Chapter 32

They flew for some time. Lane wasn't sure exactly how long, though he found that he didn't care. It wasn't anything like flying with Korina. His concentration wasn't eroding over time, like a final exam that continued until his brain finally gave out and he collapsed.

That didn't happen now. The air was cold, but the chill of it didn't bother him the way it did as a cat. His body was tiring over time, but not as much as he expected. The company of so many others was invigorating, even if Elisa said very little. She occasionally poked her head out to look down at the world below, but that was it.

"You're missing out," Lane said, noticing her around noon. He guessed it was noon, anyway. "I can't believe you didn't want to fly."

"I don't know how." Elisa stuck her tongue out, perching one little paw delicately on the edge of the satchel. "Maybe I'm missing something amazing, you could be right. But I don't know, because I've never been able to fly before.

For now I think I'm better off not knowing. With the way my last two weeks have gone, I might be a goodra tomorrow."

Lane giggled. The sound didn't quite fit this body, and it caused him a brief moment of confusion. But it only lasted for a second, and he was flying comfortably again. "Isn't that a dragon? I think they can fly too."

"Whatever." Elisa vanished back in the pouch. It couldn't be terribly comfortable in there, with only a pokéball for company and Lane's unsteady flying unable to even keep level for too long.

But despite her complaints, the flight continued. Lane was barely even aware of the passage of time, before the sun stained the sky orange and it was time to land. Through careful planning or just good luck, Lane recognized patches of familiar red flowers waiting for them, clustered around a warm-looking lake. The plants here were far greener than those up north, somehow more welcoming. At least, they felt that way to her.

He was among the last to touch down, his paws skidding in the mud as he scrambled to keep upright. He managed, barely, bumping and scraping to an awkward stop.

"There!" he called, shaking out the soreness of the flight. "We did it, Elisa! We're here!"

The pouch shifted for a few seconds, as the one inside crawled around.

Elisa's head poked out the opening a second later, and she tumbled out onto the ground beside him. She righted herself quickly, glaring up at him. "Great, Lane. Where is here?"

He slumped down onto his haunches, confused. This body felt comfortable after spending a whole day in it. He'd been silly to be embarrassed about being male again. "I, uh… didn't ask. We flew over the ocean at least once, so I'm pretty sure we're not in Sinnoh anymore. Not really sure beyond that. Geography was never my thing."

Elisa glowered. "You flew across continents in a single day and don't remember where you flew? Arceus you are a guy again. You couldn't be this clueless otherwise."

"It was fun!" he argued. "You should try next time, Elisa. I can see why they migrate so much."

"Don't enjoy yourself too much, Lane. Fall into that trap, and you'll get stuck again."

Lane turned, expecting to see Cedar standing there. The older shaymin had been sensitive enough to Lane's weakness in their flight, though the body seemed to understand what it was doing enough that he didn't get into too much trouble.

But he should've known from the voice it wouldn't be Cedar. He glanced over his shoulder, then his heart nearly stopped.

A fairy sat on a tree stump not far away, positioned at just the right height to be watching them. It had green skin, darker on its lower body, and a pair of transparent, shimmering wings.

Lane coughed, struggling for air—and in his shock, he started to fall. Not down so much as into himself, until she caught herself in a familiar hover at Dominic's height. With one final twitch her long pink tail reemerged, and she was herself again.

"Dominic?" Elisa asked, scrambling up to the stump and trying desperately to climb it. "Is that you?"

"Should be. Think so." Dominic tilted his head to one side. "That's something I kept. Maybe the only thing." He reached down with waxy hands, pulling Elisa up onto the edge. Lane watched from a hover over open air, no longer listening to the dozens of shaymin voices as they ate and recovered from the trip.

"You're back!" Elisa exclaimed, trying to hug him with only mixed results.

"We didn't know if we would ever see you again! What happened?"

"A lot." Dominic froze awkwardly at the hug, his whole body tensing. Like he'd forgotten what human contact even felt like. After a few seconds he patted Elisa on the back, then pushed her off. "I knew I should've come back sooner to talk to you. But there was so much to learn. This moment was waiting for me no matter how long it took. Two months, six, a few years… and here you two were, still clueless as ever. Still thinking I might be dead."

"You've been gone a week," Lane said. "But I guess you did get burned pretty bad. I'm more interested in what went wrong in your head to make you think tampering with an engine was a good idea. You could've died! You should've, really."

"I did die," Dominic said. He sounded so different, so unconcerned and disconnected. Not carefree, exactly. Numb. "But that timeline ended and this one continued. Not quite parallel, so that it intersects at crucial moments.

Some more important than others."

Elisa glared. "Have you been… a hostage? Those were real celebi, weren't they? I know they're mostly legends, but I didn't think they would do something like that."

Lane muffled a laugh with the back of a paw. "You still thought that after Korina?"

Dominic waved a dismissive hand. "I wasn't a hostage. I was a… student.

Am a student, still. A few years isn't long enough to learn everything. You brag about all the Pokémon you understand, Lane, but time is more difficult to master by far. One change, and a whole city is erased. Lives altered, children unborn. The sword hangs over your every breath."

"I don't brag about…" Lane concentrated, then landed on a pink bubble beside the stump, where she could float without as much effort.

"Understanding Pokémon? Dominic, I barely understand humans."

He nodded slowly, expression growing darker by the second. "Of course you don't. That's why… trouble with doing this out of order. It was so much easier to talk when you weren't running for your lives."

Is that what we're doing?

"Dominic…" Elisa's tone softened. "Please, don't make us guess. Are you saying you've been… traveling through time? You know what happens in the future?"

He nodded. "Your future, yes. Not mine. Easy to look at a single, unbroken line. See its features, understand its angles and curves. Not straight, but moving only in one direction at one speed. Not mine, though. Twisted, woven, changing. If you look at your own future, you might change your mind about things you haven't decided. End up chasing a point that's always moving, never caught."

You say they didn't kidnap you, but this sounds way worse for your sanity than anything Korina did to me. You're not even making sense anymore.

But Elisa was apparently thinking about something else. "How long until I'm human again?" she asked. "Does Korina cure me? Or maybe someone else?

Guess it goes without saying that we wouldn't make a Pokémon team together, so I won't ask about that. But I'll think about it, since it still sounds like we would win every battle."

He would never tell us. Isn't that how this works? You can't share anything about the future without ruining it.

"Never," Dominic said, as casually as he might've sounded when describing his preferences on a dress. "I never asked why, but I think it was your choice. Bigger isn't better. Different isn't better. I know about her, though." He pointed at Lane. "She wants to do more as a Pokémon than she could've done while human. She thinks we're better for the world, even if Korina sometimes fails to meet her high expectations."

"Stop it." Lane shoved him backward, pressing one paw up against his mouth. "Stop saying things like that, Dominic. I don't know if you're right or wrong about the future… but if the future already exists somewhere, then it feels like my decisions don't mean anything. I want to figure things out for myself."

"And that's why I don't visit more often," Dominic finished. He rose to unsteady feet. "Three dimensions and four. Intersection, but not overlap. I'm sorry to interrupt your flight back."

"Don't go!" Elisa squeaked. Lane followed, though her breath was still rapid and annoyed. "You barely told us anything! With all your power, maybe you could help! I want to tell my mom I'm okay. She must be terrified with worry. What are we supposed to do?"

Dominic shrugged, then landed again. "I don't know. I wasn't there when it… I guess this might be the moment when I am. You sound grateful, sometimes. Maybe because I helped you."

"Yes!" Lane exclaimed, before he could get caught up in more mumbling about things that didn't make sense. "I don't know what you've been through, Dominic, but you're my friend. You went on this stupid adventure because of me. We do things together, remember? True-Myth. The more I learn about the real thing, the more important I think that stupid club was. Maybe not for the reasons I thought, but…"

It was hard to see Cedar's explanation as just a story. Whatever the secret history of their planet might be, it was right in one crucial detail. The powerful legendaries that shook ocean and land and space alike were just as dangerous as Cedar said. That was why they were so rigorously studied. There was no telling when they would come to destroy again, or whether people would be able to stop them.

"I know one thing. I know that your mom is in danger. The shaymin you like, Lane… he'll tell you. I don't know what happened, though. Whenever I looked, it felt like I had already been there. Got to stay away when that happens. Can't interfere with myself, or terrible things could happen. And if I survived, think of the paperwork."

Lane rolled her eyes. She caught a brief, confused glance from Elisa. She could practically hear her thoughts, even if she didn't say it. 'Shaymin you like?'

Lane didn't like him, not more than she should. He had saved them from Team Rocket, and flew them here. Not to mention being the only Pokémon in the whole damn world who gave her straight answers.

She just shook her head. But before she could defend herself, Cedar himself approached, gliding down beside them with far more dexterity than Lane had copied. Leaves scattered, and he landed on the ground in front of them, looking grim. "Kitten, you have… oh."

He lowered his head politely to Dominic. "What timeless wisdom have you brought, intercessor?"

Dominic was silent for a few awkward seconds, wings buzzing. "Err…

right, that's me now, huh? I'm… thankful that you helped my friends." He gestured at Lane and Elisa. "Your clan has my gratitude."

"Theirs too, I hope." Cedar's show of respect didn't last long. No sooner was the response given than he was up again. "Kitten, I have news. It isn't good, but you need to hear it."

I guess this is the test of Dominic's accuracy. More painfully than I would like. "Tell me."

"You said Korina was your older sister. I do not know how, but I've been talking to the locals. They heard from Latias who heard it from her friends in the Orchidae that there was an explosion near Origin. Your sister wasn't there when it happened, luckily. But when she came to investigate, so did the old powers. There was a battle, and she lost."

Lane's chest felt cold. She nodded, wiping away at a sudden moisture on her face. Obviously she wouldn't be crying over her kidnapper. That would never happen.

"Is she—" Lane's voice shook. "Dead?"

Cedar patted her on the shoulder. She hadn't even seen him get up so close, but she welcomed the contact all the same. "Not yet. They think she's the last survivor of the firstborn. You will… have to stay with my clan, where you're safe. I'm sorry I can't take you back to her."

"No," Lane lifted up, rubbing up against his chin affectionately. "Thank you for helping us, but no. We're going to help her."

Cedar's mouth hung open, agast. "Your older sister lost, Lane! You couldn't even fight four humans and two dark types!"

"I know. We won't do it alone. But I know where to find one of Korina's old… friends. Maybe he'll help. Instead of taking me home, can you show us the direction to Saffron City?"

To her surprise, there was sudden recognition on Cedar's face. " Him? Do you have a deathwish, kitten? He spends most of his time with humans, I don't even think he cares about the world anymore."

"We'll find out," Lane said. "Just tell us where to fly."