Chapter 7!


Chapter 7: Defilement

Cynthia, Lucas, and Dawn flinched as they looked at the map. "Are you sure?" Dawn asked.

Yellow spoke for the Missingno. "Yeah. That's where the new device is."

Dawn stood up and started pacing and muttering.

Missingno paused, and then swished again. They were in a small room out of sight from the survivors of Sinnoh, who just might take offense at the fact that they were using a Hole.

Leaf looked up. "Um… what is this place, exactly? What is Mt. Coronet?"

Lucas just looked at her. "Really? You don't know what Mt. Coronet is?"

Ariel gaped. "We have to go there?"

Blue frowned. "I think I heard about it from the professor…"

Dawn stopped muttering and pacing. "That is the place where Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina met. That's the place where Cyrus summoned them. Right on the Spear Pillar."

Crystal nodded. "It makes perfect sense! Node has been attacking and catching legendaries all this time. He's going to go get another!"

Ariel muttered, "Giratina… so scary…"

Lucas blinked. "You've seen Giratina?"

Ariel twitched. "Well… I had Platinum."

Ethan scratched his head. "What does that mean? Is it a name like Gold?"

Ariel waved a hand. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Here's the question, though. Which Legendary is my brother going to chose?"

There was a moment of silence which Ethan broke. "Well… he said he's going to get the strongest of the strong, right? Ho-oh and Lugia are the masters of six Legendaries. Rayquaza was able to beat Kyogre and Groudon. .4… is the strongest Hole."

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, and he caught each a different way! He just Action Replayed the birds into his Pokéballs, he caught .4 with a Master Ball, and he pitted Rayquaza against Kyogre and Groudon!"

Leaf smiled. "Yeah, that's right! I don't think Node will use the same method twice."

Dawn wiped sweat off of her forehead. "Good, because I don't think time or space could take anymore damage."

Lucas frowned in thought. "So… how do we get there quickly?"

Dawn laughed and smacked him. "We fly, oh smart one!"


Node nodded. This will work. For the past two days, he had been working on the code required to catch the Legendary Pokémon on the Spear Pillar. He had been considering the changes, but he only came up with one way to catch it.

It wasn't an original idea, but it worked.


Lucas jumped down off of Dawn's Staraptor rather quickly. "Ground! Sweet, sweet, ground…"

Dawn crossed her arms. "It wasn't that bad of a ride!"

Ariel got down off of her Pokémon. "It might have been better if you'd gone easy on him for the first couple of minutes before doing those stunts."

Dawn growled. "Don't take his side!"

Crystal put Hana down. Hana ran in circles, crying gleefully. "See, Lucas? Hana's happy."

Lucas moaned. "That's because Hana doesn't understand the concept of gravity!"

Cynthia looked around. "Where are we? I don't recognize it."

Dawn smiled. "This is a side that I found while battling Team Galactic up the mountain. It's right next to the Spear Pillar, but you can't find it except by accident."

Ethan grunted. He didn't like heights, but he wasn't going to complain in front of Lyra. "Okay, then. Let's go even further up."


Node's teeth chattered. As strong as he was (in cheating), there was no code for giving one warmth. At least he had found his way.

In front of him lay three distortions that had remained after Cyrus had used the Red Chains. One led to the dimension of space, one to time, and one to the Distortion World. He shook his head. Why would anyone want to disturb Giratina?

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrother!" Node shivered. The wind was playing tricks on him. Spear Pillar was not a vacation spot, and… brother? His sister had her own game. Why would she come here?

He looked between Palkia and Dialga's dimensional holes. These were holes that had been created legitimately, so they weren't Holes in any real sense. Besides, the three alternate dimensions were in the universe, just not technically of it.

He looked back and forth. Palkia, or Dialga? Each one, space and time, didn't really have any meaning without the other. Why, even a few scientists had dismissed vague terms like 'space' and 'time,' and renamed the idea 'space-time.'

How would he decide? In exasperation, he threw his hands up.

"Brrrrrrrrother!" Okay… that time he'd definitely heard it… and found a secret in the process.

So his sister was here? She couldn't beat him at his own game. How'd she even get here?

Ariel walked up the hill. "Node!"

Node grinned. "Hi, sis."

The entire group appeared as well. Cynthia stepped forwards. "Node, you've gone from crazy to downright insane. The balance of space and time will get disrupted if you grab any of these Pokémon."

Ariel spoke as well. "Brother… I know you want to be good, but an Action Replay? Only the lowliest of the noobs use those. You know that! Hacked Pokémon are no good."

Node shrugged. "Sis, these Pokémon aren't hacked! I'm actually catching them. As for what Cynthia said…" Node shook his head. "Nah, time and space won't collapse. I found a new target. Really, though, the same coded principle should work…"

Blue cocked her head. "New… target?"

Node held his hand above his head and clicked a button on his new Action Replay. There was a shattering noise. "I just noticed this. I had heard of it, but I'd never known where it was exactly. It's hard to get word of things not officially revealed by Nintendo."

A large island, clear-floored and huge, crashed into the ground behind the hacker. "I found it!"

Yellow turned to Ariel. "Ariel… you seem to know a lot! What is that?"

Ariel shook her head. "Bro! What is that thing?"

Node chuckled. "Really, Ari? You should really read the manga, and perhaps some fanfics…"

Ariel put her hands on her hips. "Don't call me Ari! You know that I don't go on the internet and research every obscure Pokémon fact! Just tell me what that island was doing there!"

A rustling came from behind Node. "WHO DARES DESTROY MY SACRED HALL?" The voice seemed to be mental as well as vocal.

Ariel took a step back. "Oh… crap."

Arceus floated out from the wreckage. "NAME YOURSELF!"

Node grinned. "Found you! You know, if you hadn't separated space and time, and I didn't throw my arms up, I wouldn't have noticed the floating island."

Arceus wasn't pleased with being ignored. "PUNY MORTAL! YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED! JUDGMENT!"

A golden light appeared over the Alpha Pokémon's head and turned into a black hole.

Smiling, Node tapped a few options on the touch screen. The move turned in on itself and vanished. Arceus blinked. "What?"

Node whipped out a gun. Ariel gasped. "What? HOW'D YOU GET A GUN HERE?"

Node smiled. "Guess what it does." Connecting it to his Action Replay with a cord, he aimed and fired. A dark light shot out, enveloping the Original One. Crystal jumped forwards, screeching. "What did you do?"

Node easily evaded her. "You may have disrupted my plans in Johto, Crystal of Violet City, but here I have won!"

Arceus' eyes turned yellow, and his body turned black. The ring around his middle turned from gold to ivory, and the gems turned blood-red.

Node raised his hands to his sides. "Behold, Shadow Arceus!"

Ariel twitched peculiarly, but Red stepped in front of her before she could do anything. He sent out his Charizard, and snapped his fingers. Charizard readied Blast Burn.

"Arceus, Shadow Judgment!"

Arceus drew himself upright. "Yes… master. You… shall… be… judged."

A pure black beam shot out and hit Charizard. The power was unleashed, arcing around the poor Flame Pokémon. The recoil shot out and struck Lucas, Lyra, and Leaf.

Charizard was knocked out. Red frowned, returning Charizard.

Node was done fighting. "That's pretty good… but I'm not done with this journey! The perfect team is yet to come! One more. Unova, here I come!"

Node sent out Rayquaza and jumped on its back. "Buh-bye, Red! It's almost time!"

Node flew away.


Ethan ran to Lyra. "Lyra? You alright? Anything hurt?"

Lyra was holding the Action Replay. "Why… didn't… it work?"

Leaf sat up, breathing hard. "What? You tried to use that?"

Lyra nodded. "It said 'invulnerability.' It didn't work on Charizard."

Ariel frowned. "Invulnerability? Really? That's a code?"

Blue held her head. "Shadow… Arceus. How'd that happen? What is a Shadow Pokémon?"

Ariel sighed. "I don't know as much as Node, but… I can tell you that. There's apparently a region called Orre. In it, a team called Team Cipher created a method for turning Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon. The method erases the heart and reasoning of the Pokémon it effects. It being Arceus…"

Crystal was in shock. "That. Is. Bad."

Cynthia stepped forward. "He said that he had changed targets."

Ariel laughed humorlessly. "He probably was going to catch one of the Creation Trio. That island up there was just too noticeable… provided you looked up."

The ground shuddered, and the dimensional gates widened. Lucas was frightened. "What's… what's going on?"

Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina all popped out, shaking their heads.

Blue got it immediately. "Those three… isn't their master Arceus?"

Lucas nearly had a heart attack. "Fight… the Original One and the Creation Trio? I'm going to kill myself."

Dialga walked forward, noticing Hana. Crystal gasped. "Wha? What is…?"

Yellow ran to her, catching her as Crystal fell down. "Crys? What's wrong?"

Crystal's face went from alarmed to calm. "Dialga's talking to me through Hana."

Dawn shook her head. "I'm not sure if that's possible…"

Ethan poked her. "Quit worrying about possible and impossible. It makes your life just that much harder."

Crystal continued. "He says that the bond between them and Arceus has been broken somehow…" She turned her head towards the great Pokémon of time. "That's because a guy named Node turned Arceus into Shadow Arceus."

Dialga raised its head and roared. A few seconds later, Hana roared its mewling roar. Dialga seemed to smile. Crystal put her arms around her daughter. "Yeah, this is your sister… I suppose. This is Hana."

Palkia and Giratina also walked forwards, dipping their head in greeting. Crystal flinched. "Now all three of them are in my head…"

Yellow walked shyly up to Palkia. "Um… you're the Spatial Pokémon, right?"

Palkia turned to her. She used her power to understand him. That's correct. And you might be?

"Y-Yellow. I'm Yellow."

Palkia scratched its side. Yellow, huh? What do you do?

"I… I read the mind of the Hole that we caught to find out where exactly Node is."

Node, the human who caught father? Node, the human who is letting Holes in through the beautiful, continuous space?

"The v-very same."

Now it was Lucas' turn to be skeptical. "You're actually talking to a Legendary Pokémon."

Giratina stepped towards Yellow. Young one, I would know of you. You seem to not be of this world, and you are not of the World in which I reside. What are you?

Yellow flinched. "You're… a girl!"

Giratina blinked, then actually laughed a chilling cry. But of course. Do you think that the over-rational male minds could handle the Distortion World? Cyrus, who's my self-appointed world-mate, didn't last long before he went insane. Enough of me, though. I asked something of you.

Crystal walked forwards, pulling Blue along. "We were created in the image of people from another realm."

The three seemed very interested. Indeed?

Blue nodded, looking like she was going to pee her pants. She didn't understand the three legends in the way Crys and Yellow did now, but she could take a hint from her friends' words. "Yeah… Node created us out of nothing and gave us memories of another world that apparently doesn't exist."

Ariel walked forwards. "I must… apologize… my brother… seems… to have read a story… with them in it."

Giratina turned her gaze on the black-eyed girl, and Ariel made an "Eep!" noise and hid behind Red (making Leaf give her the look). Node is this girl's brother… it seems that like these three in front of us, neither Node nor his sister are from this dimension.

Crystal turned to Ariel. "Is that true?"

Behind her, Red, Leaf, Ethan, Lyra, Cynthia, Lucas, Dawn, and Ariel were looking extremely confused. Leaf stepped forwards. "Um… we can't hear them."

Dialga chuckled. Yellow has the power to hear us, and Crystal can hear us through our new sister.

Palkia shook his head. I don't think this arrangement will do.

Giratina stooped low. Arrangement? I don't know what you're talking about.

Palkia growled. Dialga just told you! Don't you listen?

Dialga sniffed. She probably just doesn't understand 'arrangement.'

Palkia laughed. The word, or the concept? I mean, have you seen her world? What a mess!

Yellow held her hands up. "Alright, guys. No need to get insulting."

The Creation Trio glared at her, and Yellow cowered. Giratina scratched the ground. Try not to get into our family squabbles, young one.

Crystal laughed. The faces of the people behind her were just priceless.

Ariel had an idea. "Hey… um, Creation Trio?" She quaked as they turned to her. "I was just thinking… could you actually make other worlds?"

An explosion of noise issued from the three. They were laughing. Dialga answered, through Crystal. Of course we could! What makes you think we would want to, though?

Giratina expanded on it. This world is messy. Humans run ragged everywhere, pushing the descendants of Mew into an odd relationship that causes much destruction. Why would we create another realm?

Ariel paused, listening to Crystal speak their words. "Because… these three don't belong here." Blue glared, but Ariel ignored her. "If we defeat Node, everything will go back to normal. If that's so, these three will be erased from the Universal Code. Why not create their world for them? If nothing else, it will give you something to do. I imagine that sitting in another world with no one for company gets rather boring fast."

Dialga considered it. I have no problem with it.

Palkia grabbed his brother's spines. Dialga! Elder brother! Wait for us to decide. Don't make decisions like that on your own!

Giratina thought hard. So long as I'm involved, and we have something to work with… wait. Are there other people in your 'world?'

Yellow nodded, feeling a little drowsy. "Yeah… a lot… thousands…"

The mood seemed to shift. Palkia nodded. All right, I've decided. Yes.

Crystal nearly tackled the Spatial Pokémon. "Really?"

On one condition. You have to free our father and get rid of the darkness in him. We cannot create life or memories. Father can do both. Save him.

Crystal sighed as Yellow relayed everything to the others. Red frowned and spoke, much to the others' surprise. After all, these were the Creation Trio; they were worthy of his voice. "Are you not going to help? This is Arceus, Shadow or no Shadow. How do we stop Shadow Judgment?"

Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina looked at each other, and made a decision. A perfect blue sphere, what seemed like a chunk of diamond, and a pyramidal golden rock flew out of the gates. These are… the Lustrous, Adamant, and Griseous Orbs. They are… Orbs that father created to strengthen us. They also give us a way to control him, should he ever be corrupt. We cannot attack him directly, but… if these three Orbs come together around him, they can imprison him.

Ethan, hearing this, frowned. "Why exactly did he give them to you? Wouldn't he want to be unstoppable?"

Giratina shook her head. He tries to do good as much as he can. However, Arceus is a living being, thus he can make mistakes. Only rarely does he do that, though. We've only had to restrain him once, thankfully. He was going to kill himself…

Dawn seemed curious when Yellow said that. "Why did he-"

Ariel interrupted her. "Thank you. Will you begin creation of the… manga world? You said that you couldn't attack Arceus, so…"

Dialga turned to his siblings. I think it's time to gather the Legends for another Council. We will need their help.

Palkia seemed concerned. But… the absence of Ho-oh, Lugia… the birds and beasts… Rayquaza…

Giratina actually giggled like a schoolgirl. Silly! We don't need them! Ho-oh, Lugia, the birds and beasts… they didn't do anything important to create the world! As for Rayquaza, we can protect the surface of the new world until the ozone layer is created.

Palkia voiced another concern. What of our duties here? What will happen if we leave?

Dialga shook his head. I can control time. Time won't start in the new world until I tell it to. We can come back into the moment from which we left.

Palkia nodded. Agreed.

Giratina, Palkia, and Dialga walked back to their own dimensions, agreeing to assemble everyone from there. Dialga turned to Crystal. Miss Crystal?

Crystal looked up. "Huh?"

Father has never had a mistress before. Please… take care of our sister. She cannot come with us…

Crystal nodded. "Yes. I will."


Node frowned. "Why isn't it working?"

Shadow Arceus shook his head. "I… don't… create."

Node scratched his chin. "I see… as normal Arceus, you had vast powers of creation. This power could be used to do what I can already do with the Action Replay… create new life. However, that only applies to people. Pokémon can't be made with this without falling sick and dying."

Shadow Arceus took a cautionary step forwards. Its legs were not really meant to be used to walk, and Node had made it do so. "It… seems… so."

Node turned. "As Shadow Arceus, you're the opposite of the great Original One. You have powers of destruction that could probably wreck the Universal Code. I don't want that, so you are probably a last line of defense- if I ever get in real trouble, you're up."

Shadow Arceus bowed. "Thank… you… master."


I do not own Pokémon XD or Colosseum.

Node said that things not officially revealed by Nintendo were hard to find. It really isn't true.