Caleb frowned as he descended onto the vast, flat wilderness with Dragonite...
This area was filled with trees with thick trunks, similar to baobab trees. Many Pokémon that resembled monkeys were jumping back and forth among the branches. Standing high up, they curiously observed the visitors from afar below.
Forget about tall mountains... as far as the eye could see, not even a small hill or mound was visible.
Caleb silently watched this scene, his mind racing with rapid thoughts.
Since this world had no mountain peaks piercing the clouds, it meant that the so-called "above the clouds and sky" was not what he had understood it to be.
The clues were cut off again, and everything had to start over from the beginning.
Caleb couldn't guarantee that if he returned to the future, he would once again face pursuit from that native Mewtwo...
But there was no need to stay in this era any longer; he had to go back to search for new clues.
This was precisely the conflict at hand: returning meant waiting for him would be a Mewtwo suffering from severe mental illness.
Add that unpredictable time bomb, the Mischief & Djinn Pokémon, Hoopa, who could summon a large group of Legendary Pokémon, he would have no way to fight back.
Caleb pondered for a moment...
Actually, fighting was still possible. If that legendary battle really happened then, he had the Red Orb and Blue Orb in hand, which could make Groudon and Kyogre side with him.
At the same time, Rayquaza and Giratina would probably also join his side.
'As for Arceus...'
Caleb couldn't be sure whether that battle would attract Arceus's attention.
He thought for a moment, then looked up into the void and shouted, "Arceus!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the space in front of him rippled like water.
Immediately after, a fully-equipped Arceus with eighteen plates emerged from it.
Caleb was stunned, 'So fast?'
But before he could think more, Arceus, having retracted its radiance and slowly landing on the ground, asked: >..Human, have you found your friend?..<
Caleb collected his thoughts and shook his head, "Not yet."
He had just been trying to call out to Arceus, never expecting that the other would actually come, and so quickly at that.
Arceus asked: >..Where are they? Perhaps I can help you..<
"It..." Caleb thought for a moment and said with a bitter smile, "Actually, I'm not very sure either, but it should be on a very, very high mountain. However, I couldn't find that place in this time period..."
Hearing this, Arceus showed no surprise. It looked at Caleb with eyes that revealed no emotion and asked: >..A very high place?..<
"Mm," Caleb was deep in thought, so his tone sounded somewhat absent-minded, "I have to go."
He couldn't afford to waste any more time here.
As he spoke, he raised his head and saw Arceus begin to glow with a very dazzling light.
Two plates of indistinguishable colors flew out from its body and then sank into the ground.
The next moment, the entire ground began to shake violently.
The scenery in the distance started to change rapidly, and the earth beneath their feet began to rapidly bulge upward, gathering into the shape of a mountain.
The baobab trees on the plain gradually turned into small black dots. In just a few breaths, a massive mountain range had appeared on this vast wilderness.
The changes did not stop.
The gathered peaks continuously drew power from the plates, still extending upward without ceasing.
The surrounding temperature began to drop as the altitude increased. In the blink of an eye, Caleb's location had already reached the front of the clouds.
Above was the boundless azure sky, below were the endless white clouds. As the wind blew, those ethereal clouds and mist began to slowly churn.
Caleb remained unmoving, stunned into stupor.
The Earth and Stone plates completed their task and returned to Arceus's side.
Arceus asked in a calm tone: >..Is this the place?..<
"I don't know..." Caleb answered in a daze.
He turned his gaze to the layer of clouds and mist and asked, "Does this place have a name?"
Arceus thought for a moment and said seriously: >..No, but you may give it a name..<
In that instant, Caleb felt as if a tangled dead knot in his mind had come loose.
Above the clouds and sky... The place that didn't exist in this era.
'Is it as I had imagined?'
Thinking this, he looked at Arceus and asked, "Can I call it 'Above the Clouds and Sky'?"
Arceus looked at him calmly and said: >..Then it shall be Above the Clouds and Sky..<
*Rumble!*
At this moment, Caleb seemed to hear a clap of thunder flash by. In the unseen realms, it felt as if some special connection had been made.
The questions in his mind finally had definitive answers at this very moment.
Why did the Book of Answers show two different answers at different points in time; why did Rayquaza help him block Mewtwo's attack back then; why did Dialga not stop his time-traveling actions.
'So all of this was destined to happen...'
The events of the past were the cause he had sown, and the future was the effect resulting from those past events.
Setting these aside, only three doubts remained in this Instance...
First, why did humans appear thirty-eight years later?
Second, why did the native Mewtwo of this world develop such a severe mental illness?
Third, why did the Mewtwo from the Collapsed World come to this world?
To find the answers to these three questions, he could only return to the future, thirty-eight years later.
"I have to go," Caleb said excitedly to Arceus.
Arceus seemed somewhat confused: >..Where are you going?..<
"Back to the era I should be in. Thank you, Arceus."
>..Then, will we have a chance to meet again in the future?..<
"We will meet again," Caleb nodded. If Arceus hadn't fallen into slumber by then, "I might still need your help then."
Arceus: >..I look forward to it..<
Caleb hummed and said, "I look forward to it too!"
Nearby, Celebi's time vortex had finished charging. With an eruption of green light, a dizzying sensation, as if the sky and earth were spinning, washed over him like a tide.
Celebi's time travel only changed the time; it did not transport the user from point A in the past to point B in the future.
Therefore, when Caleb opened his eyes, he was still on that cloud-piercing mountain peak.
However, compared to thirty-nine years ago, the ground here was now overgrown with desolate, yellowing weeds.
The moment he landed, Caleb suddenly remembered that in his excitement, he had forgotten to ask Arceus if it had the ability to create humans. After all, the humans that appeared in the future seemed explainable only by this notion.
But before he could ponder further, his attention was drawn by a figure not far away.
'Found you!'