"So you say this... this tear in space-time may pose a danger to the real world?" Arceus asked. The rest of the Origin Court, which had gathered in the mental world for the first time since the three human girls' trial, waited with bated breath for Giratina's answer.
"Not just the real world, I am afraid," replied Giratina with a weary sigh. "This rip between Earth and the Torn World may well have disastrous consequences for all worlds, not just the real one. You see, there is a reason I can only hold my Origin Forme while in the Torn World. By dragging me between worlds while in that Forme, the Inners inadvertently created a tear in space-time that not even the Rulers of Space and Time themselves can heal." He nodded respectfully toward Palkia and Dialga, who looked just as bewildered and anxious as the rest of the gathered Legendary Pokémon.
The spirits of the former Heatran and Darkrai, as well as a Luvdisc, floated on either side of Giratina. The three spirits nodded in unison. "It is vital that this rip be mended, because until then it will take much longer for Giratina to guide each spirit to the afterlife," Heatran said. "He is able to work much more quickly while in his Origin Forme, but until the rip is healed it is much too dangerous for him or anyone else to enter the Torn World."
"Heatran, Luvdisc, and I have agreed to postpone moving on to the next life and assist in any way we can," added Darkrai.
"Human-lovers," muttered the new Darkrai with a derisive snort. Spirit-Darkrai shot him a glare, wondering why they'd replaced him with such a haughty Legendary. When a Legendary Pokémon died—which was rare, but not impossible—a part of its soul was recycled and pieced together with a new-made personality, so that the next Legendary wouldn't be quite the same as yet not completely different from its predecessor. But that certainly didn't mean New Darkrai had to be a human-hating snob.
"This is most troubling," said Arceus, shaking its head, "but what can we do? This is beyond even me to fix. There must be another way."
"ZzzzzzzI 'az a zzztheoryzzz," spoke up a voice that, as usual, grated on Spirit-Heatran's nerves. She supposed she had to give Rotom some credit for its recent work on its grammar and speech, which had once been even more atrocious. It still had a little trouble pronouncing the letter H, though.
"What is it, Rotom?" asked Arceus, looking down at the electric ghost.
"Don't think too hard, now. It wouldn't do to hurt yourself," Spirit-Heatran said under her breath. Luvdisc rolled her eyes, but Spirit-Darkrai snickered.
"Zzzzzzand what iz zo funny, Darkraizzzzz?" Rotom snapped. "ZzzzzzI waz merely going to zuggezzzt that if Dialga and Palkia can't fix the tear themzelvezzz, maybe their Matter Orbzzz could 'elp themzzzz."
There was total silence for a stretch of time that could have been seconds or hours.
"You are suggesting," said Arceus, slowly enunciating each word, "that someone go on a quest to retrieve the Matter Orb fragments from their ancient resting places?"
"Madness. Absolute madness," said New Darkrai. Around him, other Legendaries murmured their agreement.
The Matter Orbs, separately known as the Adamant Orb and the Lustrous Orb, were powerful objects that greatly enhanced the time- and space-warping abilities of Dialga and Palkia, respectively. The Orbs had been hidden away long ago, however, right after their first and only use: creating the Pokémon universe. They were thought much too unstable and dangerous for any further use. So Dialga and Palkia split each of them into fragments and hid the pieces in the real world, where no one would be able to find them and possibly piece the Orbs back together with evil intent. Dialga had flung the Adamant Orb fragments into different times throughout Earth's history, while Palkia had sent the Lustrous Orb shards scattering across the planet—and beyond.
"And even if some Legendary did agree to this ridiculous quest, where would they even begin looking?" New Darkrai went on. "Not even Dialga and Palkia themselves can say where the fragments lie hidden. And in any case, most of us have only seen Earth once or twice. We don't know the lay of the land."
"Perhaps," said Cresselia thoughtfully. A slow smile spread across her face as she added, "But we know three humans who do."
Every head turned to stare at her.
"I thought we had agreed not to involve those girls in our problems anymore," said Raikou with an uneasy twitch of its electric-blue tail.
"If this rip in space-time is as dangerous as Giratina believes it is, then it may be the girls' problem just as much as it is ours," Celebi said. "Besides, we only vowed not to bring them here again. We never said anything about us going there."
Surprised murmurs swept through the Court. Celebi was right. If they went to the three humans for help instead of drawing them into the mental world, they wouldn't technically be breaking the agreement.
"That sounds like a reasonable solution. Very well. I will send messengers to the real world," Arceus decreed.
Giratina's eyes brightened. "Good, good! But who will go?"
"Is it not obvious?" Arceus replied with a hint of a smile, then immediately called out its choices.
And so the quest to save all worlds began.