use,” said Lucas, “The portal’s all closed up! Now we’ll never catch him…”

“Not necessarily,” said Cynthia, “Giratina was also described as having the power to travel between worlds at will.”

“Then all we have to do is get it to work with us, right?!” said Jun, “Giratina, what do you say?”

Giratina let out a roar before turning to face Mitsumi. Its red eyes met hers.

“Giratina…” said Mitsumi, “Let’s work together. Let’s find Cyrus and destroy him! Open a portal to the Reverse World!”

Giratina nodded. It let out another roar and a strong wind whipped up, blowing millennia's worth of dust off the ancient floor. The marble tile below was so finely polished, Mitsumi and the others could see their reflections in it clearly. Almost as though it were meant to be…

“A giant mirror,” said Mitsumi.

Giratina fired a beam from its mouth at the smooth tile, and another shadowy portal opened up on its surface. Giratina then lowered its head to Mitsumi’s level, eyeing her expectantly.

“You want me… to get on?” said Mitsumi. Giratina growled urgently. Mitsumi scrambled to climb on top of Giratina’s head.

“Cynthia, you’d better come too!” said Mitsumi.

“I’ll go with Togekiss,” said Cynthia, “You two get going! I’ll catch up!”

“Alright,” said Mitsumi, “Giratina--let’s go!”

Giratina rose up, and Mitsumi grabbed its horns to steady herself. It flapped its wings and lifted off before diving into the portal.


As they transitioned between worlds, Giratina glowed purple beneath Mitsumi. By the time they emerged on the other side, Giratina had changed its form entirely. Its legs had turned into spikes, and its wings became ghostly streamers tipped with red cones. It was a form built for slipping through the sky in near-zero gravity.

“This must be your Origin Forme,” said Mitsumi. Giratina grumbled a positive response, “And this… this is the Reverse World.”

Mitsumi looked around, absorbing everything. As far as the eye could see, the Reverse World was more stunning and mysterious than she could ever have dreamed, despite the clouds of pollution that cluttered her view. Flying through the Reverse World on Giratina’s back was an experience like no other.

“I’ve waited so long to see it…” said Mitsumi, “The beautiful Reverse World.”

Giratina growled in agreement, and Mitsumi patted its head.

“This must be nothing special for you, though,” said Mitsumi, “It’s your home, isn’t it?”

A Togekiss pulled up next to them, Cynthia on its back.

“So this is the Reverse World…” she said, “I have to admit, I was kind of skeptical that it existed at all, since the legends about it are so few and far between. I had to do a lot of work to dig up what little information I have.”

“Right,” said Mitsumi.

“The legend told of a world on the opposite side of ours… this world,” said Cynthia, “But my question is—why does this world exist? Why is Giratina here—its only resident?”

Mitsumi only shrugged. She knew why, of course—Zero had told her everything. Would Cynthia believe her?

“I heard though,” said Mitsumi, “Someone told me once… this world works to stabilize the real world. Anything that is out of whack in our world gets corrected by this world.”

“Interesting…” Cynthia mused, “I’ve also heard that before. If that’s true… I wonder where Giratina figures into all this. I wish we weren’t making this amazing discovery in such dire circumstances…”

“Yeah,” said Mitsumi, “Let’s focus on finding Cyrus though, alright?”

“Right, of course…”

Mitsumi directed Giratina downward, and Cynthia followed. Both of them combed the area for any sign of the Galactic leader or his Pokémon. The islands around them were distressingly still.

Mitsumi sensed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. A lanky man with a honey-brown beard was waving at her from an island nearby.

“Newton?!” said Mitsumi.

“Huh?” Cynthia turned and followed Mitsumi’s gaze, “My god—who’s that?! There’s someone else in the Reverse World!?”

Cynthia stopped her Togekiss, and Giratina came to a halt as well.

“He went that way!” shouted Newton, his voice faint, “Toward the village!”

“Sir, who are you?” Cynthia called back, “How did you get here?”

“Newton Graceland!” Newton responded, “But that’s not important! Hurry—but be careful! Anything you do can have a negative effect on the real world, so don’t touch anything!”

“Got it,” said Cynthia, “Thank you! We’ll come back for you when we’re done here!”

“Don’t worry about me!” said Newton, “Just go! We don’t have a lot of time! Mitsumi—good luck out there!”

“Thanks!” Mitsumi called back.

As the girls and their Pokémon continued moving, Cynthia shot a worried glance at Mitsumi.

“Newton Graceland…” said Cynthia, “I have to admit, I thought he was dead.”

“You know him?” asked Mitsumi.

“Not directly,” said Cynthia, “His Reverse World theory is pretty well-known in certain academic circles. Rather—he’s well known for being a hack.”

“What?!” said Mitsumi, “But he discovered the Reverse World, didn’t he?!”

“Well…” said Cynthia, “Not a lot of people believed him, to be honest. He never got around to publishing any evidence for his theory, so most scholars just ignored him. A few months ago, he disappeared without a trace.”

“Oh…” said Mitsumi.

“How do you know him?” Cynthia furrowed her brows, “He did call out to you by name…”

“He’s, uh,” said Mitsumi, scrambling for a fib, “My dad was friends with him.”

“I see,” said Cynthia, “Graceland is known for his theory that the Reverse World is connected to this one like a strand of DNA. I’ve read his paper, but I have to admit that it didn’t exactly persuade me at the time.”

“Huh?”

“You know what genes are, right?” said Cynthia, “Genes are considered the blueprints of all life, for both humans and Pokémon. You know that genes are contained in a strand of DNA?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mitsumi was recalling her biology class, “That sounds familiar.”

“A DNA strand consists of two chains of opposing characteristics, wound together in a spiral called the Double Helix,” Cynthia continued, “If one of the chains were damaged, the other could replicate it. Neither chain can exist without its opposite.”

“Yeah, but what does this have to do with—?” said Mitsumi.

“Graceland’s Reverse World theory was similar to the concept of genes. This world is the exact reverse of our own, and neither can exist without the other. It’s like the two chains that make up a strand of DNA.”

“Whoa…” said Mitsumi.

“If the two worlds are so dependent on each other…” said Cynthia, “I guess it’s only natural that Giratina would want to interfere with Cyrus’ plans. After all, destroying our world would probably destroy this one too.”

They flew on, passing stacked islands and warped houses, but Cyrus was nowhere to be seen. In some areas, the pollution made it difficult to navigate. Mitsumi gripped Giratina’s horns tightly, anger boiling up inside her. If Cyrus’ destruction continued, the pollution would only worsen.

“What are all these purple clouds?” asked Cynthia, “They don’t look natural…”

“They’re pollution,” said Mitsumi, “Thanks to Team Galactic, the Reverse World isn’t behaving like it should.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“That machine that Cyrus had—they’ve been working on it for a while,” said Mitsumi, “But it damages the Reverse World every time they try to use it. These purple clouds are the result.”

“How awful…” said Cynthia, “But, wait—Mitsumi, how do you know that?!”

“Uh—!” said Mitsumi. Before she could answer, however, she spotted more movement in the small village down below. A man disappeared into one of the accordion-shaped houses.

“I think I saw him!” said Mitsumi, “Giratina, let me off!”

Giratina descended to a stone stairway, and Mitsumi hopped off its back.

“I’m going in,” she said.

“By yourself?!” said Cynthia, “That’s dangerous!”

“If it wasn’t really him, you two should go ahead of me and keep looking,” said Mitsumi, “Even you, Giratina. I can handle this myself. I have a flying Pokémon, so I won’t be stuck here.”

“But–!”

“I beat him yesterday in his own territory. Today should not be any different.”

Giratina looked at Mitsumi somewhat dejectedly, but then it nodded and turned to Cynthia. The two of them continued on, leaving Mitsumi to hop inside the house.

The gravity inside was normal, and Mitsumi stepped a bit heavily at first. She laughed: how could she have forgotten the Reverse World’s little quirks?

She dashed through the building, checking every room. Oddly, many rooms had windows to the outside, despite not having any outside-facing walls. Each room she checked, however, was empty. Empty, empty, empty… had she only imagined seeing Cyrus? Or could it have been someone else entirely…?

“What a strange and pristine world…”

Mitsumi jumped, but headed towards the voice. She’d seen Cyrus after all. Her heart fell a little, but she steeled her nerves all the same. There were more important things to take care of.

Mitsumi emerged into a giant room with floor-to-ceiling windows, though the windows had no glass. There he stood, his Honchkrow at his side, gazing out at the endless horizon.

“Could it be that the world I’d imagined… a world without spirit… existed the entire time, in a place beyond seeing?”

Mitsumi approached, her boots clomping on the wood floor. She made no effort to conceal herself, and neither did Cyrus attempt to flee.

“You’ve found me yet again, child,” said Cyrus, “Why did you come all this way alone? What is it that drives you to involve yourself in an adult’s affairs?”

Mitsumi carefully gathered her words.

“I came all this way… because I know that the universe depends on me,” she said quietly, taking her place beside the older man, “Our world, the Reverse World, Zero—they’ve all put their blind faith in me, risking everything on me and my Pokémon. Yes… I think I understand now. The very reason I came to the Sinnoh region… was to stop you.”

For a while Cyrus was quiet. When he spoke, his voice was just as cold as before.

“You are propelled by such sentiment…” he said, “It baffles me, but does not surprise me in the least. You’ve shown yourself to be just that sort of person.”

“What can I say?” said Mitsumi, shrugging slightly, “Guilty as charged.”

“You mention the Reverse World… how do you know of its existence?”

“How I know isn’t important,” said Mitsumi, “What’s important is that I can’t let you get away with this. The Reverse World balances ours—if you destroy our world, this world will also be destroyed. You can’t have one without the other.”

“Interesting,” said Cyrus, “So if these two worlds are balancing each other to remain in existence… That otherworldly Pokémon must play some role in maintaining that balance. That must be why it interfered. But all of that is irrelevant. What matters now is that I defeat that Pokémon, so that it cannot interfere again. With it gone, I can create my new world without any obstacles—this world be damned!”

“I won’t let you!” said Mitsumi defiantly, turning to face him, “No matter how many Pokémon you defeat, no matter how many worlds you set out to destroy, you will always have one obstacle—me!”

“This is my justice! No one can interfere!” Cyrus spat back, “I won’t lose! Not to you, not to that shadowy Pokémon! Not in any worthless world!”

Giratina flew noiselessly through the Reverse World, clouds of pollution parting before it. Though she was happy that she’d defeated Cyrus, Mitsumi still felt a pang of guilt. The one person she absolutely wanted to fight alongside hadn’t shown… Well, perhaps he’d been cheering her on from elsewhere. It was a vast world, after all. He could be anywhere…

“Mitsumi,” said Cynthia, “I want you to remember something. Since there is sadness, we can feel joy. When there is anger, compassion is born. Happiness may not last forever, but neither does despair. Emotions are constantly making way for each other--and that’s normal and fine. If no one felt anything, we would become complacent. It would get boring, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Mitsumi agreed.

“Cyrus refused to realize that our world is just fine the way it is,” Cynthia continued, “He had simply closed his heart to the possibility that having different emotions makes us stronger. When things are sad, we work to make them right. When things are going well, we know our hard work paid off.”

Mitsumi nodded.

“Heyyyyy!” a voice called below them. Mitsumi looked: it was Newton again!

“Cynthia, before we go back…” said Mitsumi, “I want to say goodbye to Newton and Giratina.”

“Fine by me, but be quick,” said Cynthia, “I don’t know how things are going on the other side.”

Mitsumi directed Giratina down to the island where Newton stood, and she and Cynthia hopped off its back. Newton rushed to greet them.

“Did you do it?” he asked, “Did you put that guy in his place? Where is he, anyway?”

“We think he’ll be just fine here,” said Cynthia, “With no one else to tell him off. He can think about what he’s done for the rest of eternity.”

Newton nodded.

“Personally I would’ve liked to see him behind bars myself, but… this place is a sort of prison in its own way.”

Mitsumi, however, wasn’t paying attention. She was watching Giratina, who eyed her back quietly. Slowly she approached it and reached out, taking its beaklike faceplate in her hands. She pressed her forehead to it as a sign of respect and gratitude.

“Thank you, Giratina…” she said, “If you hadn’t stepped in, Cyrus would have won… so, truly, thank you.”

Cynthia and Newton watched them. Newton couldn’t help smiling a little.

Mitsumi pulled back, releasing Giratina slowly, before walking back over to Newton.

“I guess I have to thank you too, Newton,” she said, “Thanks for all the help you’ve been.”

“Hey, it was nothing,” he said, “Not like I had anything else to do!”

“And, um,” Mitsumi added, “If you see Zero, tell him that I--!”

“Mitsumi,” said Newton, pointing behind her, “Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

Mitsumi spun around, heart racing, expecting to see Zero--but it was just Giratina, right where she’d left it. However, the giant Pokémon began to glow. Small orbs of light came out from its body and encircled it, encasing the Pokémon in a glowing, shrinking cocoon. Mitsumi watched in awe as Giratina’s giant body was reduced to something smaller, but still far taller than Mitsumi was…

The light faded and the orbs dissipated.

Where there had been Giratina, now there stood Zero.

“Zero… this whole time you… you…!”

She ran up to him, unable to believe her eyes. Here he was, the same man she’d dreamed about, down to the last detail. He smiled at her warmly.

“You were here… after all…”

Mitsumi covered her mouth with her hands. Zero laughed a little and took Mitsumi in a tight embrace, lifting her clear off the ground. Mitsumi’s heart pounded against her ribs. This--this was what she had been waiting for. Her entire journey had been less about traveling and meeting all the Pokémon, less about finding her reason for being here, less about making sure Team Galactic didn’t get away with their plans, and more about making sure that this one person would be safe.

It was his voice she’d heard before Giratina appeared at Spear Pillar.

Mitsumi couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked into Zero’s coat.

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” he said. His voice soothed her, “But we cannot talk here. We have more important things to attend to back in your world. I will explain everything later. Come, the others are waiting.”

Zero released her, setting her gently back on the ground. He nodded to Cynthia and Newton.

“Don’t get into too much trouble, Zero,” Newton said with a smirk, “I’ll hold down the fort here for a bit.”

“But your family in Eterna--!” Zero protested.

“I’ll figure something out, don’t worry. Once you square up with Dialga and Palkia, this world will probably go back to normal, and I can get my machine working again. You go.”

Zero smiled wholeheartedly.

“Thank you, Newton.”

Zero began to glow and returned to his Pokémon form once again. He nodded to Mitsumi and Cynthia. Mitsumi climbed on Giratina’s head, and Cynthia followed.

“Gira—I mean, Zero…” said Mitsumi, “Let’s… let’s go home.”

Mitsumi’s mother was pleasantly surprised to see her daughter back so soon after starting her journey, and even more so to discover that she’d brought a friend back with her. The three of them sat and talked all afternoon as Mitsumi recounted her journey, using her journal as a reference but cleverly leaving out her supernatural correspondence with Zero and the events from the past few days.

Remembering every step of her journey and all the people she’d met brought a smile to Mitsumi’s face. It was strange--the reality was that she’d only been here for little more than a month, yet she’d already done so much. In such a short span of time she’d already made irreplaceable friends and saved the world from certain destruction. And if Reggie’s example was any indication, there was much, much more for her to do. She could keep challenging gyms or try out contests, or even aim to catch all the Pokémon in Sinnoh. There’s no end to Pokémon--that’s the feeling she got, thinking about what the future had in store for her.

It had been a long, tiring journey for a little more than a month. But she’d had the time of her life in the process--even when she thought things could not have gotten worse; even when everything balanced on her ability to beat someone in a Pokémon battle…

They had a low-key dinner that evening, and afterwards Johanna wanted to hear from Zero. He tried to make up a story for himself, but had trouble keeping details consistent, and finally came up with the excuse that he was a scatterbrained trainer from a far-off land who had seen too much to keep track of. However, he did mention that he owes his life to Mitsumi, and that’s why they’ve decided to travel together. It was a decision they’d made on the way back to Twinleaf, as Sinnoh sprawled out below them, but even then it seemed somewhat inevitable that the two of them would end up traveling together.

“We don’t have an extra bedroom, I’m afraid,” said Johanna as it grew closer to bedtime, “Looks like Zero would be too tall for the couch, too.”

“I’ll be all right,” said Zero with a laugh, “We can work around it. I am not a very demanding man.”

“Well, alright,” said Johanna with a smile, “I’m heading up to bed, dear. Turn out the lights when you come upstairs.”

“Okay.”

Johanna shuffled upstairs, leaving the two of them in the sitting room. Zero and Mitsumi turned back to each other. For a while they simply gazed at each other; the gravity of what they’d done hadn’t quite hit them yet. Zero had taken his coat off, along with his gloves, so he no longer exuded such a formal air. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and knitting his fingers together.

“Mitsumi, I think you’re ready now…” said Zero. “Ready to know the reason for your existence in this world.”

Mitsumi’s heart skipped a beat.

“You knew this whole time, didn’t you,” she said.

“Yes, and I’m sorry for keeping it from you all this time. But now that you know the truth about me, you have the context for the rest of what I’m about to tell you.”

“The truth about you…” Mitsumi echoed, “That you’re really Giratina, you mean.”

Zero nodded to her.

“Before everything, before Team Galactic was even a blip in someone’s imagination,” Zero began, “I had a horrific dream. I dreamed that my beautiful Reverse World was filled to the brim with toxic pollution, and there was nothing I could do… until a girl came along who saved me, saved my whole world. When I awoke, I knew that I could not possibly ignore this dream. It was so vivid that it had to have been more than a simple nightmare.”

“Then what?” asked Mitsumi.

“I had to know if there was some truth to what I had seen. I rushed to the bubbles on a grand search of the Sinnoh region, trying to see if the girl from my dream existed. To my relief, she did! So I watched over her, hoping to see if destiny smiled on her… but the more I watched, the more I came to realize that this girl was… well, she wasn’t exactly hero material; let’s put it that way. She disliked Pokémon and only wanted to be left alone, shutting herself up in her room for long hours and snapping at her mother. She was probably never going to save anybody. By the time I found her, the events of my nightmare were already coming to pass, and pollution began to appear in my precious world. My rage built, and I tried to find some way to stop what was happening, but found that I was a prisoner in my own kingdom. The damage to the Reverse World rendered it impossible to escape, even for its ruler.

“Again, I had a vivid dream. This time, it was about a girl in another dimension. It was revealed in the dream that this girl had many things in common with the first: the same name, the same age, the same birthday… The two of them even had similar-sounding voices. This girl was very interested in Pokémon and desperately wanted to go on an adventure, but Pokémon were only a figment of the imagination in her world.

“I had no time to waste. Upon waking, I called out to my father and asked for his help finding her.”

“Your father--that being Arceus?”

Zero smiled.

“You’re very clever, Mitsumi.”

“Well,” said Mitsumi bashfully, “I just know a lot about Pokémon…”

“You do indeed. In any case, I asked Arceus to confirm if the girl I’d seen in my dream really did exist. To my relief, he confirmed that she did.”

“And that girl… was me?”

Zero nodded.

“My father didn’t understand my urgency and couldn’t see why I was so fixated on this one girl, but after I begged him to help me, he finally agreed to bring you into this world. When both worlds experienced a storm at the same time, Arceus performed a miracle that switched your soul with hers.”

For a while, Mitsumi was quiet, mulling this over. Thinking back on it now, it seemed almost obvious that Zero was the one responsible for her coming here: he was the only person who’d known the truth about her. And yet, hearing it outright like this was almost more unbelievable than the fact that she was here at all.

“So it was you after all,” she said finally, “You’re the reason I came to this world.”

Zero nodded. Mitsumi hesitated before her next question.

“I mean…” she said, “I really… everything I’ve ever wanted has happened because I’ve come here, but… Will there ever be a time when I can, you know… click my heels three times and go home?”

“I understand your position,” said Zero. He looked away, “I tore you away from your family, your home, based solely on a vague premonition--it’s only natural that you should want to find a way to go back. However… I regret to inform you that what Arceus did was indeed permanent.”

Mitsumi looked at her feet silently.

“You must dislike me now,” said Zero, looking away, “Honestly, I don’t blame you.”

“No! It’s all right,” said Mitsumi, voice quivering. She looked up and smiled back at him, even though her eyes were filled with tears, “Just think of what would have happened if you hadn’t brought me here! Cyrus would’ve won, and you would be…”

Mitsumi wiped her eyes and sniffled.

“Mitsumi,” said Zero quietly, “You do not need to hold back your tears anymore. You have already proven your strength.”

Mitsumi rushed into Zero’s arms and sobbed. It felt like she hadn’t had a proper cry since she’d gotten here--all the pent up confusion and joy and despair came flooding out all at once. She cried for a long time, and Zero was content simply to comfort her.

Finally, as she began to quiet down, he lifted her into his arms and stood up.

“Come now. Which room is yours?”

“I… actually, I don’t remember.”

“Well, we’ll just look inside each one until we find it.”

Zero climbed up the stairs somewhat awkwardly, perhaps unaccustomed to climbing stairs in normal gravity. Mitsumi remembered that his house had only had one story, and all the stairs she’d seen in the Reverse World were outside. She couldn’t help giggling as he fumbled from stair to stair, holding her with one arm as he steadied himself on the banister with the other.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” she said. She’d have to teach him more about stairs the next day. In fact, there were probably many things she’d have to teach him about, considering…

The first room that they checked turned out to be hers. Everything was as she’d left it: the TV, the Wii, the bed, the nightstand with its Starly alarm clock, the bookshelf with its unfamiliar books…

Zero put Mitsumi down on the bed.

“If you need to get changed, I’ll step out,” he said. Mitsumi nodded and Zero slipped outside, closing the door behind himself. Mitsumi quickly changed into pajamas, these different from the ones she’d traveled with. It felt good to wear a clean set; she’d been planning to wash hers the day things had escalated and hadn’t gotten around to it since.

“Okay. You can come back in, Zero.”

Zero re-entered the room, closing the door carefully behind himself. Mitsumi rummaged in her closet for blankets and pillows while Zero took a seat on the bed and watched her. She managed to find a thick comforter and a pillow, along with a large sleepshirt that she hoped would fit him.

“Is this good?”

“Absolutely. I’m a Pokémon, I don’t require much.”

“Here, put this on to sleep in,” Mitsumi held the shirt out to him, but he shook his head.

“No need. Watch.”

Zero’s clothes began to glow, and suddenly instead of the black shirt and slacks, he wore a loose tank top and Sheildon-patterned boxers.

“This is what Newton sleeps in. Is this acceptable?”

“W-what?!” Mitsumi yelped, covering her eyes, “How do you know what he sleeps in!?”

“That’s. Not important,” said Zero, “I’m not an expert on human sleepwear, so I’m only guessing here.”

His clothes began to glow again, and this time they transformed into silk pajamas like Mitsumi’s–although these were in his size, and a metallic grey.

“Better?”

“Yeah…” Mitsumi lowered her hands, “Those look good on you, Zero.”

Mitsumi busied herself with setting up the makeshift bed, trying to put the image of Zero in boxers out of her mind. She arranged the comforter and pillow in a bed-like fashion on the floor, hoping it would suffice.

“Oh, right, that reminds me,” said Mitsumi, “I’m curious--why did you take on a human form?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, you could have just showed up in my dreams as Giratina,” she said. She held up her hand and mimicked a talking face, “You could’ve been like, ‘Hello, I’m Giratina, the world is in danger. Help’. Or something like that?”

“Ah, well,” said Zero, looking away, “Even beyond the fact that I cannot speak as a Pokémon… my true form is very intimidating. I didn’t want you to be afraid of me, especially after what I did…”

“You wouldn’t have scared me,” said Mitsumi. “I mean, maybe I would’ve been a little intimidated at first, but--Giratina was actually one of my favorite Pokémon back home. I think it’s really cool that I got to meet one in person.”

The look on Zero’s face at that moment was indescribable.

“I… I see…” He flushed a little bit, looking down and smiling to himself, “Your favorite Pokémon…”

Mitsumi giggled and went to sit next to Zero on the bed. She looked at him quietly for a while, taking in the details of his face–clearer now than they’d ever been in her dreams or behind a mirror. She reached out her hand and gently touched his cheek, as if to affirm his existence. He was here, by her side at last…

“Mitsumi,” said Zero. He took her hand gently, “I’d like to give you all of my gratitude for what you’ve done. You saved my beloved world… I really cannot express how thankful I am.”

Mitsumi smiled.

“To be honest…” she said, “I want to thank you. Even though you pulled me away from everything I’d ever known… It’s because of you that all my wild and crazy dreams came true. I couldn’t have done it without you… because you continued to be there for me…”

Suddenly Mitsumi remembered something. She ran over to her bag and took out her journal. From its pages she gently pulled out the Gracidea flower she’d received weeks earlier. It had already dried out, its petals brittle. She carefully handed it to Zero.

“What’s this?” Zero asked her.

“It’s a Gracidea flower,” said Mitsumi, echoing Layla’s distant words, “People give them to each other to express their gratitude. I, um… I think you should have it, Zero.”

Zero tenderly held the flower to his heart.

“Thank you, Mitsumi,” he said, “I will cherish it. Let’s keep it in your journal so it doesn’t get crushed, though. Alright?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Mitsumi put the flower back into her journal, and the journal back into her bag. She’d only filled the journal up halfway… how many more entries would she write from here? How long would it take to fill it?

As she approached the bed again, Zero took both of her hands in his.

“I have… a bit of a selfish wish,” he said, voice low, “Mitsumi… From here on, the only place I want to be is by your side, always.”

Mitsumi was quiet.

“What a coincidence…” she said finally, “I have the same wish.”

She reached out and took his head in her hands. It was strange to look down on him like this, to see his face from this angle. She was accustomed to seeing him from below… but she rather liked the view from up here.

Mitsumi bent down and kissed his forehead, brushing his hair out of the way.

“Is it weird, that I like you like this? I mean, since you’re…”

“Hm? I don’t think it is,” Zero reached up and put his arms around her waist, bringing her closer, “I feel the same way, after all.”

“Good,” said Mitsumi.

“It can be our little secret,” said Zero playfully. His tone of voice made her cheeks burn.

“Y… Yeah…” was all she could manage to say, “We should, um. We should think about heading to bed. It’s getting late… I’m totally worn out from today, too.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Zero. He released her and lay down on the bed, putting his head on her pillow.

“Hey!!” said Mitsumi, “You have to sleep on the floor!”

Zero shook his head and smiled contently, eyes closed.

“Well, I’m certainly not sleeping on the—wait. I see what you’re doing.”

Zero’s smile widened into a grin.

“You really are a Pokémon, aren’t you?”

“What was that supposed to mean!?”

The two of them laughed.

“You’re not going to move, are you,” said Mitsumi, hands on her hips.

“No, I won’t,” said Zero, “I spent this whole month watching you sleep with your Pokémon around you, green with envy. I’m not letting this chance slip–!”

“You watched me sleep?!”

“Well–!”

“Fine, whatever,” Mitsumi threw up her hands, “But if you try any funny stuff, you’re sleeping on the floor. Got it?”

“Understood,” said Zero, “I will refrain from jokes and tickling.”

Mitsumi laughed, but she couldn’t help wondering: maybe he really didn’t know what she’d meant by that? He might have been a Pokémon, but he was the only one of his kind, after all…

Mitsumi climbed in bed, and Zero joined her beneath the blankets. They drew close together, noses almost touching. Mitsumi sighed happily and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of him breathing next to her.

Something soft brushed her lips, and she opened her eyes to see Zero’s face inches from hers.

“Payback for last time,” he said warmly, “You did say I could have as many kisses as I wanted.”

“Haha, yeah, I guess I did…”

She kissed him back gently, lingering there for a while. She was in a new world, leading a new life, and yet somehow, she felt that this was exactly where she was supposed to be. From tomorrow, she’d begin again: as just another trainer, on a journey to be the best…

The two of them had the same thought at the same time.

“Thank you, my one.”

---

If you’re reading this: thanks so much for reading. This fic was a formative experience for me as a writer, and I made so many long-time friends because of it. It was fun reworking it to see what I could do now with the same idea. Whether you read the original or started with the revision: thank you. It really means a lot to me.

Some parting thoughts:

• In the original, Giratina consulted Palkia for help getting Mitsumi to the Pokemon World. I changed it to Arceus to close a loophole I’d been wrestling with for years; i.e. if Arceus is an omnipotent god, why didn’t it step in to stop Cyrus? Zero doesn’t go into detail about his encounter with Arceus, but behind the scenes I can tell you that Arceus agreed to help Giratina on the condition that it would only interfere once. In other words, if Arceus did this favor for Giratina and Mitsumi didn’t end up saving the world, Arceus would not swoop in to save everyone. Arceus knew what Cyrus had planned but didn’t see him as a threat, so Giratina decided to bank on Mitsumi taking its side.
• Zero actually has quite a bit of backstory that I didn’t get to addressing, which I will add in the next post as a bonus chapter.
• Zero is asexual-in that he has no concept of sex, thanks to spending most of his life as a biologically sexless eldritch horror. Once he realized what he was feeling for Mitsumi, he consulted Newton about the ways humans show affection. Most innuendo is utterly over his head.
• “but what about the implication that he and newton–” Giratina watched Newton sleep also. He spent a lot of time observing human behaviors so that he would be convincing to Mitsumi.

Again, thanks so much for reading. One last thank-you drawing can be found here.

All right, I have left this way too long, but it's time for a review! And, well, there's a lot to cover, huh? Let's get stuck in.

I think I have to say right away that the summaries do take away from the fic a little – it's now a journey fic without much of a journey in them, and a pokémon fic without much in the way of pokémon, either – but I get why you've done them; sometimes you just want to get the thing done, and given that this has been ten years in the making I can imagine that you just want to get this out of your head. The parts that you have gone to the trouble of revising and rewriting are good, and I can imagine that, where the whole thing written up, it would be one of those huge, sprawling journey fics that just kinda suck you in.

Okay, you didn't ask for critique; time to get back to the rest of it. As I said, there's a lot to like here. Choosing Platinum for this fic was an inspired choice; it's all about twisting worlds (and twisted worlds, for that matter), and of course that's how yours begins, too, with Mitsumi wrenched from one world into another. For some reason, it didn't occur to me that this parallel would be anything other than thematic until you actually went ahead and confirmed that these things were all linked up in plot terms, too; that was a cool reveal, and it did a lot to tie the fic together around that central idea of worlds in crisis and ways to right them.

I also like that a lot of the disruptions that were natural in the game, like the fog, are in this fic caused by Galactic and their machinations. The games contain so much stuff that isn't directly related to their main plotlines, of course, because they're concerned with representing a world, but obviously you want to make your story more pointed and unified around the Galactic story, and things like that do a lot to help achieve that.

Your expansion of the Sinnoh myths is also pretty interesting; I've always thought Sinnoh's cosmology is great, and seeing how people reinterpret and expand on it in fic is exactly my kind of thing. Plus, I'm always down for a myth with a horrifyingly brutal ending. That's just the best sort of classical tradition. :P Man, you've got me really wanting to replay Platinum at this point, though I feel like after the newer games, it might be kinda hard to re-adjust to the much slower pace of the Gen IV battles.

The dramatisation of Cyrus' contradictions is neat, too. He's a fascinating man, constantly trying to escape his own humanity and the knowledge (which I've always thought he probably possesses) that to abandon this part of himself would be to abandon his own self as he knows it, to become something new and strange. I figured that this contradiction was why he had a crobat – there's emotion in him still, and he can love and be loved even if he cannot accept it – but I also think there's something to be said for your reinterpretation of the canon to say that he never managed to get close enough to his golbat for it to evolve.

Speaking of that chapter, the final confrontation here really is great. Kinda makes me want to see more of your battles; you skipped over almost all of them with the summaries, but like, if this is any indication, they must have been something to see! It's got it all – flashy visuals, moves fired back and forth from the backs of flying pokémon, divine intervention. I can definitely see this as the great cinematic climax to a long-running journey fic.

A side note that doesn't really fit anywhere else in this review: what a great touch to make the surface of Spear Pillar a giant mirror. I think the mirror connection to the Distortion World is from the anime, or at least I don't remember it being in the games, but bringing it in like that is definitely very cool, and for something like this, that's justification enough for its presence.

Finally, I guess I should say something about the main focus of the fic, the relationship between Zero and Mitsumi. And it's … interesting, I guess. I don't see anything wrong with a relationship between two consensual sentient beings, but with the way the power relations work between adults and children, and the difference between them in terms of development, a relationship between an adult and someone in their mid-teens can't function in that way pretty much by definition. That said, Giratina as you write him often doesn't seem like an adult; he might have taken on a form that resembles one, but he's childish, petulant and actually rather teenagery. I suppose billions of years in the unchanging stasis of the Distortion World doesn't give you the kind of life experience you need to mature the way that humans do. So I guess what I'm saying is, after initially seeming pretty creepy, with this grown person leering over this child, by the end of the fic you do at least take the edge off it a bit, in that Giratina seems broadly to be emotionally and intellectually on the same level as Mitsumi. I can't say that I can get behind it; Giratina is adult enough that all of this remains pretty uncomfortable, especially in the light of that bonus chapter at the end, where he comes across as much older than he does in his dealings with Mitsumi, making those dealings still less palatable. Which, okay, all of this is critique and you weren't looking for that, but it would be remiss of me to review this fic and not comment on this at all.

Anyway: all of this aside, congrats for bringing this project to its close! Ten years is a long time to hold onto a story; I have to commend you on seeing it through to this, its final incarnation. I look forward to checking out any future projects you end up bringing to the forum!