The girl put her hand on her forehead and painfully grumbled. Her head was pounding loudly in her skull as she tried to sit up. She felt a little heavier than usual but managed to sit. Her eyes remained close for a while, remembering what happened before. It felt like she went into a dream once again but didn't believe it this time. Everything that happened before wasn't a dream and it shouldn't be this time. The world did shatter around her. She didn't want to see what was surrounding her. She feared what it might be, but not knowing what could be was even more scarier than the unknown.
She opened her eyes and saw a hint of light coming from her hand, but the pain she felt earlier. The girl saw a strange symbol on it but didn't know what it was. She didn't know what it was or comprehend its form.
"What is that?" the human wondered, before realising what was surrounding her.
She saw that she was in the middle of a large forest. The girl couldn't see far, and it was scary enough as it was. The trees and bushes composing the forest were dark and lifeless. On the trunk of the trees were covered with spike, just like the bushes, as if it wanted to hurt anything that touched it. The leaves were dark and wrinkled. The forest felt dead and unholy. As if it had a dark purpose, ready to accomplish it.
The girl gulped when she heard the wind, blowing on the leaves and made out a soft sound, as if someone was whispering his target. She heard her name and shivered even more. The female human grabbed herself and didn't move, "Anyone is here?" she barely managed to say before adding one last word, "Anyone?" before no other words came out of her mouth. She sobbed as fear conquered her. For a long time, she was sobbing alone. Eventually, she found the strength to say it once again, believing she was alone.
Chapter 1: The Collective Forest
Opening Song: Nichiyoubi no Taiyou
Dusknoir grumbled as he floated in the air. He looked around him and searched for the girl. It had been a while since he began searching for her and the Pokémon was more and more uneasy, "Human. Where are you?" Why am I worried for her? I'm in here.
The ghost type put his thought away, he had enough distraction as it was and do what he had to do.
Dusknoir heard no reply and continued searching around. He knew those spirits were after her for some reasons and he didn't want to see why. He was a stubborn one and won't accept to give up easily. No matter how difficult the situation might be. Eventually, The Pokémon heard her voice, "Anyone?"
He knew it was the voice of someone who was losing all her courage and faith to be rescued. It felt like one last try. Dusknoir accelerated towards the direction, "I'm coming you stupid coward," he grumbled as he went at the direction of the voice. Added a few painful grunted when his body touched the sharp leaves of the spikes of the trunk as he quickly crossed the distance separating them.
It wasn't long before he finally found her, on the ground, shivering and sobbing.
He stopped there and watched the pitiful state of the human. The ghost type Pokémon was a little relief that he reached her before the spirits, Why am I relief? I know nothing of this human and I shouldn't care. He frowned as he stood by her side, it must be because of those images in my mind that appeared because of her, Dusknoir put his hands on his flanks and grunted, "I am here stupid human."
She stopped as looked at him. She was never felt so relief that a stranger, even not human, was there. A large part of her fear melted away at the sight of the large Pokémon, who was worryingly gazing at her instead of looking predatory at her. She managed to calm down and raised her hands towards him, "You're here."
The Pokémon quickly took his distance. "Don't touch me. I just came to check if you were fine."
That wasn't the answer the girl wanted to hear, just to check on me? She wanted to reply anything, but with the dark forest around them, she felt that It was a bad idea to argue now. If she pissed him off, maybe the Pokémon will leave her alone, "I am. T-"
"You were pitiful and crying. Not really insulting. You aren't as great as me after all," he proudly raised his chest and seemed to grin with his eye. Don't look at me as a softy human.
So arrogant, the girl thought when she let out, "As great as someone who is also trap here," before gasping.
Dusknoir slowly turned his eye towards her and flew closer, "Watch your mouth. I could have just let you in here alone. Where is the gratitude?"
She gulped, "S-sorry," it was best not to antagonise him anymore. She wasn't ready to die in this place, whatever it was. (Continue the correction)
"I only helped you because…" He couldn't explain it. He searched a reason and couldn't find one, "Why did I even do it?" He asked himself. He was sure that it wasn't because of the images in his mind. That reason was too weak and didn't want to tell her about that. He shook his head, "Anyway, we have other things to focus on human," he calmly observed his surroundings The environment felt a little chilling for him, "Feels kinda nice to be here," he commented. She wasn't sure if he was sarcastic or not. Dusknoir is a ghost type Pokémon and what he likes is different from her, obviously.
"Where are we?" she asked as she observed her surrounding once again, standing near the Pokémon. Guessed that maybe he had the answer to this strange place.
"We are in the distortion itself," he started as he observed everywhere, making sure there was nothing watching them, "You saw the world breaking right?" she nodded, "Well, that is simply a crack between the Spirit World and our world. We are in neither place right now. We are simply in the middle," he resumed.
Our world? "That's the middle?" she asked, finding it hard to believe.
Dusknoir facepalmed, "Yes. I know you are dump, but, by Arceus, this is too much."
"H-hey! It's hard to believe all of this!" she replied as her face turned red, there is so many things I can still barely believe! Like the fact that I am talking to a Pokémon, or that I'm even in another world.
The Pokémon nodded, "Point taken. Anyway, we are between the two places. This means that there is a big concentration of spirits right here and right now. We don't see them, and they might not have seen us yet," he raised his finger before she asked something else, "We are seeing the collective mind of those spirits, often, memories forged by them. Since they are memories, you can see that they can be perverted. So, if something like this formed, then those spirits has the knows this place… Or most of them," he concluded. Dusknoir raised his chest and added, with pride and arrogance, "That's what someone as great as me can teach you stupid human."
She wanted to tell him to call her by her real name but didn't. Maybe it was how Pokémon's always saw and calls a human. After all, his name was Dusknoir and he was surely not the only one. They are many other Dusknoirs on this world. Surely.
"How do we get out of here?" she asked, making sure to not call him by his name. He didn't deserve any respect. She already didn't before, but it was voluntary this time.
"Two options. We find the core and destroy those spirits, which means that they won't return to the Spirit World, or fixe the crack by purifying the source. Kill or fix," the Pokémon resumed the options they had with an expressionless face, "But I cannot fixe a crack. Trying purification would hurt me after all. I mean, I'm a ghost type and I am not a masochistic. I can only permanently destroy a spirit, or sent them to the Spirit World, and let them rest in their eternal slumber, or their reincarnation, whatever happens. The exception is this situation. I cannot send them to their eternal slumber here, just destroy them," he said.
The girl couldn't see what he thought of destroying the spirits as his face never changed of expression. She looked around her. Those things that attacked her were dead being who looked like aggressive ghosts, but Dusknoir called them spirits.
"One thing worries me thought," he put his fingers near his eye.
"What is it?" she asked.
"That's not of your concern. Anyway, I'll get you out of here," he giggled and proudly said, "I am not the greatest for nothing."
This time, that arrogance felt reassuring instead of annoying. How, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was because it felt like the Pokémon knew what he was doing, which was surely the case.
Dusknoir put his hands on his antenna and focused. The girl said nothing, letting him concentrate, "Found it. The spirits are concentrating this way," he pointed behind the girl. He flew forward and ordered, "Follow me human."
"Yes."
She followed him as they walked in the forest. They walked for a while and it was quiet. The wind continued to blow, but it still felt like it was someone whispering something threatening. As they went forward, they made sure not to touch the plants surrounding them, as they were no roads in the forest and little space between the trees and bushes.
They both felt like it was getting a little unnerving to say nothing, and the sound of the wind was irritating for Dusknoir and intimidating for the girl.
"Quite shivering isn't it?" Dusknoir asked.
"Y-yeah," she replied.
They continued for a while. She gazed at the Pokémon and asked, "Does this happen often?"
"Not really… Although, it had become more frequent for a while," he admitted.
They continued and eventually, Dusknoir stopped and put his tail in her way, "Spirits."
They hid behind the woods, without touching the spikes and watched the spirits.
They didn't look like what she expected, something like a shadowy form of a human or a Pokémon, but not that.
They saw a small plain. On it, there was four deformed dark figures that were hitting, kicking, throwing or punching something that didn't exist. Arms and legs were stretchy, but always were obviously non-symmetric. It was also impossible to see which membranes an arm was, and which was a leg. One of them even had a very long neck without a head. The figures were looking like indescribable monstrous beings that even a picture cannot find words to describe them. A fifth figure appeared on the side, as others seemed to ignore it.
The fifth one seemed to have a more clear shape, as it was clearly a bipedal being, having a humanoid form with arms and legs of the same length.
Come on. Let me play too.
No way. Looks at you. You have something weird on you.
Just go home and see your weird mommy.
Go away child of Giratina.
Don't call me that! (Sob) I am not that!
Tell that to my dad!
The four dark figures went away and left the last one alone. The figure suddenly started to take a more skeletal form and whispered: I will become what you want.
The girl wondered what the skeletal spirit meant by that, but her thought was cut.
Dusknoir pushed the girl on the side and hid behind the bushed. He covered her mouth and they waited. She felt her blood suddenly freeing when the fifth figure said, from another direction.
Come! We must find the one that is her to us. I am the one that you all want.
They waited until the wind suddenly calmed down.
Dusknoir moved aside and sighed, "That could have been dangerous if they spotted us now."
"What was that? I felt like I was freezing in the end," she shivered.
"That is, one enrages spirits. A cold enrage one. It must be the dominant one here. We only saw a fragment of memory, but that is obviously something that repeated itself in the life of the dominant spirit. As for the last part, it wasn't a memory," Dusknoir concluded.
"Is it an insult to be called a child of Giratina?" the girl asked, wondering if that Pokémon was a bad one.
"He was banished into the Distortion World because he was violent and destructive," he raised his shoulders and added, "In some places of the world like here. That's what they believe, while me. I don't care. I'm too awesome to be bother with that. Although, I heard that in other places, he is seen more like a benevolent Pokémon whose opposite nature from Arceus is vital for the world," the Pokémon grumbled, "Enough explanation now. I am starting to feel like I'm an old and wise Pokémon."
A nerd? She thought, without understanding the meaning of the words, which made her uneasy.
The Pokémon decided not to get out of the forest, as the plain was dangerous. They could have been easily seen.
So, they continued traveling in the dark forest for a while. They made sure to evade detection of the spirits, even more now that they knew that the dominant one was an angry one. It was simple, when Dusknoir felt the presence of a spirit, they hid somewhere until it was far away. The Pokémon was meant to avoid spirits if he wanted too.
The girl wondered what the spirits wanted from her. After hearing that skeletal spirit, its words didn't leave the back of her mind. She knew they were after her from something that came from her hand, but what was special about her? It was just glowing when the spirits surrounded me. It might be the same that attacked me when I came here… Wait. Before I came here, they took something from me. I don't know what it was… but are they going to take everything like before? She grew nervous at the what they took from her and what would happen when they took all of it, whatever it was.
Dusknoir blocked her once again and hid behind the trees. They were at the end of the dark forest and only a large plain remained. The plain was covered with small flowers, that seemed to be made of white bones while the petals were all crimson red. Apart from that, there was a small river, but the water was black instead of its natural color.
The girl felt the same thing in her left hand again, as it started to lightly shine with its light. The pain was a little lighter than before and the pain was coming in her hand at a rhythmic pace.
At the center of the plain, they saw something radiating like a sun, but it was a large and black sphere. They heard a heartbeat coming from it and the girl knew it was the source of the sound. The human heard the whispering coming out of it, but it was different this time, it was clearer.
Giratina is a wild Pokémon. He is known to devour those he dislikes and kills those who annoys him. Pretty violently.
Looks like you right?
No!
Look at you! You're not even from here!
Yeah! Outsider!
"I have enough."
Looks at your skin! Strange color right!
Child of Giratina!
Stop!
(Sob)
Please don-
You are just an outsider witho-
(Slash!)
"As his child, I shall be like who he is."
(Slash!)
Stop!
Little outsider go away!
"So tired of you."
Leave him alone!
Stop it!
Don't hurt him!
"So tired of all of you."
Stay away from me! Argh!
"Join the others."
You're okay!
I'm sorry oka-
"The pain won't ever leave you."
The voices were all talking at the same time. It was obvious that not everything was coherent anymore. Not only that, the voices also seemed to not to follow a conversation, but random event that came from the memories of the spirits. Each of them not remembering the same moment and made everything confusing to understand.
She couldn't understand what happened as she couldn't process and understand most of what they were saying. The girl soon covered her ears when it was getting overbearing with the many voices.
Dusknoir closed his eye and said, "So many spirits here. The dominant one harvested all of them," he tapped his antenna and the loud voices became whispering, "But so many. That's not possible," he gazed at her, "You should feel better now."
She stopped covering her ears and nodded. She only heard whispering now, which she couldn't understand anymore, "So you have to destroy that thing?"
"Yes. It is the source of the crack. The core concentrated the essence of the spirits in this place. Since I cannot fixe the crack by… purifying. I am not a Pokémon who can do that remember. This is the form when the spirits reach the non-turning point," he concluded before flying closer to the core, ready to destroy it.
You are just like the others!
The strange being from before, the one who was alone and with its clear skeletal appearance and left behind, stood beside Dusknoir. The red eye pointed at the figure, taken by surprised by how quickly it manifested by his side, where was he just before?
Worst! You want to kill me!
The eyes of the figure appeared as crimson tear came out of the face. The dark figure suddenly pointed its hand at the Pokémon and drew an energy beam.
Dusknoir was hit and was sent on the ground. He grumbled painfully as he recovered, just before crashing on the ground. He hovered just above the dark river, "I know what you did to the other spirits! You have become too tainted."
Once you are gone. We will take the one that is her to us.
It charged at the Pokémon once again, but this time, Dusknoir dodged the skeletal spirit. He countered with a dark beam and hit the spirit on its back.
The Pokémon dodged the next assault and countered with a Shadow punch on the face, following with a Shadow snack, as he quickly sneaked behind the spirit and gave a follow up attack on the spine. That one was blocked and the spirit was brutally hit in the gut of Dusknoir, before sending him away.
Dusknoir landed on the ground and saw many spirits grabbing him and maintaining him on the ground.
Hurt him. So we can be free of the pain. Hurt him. And free us of the pain. Stop hurting us please!
"D-dammit!" he grunted.
The girl gasped when she saw the Pokémon in danger. She saw him struggling. He was in trouble and she couldn't do anything. A human like her couldn't do anything to a spirit.
The child grunted painfully as her hand shined more and more, when a voice came from the light.
"Hear me Blessed Child. Hear my voice."
"W-what?" she confusingly said.
AC: This is the end of this chapter. Yup. Cliff-hanger.
It went fast in the dark side of the story, but I decided that to show a bad case from the start. Instead of doing the usual route of getting darker, I'll go for a different way.
It won't always be this dark as some aspect of our characters couldn't be seen in the dark part.
Next Chapter: The Blessed Child.
