"If I see one more Pidgey in this goddamn park, I'm burning this place to the fucking ground. Maybe then I'll finally find some fire types!" Tapping on the screen to engage it in battle, I swiped a Poké Ball forward and captured it on my first try. Not that I needed it– Pokémon Go's biggest fault was the sheer volume of Pidgey and Rattata dominating the game.
"Burning down this place isn't gonna help anyone. And hey, at least you only need to catch three Pidgey to evolve one. It's easy XP, really," said John, who was currently seated next to me on the rickety park bench.
"That's true, but I could be catching Pidgey literally anywhere," I paused to wipe beads of sweat that dripped down my face, "but that isn't the reason we came out in this damn heat wave. Where are the fire types? It's gotta be hotter than ninety out."
John sighed, taking a swig from his near empty water bottle. "You know fire types are rare around here- this is a park, not a volcano."
"Okay, valid point. But we're practically wasting our lure module on all these fucking Pidgey. Can we just go back to your house when the lure wears off? I'd rather battle you in an air conditioned house than look for useless Pidgey and Rattata in the heat."
"Fine, fine. You brought your DS, then?" John said, tapping at his phone's screen to catch yet another Pidgey.
"Of course! I brought most of my games, actually. I finished another run-through of Platinum the other day, by the way." A fond smile graced my face as I recounted my recent journey, and I could see John beaming as well.
"Do you remember when we first played it way back in third grade, Ang?"
The heat partially forgotten, I reminisced on my first Pokémon experience that began nearly a decade ago. I rarely listened to the directions other characters gave me. I didn't know how to use HM Fly. I didn't even know how to use the storage system, so I was eternally stuck with my starter Piplup and other early game Pokémon. Despite all that, I had a damn good time playing my first Pokémon game, especially when I found out John also played Pokémon all that time ago.
"Yeah, I do. And about that battle- how about we use Gen 4 games, you know, for old times' sake. If you have a team ready, that is."
"I think I can scrape something together, just for you." A competitive glint showed in John's eyes. It was always a good battle if John was involved, and the fact that it involved Gen 4 this time probably made him even more excited.
John glanced down at his phone again to see that there were no longer pink petals flowing down from the Poké Stop we were next to. "Looks like our lure has worn off," he pointed out, "Ready to get going?"
"Yeah."
My mood had improved drastically at the prospect of an epic battle in the near future. I was itching to test out my team against a real person for once, not another NPC.
Throwing my water bottle and portable charger in my backpack, I got up from the bench and strolled over to John who was up ahead of me. Checking my watch, I grimaced as sweat made it slip around with the flick of my wrist- this humidity was gross and I wanted to get out of it.
Once I was next to John, I casually mentioned, "So, I used Chimchar in my Platinum run-through for once."
"Oh, really? I figured you'd die before picking a starter other than Piplup."
That drew a chuckle from me. "I actually wanted to try out Turtwig, but when I was planning out my team I realized that it just had too many weaknesses for my liking. So I went for Chimchar for a change of pace."
John nodded along. "Hmm, maybe I'll pick something other than Piplup too the next time I restart my Diamond."
We walked together in a pleasant silence towards John's neighborhood. I watched my character jog along in Pokémon Go and prayed to find at least one cool Pokémon before we made it to his house- or really, anything that wasn't a Pidgey or a Rattata.
"This breeze feels nice," John commented, breaking my concentrated stare.
"Oh, it does." Leaves danced on trees all around us, yet I hadn't even noticed the slight change in weather. Looking up at the sky, I saw another change. "The clouds above us are really dark. It wasn't supposed to rain today, was it?"
John shook his head in response, and the sky dimmed further as clouds covered the sun. "I checked the weather before I left- no chance of rain. But the weather people haven't exactly been too accurate with their predictions lately, so I'm not too surprised."
"That's true." I let the weather slide without another question. An occurrence such as this wasn't unusual- there was no reason to be skeptical.
Then the wind really started to pick up, howling in my ears, blowing loose leaves off of branches. Though the sun was already covered, it darkened to the point that I would've thought it was evening if my wristwatch didn't read 2 pm.
"This is gonna be a really wicked storm- I can already tell." John murmured as he gazed at the fast-moving clouds.
"Yeah…" My mouth felt a little dry, my fingers a little shaky- both things that occurred when my nerves started to take over. It's not that I entirely hated big storms, I just didn't want to get caught in one. I was totally fine watching from a window, just not being out and about. However, we still weren't too close to John's house, and it looked like it would downpour any minute.
Beside me, John looked puzzled but not frightened. "How about we jog? I don't want to get caught in this, and I'll bet you don't want to either," he suggested.
"Sounds good to me." I stopped to put my phone in my backpack so it wouldn't get wet when the rain started, then started jogging lightly on the path from the forest towards a big field. When we were just about to leave the shroud of trees, a peel of lightning lit up the dark sky, a magnificent bang resounding not a second later.
"Wow, that thunder sounded pretty close…" John mumbled, stopping in his tracks.
"Uh huh, it did." I stood there next to him, contemplating how good of an idea it was to run through an open field during a storm. Did that make you more likely to get struck by lightning? I wasn't sure- it had been years since I had a class about earth science and I wasn't particularly knowledgeable on the subject. After a moment of hesitation, I continued, "I think we should be all right if we run through the field. Let's go as fast as possible just to be safe."
"Yeah, we should be fine." I could see his eyes straining to see past the dense trees and into the grassy field. Unlike me, John seemed totally unfazed by the weather.
"Let's run on the count of three, okay? We can do this- we'll be back in the woods as soon as we get past this part. We'll be fine." I said the last sentence more for myself than John, my fingers buzzing with anxiety.
"Okay."
"One…" I started, eyeing John's form as he prepared to run, "Two… three!"
We broke into a sprint together, emerging from the forest when a lightning bolt struck much closer to us this time- in fact, I saw it strike the opposite end of the field. The following bang had me covering my ears in a split second, though I still heard a faint ringing noise afterwards regardless of my attempted protection. I looked at the sky again to see clouds lighting up with electrical energy as the wind continued howling. A gust even more powerful than the already whipping winds threatened to push me forward, causing a panicked feeling to rise from the pit of my stomach. I glanced at John next to me to see if he was faring any better. If anything, he looked even worse as he gaped at the spot where lightning struck, eyes wide in fear.
"John, are you okay? What's wrong?" I figured he must've been shaken from lightning hitting so close to us.
"Umm, look over- uh, over there. Something's really wrong, Ang."
"Oh, you mean the lightning? That freaked me out a bit too," Okay, it had freaked me out more than a bit, but outwardly expressing that wouldn't have done either of us any favors. "If we just go take cover in the trees again, we should be-"
When I directed my vision towards whatever John was pointing at, I felt my stomach plummet.
"John, what the fuck is that?" I shrieked, not fully comprehending what I saw.
As if the world we lived in was two dimensional, there appeared to be a rip in reality where the lightning struck across the field. Within the dark edges of the rip were swirling colors, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell the thing was. Whatever it was, it looked dangerous, yet I felt drawn to it.
"I don't know, and I'm not sure if I wanna know. How about we just-" John fell silent as we both watched a dark shadow dart out of the rip, "Okay, we need to get out of here, now."
John reached to grab hold of my arm, but I was anchored in place from a mixture of fear and wonder. "Come on, we need to go!" he yelled, snapping in front of my face.
This drew me from my reverie. "Yeah… umm, right. Okay." I watched for a second as something else darted from the rip, this time a white blur that left a trail of glitter in its wake.
Despite my response, I still didn't move, so John wrenched me toward him so we could run back to the woods.
We stopped dead when a dark form materialized directly in front of us.
"For fuck's sake…" I muttered, absolutely terrified of the black figure, "Da…Dark…" John interrupted me before I could finish.
"DARKRAI!"
The Darkrai reached an arm towards us, a dark aura engulfing it that grew larger with each moment. I clamped down on John's arm and attempted to drag him away as Darkrai charged a powerful looking attack, which I belatedly realized was most likely aimed at us.
As we ran, I turned around when I heard a strange whirring noise. My eyes locked on Darkrai right as an incredible bright red beam crashed into it, slamming it into a tree several yards away. Curls of smoke rose off the point of impact, obscuring my vision.
"Of all the Pokémon that could appear on Earth, it just had to be Darkrai…" I whimpered in John's general direction as we hopefully ran away from whatever mess this was, though I had no way of knowing which way we were going in the blanket of smoke that surrounded us. I shot a glance at John as a way of checking up on his well-being. His paper-white face told me he wasn't faring too well. Not that I could blame him- I was about ready to be sick.
"That attack that hit Darkrai… I bet it was another Pokémon," John told me. It was a plausible explanation that didn't make me feel any better. If Darkrai was any indication of what Pokémon were really like, I didn't want any more of them around here.
"What kind of Pokémon would be powerful enough to do that to Darkrai?"
His question was answered when yet another Pokémon appeared out of nowhere in front of us.
Almost certain that this was a nightmare, I sputtered, "What the fuck is-" before I was interrupted by a white, deer-like creature before us that looked to be about two times my height. Except the interruption wasn't out loud, rather somehow in my head. I groaned, my head pounding as a voice other than my conscience said, "There is no time for questions. Get behind me now."
John's hand flew to his ear, clutching it as he stammered, "This… you're... Arceus… How are you even talking? My head, ugh..." I pulled him behind Arceus, recognizing that we should probably do what this magical deer thing directed to. You know, for the sake of our lives and stuff.
"Yeah, that's Arceus all right." I responded in both amazement and horror, watching as Darkrai drew closer to us again. Arceus let off another beam of red light, this time seeming to knock Darkrai to the ground. This time, it did not get back up.
"We are safe for the moment," Arceus said using that weird mental thing that I didn't have time to question. Before I could reply, the Pokémon shifted away from us and shot a blue beam of energy in four different directions, creating a barrier in the shape of a square that hummed with energy. "This will protect us for the time being."
"Is all of this real? What even is going on? Why is this happening?" A waterfall of questions spilled from my mouth. None of this could better real, there were fucking Pokemon in our goddamn local park and this was not normal in slightest.
Arceus was somehow unfazed despite the situation at hand and answered all of my questions accordingly. "Yes, this is absolutely real, as farfetched as it may seem to you."
"Dear god…" John sounded totally distraught. I was pretty much on the same page as him.
I responded jokingly in attempt to lighten the mood, "That'd be 'dear Arceus' now, not god."
John buried his face in his hands with a moan. Arceus did not care to comment on my joke; maybe the god of the Pokemon universe just wasn't a fan of shitty jokes at inappropriate times. Rather, he continued to answering my questions. "In short, Darkrai came from the Pokémon universe to your own universe to try and take it over."
"He wants to take over our universe? Why not the Pokémon one?" I countered. Darkrai surely had a perfectly fine universe that wasn't ours, if the Pokémon games were even slightly accurate. It made no sense that he would come after this one.
"Long ago, he tried to take over the universe I come from- one inhabited by Pokémon and human alike, the one that I created- he failed miserably. Less than ten years ago, he attempted to destroy and claim a universe of only Pokémon. He was very unsuccessful in that attempt as well. This time, he has set his sights on this universe; one inhabited only by humans."
"I guess that makes sense- a world without Pokémon would probably be the easiest for him to take over. But he's already failed twice, he really should just give it a rest…" John sighed, though he seemed less distraught than before. His complexion was finally returning to a light brown as he likely realized he was safe for now, defended by the god of the Pokemon universe which I could still not fucking get over.
"Darkrai is evil, and will never stop plotting to take over some universe somewhere- which brings me to answering your final question. Why is Darkrai here?" Arceus paused for dramatic effect, and I looked in Darkrai's direction to find that he was still collapsed. The rainless storm droned on with the same intensity as before
"Darkrai is here, or rather attempts to take over these universes because he feeds off of darkness. Darkness gives him power, which is his ultimate addiction. An ideal world for him is one shrouded in darkness as its residents are trapped in nightmares- Darkrai gains the most power by inflicting nightmares on people and Pokémon and eating those bad dreams. Not only do these nightmares make him stronger, but he can also control those under the influence of his nightmares to do whatever he pleases." All of this was stated by Arceus in an emotionless, matter-of-fact tone.
"So Darkrai is evil and wants to take over our world for power. Fantastic. We're not just going to let him destroy our world, right? You're literally God; can't you do something?" Okay, so I was basically yelling at God. Probably not a good idea, but I was a little stressed.
"There are two Pokémon that can do something about this situation," Arceus responded slowly, as if he was weighing his options.
John was as determined as me to stop this whole worldwide destruction thing being that, you know, we kind of lived in this universe and cared about it a little bit. "Those two Pokémon that can prevent all this would be would be…?" he pressed, not exactly keen on a Darkrai-ruled world.
"Cresselia and I."
"If you're Arceus, then why aren't you doing anything?" John's voice rose and his face took on a pink tint. I placed a hand on his arm to help calm him down. Then I shot him a glare that hopefully came across as something along the lines this is a god we're dealing with and we really can't afford to fuck this up, please don't make him angry. It must have worked at least a little, because John untensed a bit, sending me an apologetic glance.
Arceus chose to ignore John's accusatory behavior and simply answered his question. "First of all, Cresselia cannot do anything because she is not currently here and has no easy way of getting here. And please note this- Cresselia is much more effective at quelling Darkrai's rage than I am. Secondly, in my current state, there's little to no chance of me defeating Darkrai."
At this point, I was just confused. This was a lot to take in all at once, and it was starting to sound like Arceus wasn't exactly all he was cracked up to be in the Pokémon video games. "But you're literally the Pokémon god! Aren't you always ready for a fight?"
Arceus sighed, seeming to be a bit fed up with us at this point. "I am not absolutely all-powerful- not in this universe, at least. However, I would be much more powerful if I had all of my elemental plates."
"Oh right, your plates- the ones you use to change types!" John said, recognizing the plates from the Pokemon games.
Arceus eyed him curiously. "Yes. You know of my plates?"
"I do. So does she." He pointed in my direction. "We play the Pokémon video games. We know all about you, Cresselia, Darkrai, and a bunch of other Pokémon." Arceus looked like he wanted to know more about these Pokémon video games, but there was definitely a more pressing matter to attend to.
"That… is interesting indeed. I never imagined that your universe would know of ours. Perhaps someone from your universe has been to mine somehow. But that is aside from the point."
"I guess it wouldn't make sense to have games of your world if no one had ever been there. But anyway, if you don't mind me asking, where are all of your plates? Can't you just go back to the Pokémon universe, find Cresselia or the plates, then come back and beat up Darkrai?" I inquired, hoping that this could be a fast fix.
Arceus looked up to the stormy sky, perhaps in order to gather his thoughts. "My plates are scattered throughout the Sinnoh region- the one I created and originate from. I did this to protect them from being stolen before falling into a deep sleep. It would take much time to find all of my plates if I were to go back. And that is not even taking into account figuring out how to get back here."
"Figuring out how to get back here? How did you get here in the first place? As a god, shouldn't you be able to just teleport here or whatever?" I fired back. None of it made any sense. Across the field, that portal- didn't he make that?
"I am the god of my own universe, not yours. I do not have the power to go to this universe whenever I please or back to my own. That portal over there," Arceus motioned his head in the direction of said portal, "it was not created by me, but instead Palkia, the spatial Pokémon. I gave her my powers to shape the universe and travel to other universes when I created her so I could focus on my other godly duties. Darkrai has Palkia trapped in a nightmare currently, which is how he forced her create this portal. The only reason I am here is because I followed after him." Arceus looked to be tired of our bombardment of questions. However, I wasn't stopping until one of us had a plan to save the universe that had a good chance of working, and it looked like John was in the same boat.
"The portal's still open, yeah? So just go back and have Palkia open it back up when you have your plates and Cresselia." I demanded, crossing my arms. Before now I had attempted to remain calm, but this was getting complicated and I was frustrated.
"That portal is going to close as soon as Darkrai's control wears off of Palkia. Since Darkrai is in this universe now, Palkia won't be under his control for much longer. That means the portal will be closing in a few minutes. There is no way I could weaken him enough in the next few minutes to drag him back to Sinnoh. And if I did leave Darkrai behind here, he would quickly destroy your world as you know it- there are no Pokémon here to stop him. And while this universe is not mine, therefore not my responsibility, the disappearance of Darkrai actually disrupts the equilibrium of my universe. So in the time that I would go back to retrieve the plates or Cresselia, or both if I really wanted to make sure that plan would succeed, he would not only destroy your world but my own would become dangerously unstable. And if I were to stay here too long, my universe would also become unstable, because I of course am essential to the Pokémon dimension."
I didn't really understand the specifics of what Arceus was saying, but I got the feeling that the chance of saving our world was depressingly low. This was just too much at once. If he did nothing, it sounded like both our universes were in trouble.
"There has to be something you can do about this!" John insisted, his voice raw with emotion. Though he sounded a bit aggressive once again, I had no inclination to stop him this time around. We needed a solution, and we needed one now.
"I do have a proposition. If you both give me your cooperation, we may just be able to prevent a disaster on both of our ends." Arceus looked unsure about whatever it was he'd come up with.
"I'll do anything." My eyes connected with Arceus' piercing red ones. I probably wasn't qualified to save the world- to save anyone, honestly- but did I really have a choice? I felt an overwhelming desire to do anything I could save my friends, my family… my own goddamn future. I couldn't exactly go to college if I was dead and the world was in ruins, now could I?
Despite Arceus' obvious reluctance to introduce his plan, he pressed on. "I will stay here and defend your world. I may not be at full strength, but I should be able to fend him off for some time." He paused, looked away, then sighed before continuing, "You two must go to the Sinnoh region, find my plates or Cresselia, both for the highest percentage of this plan succeeding, then return back here so Darkrai can be defeated."
"Umm, I really do wanna save the world, I swear," John began, twisting his hands together, eyes downcast, "But that's a lot. I don't think we'd fair too well in universe full of Pokemon. How long would we even have to do it?"
"I can hold off Darkrai for a day, probably-"
Before Arceus could continue, John sputtered in response, "One day?! There's no way we can do all that in just a day!"
"Let me finish," Arceus growled, his threatening aura washing over me. John and I fell silent at once. "Like water, time is a versatile element that fluctuates in shape. While traveling here, I noticed that time flows differently between our two universes. In fact, it seems that a day in your universe currently equals about a year in the Pokémon one. So, you'd have a year to do all of that."
"I don't know, Sinnoh's such a huge region, it could take so much longer than a year…" I trailed off, unsure if attempting this was even worth the trouble.
"Angela, are you serious?" John chastised, though I wasn't even sure what about yet, "This is our only chance to save the goddamn universe. Not only that, but you know the Sinnoh region like the back of your hand, and so do I!"
Though I still was not totally convinced, I admitted defeat to John and turned back to Arceus. "If this is the only way… then Arceus, you can count on us." My heart was thumping fast in my chest. Yep, this was totally real. I was seriously going to the Sinnoh region. With my best friend who was also obsessed with the Sinnoh region, no less. If the situation had been different, this would have been a dream come true.
"Thank you for doing this. Your universe thanks you, as does mine." Arceus directed his gaze back at Darkrai, who seemed to be in a semi-conscious state now.
"So… We have to go through that portal there?" John said, and at this I realized that the portal was indeed growing small.
"Yes. As soon as I break the barrier around us, run as fast as you can to the portal and jump in." I hadn't even realized the shimmering blue barriers were still in place- I had been too engrossed in my conversation with a literal god to notice.
"Can we just have the rundown one more time? Just really quickly, before we have to go." John pleaded. Perhaps he hadn't paid attention, being a little stressed like me and all, or maybe he was just nervous. Regardless, I wanted to hear the plan again too, so I nodded along after he made his request. Because I kind of wasn't fully listening either.
"Your main goal is to gather the seventeen plates and find Cresselia. She is most likely roaming Sinnoh, but you should still check her home on Fullmoon Island to see if she is there as well. By the time one year has passed for you, you must find Palkia and have her warp you back here. If you can do all of that, there's a chance that your world can be saved."
"Okay," was all I could respond, knowing that the weight of the world was metaphorically on my shoulders. John nodded, and I could see on his face that he was terrified of what was to come. Honestly, so was I.
"Stand at the edge of the barrier facing the portal," Arceus directed, "I will lift it when you tell me to do so." Arceus looked past the barrier at the slowly moving Darkrai, then added, "It seems that Darkrai is waking and the portal is shrinking, so I suggest that you get moving sooner than later. Do your best to steer clear of it, I will try to keep him out of your way."
"Darkrai is directly in line with the portal." I muttered, realizing that he was now fully conscious and ready to be a nuisance. There was no way this was going to go smoothly.
"It's okay, we'll be fine. Ready?" John asked me, squeezing my arm in reassurance.
"Yeah," I breathed out. My knees wobbled, but at the same time I was ready to run faster than I ever had before.
"Lift the barrier!" John yelled, and all of a sudden the blue walls vanished.
John dashed off in front of me, heading directly to the portal. When he turned back and saw that I was still frozen in place, he screamed, "RUN!"
That was all I needed to get moving. My feet felt heavy, knees still unsteady, but I pushed back the fluttery feeling in my throat and made a mad dash to the portal.
All of a sudden, a dark mass was in front of me.
"Holy fu- ah, Darkrai!" I shrieked, attempting to swivel around and run away, go somewhere, anywhere, just away from that monster. I looked to the side to see that John was already standing next to the portal waiting for me.
As I strode towards the portal Darkrai was next to me, keeping up with my pace and emitting a strange, unnerving noise.
"Get… away!" I dashed forward as Darkrai thrust a glowing purple claw at me.
"Ah- oh, FUCK!" I hissed as a searing pain ripped through my arm, Darkrai's claws digging in deep. But I ran even faster now, legs throbbing and veins pumping so loud I thought they'd burst.
John yelled in my direction, "Move to the right! I think Arceus is trying to take out Darkrai but doesn't want to hit you!"
I complied so I wouldn't get caught in whatever attack Arceus was about to fire- if that was what Darkrai could do with a little scrape, Arceus fucking knew a Hyper Beam would obliterate my goddamn body. After a moment of an odd whirring noise I remembered hearing just before I saw Arceus for the first time, a bright red beam slammed Darkrai, knocking it across the clearing, dirt chunks unearthing and flying in all directions where he landed. This time though, it didn't pass out. Getting up with ease, it floated in the direction of Arceus.
This was exactly the diversion John and I needed to get through the portal. In seconds, I was next to John, staring into the portal of swirling colors.
"Arceus didn't even tell us where this leads," John huffed, "I sure hope it doesn't spit us out anywhere near Snowpoint City. We'll freeze to death before we can do shit."
"Uh, yeah… right." My mind was numb, but my fucked up arm most certainly was not. The blood dripping off my arm and most definitely staining my shirt. Wow, how was I even concerned about my shirt now of all times?
John looked down when he saw me doing so. "Oh my god, I didn't realize he got you!" He grabbed at my arm to inspect it, but I shuffled away from him.
"It doesn't feel as bad as it looks." That was such a shitty lie on my part. It obviously hurt like a bitch and would probably need stitches or something, but you know, we kind of had to get out of here before I could think about doing anything about it.
"We need to get that looked at in… Sinnoh." It looked like it was finally sinking in to John that we were actually going to the Pokémon world while we were gone.
"Definitely," I agreed, giving him a wobbly smile. "Now, shall we?"
"Of course." John nodded his head with an ecstatic grin.
"Good luck, Arceus." I whispered, genuinely wishing him all the best. It was all up to him in this universe now.
"So should we like, climb in? Or just-" John stuck a single finger into the portal, and immediately his form was sucked in.
"Oh hell no, JOHN!"
Following him, I thrust my arms into the kaleidoscope of colors and was fully encompassed, unaware of what I would encounter on the other side of the swirling hues.
End Note: If you made it to the end of this, thanks a bunch for reading! This has technically been in the works since I was twelve, but I'm obviously much older and better at writing now. Drop me a line if you'd like and tell me what you think! The next chapter is already finished and will be coming soon.