Chapter 888: Can You All Please Not Leave Me Behind?
The setting sun bathed this scarred yet pristine, cleansed world in amber warmth.
They had finally survived to the day the darkness dispersed completely.
Kazuya felt an unprecedented, hollow weakness spreading through his frame.
He drifted down gently from mid-air.
Landing beside a piece of shattered masonry in Sootopolis City, leaning lightly against the stone as he gazed toward the distant sunset.
The gentle ocean breeze brushed against his face.
Finally carrying a touch of the warmth from days long past.
The black ribbon-like scarves adorning Kazuya's frame fluttered in the sea wind; he tilted his head back, closing his eyes, letting the dusky golden sunlight wash completely over him.
Everything that needed to be brought to an end had met its conclusion.
Only one final thing remained.
Step...
The sound of Mewtwo's footfalls broke the silence beside him.
Hearing Him, Kazuya pursed his lips, raising a finger to point toward the sun that was on the verge of sinking into the horizon: "Mewtwo, look... it's the sun. It's your first time seeing it, right?"
"..."
Mewtwo turned His gaze toward the setting sun, staring in blank wonder.
Yes.
This was His very first time witnessing the sun.
After all.
When He was born into this world.
The land had already been choked in boundless darkness.
Yet...
Compared to the sun.
He was far more concerned with Kazuya's condition right now.
"Are you alright?"
Mewtwo asked, deep worry surfacing in His eyes.
Logically speaking.
Kazuya ought to be in peak condition right now.
Yet he appeared utterly drained, his presence and life force bleeding away steadily.
Kazuya opened his eyes, raising a hand to lightly pat the empty space beside him.
Mewtwo stepped closer.
Sitting down cross-legged.
"If only... those guys were still here, how wonderful that would be," Kazuya murmured, his voice trembling faintly. "Remember that year on Four Island? Sitting shoulder to shoulder, letting the evening breeze drift through the window, eating the fish I cooked... that was pretty wonderful, wasn't it?"
Beside him, Mewtwo pressed His lips together, lowering His head: "Only you and I are left."
Hearing those words.
Kazuya narrowed his eyes and smiled softly.
Everyone will return. They definitely will.
But before that...
"Mewtwo."
"Hmm?"
"All this time... you've worked so hard."
"..."
Mewtwo turned His head to look at Kazuya.
Only to see black energy steadily seeping from the corners of his mouth.
"Kazuya! You..."
"Ah, I know. It seems Shadow couldn't siphon the dark energy inside me, nor did She ignite it in the end. But I have to destroy it; this world is just missing this one final step."
Kazuya pressed his lips together.
Dark energy.
Could never be allowed to remain.
Otherwise.
Anything wounded by him in the future would inevitably be corrupted by dark energy all over again.
Kazuya could never leave behind such a catastrophic blight.
Therefore.
The final thing that required "Termination."
Was the dark energy festering within his own frame.
"But isn't dark energy merely converted from life energy?!"
"Yes."
"Can your Power of Creation replenish it?"
"No... Termination is eternal."
Eternal.
Meaning that even the Power of Creation could not mend this void.
The only thing capable of restoring it.
Was Kazuya's innate golden finger—the system panel that stood above the Power of the End.
Therefore.
Only through genuine death.
Just like the other Demon Gods and magical beasts.
Could this dark energy truly be eradicated from the world once and for all.
"..."
Mewtwo realized what this meant in an instant.
Leaving Him unable to utter a single word.
"You're the youngest among the seven of us."
Kazuya's voice drifted beside His ear.
Mewtwo's ears twitched, turning His head away, refusing to listen.
Things like that.
He knew all too well, of course.
Even though Skitty was much smaller in size.
No one ever forgot that He was the youngest child among them.
Mewtwo was no fool.
He knew everyone had always been shielding Him.
And He had quietly cherished this protective warmth bestowed by His older brothers and sisters.
Otherwise.
Why would He, who was neither the strongest nor the weakest, be the one who survived until the very end?
"I'm sorry... for having to leave you behind first."
"Kazuya..."
Mewtwo buried His head low, tears welling uncontrollably in His eyes, splashing onto the stone beneath His feet: "Can you all... please not leave me behind all alone?"
His voice shook violently.
Carrying a desperate plea.
Nearly two centuries of time.
They had never been parted.
Yet now...
It seemed they had no choice.
Across the world.
Was there truly no banquet that never came to an end?
"Mewtwo, come closer..."
Kazuya's voice was remarkably faint.
So faint that an ordinary human sitting beside him might not have heard it at all.
Mewtwo turned and leaned in close.
Kazuya raised his hand.
Mewtwo watched as his arm reached out weakly, feeling blindly in the air.
Leaving Mewtwo momentarily stunned.
Shifting His gaze upward.
His eyes met Kazuya's.
Those eyes.
Had lost their original focus, fading into two hollow pools of gray flame.
Mewtwo gritted His teeth, pressing His cheek against Kazuya's trembling palm.
He felt Kazuya's hands gently caressing His face, patting and soothing Him, halting only when fingers brushed against the tears rolling down His cheeks.
"Don't be afraid... don't be afraid..."
His hand stroked gently over the crown of Mewtwo's head.
Filling Mewtwo with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and disorientation.
Long ago.
Kazuya had stroked Mew this exact same way.
A longing wired directly into His genetic memory.
"We will return very soon. Do you believe me?"
A faint, tender smile played on Kazuya's face.
"..."
Mewtwo nodded softly.
He knew Kazuya could no longer hear Him.
"After I disappear, changes will occur across this world. That will be the work of my future self. Don't be afraid; this chaotic era will return to its rightful course."
"You don't need to do anything. Just wait right here."
"Once I fade away."
"Count down ten seconds."
"After ten seconds."
"You will see us again."
With those words.
Kazuya's arms fell limp, tumbling forward into Mewtwo's embrace, resting his head heavily upon His shoulder.
"Ten seconds..."
He was still murmuring.
Unsure whether he feared Mewtwo would forget.
Or feared forgetting it himself.
Until his throat could no longer squeeze out the faintest breath of sound.
Holding Kazuya tight, feeling that fading warmth, Mewtwo broke down in uncontrollable sobs.
He could feel Kazuya's frame growing lighter and lighter.
Gradually dissolving into specks of pitch-black motes.
Carried by the evening sea breeze.
Drifting toward the far horizon, where only the thinnest sliver of the setting sun still lingered above the waves.
"10..."
Mewtwo knelt upon the earth, tears streaming down His face.
Staring at the sun as it slipped entirely beneath the ocean, He parted His jaws and began the countdown.
Simultaneously.
Clouds churned and winds whipped across the heavens and earth.
The entire fabric of reality began undergoing an inexplicable, monumental shift.
Was the time of this world... beginning to rewind?
"7..."
Sunset.
The evening breeze over Sootopolis Island grew chilly.
Biting so sharply that even Mewtwo felt a chill deep in His bones.
From the distant sea, the faint melody of some Pokémon's song seemed to drift across the waves.
Quite lovely to hear.
Unsure whether it was merely His own hallucination.
"5..."
Being all alone truly felt awful.
Mewtwo finally understood now.
Why Kazuya feared loneliness so deeply.
As it turned out.
Loneliness was far more terrifying than despair.
"3..."
Sootopolis Island seemed to have grown remarkably quiet.
The weeping and cheering of the crowds could no longer be heard.
The world turned impossibly still at this moment.
Amplifying the solitude in His chest without bound.
"1..."
Recalling everyone from His memories.
Mewtwo slumped forward, pressing both hands against the stone ground.
Tears fell ceaselessly from His eyes.
His psychic senses detected the presence of not a single soul.
It seemed He had been lied to.
Tricked by Kazuya into clinging to life in wretched survival.
Just as He opened His jaws to let out an anguished wail.
Suddenly.
A cheeky, familiar round head poked right into His field of vision:
"Yo..."
"You actually cried?"
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