Chapter 23

Quinn was the first to approach the rebel settlement. To call it a "base" was a bit generous, as it clearly had no military purpose. Instead of a featureless crater, there were dozens of structures scattered through a verdant clearing. Trails of soft grass ran between buildings with entrances large and small. This was not what kept all but one of the survivors from joining him.

What terrified all of them—and Quinn too, though he wouldn't admit it—was the Pokémon living there.

If the Mythicals trapped in the containment hospital had initially frightened him, then it was a wonder he was bold enough to enter the camp at all. For these were not the cute, often friendly Mythicals. These were Legendaries, creatures of primordial essence and horrifying destruction, beings who had caused numerous natural disasters across history. What would they make of a Celebi intruding in their domain?

Nothing violent, as it turned out. A Latios gliding down towards the river slowed as he emerged from the trees, staring. He kept at the same level in the air, careful not to make any sudden movements. A Legendary dragon, gathering fruit in a basket as though it were a common Pokémon.

"Afternoon." Quinn waved weakly in his direction. He was still drained from another trip through time. Though this one had mercifully not ended in an encounter with a horrifying demigod. "I'm looking for someone. Can you direct me?"

Latios zipped over, much faster than Quinn could've flown. He was also much larger, towering over him with a body halfway between other Dragon types and an advanced fighter-jet. "Celebi. Real? Didn't think you existed."

"Existed. Too unstable outside a laboratory," said another low, gruff voice. He turned, looking down this time; and there was Entei, huge mane spilling out behind him. "This one seems real, however. And not hostile."

I just wanted to make tachyon observations. Too late for that life now, though. No more sitting in a lab, planning a secret cruise to Alola for his hopefully-girlfriend.

"Not hostile!" He held up both tiny hands, keeping his antennae folded against his head. Not that they would recognize the significance of that position, if they didn't think Celebi even existed. They couldn't know how he used them to look out of the spatial dimensions and into those above. "I'm looking for someone. A… Pokémon? Or maybe a human. I'm not entirely sure. Her name was Lane."

The two legendaries shared a look, radiating their recognition. "Future Mew," said Latios. "From an age to come. You wish to see her?"

He nodded eagerly. "She's the only one I've met yet. Maybe if there are… if there's some other leader I could talk to. I represent a group of Pokémon who escaped from Starfall. All… like me. I guess you call us 'degenerate mutations'."

The Entei bristled, radiating a sudden heat. He dug his claws faintly into the dirt. "No we most certainly do not, and neither shall you. None here are ashamed of their lives. You will not give them cause to be."

"Easy," Latios bobbed a little lower, between the two of them. "He just escaped from captivity. It's no fault of his he still uses the Admiralty's language."

Quinn nodded hastily. "I'm not calling anyone anything. If anyone's weak or inferior, it's definitely me. Not any of you. I'm just… hoping to talk to someone in charge. See if it's safe for my friends to come here."

And if you're going to step in and help me Sable, now would be a good time. Only the ghost was bold enough to accompany him, apparently believing that he had nothing to fear. And maybe he didn't. It wasn't exactly clear how anything worked for Sable. Maybe these Legendary Pokémon would be dangerous to him, even if he had a type advantage against the cats of Starfall.

But Sable did not emerge. He only knew he was present at all through the occasional hint of fire he saw in the lengthening shadows of afternoon.

"Leader, yes. You will want to speak with the trio. Not Lane."

"Please." He lowered his head to the dragon, as respectful as he could. "My group has young and weary with nowhere to go. For their safety, I bring knowledge of the future in exchange. I have seen."

"We have one from the future already," Entei grunted. "What do you say the future looks like, Celebi?"

"Death," he answered, voice low. "Unless we act to stop it."

They led him through their village, past homes and storage silos filled with grain. Past buildings glowing with light. All their construction was large, even bigger than human buildings. Disorienting, after his time flying through Mew structures. But they brought him, through a town of hundreds or maybe thousands of incredible Pokémon.

Not all looked as complete as the two he had met near the edge. Many residents had bandages, medical braces, or prosthetics. Many had patches of pink fur, or signs of long tails still clinging vestigially to larger bodies.

They were all Mew. Every single one of them. He glanced sideways at the Latios, sending his thoughts directly. The Entei followed too, stalking behind him as though he might turn and attack the vulnerable population at any moment.

"Did Starfall try to cure your people too?" he thought. "Did you have to escape a hospital like we did?"

Latios met his eyes, grinning weakly at him. "Some escaped. Most deserted their terraforming posts at various points in our duty. All here became converts of the same vision, sooner or later."

He slowed, and spoke out loud for all the curious Pokémon to hear as well as Quinn. "To join us, it won't matter what you have to trade. Instead, you must share our vision. If you do not, you must leave."

"What vision is that?" he asked. He kept his tone casual and friendly. Though inwardly he tensed, his antennae lifting from his head. If he was about to get attacked, he wanted to see it before it happened.

Before Latios could answer, Entei closed the distance on him, radiant with so much heat now that Quinn had to float higher to escape. Vitari was bad, but this was overwhelming. "That you will not attempt to bring forth the Admiralty's pure world. That the 'mistakes' we made in terraforming are not degenerate mutations, but beings with a right to live. The existence of their niches and ecosystems is not dangerous to our civilization. One does not need to be destroyed for the other to prosper."

"Oh." He relaxed. "That's not a vision, that's just true. Of course the world is better with more Pokémon living in it. It wouldn't be my home without…" He hesitated, tilting sideways in the air. "The Admiralty want to destroy other species?"

Another creature floated over to join them, bobbing its way out of the nearby building. This was smaller than most, not built to the incredible size required to accommodate the larger legendaries. Quinn turned to look, then instantly turned away again. He knew that mythical too, though only from the frightening stories about it. Shaped vaguely like the Mew it had probably once been. Only now it was covered with a thin yellow fur, with only patches of pink beneath.

Entei didn't seem to care that this creature was coming. His tension remained, though somewhat tempered. "You mean for us to believe that you already accept this radical view? Did the future kitten teach you?"

"She did not have to," said Uxie. Its voice wasn't quite male or female. That every word was telepathic did little to help, either. It was just too strange. "This one comes to us from that same future day. What for us is a desperate struggle is simple reality in that age. You preach to the converted, Entei. And fear without cause."

When they spoke, even Entei lowered his head in respect. "If that is your testimony, then I am relieved to hear it. We have enough enemies without one who can fight us through time."

No one else avoided looking at this Pokémon. They weren't covering their faces either, as he had once learned in legends and ancient carvings. Maybe that power didn't apply to other Pokémon? Or maybe it just hadn't manifested yet in this era. Quinn dared to turn and face the creature. Though like Entei, he lowered himself in the air and bowed before it.

He would've done the same if he were still human. The damage Uxie might do to his mind was far more terrifying than being physically killed. "I represent a group who escaped from Starfall," he said. "They need a place to stay. And I know of coming dangers that you have not seen. I want to help."

And he suspected the others would too, if they heard this vision of a planet where all Pokémon could live instead of only one. No more hospitals, and no more treatment. "Come inside, Quinn. My companions will listen." They gestured to Latios and Entei. "I will watch him from here. Thank you for your service."

Quinn followed the ancient demigod of consciousness into a nearby building, a home of spacious arches and domes of marble and stone. The interior was largest of all the structures he had seen so far, big enough for even huge Pokémon to pass through the main hall. It had many smaller rooms, accessed through arches in the ceiling. They traveled to one of those, where a handful of Pokémon waited.

Several were cats, bringing a wave of apprehension through his body. But given all the rebels had been cats once, he shouldn't be so surprised.

One of them put down the toy she'd been playing with, floating out of her seat by the window to look. "Quinn?" Several others floated with her, most bigger than she was. "You didn't have that look last time. What did you see?"

There was something familiar in the way that smaller cat spoke. Her tone was recognizable, like someone he had met before. But with that tiny Pokémon body, he couldn't quite place it.

"What the Admiralty wants to do to my planet," he said. In those words was every drop of overwhelmed exhaustion, the horror of the crater and the pain of separation from Avery. Worst of all, the terror of his new friends, when they saw a world rendered nearly lifeless.

"We will listen and hear," said another Pokémon, floating away from a table covered in glowing holographic maps. Azelf. Which meant that Mesprit…

"What we decide to do will depend on what he brings," Mesprit said. These other two of the lake trio were similarly incomplete, with traces of Mew fur and body shape visible to them. "Are you dangerous, Quinn? Will you fight our vision?"

"No," he said, without hesitation. "And am I dangerous… maybe? Probably." I might've accidentally caused this whole thing by breaking those Pokémon out of the hospital.

"I'm afraid I already broke the timeline pretty bad by interfering. I'm hoping maybe you people—you Pokémon—can put it right."

"Explain," Uxie commanded. "We will decide."

He told them almost everything.

How he'd come to travel through time in the first place, testing a particle accelerator with a strange piece of ancient metal from a bizarre explosion in the Guyana region. His friend's near death, and the rescue.

"I'm glad to hear she survived," Azelf said, when they reached that part of the story. "I can testify to this. He came in panic, and Lane gave him the medical kit she had been carrying. He had already told her he was coming."

But the rest of the story had to rely on his account alone. Capture, imprisonment, then eventual escape. Traveling through time, encountering Dialga who stopped him from going forward any further. Finally, traveling to Unova to find Lane's rebellion, only to discover a blasted crater.

"They left a monument with a date. They were proud of the awful thing they'd done to you. Proud of… this. –1,190,451. What's today's date?"

"Too close," Uxie said, after a long, painful silence. "According to the monument you saw, Absentia will be destroyed within the year."