Before I start, I realise that I've been a little inconsistent with my use of italicised focuses. Any conversation between the legendaries, or anything that happens in Limbo, or any dream sequence or thought process is in italics. Occasionally a stressed word will be italicised, but that's just for emphasis.


Falling...

Steven seemed to fall downwards through the back of his head, his vision slowly pulling further and further away from him as it dwindled into a speck of light within the darkness of death, as if a dark veil was being pulled over his eyes, shrinking his vision...smaller and smaller.

As he fell, he remembered one last thing...a ball...pressed into his hands...

Still in freefall, Steven stared at the pinprick of light that held all that his eyes still saw...and knew that he wasn't truly dead, not yet. Not until...

Not until Steven turned around, to see what was on the other side...

The other side...


Celebi and Palkia reappeared, and as the flower-scented air of Floaroma Town blew into Palkia's nostrils, she wondered what Celebi was doing now...

"What are you doing?" She queried. Celebi looked at her.

"One last task, before we meet our maker. One last task, and we wait for Arceus in Limbo. There's no sense in running." With that, he flew into a relatively large house.

"Oh...dreams are such fickle things..." Celebi thought as he entered a room. On the other side of the room lay a bed.


"It'.,.ssss...nooo...t... youreee...f-...f-...fault..." Lucas could only watch in horror as the boy's life slowly ebbed out of him. He only vaguely noticed Arceus nudging him.

"Quick. We must leave quickly, and before that we must do something! Capture me with the Master Ball!"

Lucas was shocked. "Whaa...?"

"I have seen the consequences of my actions. If you capture me with the Master Ball, release me quickly, and hide the ball, nothing can allow me to be captured again. Quickly!" Arceus touched a purplish plate, and while glowing purple, levitated the ball towards Lucas. Lucas held the ball, now darkened with soot and ash, before coming to a decision. He pressed the master ball into Steven's hand, and used his finger to press the button used to catch Arceus.

Arceus noted this. "Interesting...continue...it's the only way I can start paying him back."

As Arceus disappeared in a flash of red light Lucas heard Steven mumble something.

"So...cold..."

Acting quickly, Lucas then released Arceus again. A moment later, he saw Steven give one last ragged breath, and his body stopped moving. The two of them stood there, Pokemon and Trainer.

Mourning.


Rynade was feeling like a dolt. He had managed to lose Lucas and his companion after they went up the waterfall. He had wasted about 2 hours trying to find a way up the waterfall, and as he reached the top, he saw a large jet of water stream past his position on the cliff face arc over the waterfall into the depths below. Strangely, it was accompanied by an extremely loud scream. Rynade wasn't the brightest of men, and as such went to cover his ears with both hands.

While three quarters of the way up a cliff.

Rynade was about to learn the same lesson that Steven was also learning.

Gravity says things go down faster. Much faster.


Aron was having an uneventful night. 'Was' being the key word in that sentence. As he fell asleep, he began to dream.


"Ok, so I'm Alexa and you're Firael. How come we can see and hear each other, and how come I can understand you?" Alexa asked the Charmander in front of her.

By now, Alexa and Firael were both sitting down. Firael mused. "Hmm...I know that they were doing some experiment with me, what about you?"

Alexa started. "That's it! They put some sort of chip in my head, and...I dunno what it's for..." I'll try to find out...can you try too?" Firael suddenly looked melancholy.

"I haven't told you, but my last memory was of me being strapped into a bed and being knocked out. I've been here for over 8 months on end, with only my own imagination to talk to. He's really quite funny, but he isn't always here...and it gets lonely. Eight months in isolation..."

Alexa was astounded at the cruel treatment that Firael had suffered at the hands of Team Galactic. She hugged the orange lizard tightly, feeling her scales heat up her skin. Feeling that she was about to leave the dream world, she whispered into Firael's ear.

"I've got to go now, I'm about to wake up, or something. I'll be back."

Firael watched sadly as Alexa slowly turned transparent before vanishing. She dipped her head into her claws and wept.


Rynade eventually had to call out his Scizor to help him once he woke up from his fall. The harness he had attached had slightly slowed down his fall, but as he hadn't attatched it properly, it only meant that his fall was made worse by the rope burns he now had on his hands when he had tried to grab the rope. When he had nearly reached the bottom, he pulled the two spare carabiners from his belt and clipped them around the rope so the rope fizzed through them. He then pulled those apart, the extra friction allowing him to slow down even further. However, he still blacked out after hitting the bottom as he couldn't slow down enough.

Staggering with his Scizor, Rynade only meant to climb to the top of the mountain to try and fly to Hearthome for some treatment, but as he was passing a cave entrance, he heard a massive voice rattle his head.

"You DARE try to capture me? You shall suffer for your ignorance! JUSTICE!"

This was soon followed by an explosion that knocked him and Scizor off their feet. As Rynade struggled back onto his feet, screams briefly rang out, only to be silenced very soon after. Rynade soon found out why when the shock wave hit him, forcing him to his knees again. As he lay on the ground, heaving out deep breaths of air, he heard a voice faintly shout "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then he blacked out. Again.


And on the other side...Steven saw...

Steven saw another bright light, and it seemed to be getting bigger. It danced. Steven smiled. He realised that he would not be falling for much longer. He wanted that light...

However, a purple portal opened in front of him, and he fell through it. When Steven opened his eyes (or whatever he was now seeing with), he could no longer see the light.

He was back in Limbo.


Alexa woke up, shivering. She glanced at the alarm clock she had smashed one week ago, as it only annoyed her these days and considered her options. Deciding to leave breakfast until later, she reached for the remote and was about to turn on the TV before she heard some voices. The female was doing all the speaking.

"...mbmbengnnn...mental state...mind transfer...mnongznongzgn...Charmande-...dgngnmngmgn...minds joining..."

Her mind whirling, barely able to take in all that infomation, Alexa waited for the door to open. Sonya stepped in, looking extremely worried. When she saw that Alexa seemed to recognise her, her shoulders sagged in relief. She immediately began asking questions.

"How are you feeling?" Her first question was short and simple, just the way Alexa wanted it.

"Me? Good."

"Hmm...okay. What are you planning on doing today?" This one was harder, and Alexa had to think a little before answering.

"I dunno. Stuff...TV." Sonya was beginning to look a little surprised, although Alexa couldn't fathom why.

"...What about breakfast? When do you plan on having that?" Ahh...another easy question.

"Later."

"Later? Okay...last question. What do you plan to do at 3 PM?" Alexa was entirely lost for words, completely confounded by the second half of the question.

"3PM? Err..." Alexa drifted off, unable to answer the question. After a minute or so, she lost interest and started picking at her breakfast again.

"It's okay...just eat your breakfast. Kova and I will leave you alone for now. Bye!" The scientist smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Bye."


Sonya Tanem wasn't feeling good. When she had first walked into the subject's room, she had immediately noticed two things. Firstly, Alexa was looking completely dishevelled, pale and extremely thin. Her cheekbones were getting more and more pronounced, and her eyes constantly darted around the room.

Secondly, the results from her questions also worried her. Alexa had only said one two-syllable word, and had kept her responses to a bare minimum. The most worrying of her answers was her answer to the last question. She had lost all sense of time. Sonya initially hadn't been too sure what Alexa had been doing when she'd smashed her alarm clock, but now she knew.

She didn't like the knowledge. Knowing what she was single-handedly doing to Alexa's life. This was going past science, and into barbarianism.


Lucas didn't know how long they stood over the body of Steven. It could have been one hour, or it could have been ten minutes. However, their vigil was disrupted by a voice coming from the corridor.

"What the-"

Lucas felt himself being grabbed by Arceus' psychic force, and looked up at the source of the voice as he flew towards Arceus. He saw a raven-haired man in his twenties staring at them with a look of shock on his face. Once Lucas touched Arceus, the world vanished.

They reappeared at a location unknown to Lucas. He noticed that Arceus had bought Steven's body with him.

"Where are we?"

"Faraway Island in Hoenn. This is the residence of Mew, when he is here. I bought you here because I didn't know where you wanted to go. Tell me, as I need to go back and attempt to correct my mistakes."

Lucas started. Mew's home? Looking around him, he he was very high up on a plateau, with many trees and lakes dotting the surface of the plateau. "Me? I would like to go...back home. Can you teleport me to Twinleaf town?"

"Very well."


Aron looked around. He was standing on the top of a hill. Looking down upon himself, he saw that he was wearing the same clothes as he wore outside of the dream.

"Weird..."

Deciding that he might as well go for a walk, he started heading towards a clearing of trees, parting the tall grass in front of him. While he was contemplating climbing one of the trees for a look, he heard signs of a battle. Having piqued his interest, he headed over to have a look.


Rynade got up. He then immediately sat back down again, feeling that he wasn't cut out to be standing at the moment. After another 10 minutes of resting against a rock, he felt sufficiently ready to see what had happened in the cave. Again using his Scizor for support, he slowly made his way to the cave entrance.

He made his way into Spear Pillar, and would have been awed by the sight of it, but he noticed something else. On the other end lay a staircase, and on it, inside a large crater, lay a glowing meteor. Rynade gulped.

"This couldn't be good..."

Walking a little gingerly, he managed to make his way up the stairs, staying well away from the still glowing meteor. Once up, he beheld the Hall of Origin.

It was completely destroyed. The floor was pockmarked by huge craters, and charred or bloodied bodies littered the entire hall. His gaze was then diverted to two figures standing over the three. One was a trainer, but the other one...was a...

"What the hell?" Before he managed to say anything else, the other...thing...stepped on a purple square and teleported the trainer away with...it? Him? Her?

"Bugger...I've lost him again...and how am I meant to track him down now?" Rynade sat down. As he did, he recoginised the face of the nearest body to him. He only had four fingers on one hand.

Saturn would have to be told.


Celebi and Palkia reappeared in Limbo. They were focusing on not thinking about the future, although Palkia was having an easier time of it than Celebi, for obvious reasons.

Looking around, they noticed that Arceus hadn't reappeared. However, another voice sounded out behind them.

"You guys again?"


Steven hadn't really expected himself to find himself back in this purple void, and so was trying to get used to the feeling of being able to make whatever he wanted in this place. First he had made his body, but was then interrupted by two Pokemon appearing before him. Recognising them as Celebi and Palkia, he yelled out to them.

"You guys again?"


Celebi and Palkia turned around to see Steven standing before them. Celebi shifted awkwardly.

"Erm...Steven? I've got something to tell you...I..." Celebi started, but was cut across by a much deeper and stronger voice.

"Orchestrated his death? I see this now. Would you like to explain why?"

Alexa was bored. Ignoring the fact that it was still daytime, she got back into bed and went back to sleep.

Celebi's watched Steven's face go from an expression of suprise, to fear, and then... to anger and finally, disappointment. Arceus was standing behind Steven, an unreadable expression on Arceus' face.

"Did you...really...you know?" He asked. Celebi nodded his head.

"It was necessary, and you did get another 8 months of life, didn't you?" Celebi replied. Palkia stirred.

"Celebi, don't do this to him. Just show what would have happened if Celebi had told Arceus had been told who Steven was."


Steven couldn't believe it. Was he some sacrifical lamb to be shunted around the multiverse? He had sacrificed his life back 'home' to save his family, and he'd been sacrificed again...for what, exactly?

Although he had been gifted with an extra 8 months of life. Still...he hadn't ever gotten the chance to say goodbye...twice.

Then he heard Palkia ask Celebi to show Steven something, and his vision blacked out.


Alexa found herself in the field again. Now knowing where to go, she began to run towards the forest, and towards Firael. As she ran, she realised several things had happened to her. How was it that she found it so hard to think outside of her dreams? Her memory of her recent conversation with Sonya resurfaced.

...

Had she really sounded that stupid? She never used to speak like that...and how come she had just randomly gone to sleep? What about her breakfast? Sorting through her memories, she found that she hadn't eaten for over 36 hours.

...

She kept on jogging, and was about to reach Firael's place when she remembered the murmured conversation outside the door.

"Mind transfer...Oh no..."


Aron headed over to the commotion. A woman was battling a swarm of beedrills, or attempting to. In reality, she was just running from them as they chased her. Why didn't she use her Pokemon?

However, a man stepped out from behind a tree with an orange-furred dog with black stripes, and ordered it to use flamethrower, scattering the beedrill. Holding the woman in his arms he whispered.

"There...it's okay..."

Aron had, by now, reached them. He also noted one of the beedrill lying fainted on the ground. He asked woman, "Why don't you just catch the beedrill?" to which they just looked at him like he was mad.

"Why would I want to do that? What would I do with it? Eat it?"

Aron wasn't sure how to respond. Didn't these people know anything? "No! That's disgusting! Catch them for training!"

The man cut in this time. "Are you crazy? How are we supposed, to, as you put it...catch... a Pokemon? Most are too dangerous! Chevron here was raised from a pup, and it's pretty much the only way for Pokemon to trust you! Everything else just tries to drive you away...if you're lucky..." His face turned dark for a moment. "It is possible to get an adult Pokemon to follow you, but so little people have succeeded, and the ones who fail...the only way to get a Pokemon to follow you is through trust."

Aron wasn't sure what the man was talking about. Hadn't they heard of Pokeballs? Something struck him.

"Where are we?"

The response was not what Aron was prepared for.

"Dignin Valley, near Jubilife Village."

"Village?" It all hit him...

And then Aron woke up.


Saturn was lounging in his office, bored. Deimos and Phobos had been sent on an arbitrary mission to keep them active, and he hadn't heard from Pluto or Mercury recently. His phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Is this Saturn? This is Captain Rynade, serving under Commander Phobos." Saturn's left eyebrow raised. This man was calling a number tha only his commanders had, and claimed to be serving under Phobos. Then why was he using Mercury's number?

"Yes, it's me. How did you get this number?"

"Sir, Mecury's dead. I found this phone on her. Commander Pluto sent me to track the trainer known as Lucas, and I tracked him to this hall in Mount Coronet, and to report his whereabouts to Commander Phobos. He was there with this weird white horse thing with a ring around it, but they disappeared once they saw me. Mercury and a lot of other grunts are here too, all dead. They seem to have been hit by some huge attack. The trainer and Pokemon were standing over the body of this dead boy, and took it with them." Saturn's eyes both opened wide. He had not accounted for the Pokemon being so strong. And the description was like nothing he'd heard of before.

"Captain, tag all bodies. I'll send in a retrieval team to try and see what happened. You are to report straight back to Galactic Headquarters. To me." With that, he hung up.

"That Pokemon..."


Steven found himself back at the Hall of Origin. He saw, once again, Arceus materialise in front of Lucas, that man sneak up behind him, and Arceus getting frozen by the ice cannons.

He saw Lucas block the master ball, and free Arceus from the ice by transforming Arceus into an ice-type. He heard Arceus start to use Judgement, but then...

Arceus saw Steven, and hesitated in using his move. That was enough for that man to dive for the Master ball and throw it at Arceus. He then ordered the cannons to be fired at Lucas, leaving him trapped inside, with his Pokemon still at the stairs with Steven and the grunt that now held him.

The man picked up the master ball, and walked off, the grunts following. Steven being left behind, tied to a rock, left to starve.

Eventually, Steven watched as Lucas ran out of breathable air, and then died. He saw himself, still sitting by the rock he was tied to, waiting for the inevitable to happen...all alone.

Then he was jerked back into Limbo. Celebi was still watching him. "You see now? At least your death was faster, Lucas is still alive, and Arceus...Arceus is still here, with us."


Alexa had told Firael what she had heard, what was happening to her, and what she thought was going to happen to them. Firael wasn't taking it too well.

"Wait, so you say we're going to swap places? That doesn't seem right. How come you're seeming more and more real, but I've not changed? I don't want to be human anyway."

Alexa hugged the Charmander again, feeling herself waking up.

"I see..." Arceus mused. "Well then, Steven, even though you're dead, and this was planned between these...two, I would like to offer you another chance. You may return, but only as a Pokemon." With that, another pink glow appeared beside Arceus, and a pink, catlike Pokemon appeared. Palkia's eyes opened in shock.


Meanwhile, Steven was busying pondering what he had just been told. A second chance?

"Mew?" The pink Pokemon turned around, eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth, staring at Palkia, the source of the question.

"My, aren't you two naughty! You wait until after Arceus is finished with Steven...hahaha!"

Celebi tried to ignore the second half of the sentence. "But why are you here?"

Mew turned a little more serious. "You can't expect me to find a dead body on my island and a psychic presense as strong as Arceus' to not expect to track him here! So...Arcus, what did you need me for?"


Sonya sat at her computer. The download last night had accelerated proceedings extremely quickly. Even now, the process was continuing much faster.

They would be finished by tomorrow.


Alexa woke up. She was content to just lie there. Staring at the ceiling. She couldn't hear anything, not even her breathing, but that didn't bother her.

After a few hours of lying in bed, her vision started to lose colour. First she couldn't see red. Then the blues of her walls vanished, lending a sepia-like quality to her vision. This sight allowed her to recall a song, a song she had forgotten, a song she had heard once, when she was three.

She started to sing. As she did so, her world faded away. Colour by colour, shade by shade. Yellows, and greys slowly trickled out of her vision...

Soon, Alexa could no longer see. Not that she cared. She had forgotten the song again. Not that she knew.


Arceus seemed a little annoyed at his nickname. "I've killed Steven, and I would like to give him a second chance, but he can't return to his body, and I'm not going to destroy another human soul to replace with Steven's. You could be reborn as a baby human, but then you lose your memories, which would defeat the purpose of sending you back. Pokemon grow up in a different manner, and you will still remember who you are. Now, the final question is, what Pokemon?"

Mew had an answer. "Zubat! Nah...just kidding." Steven sighed with relief. "What do you want to be?"

Steven was lost for words. "I dunno...something that could fly? Yeah!" He remembered his flight on Skarmory and decided that he definitely wanted to be a bird Pokemon. "Some kind of bird Pokemon..."

Mew, deep in thought, mused. "Hmm...I've got an idea, but your colouring will be different. Not shiny, but not normal either. You cool with that?"

Steven sighed. He had only known Mew for a little while and already found that pink furball annoying. "Ok, as long as it's not outrageous. I don't want to be reborn as a pink Pokemon."

Mew chuckled. "Fine! I wasn't thinking of pink at all, but it doesn't matter...I'll send you now!"

Steven turned to all the other Pokemon to say goodbye. "Okay guys, guess I'll be seeing you then..."

As Steven disappeared, Arceus said one last thing to Steven.

"Just remember that nobody, no one, is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Not even me. Good luck."


Rynade sighed, trudging back down Mount Coronet. It was too windy to fly from the top, and he was still sore all over from the shock wave, landing from his fall and the rope burns on his hands. He finally got down to the foot of Mount Coronet, calling out his Murkrow and flying off into the distance.


Arceus turned to Celebi and Palkia. "So...your punishment."

Celebi felt he had to make some attempt to defend himself. "That's not fair! I saved you from being captured! I also saved Lucas...Steven was going to die either way!"

Arceus' head shook. "There was another way to stop this from happening, but you were too absorbed in your convoluted plans, Celebi. While this may have worked, you have revealed my presence to Team Galactic. Why didn't you just hide one of the plates? I have some novel ideas, but I'll see if Mew has any better ones"

Celebi turned pale. Palkia's shoulder gemstones started glowing bright pink. Mew was the most creative legendary Pokemon, especially when it came to pranking other legendaries or humans.


Steven found himself in a dark space, barely able to move. He was warm, but also a little hungry. He started struggling to get out.


Aron started. "Woah...that was a weird dream..." Getting up, he turned around to look at the reason he woke up.

The egg he'd been sent by his uncle and aunt was beginning to crack.


"Got...to...get out!" Steven thought as he fought to escape the walls of his prison. His pushing yielded a crack in the surface, allowing him to see light for the first time...was it the first time?


Aron saw a crack in the egg, and was transfixed by the shaking, waiting for whatever Pokemon would emerge from the egg.


Steven pushed against the crack, and after a few moments of pressure, the prison cracked, and Steven's eyes were assailed by light. He heard an impossibly loud voice.

"That voice..."


"Woah! A bird Pokemon...but what are you? You look like this Pokemon from Hoenn, but the colouring...I'll check up on it later. You want something to eat?"

With that, he picked up the black bundle of feathers and walked into the kitchen, where he had some powdered formula. Placing the black-red bird Pokemon on the bench-top, he started to prepare the formula, while the radio went on about the preparations for the Millennium Festival in one year.


"Aron? Oh no..."


Crazyjosie and Azure Blue Espeon: You're sadistic. You're happy Steven died? O.o Just joking.

There were originally some lyrics to the song, but I've since removed them.


Steven: O.o...who am I?

Alexa: You're Steven, you dolt.

Steven: Okay then, what am I?

Alexa: A dolt.

Steven:...

Alexa:... ...Ha! I can do longer silences than you!

Steven: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...