Cha. 10

"Cut the useless comments. Are you able to help him?" Giratina stared at Hoopa Unbound.

"Hard to say." The Dark Cosmic picked at her nose and flicked carelessly down the clouds of the Reverse World. "Like I said, he's a mortal, and we're trying to teach him the ways of Cosmics. It's like trying to train a worm like a dragon. It just doesn't work."

"Arceus made it work!"

"No shit he could." Unbound deadpanned. "Shall I remind you that He is the Creator? Plus, even he only started the Chosen apprentices with Formation level Methods. You were trying to use our COSMIC Methods!"

"I THOUGHT ASH COULD DO IT!"

"Why do you ever place hope on a mortal?" Unbound ducked a swing of Giratina's claws and floated away. "Fine! I can save him, but there are consequences."

"First, he might never be able to use Qi again."

Giratina snapped his head up at Unbound. "WHAT!?"

"Hold on. That was only consequence number one." Unbound held up her hands. "Plus, his entire consciousness is trapped between reality and nonexistence right now. It's a dangerous place even for us."

Giratina was silent. He knew that she was right. Even he, as a Cosmic, could risk perishing if he were to be careless. A wrong move in the wielding of his Reverse Concept and he would be turned to nonexistence.

"Honestly, I don't understand how he's not done for yet." Hoopa sighed. "To be honest, I could only see through the fog of reality into nonexistence with the help of my rings. If you were to call any other Cosmic over, they wouldn't even be able to see the mortal."

"So you CAN help him!?"

"I can, but even the slightest error may cause the soul to burst. Then, even if the rest makes its way to the body, he'll only make a vegetable." Unbound nodded after much thinking.

"Even with the best scenario of his entirety being fished back, his soulpower would be diminished to the minimum, which is why I said that he could never touch Qi ever again, if he doesn't want to die on the spot from overloading."

A pain of sickening grief flashed in the Ghost Dragon's eyes. With a low growl, he spoke. "Ok… then. Do it."

"Do what?" Hoopa looked at him confused.

Giratina stared. "Rescue him."

"I never agreed to actually doing it! Not with the risk and all!" There was a coy and predatory glint within her eyes, like a shark watching her prey leaving its nest. "Unless, of course, you pay me."

It took a few seconds for the Dragon to register her meaning, before a volcano of fury erupted. "YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO CHARGE ME TO CORRECT A MISTAKE THAT WE BOTH MADE!?"

"First of all, you're the one who are so caring about a mortal for no reason." Unbound smirked. "Plus, it's Hoopa who created that Cosmic Method manual with you, not me."

Unexpectedly, Giratina calmed down completely, but his blood red eyes were locked onto Unbound. Words squeezed out between his jaws like passing kidney stones. "Now I understand why Hoopa left without a fight."

"Because she needs someone who is totally shameless to do the dirty work for her!" Giratina spread his wings at gestured at the Reverse Realm. "TELL ME! Do you see anything left here!?"

"I know you were "pranked" by the Trios." Unbound smirked. "But there is something that I want, and you don't need it anyways."

"Start barking!"

Unbound pointed to the sky and smiled without the least bit of annoyance. "The third of your Reverse Suns."

Giratina twitched. Then, a devious smile surfaced. "Sorry. That one's taken."

"No, it's NOT!" Unbound huffed. "You smashed the first one and took the second one. There's no one you could've possibly given…"

Her eyes opened and shot to the slob of consciousness bobbing through her ring. "You did not…"

"Yep! His signature encarved into the core and everything else." For the first time, the Renegade Legend let out a triumphant tug of the lips.

"You seriously wasted a third of…" Unbound took a sharp breath. Gritting her teeth, she spat out. "See you later then…"

"Wait!" Giratina roared. "The core is signed with his soul, but the exterior is still fresh. I only signed his name on a few hours ago. The majority of the outside is still pure!"

Unbound froze. "You're seriously telling me I'm only a few hours late to getting…"

"Don't try to scam ME!" Giratina coughed bitterly. "We both know even the shell is enough of a price. Take it or leave it, Unbound!"

An majestic aura of dominance radiated from the Dragon. Afterall, Giratina was the ruler of the Underworld. There was a reason for his position.

"Deal! No matter if I succeed, you're giving me the shell!"

Giratina waved to the crimson sun in the sky. Suddenly, it started to shine brilliantly, all the while shaking and struggling, like a captured lamb, against a pair of chains that had emerged without anyone's noticing.

"You can take it now." The Dragon deadpanned. With that, the chained crimson sun, which had seemed to have been pinned on the top of the Reverse World for eons and eons, fell into the dark ravine below.

It then separated into two pieces, one numerous times larger than the other fragment, but the small piece was shining such brightly that it overpowered even the air of its enormous counterpart. The light constricted to form the image of a teenage boy, who flashed away in a mere instant.

The larger piece sunk into Hoopa Unbound's chest. Then, she opened her eyes and smirked. "Very delicious indeed."

"Just pull the damn kid's soul out!" Giratina roared.

A bitter lift of the cheek was Hoopa's answer. Then, she coughed. "You know what, I do feel bad for taking advantage of your situation, but you do know that your Reverse Sun is very important to me."

Giratina's face is still darker than the murkiest gallows.

"Come on, stop being mad. We're neighbors and friends for eons now. Even if the kid was important back then, he's not anymore. Not being able to use Qi is as good as dead."

Unbound continued. "We are immortals. We can wait out anything. If you want another Ambassador, it's only going to be another thousand years. How about I do you a favor as well, and we just forget about today's mess?"

Giratina took a deep breath. "What's this favor? Finding back my shit that Palkia threw into the wormholes?"

"Ummm… no… you asked me before. I couldn't do it." Hoopa scratched her head. "How about I turn into this… Ash… kid and help you fool Arceus when he comes over to check on you?"

Giratina took a long look at the blop of consciousness that is appearing through Hoopa's rings. Then he closed his eyes. "Good idea."

The Dragon waved his claws. The blinding fragment of light flew through Hoopa's rings and dived into the lost soul. "Now pull his soul out and just reincarnate him please. Don't let me see him again."

"What a waste. He didn't even pass the second test, and you just gave the sun." Unbound shook her head. "Earth?"

"Why not."

A/N: Yes, the "Ash" who you saw in Cha. 1 is just Hoopa Unbound. Arceus didn't notice because, afterall, only an Image of him was there.