Companions

The little girl looked at the young Mewtwo and smiled. "I'm a human. You can call me Ai. We're pretty much the same kind of being."

"A human? Am I a human too?"

Both Mewtwo and the young Mewtwo in the scene asked the question at the same time.

Ai leaned closer and said playfully, "You can speak human language, so maybe you're human. Or maybe you're my Pokémon!"

The young Mewtwo looked confused. "Human, Pokémon... what am I, then?"

Hearing its younger self in the scene ask that question, Mewtwo murmured outside it, "Yes... what exactly am I?"

The question stumped Ai in the scene. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly said cheerfully, "It doesn't matter which you are! You and I are the same. Everyone here is the same."

"Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charmander."

As Ai's voice faded, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander appeared in this realm of consciousness.

Just as Mewtwo became engrossed, the scene shifted back to the laboratory. A group of researchers stared excitedly at a monitor. "Are Mewtwo and Ai 2 communicating? Even the other clones are responding!"

"This looks like Telepathy. We can't be certain, but it's very likely."

The researchers discussed it noisily. Just as Mewtwo began to grow impatient, the scene before it shifted back to the young Mewtwo's realm of consciousness.

Ai explained, "We're all clones, so we're number two, not number one. And I'm Ai 2!"

The young Mewtwo asked, "Am I number two as well?"

Ai smiled. "I'm just Ai 2. The real me is Ai."

Mewtwo knew its younger self in the scene might not have understood those words, but it understood now. They were all clones.

The scene changed again. Ai led the Pokémon through the sky above a city and introduced it to them. "Look, this is the place where the Ai in my memories was born and grew up."

The young Mewtwo in the scene pointed at the ball of light in the sky. "What's that?"

Ai explained with a bright smile, "That's Mr. Sun. That's a forest. And what's blowing past us is the wind. Sometimes it's fierce, and sometimes it's gentle."

Ai kept flying over the city with them, explaining everything they didn't understand, one by one, from dawn until sunset.

And so they stayed together day and night, never leaving one another's side.

One night, the young Mewtwo pointed at the night sky and asked, "What are those, then?"

Like a caring older sister, Ai explained, "That's the moon, and those around it are stars. They tell us that none of us are really alone, just as we keep each other company."

"Companions."

Warmth welled up in Mewtwo's heart as it watched everything unfold. It hadn't always been alone after all. It had once had these companions.

Mewtwo silently swore that it would find them as soon as this was over. It would find Ai!

Just then, something suddenly happened to Ai and the Pokémon in the scene!

Charmander, who was gathered around Ai with the others, suddenly grew more and more transparent, then dissolved into countless points of light and quietly vanished.

"Squirtle, Bulbasaur!"

After Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur felt their own bodies fading away as well. They looked at Ai and the young Mewtwo, their eyes filled with fear and reluctance to leave.

But that could stop nothing. In the end, they too dissolved into a skyful of starlight and disappeared.

The young Mewtwo in the scene was utterly confused. It asked Ai, "Where did everyone go?"

Ai didn't answer. She stared blankly ahead, as though she had sensed something.

"Ai?"

When the young Mewtwo saw Ai's body disappearing too, it finally grew afraid.

"Ai, what's wrong? What's happening?"

As Mewtwo kept asking questions, Ai's eyes filled with reluctance to part, and two trails of tears slowly rolled down her face. "I don't know. I just feel like I'll have to say goodbye to you soon too. You'll have to take good care of yourself from now on."

Outside the scene, Mewtwo watched it all and suddenly felt its heart wrench, as though it had forgotten something more precious than anything else.

Within the scene, the young Mewtwo watched Ai gradually disappear, tears filling its eyes. It wiped the corner of an eye and asked one final question. "What is this?"

Most of Ai had already faded, but she forced herself to give a gentle explanation. "Those are tears. Only humans cry out of sadness."

Just before she disappeared, Ai managed a faint smile and gazed at the young Mewtwo, unwilling to leave. "Thank you. Thank you for your tears. Please don't cry. You're still alive. Promise me you'll keep living. You have to keep living, always! Do you understand?"

With those words, Ai's body dissolved completely into starlight.

Two trails of tears ran from the young Mewtwo's eyes as it watched helplessly.

"Ai, my tears won't stop. What should I do? Please teach me..."

What followed was a long, long sleep. Throughout that endless slumber, Ai, those Pokémon, and everything that had happened faded away.

"Where am I? Who am I? Why do I keep dreaming in this world without memories? I can't forget that world where I flew together with them."

With the young Mewtwo's final words, the scenes from Ye Qing's memories came to an end.

Mewtwo didn't look any further, because it had already found the answer it wanted.

Ye Qing gradually regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a passenger cabin, still holding his food, with Mewtwo sitting a short distance in front of him.

Only after spending a long time composing itself did Mewtwo ask, "Why do you know all this?"

After all, he was facing Mewtwo, a first-tier legendary Pokémon that stood among the very strongest. Ye Qing would have been lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He swallowed and continued bluffing. "Because we come from the same world."

"Really? Ai... where is Ai, then?"

Mewtwo didn't dwell on the question of which world. Instead, it asked Ye Qing with a hint of excitement.

That deadly question left Ye Qing utterly exasperated. In his previous life, Ai had been the beloved daughter of Mewtwo's creator in Team Rocket. But neither Team Rocket nor Giovanni existed here, so Ai most likely didn't exist either. Where was he supposed to find her now?

Just as Ye Qing was struggling with the problem, a solution suddenly occurred to him.

"Don't lie."

At that moment, Mewtwo spoke flatly.

"Uh..."

Faced with Mewtwo's threat, Ye Qing immediately became honest and tried to reason it out. "Ai might be somewhere within Team R, but I can't be sure."

Mewtwo looked at Ye Qing and nodded. "Is that so? I understand."

"You believe me?"

Ye Qing asked tentatively. After all, if Mewtwo had looked through his other memories, things wouldn't have been this simple.

"I only know that you weren't lying."

Mewtwo raised its head, its eyes seeming to peer into the void.