Chapter 32

Quinn did not return to Absentia to find the refuge did not exist, because Mew and the offshoot species were living together in harmony. But if he had, maybe there would be some world-destroying paradox to kill them all.

Instead, he found a city.

Nowhere near as large as Starfall, or as advanced. But instead of shelters and tents with the occasional stone building, Quinn found a city of submerged domes and underground boulevards. Thousands of Pokémon lived there—many Mew, but more other things. Some were Mythical, some were Legendary, and some were less powerful species. All lived together in apparent friendship.

Not everything had changed. A little group was waiting for them on the day of their return, including the familiar Aster and her mother. Both were still surprised at the extra member.

Yet Quinn’s first shock was in another familiar creature, soaring through the air in loops and dives that felt more like swimming than flying. Though it was a cat that carried then. They approached as though they knew him, flying right up and waving energetically. “Cedrin! And Quinn, you made it!”

He didn’t recognize the voice, but he knew the species. “Manaphy…Manny?” He guessed. The Pokémon was several times larger than the last time, and his voice was clear, not babish and confused.

“Duh!” He stuck his tongue out. “Who else would care enough to leave the water and say hi.”

Cedrin met him in the air for a hug. “Manny! You’re doing so great! I didn’t know…” he looked back at Quinn, grinning wider. “I think it worked!”

Quinn followed his reasoning—if Manny hadn’t been brain-scrambled into an attempted “cure,” it meant the hospital hadn’t treated him the same way. Did that mean others had survived too?

"I hope you didn't bring that kitten out of Starfall," Aria said, holding out one hand for the little Mew. "You weren't recruiting."

"I've never been," Rose said, with just a hint of bitterness in her squeaky voice. "They would probably realize I didn't have a dad on record, and that would be bad."

"You're bigger, Cedrin!" said the little hedgehog, scampering along the soft grass. "No fair!"

He floated vertically in the air, puffing out his chest a short distance. "Yeah. I guess I stayed longer than I thought I would. We all did. Rose, this is Aster. Aster, this is my little sister. I know she's small, but she's strong. She grew up on the surface!"

"On the surface, well," Aria repeated, expression unreadable. "That sounds very impressive, wherever that comes from. Or whenever, I guess. Weren't you trying to recruit an agent in Starfall?"

The grass around them shifted, then began to descend into the ground—a little grassy elevator, taking them down to what Quinn guessed was the level of the domes and underground walkways he had seen from the surface. "I did, eventually. It got complicated, maybe a little off-mission. But the good news is, I think we succeeded."

Cedrin nodded eagerly, floating past the little row of windows as they descended. Through them was a view of a city of several levels, with wide open spaces large enough for even the oversized Legendary Pokémon to pass.

"Yeah! I think maybe… you don't know what things were like before? Probably not?" He dropped to the grass next to Aster. "Do you remember where we met?"

The little hedgehog reacted instantly to the question, her flower closing up and her body tucking in. "The hospital. They were so mean in that place. Kicking us out of Starfall just because I couldn't look like I used to. Never get to be with my old friends again. Can't even write letters!"

"That's… what happened?" Cedrin looked up at Aria. "Is that what you remember too?"

She nodded confidently. "I wish they gave up on restoring us a little sooner. It was among the least comfortable accommodations I've ever had. But now we're living in Absentia and it's much nicer, isn't it?"

The elevator settled them comfortably in a large square, with enormous glass domes and complex mirrors filling the space with real sunlight. One Pokémon and one larger creature waited at the bottom, expectant. Azelf circled around them, before stopping just behind the other figure.

A young human woman, younger than Avery or Quinn had been before the incident at the Blueberry accelerator.

Lane's hair was the same vibrant pink, styled with a long, loose braid a little like a mew's tail. But it wasn't her who spoke first.

"Something is different," Azelf said, floating directly at Quinn's eye level. Practically staring into his face. "You are confused. This is not what you expected, Quinn. Why?"

Would this powerful being be angry at the changes he had made? Relieved at the image of what history could've been? "I wouldn't have done it if the stakes were any lower," he thought to them both. The Azelf was the only one in charge, but Lane had sent him on the mission, so—presumably they both remembered.

"The world we came from is different from this one, is all." He floated past the Pokémon, taking in the curved bridge covered in grass, railing made from flowers and a beautifully landscaped, underground city. "None of this existed when we left."

"And you didn't have a daughter," Lane observed. She dropped to her knees in front of the kitten, who was cowering away from her at that moment. She'd never seen a human for herself before, after all. "What a sweetheart. How old?"

"Turned thirty-eight last month," Rose said, puffing out her little chest. "Mommy says I'm growing up even faster than she did. I'll be ready for kindergarten soon."

The human tilted her head sideways. She answered silently, which seemed to frighten the kitten less. Anyone who could share their thoughts couldn't be that dangerous. "I've never met a Mew kitten before, but I'm sure that's very fast."

She sat back, tilting her head up to look at Azelf. "Is that baby older than me?"

The Mythical Pokémon ignored her question. "What did you do, time traveler? Beyond… conceiving a daughter with the one you were meant to recruit."

"Two, actually." He floated back towards Rose, where he could rest one protective paw on her. Cedrin and Stella remained close, apparently as confused by what they saw as he was. Though Stella might just be worn out after the teleport.

"I think the best way to explain is with a question, Azelf. Do you remember my warning about the orbital bombardment of Absentia?"

The Pokémon said nothing for several seconds. Quinn could read nothing of the fairy's emotions, concealed even tighter than anything he could do on his own. Though now that he was close, even this creature looked different than he remembered. The scars under its soft fur were gone, and it no longer wore bandages on its oversized head.

Somehow, the Pokémon was more natural, with no more signs of active healing. "You sound as though this were likely. But what monster among the Admiralty would advocate for something so horrific? They already banish us from their city, forbid that we ever leave the planet's surface. Is that not enough?"

"That's it?" Cedrin finally spoke up, bobbing up and down behind Quinn. He nodded to Azelf, then sent an image between them. Quinn knew it well—the crater, though Cedrin's view was from the outside. It still showed the river on the surface, and enough of the nearby mountains. There could be no mistaking the location.

"Quinn and I came from a different world. A worse one than this. Until we changed it."

"Not me. I only helped. The recruit—Rose's mom. We set up a few centuries back, during stage five. Have you heard of the… Firstborn Separatist Society?"

Lane had been reaching cautiously towards the kitten. Now she sat back, lowering her hand in sudden shock. "The single biggest assholes in Starfall were you?" Anger leaked from her words, and even her hair moved. "Why in Arceus would you—"

Quinn reached over, pressing his daughter's ears flat to her head gently. She shouldn't be learning such foul language at her age! "Because where we came from, the Admiralty were going to genocide everyone," he said. "Didn't you see that crater Cedrin showed you?"

"I saw," Lane shot back. "Why not the Firstborn Compassion Society, or the We're Not Evil Alliance, or—"

The real answer wasn't one the Mew would like, so Quinn didn't say it. Because the Sinnoh told us public opinion wouldn't move that far. We risked pushing too hard and having no one listen.

Rose floated behind him, cowering away from the anger. Cedrin floated back too, helping to cover the frightened kitten. She tucked her tail around herself, hiding from the gigantic creature. Gigantic… highschooler with pink hair and a build that might be a hundred pounds soaking wet. But when you were a kitten, even that looked gigantic.

"The alternative was genocide, Lane. The Admiralty would only accept harsh, dramatic action. They wanted us dead. My mate stayed to make them accept this instead."

He sent a few images of his own—the modest Absentia by the river, with emergency shelters and the occasional stone building, and little grass walkways between them. By no means was the old version of this settlement a bad place to live. But compared to the size and population of the one in front of him…

"They killed so many before," Cedrin thought. "The hospital Quinn rescued us from, there were hundreds of us before me. Maybe thousands. If that never happened…" He sniffed, wiping tears away from his face. Unlike all these powerful Mythical Pokémon, Cedrin had no ability to hide how he felt. "I guess that's why the city is so big. None of you can know what we did."

Lane stood up, backing slowly away from the bridge, and the two of them there. "That's asking a lot of trust, Celebi. That there was no way to make things kinder. If you're gonna be rewriting the past, you'd think there would be a better way."

Azelf held out one foreleg. "Do not repeat this, Lane. The Pokémon of this city need no reminder of what they have suffered. They cannot weigh that they were once dead, and now they live. Or that they were once tormented, and now we have this city. Leave it for the three to decide how this knowledge should be shared. We will judge the rightness of their actions, not the crowd."

Lane folded both arms. "Won't say a word, if that's your order. But that doesn't mean I'll be happy about it."

There's no way they won't find out. The thought ran through Quinn's mind faster than he ever could've processed before. But he was an older Pokémon now, much stronger than right after his transformation. This won't stay secret. They'll blame us for creating what they think is the most evil faction in Starfall.

"Something else," Quinn sent, directly to them both. Lane was still open to him, despite the greater resistance that came from her now. "It wasn't them who did this. Not Cedrin, not Stella. My mate and I made this decision, we changed history. Cedrin and Stella were just along for the ride. And my daughter—doubly so. She wasn't even born."

"It will be recorded," Azelf said. The fairy floated close to Quinn as he said it. Though he sent no thoughts, Quinn still felt an understanding from the Pokémon.

This isn't my time, Quinn thought. If they all want to hate me for changing it, I could live with that. At least they'll be alive to hate. Though for that to remain true, he should probably think about relocating. What had his daughter said about “saving the future she grew up in?”

He still had a mission to accomplish.